Publications

October 2021 (Revised December 2021)
Case

PhonePe: Democratizing Payments in India

By: Michael Chu and Rachna Tahilyani

The co-founders of PhonePe, India’s leading digital payment platform are considering pursuing various growth opportunities in a huge country just entering the digital age. In a highly competitive industry, the founders are keenly aware that making the right choices is... View Details

Keywords: Digital Platform; Digital Banking; Business Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; Decision Choices and Conditions; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Digital Platforms; Financial Services Industry; Asia; India

09 Jul 2020
Research & Ideas

It’s Time to Reset Decision-Making in Your Organization

competitors. He also contends that downturns can provide a little flexibility because the pressure to deliver short-term financial results is lessened. When all companies are reporting poor results, acting to make your company look a... View Details

Keywords: by Boris Groysberg and Sarah Abbott

2008
Simulation

DEC v. Riverside

By: David A. Lax, James K. Sebenius, Lawrence Susskind and Thomas Weeks

Riverside Lumber is a pulp manufacturer in a small town in the Pacific Northwest. Riverside regularly dumps effluent into a nearby river. The Division of Environmental Conservation (DEC) claims that the effluent is toxic and jeopardizes the local salmon catch.... View Details

Keywords: Competition; Conflict Management; Cooperation; Courts and Trials; Decision Choices and Conditions; Natural Environment; Negotiation; Pulp and Paper Industry; Northwestern United States

October 2023
Case

Shredder Setups or Straightlining into Risk?: Investing in What You Love

By: Lauren Cohen and Grace Headinger

Bob Hall, President of Green Gables Partners, evaluated whether to angel invest into an up-and-coming ski brand. As the son-in-law of the founder of Vera Bradley and having retired from a lengthy career on Wall Street, Hall was well-versed in both direct investing and... View Details

Keywords: Family Office; Angel Investors; Direct Investment; Family Business; Business Growth and Maturation; Small Business; Financial Strategy; Personal Finance; Investment Portfolio; Private Equity; Decision Choices and Conditions; Risk and Uncertainty; Consumer Products Industry; Montana; United States

Web

Systems Integration - Institute For Strategy And Competitiveness

HBS ISC Health Care Health Care Value-Based Health Care Health Care Courses Fast Facts Value-Based Health Care Value-Based Health Care Cases & Teaching Notes Key Concepts Key Stakeholders Publications Team Work With Us Presentations Key Concepts Key Concepts Organize... View Details

05 Jun 2012
First Look

First Look: June 5

professional and political characteristics of FASB members and SEC commissioners predict the accounting "reliability" and "relevance" of proposed standards. Notably, we find FASB members with backgrounds in financial... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

November 2023 (Revised April 2024)
Case

Celsius Network Inc.: Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt in the Brave New World of Crypto Bankruptcy

By: Stuart C. Gilson and Sarah L. Abbott

In July 2022, Celsius Network filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. CEO Alex Mashinsky acknowledged that Celsius had grown its assets “faster than the Company was prepared to deploy [them]” and as a result had made “certain poor asset deployment decisions.” Two months after... View Details

Keywords: Cryptocurrency; Chapter 11; Restructuring; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Asset Management; Acquisition; Borrowing and Debt; Financial Services Industry; United States

Web

Profiles - MBA

Consumer Tech, Social Impact Tech Formative experience at the intersection of technology and business: A few years ago, I found out that my father was at risk for diabetic retinopathy—a condition that can cause vision loss in diabetics.... View Details

March 2011 (Revised January 2015)
Case

H Partners and Six Flags

By: Robin Greenwood and Michael Gorzynski

Rehan Jaffer, the founder of hedge fund H Partners, is considering what to do with his investment in Six Flags. H Partners had invested a significant amount of the firm's capital in the senior bonds of U.S.-based Six Flags, following that company's bankruptcy filing. View Details

Keywords: Behavioral Finance; Private Equity; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Debt Securities; Bonds; Investment; Financial Services Industry; Financial Services Industry; United States

05 Jul 2012
What Do You Think?

Why Is Trust So Hard to Achieve in Management?

