Publications

January 2017
Supplement

Medtronic: Making the Big Leap Forward (B)

By: William W. George and Monica Baraldi

On December 1, 2014, Medtronic announced that it had completed a $17 billion bond sale to finance the Covidien acquisition, officially completed on January 26, 2015. Medtronic’s legal headquarters moved to Ireland, while its operational headquarters remained in... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Medtronic; Covidien; Mission; Tax Inversion; Business Strategy; Leadership; Mergers and Acquisitions; Integration; Pharmaceutical Industry; Republic of Ireland; Europe; Minnesota; United States

Winter 2001
Other Article

Competition and Antitrust: A Productivity-Based Approach to Evaluating Mergers and Joint Ventures

By: Michael E. Porter

This article seeks to contribute thinking on how the intellectual foundations of antitrust might be updated, based on a large body of theoretical and empirical research on company strategy, competition, and economic development. The aim is to outline a new direction... View Details

Keywords: Society; Strategy

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August 2013
Teaching Plan

Remicade-Simponi

By: Guhan Subramanian and Charlotte Krontiris

This exercise models a negotiation between two pharmaceutical companies—Johnson & Johnson and Merck—concerning the international distribution rights for Remicade, a blockbuster anti-arthritis drug. At odds over the original distribution contract, the two companies... View Details

Keywords: Johnson ＆ Johnson; Merck; Negotiation; Negotiation Participants; Negotiation Deal; Pharmaceutical Industry

18 Jan 2012
News

Politics, Tax Code Said to Stymie U.S.

January 1993 (Revised November 1993)
Background Note

Note on International Comparisons Concerning Troubled Companies

Describes the legal and institutional framework by which troubled companies are dealt with in the United States, United Kingdom, Japan, Germany, and France. Deals with both out-of-court and in-court restructuring. Provides perspective on how approaches for dealing with... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Japan; France; Germany; United Kingdom; United States

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February 2008 (Revised August 2008)
Background Note

Note on the Law of Sexual Harassment

By: Lynn Sharp Paine and Lara Adamsons

This note provides an introduction to the law of sexual harassment. It has three parts. Part One describes the laws on harassment in the United States. Part Two explores controversial and emerging aspects of the American legal framework. Part Three gives a brief... View Details

Keywords: Social Issues; Laws and Statutes; Policy; Gender; Asia; Latin America; United States; Europe

February 2006 (Revised August 2006)
Case

Investment Banking at Thomas Weisel Partners

By: Malcolm P. Baker and Lauren Barley

Thomas Weisel Partners (TWP), a San Francisco-based bank focusing on emerging growth companies, is considering its strategy in the context of regulatory, competitive, and legal changes. Blake Jorgensen, the chief operating officer and co-director of investment banking,... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Business or Company Management; Conflict of Interests; Change Management; Investment Banking; Financing and Loans; Laws and Statutes; Financial Strategy; Corporate Finance; Banking Industry; San Francisco

22 Feb 2012
News

Avon Said to Plan Global Restructuring Amid Declining Profit

June 1990 (Revised October 1991)
Case

Lake Pleasant Bodies Case (A)

By: Joseph L. Badaracco Jr.

Presents a classic dilemma in legal ethics--the conflict between an attorney's obligations as an attorney, in this case to protect a client's confidentiality, and his or her own moral obligations as a person. An attorney must decide how to respond to the father of a... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Moral Sensibility; Questionnaires; Attorney and Client Relationships; Social Psychology; Conflict Management; Legal Services Industry

September 2009
Case

The Risk Management Foundation of the Harvard Medical Institutions, Inc.

By: Richard M.J. Bohmer, Stephen P. Bradley and Natalie Kindred

Through its uniquely proactive approach to medical malpractice risk management, the Risk Management Foundation (RMF) has decreased claims—and premiums—for the Harvard hospitals it insures. The RMF is the captive medico-legal insurer of the Harvard medical institutions... View Details

Keywords: Cost Management; Insurance; Health Care and Treatment; Risk Management; Performance Improvement; Safety; Health Industry; Insurance Industry; Boston

Rawi Abdelal is the Herbert F. Johnson Professor of International Management at Harvard Business School and the Emma Bloomberg Co-Chair of the Bloomberg Harvard City Leadership Initiative.

Professor Abdelal's primary expertise is international political... View Details

January 2008 (Revised November 2009)
Case

China's Evolving Labor Laws (A)

By: Lynn Sharp Paine and Aldo Sesia Jr.

The (A) case describes key provisions of the new labor contract law proposed by China's National People's Congress in 2006. The case invites students to consider how domestic and multinational companies should respond to the Chinese government's invitation to comment... View Details

Keywords: Multinational Firms and Management; Government Legislation; Labor; Contracts; Laws and Statutes; Business and Government Relations; China

2011
Article

Bias in Search Results?: Diagnosis and Response

By: Benjamin Edelman

I explore allegations of search engine bias, including understanding a search engine's incentives to bias results, identifying possible forms of bias, and evaluating methods of verifying whether bias in fact occurs. I then consider possible legal and policy responses,... View Details

Keywords: Prejudice and Bias; Motivation and Incentives; Outcome or Result; Markets; Legal Liability; Policy; Search Technology; Performance Evaluation; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms

31 May 2023
Video

Competition or Collaboration? Navigating a Path for Successful Climate Alliances

21 Jul 2006
Op-Ed

Enron Jury Sent the Right Message

of corporate fraud, considerations of intent dominate the details of compliance or noncompliance with arcane legal rules. This is the right message to send to the American business community. The behavior that became so widespread and... View Details

Keywords: by Malcolm S. Salter

2017
Article

Refugees Misdirected: How Information, Misinformation and Rumors Shape Refugees’ Access to Fundamental Rights

By: Melissa Carlson, Laura Jakli and Katerina Linos

The global refugee regime represents one of the few generous commitments governments offer to outsiders. Indeed, few persons fleeing armed conflict actually claim international protection upon first arriving in Europe, even though the benefits of legal protection are... View Details

Keywords: Refugees; Knowledge Dissemination; Trust; Risk and Uncertainty; Rights; Europe

November 2023
Case

The Commons Project in Rwanda—Building Digital Infrastructure for the Global Public Good

By: Álvaro Rodríguez Arregui and Tom Quinn

In September 2022, The Commons Project Foundation (TCP) CEO Zhenya Lindgardt and her team met on a Zoom call to discuss building tools to help Rwandans manage their health data. They believed that helping Africa build digital infrastructure would improve much-needed... View Details

Keywords: Developing Countries and Economies; Capital; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Health Care and Treatment; Information Management; Adaptation; Information Infrastructure; Information Technology Industry; Rwanda; United States

October 1999 (Revised May 2001)
Background Note

Japanese Financial System, The: From Postwar to the New Millennium

Describes the development of the Japanese financial system, from extensive regulation and fund allocation through administrative guidance in the 1950s to the banking crisis and legal and structural reorganization in the 1990s. Special emphasis is on the processes of... View Details

Keywords: Sovereign Finance; Financial Markets; Banks and Banking; Japan