Publications

17 Aug 2018
News

Worker Representation on Boards Won’t Work Without Trust

October 2008 (Revised February 2011)
Case

Apple's Core

By: Noam T. Wasserman

Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak are best friends who enjoy pulling pranks together and talking about electronics. After several small collaborations, Jobs pitches Wozniak on starting a company together to sell computers based on Wozniak's design for a personal computer.... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Equity; Managerial Roles; Partners and Partnerships; Conflict Management

03 Mar 2003
Research & Ideas

Top Ten Legal Mistakes Made by Entrepreneurs

"I've heard many war stories," says Harvard Business School associate professor Connie Bagley, reflecting on conversations with former students who have started business ventures. To prepare... View Details

Keywords: by Staff

2010
Case

Groupe Ariel, S.A.: Parity Conditions and Cross-Border Valuation: Brief Case.

By: Timothy A. Luehrman and James Quinn

Groupe Ariel evaluates a proposal from its Mexican subsidiary to purchase and install cost-saving equipment at a manufacturing facility in Monterrey. The improvements will allow the plant to automate recycling and remanufacturing of toner and printer cartridges, an... View Details

Keywords: Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Valuation; Business Subsidiaries; Policy; Cash Flow; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; International Finance; Problems and Challenges; Production; Currency; Manufacturing Industry; Mexico

April 2015 (Revised April 2022)
Case

Bankruptcy in the City of Detroit

By: Stuart Gilson, Kristin Mugford and Annelena Lobb

The June 2013 bankruptcy of the city of Detroit, Michigan was, at the time, the largest municipal bankruptcy in American history. Detroit had struggled for years with a weakening tax base, high unemployment, a heavy debt load and increasing retiree costs. These... View Details

October 2021
Supplement

Unshrinking the Pie: Desirée Stolar's Negotiation Saga (B)

By: James K. Sebenius and Alex Green

When Desirée (“Des”) Stolar’s wool sweater shrank two sizes, the Harvard Business School student worked with classmates to develop a solution that both fixed her problem and launched Unshrinkit, a successful consumer goods company with a widely-available product for... View Details

Keywords: Bargaining; Startups; Negotiation; Contracts; Negotiation Tactics; Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Strategy; Consumer Products Industry

March 2018
Supplement

China Vanke: Battle for Control (C)

By: Lynn S. Paine, Charles C.Y. Wang, Dawn H. Lau and Anthony K. Woo

Baoneng calls for the removal of China Vanke's board of directors, citing as reasons the directors' mishandling of the Shenzhen Metro proposal as well as the company's various breaches of corporate governance requirements. Vanke defends itself against Baoneng's... View Details

Keywords: China Vanke; China Resources; Hostile Takeover; Board Of Directors; Shareholding Structure; Shareholder Rights; Asset Restructuring; Corporate Governance; Governing and Advisory Boards; Valuation; Business and Shareholder Relations; Real Estate Industry; China

February 1996 (Revised April 1997)
Case

Partners HealthCare System, Inc. (A)

By: Gary P. Pisano and Maryam Golnaraghi

Focuses on the decision confronting senior administrators at the Brigham and Women's Hospital: whether to enter into an affiliation with the Massachusetts General Hospital. Requires students to analyze the complex institutional changes in the health environment and to... View Details

Keywords: Consolidation; Health Care and Treatment; Mergers and Acquisitions; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Change Management; Management Teams; Health Industry; Massachusetts

January 1987 (Revised November 1991)
Case

R.J. Reynolds International Financing

By: W. Carl Kester and William B. Allen

Reynolds must source a substantial portion of the financing of its Nabisco acquisition in offshore bond markets. Morgan Guaranty has proposed a yen/dollar dual currency Eurobond that could be hedged into dollars. This structure is compared to Eurodollar Bonds, Euroyen... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Capital Markets; Currency Exchange Rate; Credit Derivatives and Swaps; Bonds; Financing and Loans