Article Revered management thought-leaders such as Chris Argyris and the late W. Edwards Deming argued years ago that trust is an essential condition for good performance. Trust is an issue on the minds of many people these days. A good... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

20 Dec 2022
Op-Ed

Employee Feedback: The Key to Retention During the Great Resignation

Kroger, Amazon, and many others have experienced similar conflicts. A recent study finds that “toxic culture”—unethical leadership behavior and disregard for employees’ health, diversity, financial security, and self-respect—is a far more... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Beer

September 2005 (Revised April 2007)
Case

Spyder Active Sports - 2004

By: Belen Villalonga, Dwight B. Crane and James Quinn

David Jacobs founded a high-end ski apparel company in 1978. He successfully built and grew the company, establishing a major international brand that appealed to ski racers and other active skiers. In 1995, he sought external financing to support further growth of the... View Details

Keywords: Private Ownership; Private Equity; Financial Liquidity; Business Exit or Shutdown; Valuation; Brands and Branding; Wealth; Family Business; Financing and Loans; Globalization; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Sports Industry; Colorado

June 2017
Teaching Note

The U-Turns of National Truck Stops

By: Nori Gerardo Lietz and Alexander W. Schultz

Raj Makam had spent months trying to restructure a 2006 investment he had made in National Truck Stops, Inc. (“NTS”) as a senior member of Oaktree Capital Management’s (“Oaktree”) Mezzanine finance business within their Corporate Debt platform. It was the first time... View Details

Keywords: Mezzanine Financing; Corporate Debt; Bankruptcy; Real Assets; Financing and Loans; Borrowing and Debt; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Restructuring; Private Equity; Cost vs Benefits; Atlanta; New York (city, NY)

20 Jul 2021
Research & Ideas

Bankruptcy Spells Death for Too Many Businesses

which sounds like such a great thing. People get to keep their jobs, the creditors get paid equity, and the customers don't lose this business that they loved,” says Antill, whose article Do the Right Firms Survive Bankruptcy? will appear in a forthcoming issue of The... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

September 2009
Article

Spousal Control and Intra-Household Decision Making: An Experimental Study in the Philippines

By: Nava Ashraf

Using an experimental design I elicit causal effects of spousal observability and communication on financial choices of married individuals in the Philippines. Making choices public moves men from putting money into their own account to consumption; communication with... View Details

Keywords: Intra-household; Bargaining; Experiments; Economic Development; Saving; Governance Controls; Decision Choices and Conditions; Personal Finance; Family and Family Relationships; Household; Gender

Find at Harvard

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October 2018 (Revised January 2019)
Case

Social Finance, Inc.

By: Shawn Cole and Fanele Mashwama

This case begins in February 2019 as Tracy Palandjian, co-founder and CEO of Social Finance Inc., prepares for a board meeting that will determine the future strategy of the social enterprise. Social Finance is a non-profit in the impact investment space founded in... View Details

Keywords: Impact Investment; Social Enterprise; Growth and Development Strategy; Decision Choices and Conditions

23 Oct 2000
Research & Ideas

The Strategy-Focused Organization

and encouraged them after disappointing financial performance. But what had McCool seen? The poor financial performance was due to unusual external conditions that the... View Details

Keywords: by Robert S. Kaplan & David P. Norton

July 2020
Case

King's College Hospital in Crisis

By: John R. Wells and Benjamin Weinstock

On December 11, 2017, King’s College Hospital NHS Foundation Trust (King’s), one of London’s leading teaching hospital groups, was put into “special measures” by NHS Improvement (NHSI), the financial regulator of England’s National Health Service (NHS). The future of... View Details

Keywords: Hospitals; Financing; Health Care and Treatment; Financial Condition; Crisis Management; Organizational Structure; Transformation; Strategic Planning; United Kingdom

December 2007
Case

The Campaign for Bank Insurance in Antebellum New York

By: David A. Moss and Cole Bolton

The New York State Legislature had come to a standstill in 1829 as lawmakers refused to charter any new banks or recharter any existing banks. Four of New York's forty banks had failed since 1825, and many legislatures believed that a significant change in the banking... View Details

Keywords: History; Risk Management; Government Legislation; Insurance; Decision Choices and Conditions; Banks and Banking; Banking Industry