Publications

April 2007 (Revised June 2008)
Background Note

USG

By: Elie Ofek and Kerry Herman

Serves as a background note for purposes of class discussion around next-generation innovation at USG. Describes the company, its products, and competitors. Of relevance is the fact that it recently filed for Chapter 11 due to litigation over asbestos-related claims.... View Details

Keywords: Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Innovation and Invention; Lawsuits and Litigation; Competition

Find at Harvard

18 Oct 2021
Blog Post

Embracing Activism for Social Change

In 2020, the city of Detroit logged some 7,000 calls involving mental health emergencies—a critical issue, notes Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, who says, “When the mentally ill turn to the police for a response, the system is broken.” To fix... View Details

22 Feb 2022
News

Q&A: The Post-Pandemic Path

In the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States, Robin Greenwood, the George Gund Professor of Finance and Banking and Anne and James F. Rothenberg Faculty Fellow, saw another catastrophe... View Details

Keywords: April White

13 Oct 2015
First Look

October 13, 2015

2015 Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press Shadow Cold War: The Sino-Soviet Competition for the Third World By: Friedman, Jeremy Abstract—The conflict between the United States and the Soviet... View Details

April 1991 (Revised July 1994)
Case

Southland Corp. (B)

By: Richard S. Ruback

Examines Southland's financial difficulties following the LBO in 1987 up to the first restructuring plan in July 1990. The teaching objectives are: to explore the complexities of a failed leverage buyout and the operating restrictions that result from financial... View Details

Keywords: Leveraged Buyouts; Restructuring; Equity; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Financing and Loans; Crisis Management

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... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

02 Jun 2009
First Look

First Look: June 2, 2009

Working PapersTruth in Giving: Experimental Evidence on the Welfare Effects of Informed Giving to the Poor Authors:Christina Fong and Felix Oberholzer-Gee Abstract It is often difficult for donors to predict the value View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

25 Aug 2015
First Look

First Look Tuesday

may be less effective in protecting financial stability. Our analysis sheds light on the fundamental tensions inherent in regulating the shadow banking system. Publisher's link: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=49510 2015... View Details

26 Mar 2008
First Look

First Look: March 26, 2008

of the energy company Cinergy, has led the company from the brink of bankruptcy to one of the premier energy companies through selecting a... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

Portrait Project

Jocelyne Moyer

Bankruptcy is a word I learned very young. Bankruptcy is when a company's liabilities exceed its assets, so a process is used to sort everything out. But to me, bankruptcy is... View Details

June 1991 (Revised July 1993)
Case

Sunbeam Oster Co., Inc.

By: Steven R. Fenster

Japonica Partners, an investment firm, is trying to determine whether there is any unseen value in Sunbeam Oster Co., Inc., a Chapter 11 debtor. If there is, Japonica must consider the means by which they can acquire control of a company in Chapter 11. View Details

Keywords: Valuation; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Acquisition; Financial Services Industry

05 Dec 2016
News

The Dragon’s Tale

five minutes or so.” Fast-forward 37 years, and that same roadway is 10-lanes wide and jammed with traffic from 7:00 in the morning until 9:00 at night. During more than 70 visits to China, McFarlan has watched the leaders of a nation... View Details

Keywords: Deborah Blagg

01 Dec 1998
News

Short Takes

managers' time to educate them, communicate with them, and develop informal relationships with them so those owners will have a better understanding of what the company is trying to do." Who Gets the Credit for Bankruptcy? The number... View Details

Keywords: Judith A. Ross

April 2000 (Revised December 2001)
Case

AirTex Aviation

By: Brian J. Hall and Carleen Madigan

Two young and inexperienced MBAs buy a virtually bankrupt company. They design a decentralized control system organized around profit centers. As a case in control systems, there is ample detail for a discussion of design issues, control of independent profit centers,... View Details

Keywords: Air Transportation; Management Systems; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Air Transportation Industry

February 1982 (Revised June 1990)
Case

Massey-Ferguson Ltd.—1980

By: Carliss Y. Baldwin and Scott P. Mason

Massey Ferguson began fiscal year 1981 in default on $2.5 billion of outstanding debt. The company's future depends on the ability of lenders, the governments of Canada and Ontario, and management, to agree on a refinancing plan. The case reviews Massey's performance... View Details

Keywords: Financial Condition; Financial Markets; Financing and Loans; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Financial Strategy; Borrowing and Debt; Corporate Finance; Canada

July 2007 (Revised May 2008)
Case

Cable & Wireless America

By: Guhan Subramanian and Eliot Sherman

Describes the auction of Cable & Wireless America (CWA), a bankrupt subsidiary of the British telecommunications company Cable & Wireless. While an initial "stalking-horse" bid valued the assets at $125 million, after a long day and night of bidding between eight... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Auctions; Bids and Bidding; Negotiation Process

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