Publications

14 Mar 2011
Research & Ideas

Keeping Credit Flowing to Consumers in Need

families lost their homes, personal bankruptcies soared, and it seemed that every weekend one financial firm after another failed. There was substantial doubt about the ability of the financial system to return to any kind of... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Financial Services; Construction; Real Estate

17 Jan 2025
News

Tracking Modern Air Travel’s Takeoff

Subscribe on iTunes Subscribe on Spotify More Skydeck episodes Dan Morrell: Frank Lorenzo (MBA 1963) grew up in Rego Park, Queens, the son of Spanish immigrants. As a boy in the 1940s, he would watch the airplanes fly over his backyard and into LaGuardia Airport,... View Details

October 1997 (Revised May 1998)
Case

Asda (A1)

By: Michael Beer and James Weber

Supplements the (A) case. View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Crisis Management; Management Teams; Business Strategy; Retail Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; United Kingdom

22 Feb 2010
Op-Ed

Tragedy at Toyota: How Not to Lead in Crisis

but a leadership crisis. During Chrysler's 1980s crisis, CEO Lee Iacocca took charge, restoring consumer trust and prosperity. When General Motors emerged from bankruptcy last summer, Chairman Ed Whitacre became the trustworthy,... View Details

Keywords: by William George; Auto

23 May 2018
News

John A. Paulson, MBA 1980

boutique investment firm; Bear Stearns; and then Gruss Partners, where he concentrated on risk arbitrage and bankruptcy investing. In 1994, Paulson was ready to return to his entrepreneurial roots and set up his own fund. “Ultimately,... View Details

Keywords: Susan Young

07 Jan 2015
Research & Ideas

The Quest for Better Layoffs

A few years ago, Sandra J. Sucher received worried emails from two MBA students in her first-year Leadership and Corporate Accountability (LCA) class at Harvard Business School. Elana Green (now Elana Silver) and David Rosales (both HBS MBA 2010) had been troubled by a... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Manufacturing

28 May 2008
First Look

First Look: May 28, 2008

price of diesel fuel. Purchase the case: http://www.hbsp.harvard.edu/b01/en/common/item_detail.jhtml?id=508074 Adelphia Communications Corp.'s Bankruptcy Harvard Business School Case 208-071 In 2002, a massive accounting fraud and... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

02 Sep 2002
Research & Ideas

The Role of Government When All Else Fails

social insurance, bankruptcy law, disaster relief, and so forth) have been studied extensively on an individual basis. What struck me, however, was that no one had ever looked across these policies and identified what they had in common.... View Details

Keywords: by Laura Linard

August 2008 (Revised May 2009)
Case

Kmart and ESL Investments (A)

By: Stuart C. Gilson and Sarah Abbott

A major bankrupt retailer is poised to emerge from Chapter 11. Two activist hedge funds ("vulture investors") will own over 50% of reorganized Kmart's common stock, based on prior investments in Kmart's debt claims, and an infusion of new equity financing. The Chapter... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Capital Structure; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Investment; Investment Activism; Valuation; Financial Services Industry; Retail Industry; United States

September 1996 (Revised March 2002)
Case

Bishay Industries

By: David F. Hawkins and Norman Bartczak

A bankrupt company has a turnaround plan. Students are asked to predict whether it will be successful. View Details

Keywords: Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Business Plan; Goals and Objectives; Strategic Planning; Business Strategy; Cash Flow; Mathematical Methods; Financial Services Industry

Find at Harvard

Profile

Terrance McGuire

venture created by four post-docs from The Whitehead Institute, which is now a public company with a drug on the market. He helped rescue deCODE from bankruptcy and oversaw its sale to Amgen. For more than 20 years, McGuire has also... View Details

2001
Chapter

Bankruptcy, Boards, Banks, and Blockholders: Evidence on Changes in Corporate Ownership and Control When Firms Default

By: S. C. Gilson

Keywords: Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Ownership; Governing and Advisory Boards; Banks and Banking; Banking Industry

1992
Chapter

Bankruptcy, Boards, Banks, and Blockholders: Evidence on Changes in Corporate Ownership and Control When Firms Default

By: S. C. Gilson

Keywords: Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Ownership; Governing and Advisory Boards; Banks and Banking; Banking Industry

June 1998 (Revised June 1998)
Background Note

Bankruptcy: A Debtor's Perspective

By: Howard H. Stevenson and Michael J. Roberts

Describes the business and legal context surrounding personal and corporate bankruptcy. View Details

Keywords: Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Financial Condition; Legal Liability; Personal Finance; Loss; Business or Company Management

01 Jun 2010
News

M.I.A. Boards

Illustration by Dan Page In a company as large, complex, and prestigious as Lehman Brothers, one would expect to have found seasoned, astute, well-informed directors to oversee the managers and the risks the firm undertook with shareholders’ money. Yet when Lehman... View Details

Keywords: John Gillespie;David Zweig; Finance

26 Mar 2019
First Look

New Research and Ideas, March 26, 2019

peak in 1997, Kodak had a market value of $30 billion. Despite inventing the first digital camera, Kodak stumbled to capitalize on the new technology and by 2011 the company was in Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. In September 2013,... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

March 2024 (Revised July 2024)
Case

AMC: The Zero Revenue Case

By: C. Fritz Foley and Donal O'Cofaigh

The onset of the Covid-19 pandemic put theatre company AMC’s already perilous financial situation under even further strain. The company’s high levels of debt resulted in a monthly cash-burn which left it facing an imminent Chapter-11 filing in the absence of... View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Public Equity; Stock Shares; Health Pandemics; Entertainment and Recreation Industry

March 2004 (Revised May 2004)
Case

Governance Reform at MCI

By: Lynn S. Paine and Bridget Gurtler

Richard Breeden proposed corporate governance reforms for MCI. Breeden is a former chairman of the SEC who was a court-appointed "corporate monitor" for the troubled company (formerly WorldCom). The company must adhere to the proposals unless excused by a court order. View Details

Keywords: Corporate Governance; Restructuring; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Business or Company Management; Management Teams