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- March 2014 (Revised May 2014)
- Case
China Vanke (A-1)
By: Lynn S. Paine, John Macomber and Keith Chi-ho Wong
As China's largest homebuilder, China Vanke Co. Ltd. (Vanke) was facing an industry downturn sparked by strong government intervention. Faced with falling prices, Vanke's president must decide whether to keep the company's pricing and product positioning intact, and... View Details
- March 2014 (Revised February 2016)
- Supplement
China Vanke (A-2)
By: Lynn S. Paine, John D. Macomber and Keith Chi-ho Wong
China Vanke's president and his team must decide on a plan of action after reviewing the quality issues the company faced in early 2012 after a series of highly publicized incidents concerning the quality of the homes they built. View Details
- March 2014
- Supplement
China Vanke (A-3)
By: Lynn S. Paine, John Macomber and Keith Chi-ho Wong
China Vanke's president is considering whether and how the company might make further inroads into the commercial real estate sector, while continuing to lead in the residential sector. He is also considering whether to branch into overseas residential markets such as... View Details
- March 2014 (Revised April 2014)
- Supplement
China Vanke (B)
By: Lynn S. Paine, John Macomber and Keith Chi-ho Wong
The case describes Vanke's response to the decisions posed in the A1, A2, and A3 cases and asks whether Vanke should expand its strategic scope by defining itself as an "urban facilities provider" rather than a "residential housing developer." The management team is... View Details
- March–April 2014
- Article
The Low-Risk Anomaly: A Decomposition into Micro and Macro Effects
By: Malcolm Baker, Brendan Bradley and Ryan Taliaferro
Low beta stocks have offered a combination of low risk and high returns. We decompose the anomaly into micro and macro components. The micro component comes from the selection of low beta stocks. The macro component comes from the selection of low beta countries or... View Details
- February 2014 (Revised March 2022)
- Case
School Specialty, Inc.
By: Stuart C. Gilson and Kristin Mugford
Set in 2013, School Specialty was a financially troubled supplier of educational products to primary and secondary schools in the United States. The company planned to file Chapter 11 in order to address its excessive debt load, but needed to arrange... View Details
- January 2014
- Case
Newfield Energy
By: William E. Fruhan and Wei Wang
In September 2013, Miles Griffin, CEO and chairman of the board of Newfield Energy, prepares to present financial proposals to the board of directors for approval. Newfield (based in Houston, Texas) was a large independent energy company primarily engaged in the... View Details
- January–February 2014
- Article
Building a Game-Changing Talent Strategy
By: Douglas A. Ready, Linda A. Hill and Robert J. Thomas
When most of the world's financial services giants were stumbling and retrenching in the aftermath of the 2008 recession, the asset management firm BlackRock was busy charting a course for growth. Its revenues, profits, and stock price all performed consistently... View Details
- 2014
- Case
Zenglibao: An Internet Money Market Fund Run by Tianhong Asset Management Co., LTD.
By: F. Warren McFarlan, Yongjun Jin and Xiaohui Li
Mobile Internet has imposed an increasing impact on traditional finance. Firstly, some financial business modules can be operated via mobile Internet, and the corresponding transaction cost is greatly reduced. For example, payment by traditional bank draft is replaced... View Details
- 2014
- Teaching Note
Zenglibao: An Internet Money Market Fund Run By Tianhong Asset Management Co., LTD. (TN)
By: F. Warren McFarlan, Yongjun Jin and Xiaohui Li
Mobile Internet has imposed an increasing impact on traditional finance. Firstly, some financial business modules can be operated via mobile Internet, and the corresponding transaction cost is greatly reduced. For example, payment by traditional bank draft is replaced... View Details
- December 2013
- Supplement
Rough Justice: Stuart Eizenstat and Holocaust-Era Asset Restitution (B)
By: James K. Sebenius and Laurence A. Green
This case carefully traces the process by which Stuart Eizenstat handled the negotiation challenges outlined in "Rough Justice: Stuart Eizenstat and Holocaust-Era Asset Restitution (A)". It describes the outcome of the Swiss negotiations and briefly sketches... View Details
- December 2013
- Supplement
Bruce Allyn: Negotiating with the KGB (B)
This case picks up (from the end of the "A" case) the detailed story of the KGB's high-pressure negotiations with Harvard doctoral student Bruce Allyn to recruit him as a secret asset for the Soviet spy agency. The "A" case describes how, at the tense height of the... View Details
- November 2013
- Teaching Note
8 Spruce Street
By: Arthur I Segel
The case begins in March 2009 during the depths of the recession with Forest City Ratner (FCR) Companies, a New York City based developer, facing the decision to halt construction half-way on 8 Spruce Street, the tallest residential tower in the Western Hemisphere, or... View Details
- November 5, 2013
- Article
How to Turn Around Nearly Anything
In turbulent times, turnarounds are increasingly a fact of life. Some companies need to be rescued from the brink of extinction, but that’s not the only kind of turnaround. Others need a course correction while still profitable, or a momentum shift because of... View Details
- November 2013
- Article
Simplification and Saving
By: John Beshears, James J. Choi, David Laibson and Brigitte C. Madrian
The daunting complexity of important financial decisions can lead to procrastination. We evaluate a low-cost intervention that substantially simplifies the retirement savings plan participation decision. Individuals received an opportunity to enroll in a retirement... View Details
- October 2013
- Supplement
Alcoa's Bid for Alcan (B)
By: Paul Healy and Penelope Rossano
In spring 2007, Alcoa CEO Alain Belda was concerned about the company's market position in light of increased competition from developing markets. China's recent entry into the aluminum market was affecting both supply and demand. Furthermore, downstream and upstream... View Details
- October 2013 (Revised December 2015)
- Case
Alcoa's Bid for Alcan (A)
By: Paul Healy and Penelope Rossano
In spring 2007, Alcoa CEO Alain Belda was concerned about the company's market position in light of increased competition from developing markets. China's recent entry into the aluminum market was affecting both supply and demand. Furthermore, downstream and upstream... View Details
- August 2013
- Background Note
A Simple Free Cash Flow Valuation Model
Explores some of the issues involved in valuing cash flow streams. A simple model is presented that reveals the effect on value of changing assumptions about the appropriate discount rate, the level of profitability, the growth rate of sales, the asset intensity ratio,... View Details
- August 2013 (Revised November 2015)
- Case
Prudential Financial - General Motors Pension Risk Transfer: Back to the Future?
By: Luis M. Viceira and Emily A. Chien
In November 2012, Prudential Financial and General Motors closed on a $25.1B pension risk transfer (PRT) transaction, the largest of its kind to date by an order of magnitude both in the U.S. market and globally. In exchange for an in-kind transfer of $25.1B in... View Details
- August 2013
- Teaching Note
Seeking Alpha in the Afterlife: CMG Life Services and the Life Settlement Industry
By: Lauren Cohen