Publications

November 1990 (Revised September 1991)
Case

First Chicago Corp.: Corporate Strategy

Lays out the business challenges facing First Chicago Corp. in 1986: the banking industry has been deregulated, many corporations are bypassing banks in their search for capital, and foreign competition has increased. Their traditional market--corporate banking--has... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Investment Banking; Corporate Strategy; Emerging Markets; Commercial Banking; Banking Industry; United States

October 2004
Case

Continuing Transformation of Asahi Glass, The: Implementing EVA

By: Mihir A. Desai, Masako Egawa and Yanjun Wang

This case explores the use of EVA--economic value added--methodology at Asahi Glass. EVA is among the changes initiated by the CEO aimed at transforming Asahi Glass from a traditional Japanese company to a global firm. Other changes included a corporate reorganization... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Change Management; Global Strategy; Corporate Governance; Recruitment; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Performance Evaluation

04 Oct 2016
First Look

October 4, 2016

concerns about the unobservable consequences of policy. Download working paper: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=51704 Harvard Business School Case 217-007 Disintermediating the Banks: ThinCats and the Peer-to-Peer Lending... View Details

25 Aug 2003
Research & Ideas

Studying Japan from the Inside

Harvard Business School started its Japan Research Office in December 2001—smack in the middle of an incredibly turbulent time for the country's economy. The boom years of the 1970s and 1980s—when Japanese management practices and... View Details

Keywords: by Cynthia Churchwell

March 2016 (Revised May 2021)
Case

Michael Milken: The Junk Bond King

By: Tom Nicholas and Matthew G. Preble

Michael Milken, an investment banker who dominated the junk bond market in the 1980s, was sentenced to jail in 1990 after pleading guilty to a number of securities and tax-related felonies. In the preceding decade, Milken had helped usher in a new wave of leveraged buy... View Details

Keywords: Junk Bonds; High-yield Bonds; Financial Innovation; Shareholder Value; Bonds; Capital; Capital Structure; Cost of Capital; Crime and Corruption; Entrepreneurship; Ethics; Finance; Investment Banking; Leveraged Buyouts; Mergers and Acquisitions; Ownership; Private Equity; Restructuring; United States

20 May 2013
Research & Ideas

The Long-Term Fix to US Competitiveness

At an event at Harvard Business School that was three parts analysis and one part rally, participants tried to chart a new path forward for the sluggish US economy—a move that may require a new definition of "competitiveness."... View Details

Keywords: by Stephanie Schorow & Harvard Gazette

November 2002 (Revised April 2003)
Case

Charoen Pokphand Group: A Renewed Focus

By: Ray A. Goldberg and Cate Reavis

As one of Asia's biggest agriindustrial conglomerates, Charoen Pokphand, although solidly positioned in Thailand, was facing an increasingly competitive and complex business environment in China, where it made 30% of revenues. A change in management of the family-owned... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Agribusiness; Business Conglomerates; Family Business; Competition; Restructuring; Partners and Partnerships; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Thailand; China

Find at Harvard

13 Dec 2021
Research & Ideas

The Unlikely Upside of Mergers: More Diverse Management Teams

Employees often feel stressed when their firms are bought by other companies, fearing they could face layoffs, demotions, or lousy working conditions. While it’s true that organizations tend to restructure their workforce following... View Details

Keywords: by Lane Lambert

28 May 2020
Research & Ideas

Coronavirus Could Create a 'Bankruptcy Pandemic'

interest to find common ground on a plan that restructures the company’s debts and allows the business to continue. Even though creditors will typically be asked to make some financial sacrifices, such as... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Financial Services; Banking

November 2000 (Revised March 2001)
Case

Iggy's Bread of the World

By: Kathleen L. McGinn and Alexis Lefort

In January 1994, Igor and Ludmilla Ivanovic opened the doors of their bakery, Iggy's Bread of the World. This case describes their unusual mission statement and the way in which they try to bring a social consciousness mentality to a for-profit business. Six years... View Details

Keywords: Growth Management; Mission and Purpose; Organizational Culture; Restructuring; Family Business; Power and Influence; Food and Beverage Industry; Retail Industry; Massachusetts

25 Jun 2024
Research & Ideas

How Transparency Sped Innovation in a $13 Billion Wireless Sector

Many businesses are loath to share proprietary information with others, fearing it will undercut their long-term financial prospects. They view openness as a threat to innovation. But a new years-long study of the wireless router industry... View Details

Keywords: by Jay Fitzgerald; Technology

25 Jul 2007
Lessons from the Classroom

The Evolution of Apple

only 6 million units over the course of 3 years, compared with sales of 300 million PCs during the same period. "Apple's market share has always been lower than its consumer mind share," remarks Yoffie. Birth of The Cool In addition to generally consolidating... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Computer; Technology

08 May 2020
In Practice

Nonprofits Hurt by COVID-19 Must Hoard Cash to Hold On

advice on how the social enterprise can restructure or redeploy its staff to be more effective. Preserving cash is the dominant issue. F. Warren McFarlan is the T.J. Dermot Dunphy Baker Foundation Professor of View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost

01 Aug 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, August 1

Transformation at Eli Lilly & Co. (A) Faced with the imminent loss of 40% of its revenues due to patent expirations, pharma giant Eli Lilly sets out on a dramatic transformation process in 2009. The case considers how Lilly View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

Web

In The Classroom - Behavioral Finance & Financial Stability

209-093 View Details Assured Guaranty By: Robin Greenwood , Adi Sunderam & Jared Dourdeville FEB 2013 (REVISED FEB 2015) | Harvard Business School Case 213-100 View Details Oaktree and the Restructuring of... View Details

November 2012
Teaching Note

Brink's Company: Activists Push for a Spin-off (TN)

By: Suraj Srinivasan

The case this Teaching Note addresses studies the decision of the security services company Brink's Corporation to spin off its home security division from the rest of the company. The decision followed intense pressure on the company by three activist hedge funds that... View Details

Keywords: Activist Investors; Spin-off; Leveraged Recapitalization; Debt; Hedge Funds; Conglomerates; Valuation; Restructuring; Accounting; Business Strategy; Investment Activism; Service Industry

March 2010
Case

Sonoco Products Company (A): Building a World-Class HR Organization (Abridged)

By: David A. Thomas and Boris Groysberg

Describes the steps the vice-president of human resources takes in revamping an HR function that was noncooperative and, at times, competitive and introducing the company to the notion of HR as a strategic business partner. Explores changes made to the company's... View Details

Keywords: Human Resources; Organizations; Restructuring; Partners and Partnerships; Management Succession; Strategic Planning; Performance

March 1994 (Revised April 1995)
Case

EnClean: Malcolm Waddell's Story (A)

By: David J. Collis

Describes, in the words of its cofounder, the history of EnClean, an industrial and environmental services company, from its origins in 1984. The company grew rapidly and diversified into new businesses and new geographies both through acquisition and internally. It... View Details

Keywords: Diversification; Expansion; Restructuring; Corporate Strategy