February 1997 (Revised October 2002)
Case

The Exxel Group: September 1995

By: Josh Lerner, Alex Hoye and Gonzalo Pacanins

The Exxel Group, a private equity group based in Buenos Aires, is considering a buyout of Argencard, Mastercard's exclusive licensee in Argentina. To complete the deal, however, it will need to raise additional financing from U.S. investors. Both the valuation and the... View Details

Keywords: Leveraged Buyouts; Developing Countries and Economies; Private Equity; Financing and Loans; Investment; Negotiation Deal; Problems and Challenges; Valuation; United States; Buenos Aires

October 2006 (Revised March 2009)
Case

Clifford Chance: Repotting the Tree

By: Arthur I Segel, A. Eugene Kohn and Nhat Minh Nguyen

Clifford Chance, LLP, a global law firm headquartered in London, needs to make a decision whether to stay in the central business district of London or move to a redeveloped business park at Canary Wharf, three miles outside of central London. Peter Charleton, head of... View Details

Keywords: Buildings and Facilities; Business Headquarters; Decision Choices and Conditions; Geographic Location; Logistics; London

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12 Sep 2023
What Do You Think?

Who Gets the Loudest Voice in DEI Decisions?

(AdobeStock/ Katleho S/peopleimages.com) Business leaders today face decisions of increasing complexity. They have to take into account far more than economics, in particular the increasing influence of matters under debate in the broader... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

April 1993 (Revised December 1994)
Case

American Express TRS Charge-Card Receivables

By: Andre F. Perold and Kuljot Singh

American Express (TRS) Co. is considering a proposal to securitize a portion of their consumer charge-card receivables portfolio. In the past, they have relied exclusively on a captive finance subsidiary, Credco, to perform this function. The proposed securitization... View Details

Keywords: Credit Cards; Restructuring; Borrowing and Debt; Financial Management; Financial Strategy; Debt Securities; Travel Industry

29 Mar 2022
Book

5 Qualities That Help Companies Thrive for Decades—Even Centuries

How do companies survive not just for years, but for decades? For centuries even? During a global pandemic, researchers are studying anew what makes companies resilient, agile, and enduring. After all, Japanese construction firm Kongō Gumi, which builds temples, has... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

September 1994 (Revised April 1995)
Case

Banque Paribas: Paribas Derives Garantis

In March 1993, the management of Paribas Capital Markets is making a final review of the proposal to set up Paribas Derives Garantis (PDG), a special-purpose subsidiary of Compagnie Financiere de Paribas (CFP), that would guarantee derivative products offered by Banque... View Details

Keywords: Credit Derivatives and Swaps; Business Subsidiaries; Banks and Banking; Financial Services Industry

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26 Aug 2002
Research & Ideas

High-Stakes Decision Making: The Lessons of Mount Everest

that day hold lessons, some of them for business managers. Roberto's new working paper describes how. Here follows an excerpt from "Lessons From Everest: The Interaction of Cognitive Bias, Psychological Safety, and System... View Details

Keywords: by Michael A. Roberto

April 2015 (Revised July 2015)
Case

Proxy Access at Whole Foods

By: Jay Lorsch and Emily McTague

Proxy access grants shareholders meeting certain ownership requirements the right to nominate directors for election to the board without going through a typical proxy contest. In August 2010 the SEC approved a rule granting proxy access for shareholders meeting... View Details

Keywords: Board Of Directors; Proxy Advisor; Shareholder Activism; Shareholder Voting; Shareholder Votes; Proxy Battle; Institutional Change; Institutional Investing; Business and Shareholder Relations; Food and Beverage Industry; North America

December 1999
Case

Sun Microsystems, Inc. (A1): "Dot-comming" the World: Philip Nenon on a Billion Dollar Bet

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and Jane Roessner

A group at Sun Microsystems, Inc. proposed that a recent acquisition that made fault-tolerant computers for telecommunications was a major opportunity for Sun. If the board provided funding to expand the acquisition's portfolio of products and make them part of the... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Governing and Advisory Boards; Motivation and Incentives; Expansion; Technology Industry