Publications

SSRN

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21 Jul 2022
Research & Ideas

Did Pandemic Stimulus Funds Spur the Rise of 'Meme Stocks'?

policy makers.” You Might Also Like: Who Pays For Wildfire and Hurricane Damage? Everyone. Bankruptcy Spells Death for Too Many Businesses Keep or Cut Workers? How Companies Reacted to the COVID-19 Crisis... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Financial Services

January 2006 (Revised July 2016)
Case

Gordon Bethune at Continental Airlines

By: Nitin Nohria, Anthony Mayo and Mark Benson

A $385 million loss for the final months of fiscal year 1994 signaled Continental might go bankrupt. Could new CEO Gordon Bethune turn Continental around? Continental was in dire straits because the deregulation of the commercial airline industry in 1978 ushered in a... View Details

Keywords: Transformation; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Profit; Leading Change; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Performance Improvement; Labor and Management Relations; Air Transportation Industry

31 Jan 2023
Op-Ed

Can Insurance Technology Solve the Uninsured Driver Problem?

Unit at Harvard Business School. He studies the causes of financial distress among American households and how technology, private markets, and public policy can reduce those risks. You Might Also Like: Why... View Details

Keywords: by Ray Kluender; Insurance

21 Sep 2020
Research & Ideas

Are You Sabotaging Your Own Company?

hamper productivity through “human obstruction” tactics, by purposely and surreptitiously making poor decisions and being uncooperative. “Making a faulty decision may be simply a matter of placing tools in... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

30 Oct 2019
Research & Ideas

How to Recover Gracefully After Shutting Down Your Startup

When Munchery announced in January that it would join the compost heap of food delivery startups, the San Francisco company burned customers, suppliers, and investors that included Oscar-winning actors Jared Leto View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost

11 Oct 2006
What Do You Think?

How Do We Respond to the “Dependency Ratio” Dilemma?

declare bankruptcy and walk away from as much of its obligation as possible. Potential management responses can get pretty complicated. In this instance, growth trumps greater productivity, because the... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett

January 2003 (Revised October 2012)
Case

Newport Creamery (A)

By: Paul Marshall and Todd Thedinga

Describes the operating challenges of Newport Creamery, a Rhode Island-based chain of ice cream restaurants. Profiles the company's transition from longtime family ownership to a real estate developer, the developer's expansion strategy, and the company's subsequent... View Details

Keywords: Family Business; Crisis Management; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Food and Beverage Industry; Rhode Island

December 1991 (Revised February 1992)
Case

Federated Department Stores, Inc.: Managing in a Hurricane

Describes Federated Department Stores following an important infusion of capital and before its subsequent Chapter 11 filing. The questions include how the company can be managed in a period of financial distress, whether it is possible or desirable to avoid Chapter... View Details

Keywords: Crisis Management; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Retail Industry

October 1990
Article

Troubled Debt Restructurings: An Empirical Analysis of Private Reorganization of Firms in Default

By: S. C. Gilson, J. Kose and L. H. P. Kang

This study investigates the incentives of financially distressed firms to restructure their debt privately rather than through formal bankruptcy. In a sample of 169 financially distressed companies, about half successfully restructure their debt outside of Chapter 11.... View Details

Keywords: Theory; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Restructuring

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June 1991 (Revised May 1992)
Case

Cumberland Worldwide Corp. (B)

Cumberland has been in Chapter 11 for 18 months and is trying to formulate a plan of reorganization that will satisfy a variety of claimants. Teaching objective: valuation and negotiation issues. View Details

Keywords: Negotiation; Valuation; Restructuring; Insolvency and Bankruptcy

December 1998 (Revised May 1999)
Case

Flagstar Companies, Inc.

By: Stuart C. Gilson and Jeremy Cott

A large restaurant chain undergoes a leveraged buyout and subsequent recapitalization. Financial and operating problems at the company force it to consider various restructuring options, including a "prepackaged" Chapter 11 exchange offer to its public bondholders. A... View Details

Keywords: Leveraged Buyouts; Restructuring; Capital; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Debt Securities; Financial Services Industry; United States

April 2000 (Revised December 2001)
Case

AirTex Aviation

By: Brian J. Hall and Carleen Madigan

Two young and inexperienced MBAs buy a virtually bankrupt company. They design a decentralized control system organized around profit centers. As a case in control systems, there is ample detail for a discussion of design issues, control of independent profit centers,... View Details

Keywords: Air Transportation; Management Systems; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Air Transportation Industry

February 1, 1989
Article

Is Leverage an Invitation to Bankruptcy?

By: M. C. Jensen

Keywords: Insolvency and Bankruptcy

SSRN

October 2022
Supplement

Beam Dental (B)

By: Rembrand Koning and Alicia Dadlani

In May 2016, venture-backed Beam Dental was on the brink of financial collapse. Cofounder and CEO Alex Frommeyer weighed the unattractive terms of a bridge loan offered by Beam’s largest investor. Frommeyer needed to decide whether to accept the terms or concede defeat... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Business Strategy; Entrepreneurship; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Financing and Loans; Insurance Industry; United States; Kentucky; Ohio

March 2000 (Revised April 2003)
Case

Iridium LLC

By: Benjamin C. Esty, Fuaad Qureshi and William J Olson

This case involves part of a module on financing large projects in the elective curriculum course entitled "Large-Scale Investment." It is set in August 1999, just after Iridium, a global communications firm, declared bankruptcy. Although the case describes Iridium's... View Details

Keywords: Project Finance; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Financial Strategy; Communications Industry; Technology Industry

December 2003 (Revised June 2012)
Case

Irving Tanning

By: Paul W. Marshall and Johanna Regine Naunton Blaxall

Irving Tanning, one of the few remaining U.S. leather tanneries, has successfully emerged from bankruptcy. The CEO is now looking at strategic options for the future of Irving. View Details

Keywords: Insolvency and Bankruptcy; United States

April 2007 (Revised June 2008)
Background Note

USG

By: Elie Ofek and Kerry Herman

Serves as a background note for purposes of class discussion around next-generation innovation at USG. Describes the company, its products, and competitors. Of relevance is the fact that it recently filed for Chapter 11 due to litigation over asbestos-related claims.... View Details

Keywords: Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Innovation and Invention; Lawsuits and Litigation; Competition

October 1997 (Revised January 2008)
Case

Asda (A)

By: Michael Beer and James Weber

In the mid-1980s, Asda was one of the most successful retail companies in the United Kingdom. By 1991, the chain of 200 grocery stores had a lack of direction, a demoralized workforce, declining profits, rising debt, collapsing stock price, and was facing bankruptcy.... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Crisis Management; Management Teams; Business Strategy; Food and Beverage Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; United Kingdom