Publications

March 2021 (Revised January 2022)
Case

Revlon: Surviving Covid-19

By: Kristin Mugford and Sarah Gulick

In October 2020, Revlon faced a crossroads. While it had been struggling with high levels of debt before COVID-19, the pandemic had caused it to go further into debt. Unlike other financial crises, many consumers had stopped buying skincare or cosmetics, and sales of... View Details

Keywords: COVID-19 Pandemic; Leveraged Buyouts; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Financial Liquidity; Bonds; Corporate Finance; Borrowing and Debt; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; Financial Services Industry; United States

01 Oct 2001
Research & Ideas

Five Questions for Stuart Gilson

the process. In the U.S., bankruptcy can also be used to revitalize the business—for example, by allowing companies to reject unfavorable leases, or sell unwanted assets in a competitive auction. The second reason to restructure is to... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

Web

Chinese Competition and Emerging Technologies - A Chronicle of the China Trade

necessary, but they were very difficult to make,” Augustine Heard, Jr. explained. “[The merchant] . . . hoped that next year would be better, but that next year never seemed to come, and he sunk deeper and deeper till the final catastrophe.” 42 Augustine Heard & Co.... View Details

February 2010
Teaching Note

Saginaw Parts Co. and the General Motors Corp. Credit Default Swap (TN)

By: William E. Fruhan

Teaching Note for [210056]. View Details

Keywords: Credit Derivatives and Swaps; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Law; Cost of Capital; United States

01 Mar 2010
Op-Ed

A Golden Opportunity for Ford and GM

Having weathered the 2008 crisis without U.S. government support, Ford has $23 billion in cash in the bank and a lineup of eco-friendly automobiles to which U.S. consumers are gravitating. GM only emerged from bankruptcy last July, when... View Details

Keywords: by Bill George; Auto

06 Jan 2003
Research & Ideas

Why Expensing Options Doesn’t Solve the Problem

company to transfer assets and liabilities to certain so-called special purpose entities (SPEs). According to the Powers report, which was published by a special committee of Enron's board after the company entered bankruptcy protection... View Details

Keywords: by William Sahlman

24 May 2017
News

John H. McArthur, MBA 1959, DBA 1963

keep the faculty engaged in something that is interesting and important.” McArthur’s influence outside of HBS is also significant, focusing on large-scale institutional reorganization. In the 1970s he served as a Trustee in Bankruptcy of... View Details

Keywords: Susan Young

June 2011
Case

Shelley Capital and the Hedge Fund Secondary Market

By: Luis Viceira, Elena Corsi and Ruth Dittrich

An advisory company has to decide how to sell their client's hedge fund holdings in the secondary market, and thinks about their future. Shelley Capital was a a European advisory company operating in the hedge fund secondary market, a market that boosted in 2008 with... View Details

Keywords: Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Investment Funds; Marketing Strategy; Financial Crisis; Sales; Leadership Development; Financial Markets; Crisis Management; Business Processes; Risk and Uncertainty; Globalized Economies and Regions; Financial Services Industry; Service Industry; Europe

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

04 May 2020
Research & Ideas

Predictions, Prophets, and Restarting Your Business

headlines from market-driven data and options. When much of the world economy is shut for weeks and possibly months, cascading bankruptcies and higher debt loads probably mean a tightening of purchasing decisions and capital expenditures... View Details

Keywords: by Frank V. Cespedes

05 Feb 2009
What Do You Think?

Why Can’t We Figure Out How to Select Leaders?

2001) Note: Selecting companies for good to greatness may be just as difficult as selecting leaders. One of the 11 companies that Collins cited as going from good to great went on to bankruptcy in just seven years after the publication of... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett

13 Nov 2012
First Look

First Look: November 13

multi-currency capital structure with both senior, secured bank loans and junior bonds. PCP has to decide whether to push for bankruptcy in a European court, or to push for out of court renegotiations. The case is a tool for studying the... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

November 1994
Case

Navistar International

By: Stuart C. Gilson and Jeremy Cott

As a consequence of laying off half its workforce in a massive downsizing program, the company--a large manufacturer of medium and heavy trucks--struggles with a huge ($2.6 billion) liability for retiree medical costs. Although the company has promised its retirees... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation Process; Wages; Labor Unions; Legal Liability; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Restructuring

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

01 Dec 2019
News

The Race Against Resistance

unsuccessfully. Kimble points to San Francisco–based Achaogen, which filed for bankruptcy last April despite securing regulatory approval for one of its antibiotic treatments in 2018. Given the catch-22s of making a profit on antibiotics,... View Details

Keywords: Lisa Scanlon Mogolov

09 Dec 2010
News

Driving the Market for Big-Rig Engines

Keywords: Machinery Manufacturing; Manufacturing

August 2009
Case

Nomura's Global Growth: Picking Up Pieces of Lehman

By: C. Fritz Foley and Linnea Meyer

What issues commonly arise in international financial management? Kenichi Watanabe and Takumi Shibata, CEO and COO of Nomura Holdings Inc., one of the leading investment banks in Asia, have the opportunity to expand their firm internationally through the acquisition of... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Investment Banking; International Finance; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Expansion; Financial Services Industry; Japan

2014
Working Paper

Management Practices, Relational Contracts and the Decline of General Motors

By: Susan Helper and Rebecca Henderson

General Motors was once regarded as one of the best managed and most successful firms in the world, but between 1980 and 2009 its share of the US market fell from 62.6 to 19.8 percent, and in 2009 the firm went bankrupt. In this paper we argue that the conventional... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Management Practices and Processes; Organizational Structure; Decision Making; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Manufacturing Industry; Auto Industry

Read Now

February 2010 (Revised June 2014)
Supplement

CityCenter (D): Financial Crisis, Grand Opening, and a New Paradigm

By: John D. Macomber and Griffin James

"CityCenter (D)" follows the (A), (B), and (C) cases with subsequent chronological events through CityCenter's grand opening in December 2009 and financial results through March 2010. The case includes a simple valuation exercise intended to explore CEO Jim Murren's... View Details

Keywords: Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Private Equity; Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Decision Choices and Conditions; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Nevada; New Jersey