Publications

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Kristin W. Mugford | About

previously served as Faculty Chair for field-based learning and co-curricular programs in the MBA program. For the last decade she taught "Creating Value through Corporate Restructuring," a popular advanced finance elective that analyzes how economic stress and View Details

01 Sep 2003
News

Larry Murphy

development advisor. He believes that sheer size, coupled with some ill-advised mergers, have hurt creativity and bottom-line performance at big-name media and entertainment companies. “I wouldn’t be surprised,” Murphy says, “to see the industry go through a period of... View Details

Keywords: Garry Emmons; Accommodation; Hospitality

15 Jun 2009
Research & Ideas

GM: What Went Wrong and What’s Next

by allowing the government and General Motors to negotiate important deals with GM's unions and a majority of creditors, went a fair distance toward achieving a restructuring that would make it possible for GM to emerge as a viable... View Details

Keywords: by Staff; Auto

01 Jun 2001
News

Alejandro Ramirez: A Very Good Time for Mexico

COO and began a major restructuring of the 5,000-employee company. “It was hard,” he admits. “There were people who had been working at the company almost as long as I’d been alive. But I think I was able to gain their support because I... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna; World Bank; United Nations; Administration of Economic Programs; Government

May 1990 (Revised July 1996)
Case

Ingvar Kamprad and IKEA

By: Christopher A. Bartlett and Ashish Nanda

Traces the development of a Swedish furniture retailer under the leadership of an innovative and unconventional entrepreneur whose approaches redefine the nature and structure of the industry. Traces IKEA's growth from a tiny mail order business to the world's largest... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Growth and Development; Innovation Strategy; Leadership; Management Succession; Distribution; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Expansion; Value; Retail Industry

October 2023
Case

Leading Transformation at IHCL

By: Krishna G. Palepu, V.G. Narayanan and Malini Sen

In November 2017, Puneet Chhatwal, took charge as MD and CEO of IHCL, popularly referred to as the Taj Hotels. Despite being India’s largest hospitality company by market capitalization and respected for its values and service, IHCL had made losses for the last seven... View Details

Keywords: Turn Around Management; Hospitality Industry; Brand Management; Financial Strategy; Business Model; Restructuring; Asset Management; Leadership Style; Crisis Management; Brands and Branding; Product Positioning; Segmentation; Asia; India

24 Oct 2019
Blog Post

Harvard’s JD/MBA: Viroopa Volla (JD/MBA 2021) Answers Your Questions

first summer working for Star Maa and Bigg Boss Telugu 2, a popular reality TV show in India. She spent her second summer as a Restructuring and Special Situations associate at PJT Partners in New York. Viroopa hopes to pursue a career at... View Details

30 Oct 2019
Research & Ideas

How to Recover Gracefully After Shutting Down Your Startup

School, says that shutting down a startup is almost always a messy affair. When a venture requires a cash infusion to survive, its founders may turn to bottom-fisher investors who force the company to restructure its capitalization,... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost

05 May 2008
Research & Ideas

Connecting with Consumers Using Deep Metaphors

blocks for developing customer relationships. Third, because deep metaphors are shared by consumers who may vary considerably on the surface, they become very powerful tools for developing new product concepts, communicating about them, View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Consumer Products

16 Mar 2020
Research & Ideas

How the Coronavirus Is Already Rewriting the Future of Business

gone. This is an opportunity to learn Slack and Zoom and have a mentor teach you how to use these tools. The second thing is, working remotely is very effective if you can also restructure the organizational processes for how... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

September 2009 (Revised June 2011)
Case

Mercury Athletic: Valuing the Opportunity

By: Timothy A. Luehrman and Joel L. Heilprin

In January 2007, West Coast Fashions, Inc., a large designer and marketer of branded apparel, announced a strategic reorganization that would result in the divestiture of their wholly owned footwear subsidiary, Mercury Athletic. John Liedtke, the head of business... View Details

Keywords: Mergers ＆ Acquisitions; Sensitivity Analysis; Cost of Capital; Restructuring; Valuation; Cash Flow; Mergers and Acquisitions; Corporate Finance; Apparel and Accessories Industry

December 2011 (Revised April 2012)
Case

Pierre Frankel in Moscow (A): Unfreezing Change

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Matthew Bird

A young and upcoming French executive in a global technology company is sent to Moscow as deputy managing director to turn around the Russia subsidiary. He must report to the subsidiary's managing director (a large reason for the organization's underperformance) and to... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Selection and Staffing; Change Management; Restructuring; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Moscow

April 2019 (Revised December 2021)
Case

Sears: The Demise of an American Icon

By: Kristin Mugford and Sarah L. Abbott

In 2019, ESL Investments’ $5.2 billion offer to purchase Sears Holdings out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy, was accepted, despite opposition from the company's unsecured creditors and other parties. ESL, which was led by Eddie Lampert, had acquired a stake in Sears following... View Details

Keywords: Bankruptcy; Reorganization; Bonds; Restructuring; Business Divisions; Transformation; Fairness; Borrowing and Debt; Credit; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Corporate Governance; Motivation and Incentives; Retail Industry; United States

January 2017
Case

The Six CEOs of Tyco International Ltd.

By: John R. Wells and Gabriel Ellsworth

In September 2016, Johnson Controls, Inc. completed the acquisition of Tyco International PLC, a $9.9 billion business with operating profits of $884 million. The purchase consideration was $14.4 billion. Although the deal was billed as a merger, Ireland-based Tyco... View Details

Keywords: Tyco; Dennis Kozlowski; Edward Breen; Fire Safety; Fire Protection; Security; Packaging; Securities And Exchange Commission; Fraud; Accounting; Accounting Audits; Earnings Management; Financial Statements; Goodwill Accounting; Acquisition; Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Conglomerates; Business Divisions; Business Exit or Shutdown; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Headquarters; Business Model; Business Organization; For-Profit Firms; Restructuring; Crime and Corruption; Engineering; Applied Optics; Chemicals; Construction; Metals and Minerals; Ethics; Finance; Cash Flow; Public Equity; Stock Options; Financing and Loans; Initial Public Offering; Profit; Revenue; Geographic Location; Geographic Scope; Global Range; Globalized Firms and Management; Multinational Firms and Management; Corporate Accountability; Corporate Disclosure; Health Care and Treatment; Business History; Executive Compensation; Selection and Staffing; Courts and Trials; Lawfulness; Lawsuits and Litigation; Business or Company Management; Goals and Objectives; Growth and Development Strategy; Market Entry and Exit; Public Ownership; Problems and Challenges; Strategy; Business Strategy; Competition; Competitive Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Consolidation; Corporate Strategy; Diversification; Expansion; Horizontal Integration; Value; Chemical Industry; Construction Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Electronics Industry; Energy Industry; Industrial Products Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Mining Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry; Semiconductor Industry; Telecommunications Industry; Utilities Industry; Republic of Ireland; Switzerland; Bermuda; United States; New Hampshire

March 2000 (Revised November 2000)
Case

IBM Corporation Turnaround

By: Robert D. Austin and Richard L. Nolan

Describes the details of IBM's dramatic corporate turnaround in the early 1990s led by CEO Louis V. Gerstner. Accounts of events are from interviews with IBM executives. Covers the factors that led to the company's decline and actions taken to recover. View Details

Keywords: Transformation; Restructuring; Management Teams; Management Practices and Processes; Leading Change; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Computer Industry; Information Technology Industry