Publications

February 2011 (Revised January 2017)
Case

Countrywide plc

By: Stuart C. Gilson and Sarah L. Abbott

One of the world's leading investors in distressed companies, Oaktree Capital Management, is contemplating a "loan to own" investment in the debt of Countrywide plc, a financially troubled residential real estate agent based in the U.K. Only sixteen months earlier,... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Restructuring; Financial Crisis; Capital Structure; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Financial Management; Investment; Real Estate Industry; United Kingdom

October 2007 (Revised May 2009)
Case

Offering the Right Service in the Right Place: Growing Orthopedics at the Brigham and Women's/Faulkner (BW/F) Hospitals

By: V.G. Narayanan, Michael G. Wilson and Rachel Gordon

After the merger of two local hospitals, hospital leaders much decide how to reorganize services to take advantage of newly created efficiencies. Focuses on the Orthopedics department at one of the hospitals. View Details

Keywords: Cost Accounting; Mergers and Acquisitions; Cost vs Benefits; Service Operations; Organizational Structure; Performance Efficiency; Competitive Advantage; Health Industry

October 1993 (Revised September 1996)
Case

BANC ONE - 1993

By: Hugo Uyterhoeven and Myra M. Hart

From a small local bank, Banc One has grown to one of the largest and most profitable banks in the United States under the leadership of its CEO, John B. McCoy. It has an impressive track record of improving the performance of its acquisitions while retaining the... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Acquisition; Organizational Culture; Policy; Adaptation; Business Growth and Maturation; Strategy; Performance Improvement; Industry Structures; Banking Industry; United States

03 Oct 2023
Blog Post

Hire an MBA: The Benefits and Misconceptions for Startups

challenge due to funding. For those that can swing it, a full-time MBA can help set structure and think through many growing pains you may encounter. For those that cannot hire someone full-time, hiring a summer intern is a great way to... View Details

Keywords: All Industries; Entrepreneurship

Profile

Daniel Serna

At HBS, Dan was initially, "skeptical about how structured the Required Curriculum year is, with fixed classes and assigned seating — like preschool. Coming after the freedom of college, it seems restrictive. But it's all worth it,... View Details

Web

Understanding Africa: Business, Entrepreneurship, Political Economy and the Complexities of a Continent - Course Catalog

covered. Course themes will include, among others, resilience; long time frames; diversification; leadership; formal and informal structures of power; technology; infrastructure; and staffing, personnel and management. We will of course... View Details

01 Oct 2000
News

Willoughby G. Walling II: A Learning Experience

undulating veil of woven triangles. In the exhibit's catalog, Walling writes of his desire "to discover or impose a framework on apparent chaos. The paintings portray my faith that life does have a structure or relatedness," he explains,... View Details

Keywords: Deborah Blagg

January 1994
Case

National Convenience Stores, Inc.

By: Steven R. Fenster, Stuart C. Gilson and Roy Burstin

National Convenience Stores seeks to emerge from Chapter 11. Central to the nature of the reorganization plan is the company's determining enterprise value. The various constituencies (secured debt, unsecured debt, etc.) will seek to find an enterprise value that... View Details

Keywords: Capital Structure; Valuation; Restructuring; Strategic Planning; Borrowing and Debt; Food and Beverage Industry; Texas

January 2023
Teaching Note

MicroStrategy’s Investment in Bitcoin

By: C. Fritz Foley, Celine Chammas and Donal O'Cofaigh

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 222-048. View Details

Keywords: Bitcoin; Corporate Strategy; Acquisition; Investment Portfolio; Capital Structure; Equity

January 1983 (Revised February 1988)
Case

Hospital Corp. of America (A)

By: W. Carl Kester

HCAs ratio of debt to total capital is approaching 70%, jeopardizing its single-A bond rating. Students must determine an appropriate target debt ratio for HCA in light of its growth objectives, its acquisition strategy and its changing regulatory environment. View Details

Keywords: Situation or Environment; Capital Structure; Health Care and Treatment; Borrowing and Debt; Health Industry; Tennessee

February 2003
Case

Whitbread Hotel Company (B)

By: Michael Beer and James Weber

Supplements the (A) case. View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Structure; Integration; Business or Company Management; Strategy

Find at Harvard

25 Nov 2008
First Look

First Look: November 25, 2008

competitive structure of the global real estate services market mandating that providers become more customer-solutions oriented. The case is set shortly after the announcement of the restructuring which, for the first time, will place... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

May 1991
Case

Sun Hydraulics Corp. (C)

Provides a follow-up to the (A) and (B) (Condensed) case. Brings events up to date from 1985-1991. Bob Koski, Sun's CEO, has now taken on a new #2 heir apparent in Clyde Nixon. The company has a proliferation of new products and new directions. Has Sun's horizontal... View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Organizational Structure; Organizational Culture

January 1985
Case

Turning Around Alcan Europe (B): Patrick Rich's Two Years as CEO-Europe

Traces the efforts of Patrick Rich, CEO of Alcan Europe, to bring the company into a stable, profitable situation after having lost $120 million in 1982. Focuses on a wide variety of issues, including setting objectives and strategies for the region, creating... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Strategic Planning; Organizational Structure