Publications

01 Apr 2008
First Look

First Look: April 1, 2008

Case 208-069 Delphi Corporation, operating under Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, has filed a plan of reorganization with the court, under which a consortium of hedge funds... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

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

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

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

16 Jul 2018
Blog Post

3 Key Take-a-Ways From My Summer at Zalando

to customers’ requests when they call / send emails. I had the chance to shadow Customer Care specialist covering the Spanish market, who taught me the nitty-gritty of his job. It was striking to learn how... View Details

Keywords: Consumer Products / Retail

01 Sep 2018
News

After the Fall

crisis provided the political will to create safeguards in the system that, even with deterioration over time, will protect us for a long time to come,” he says. Shining a Light on Shadow Banks David Scharfstein, Edmund Cogswell Converse... View Details

Keywords: Jennifer Myers; illustration by Dan Bejar; Monetary Authorities-Central Bank; Finance; Securities, Commodities, and Other Financial Investments; Finance; Executive, Legislative, and Other General Government Support; Government

12 Aug 2008
First Look

First Look: August 12, 2008

the Statement of Financial Accounting Standards, No. 141R. Purchase the note: http://hbsp.harvard.edu/b01/en/common/item_detail.jhtml?id=108067 ADR Choices Harvard Business School Note 908-040 Six different business disputes, all in the... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

February 2011 (Revised January 2017)
Case

Countrywide plc

By: Stuart C. Gilson and Sarah L. Abbott

One of the world's leading investors in distressed companies, Oaktree Capital Management, is contemplating a "loan to own" investment in the debt of Countrywide plc, a financially troubled residential real estate agent based in the U.K. Only sixteen months earlier,... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Restructuring; Financial Crisis; Capital Structure; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Financial Management; Investment; Real Estate Industry; United Kingdom

31 Mar 2009
First Look

First Look: March 31, 2009

Shadow of a Giant (A) Harvard Business School Case 609-002 As the only significant competitor to Intel Corporation in PC microprocessors, Advanced Micro Devices faced daunting investment choices. Not only... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

09 Apr 2001
Research & Ideas

The Manager’s Guide to Communicating with Customers Collection

whole trip, and all of these things cast a shadow on the luggage purchase. But these origins are often ignored." Zaltman believes that the emotions underlying a motivation to purchase can be unearthed... View Details

Keywords: by Richard Bierck; Retail

December 2002 (Revised June 2003)
Case

Vignette: The Rebar Dilemma

By: G. Felda Hardymon, Josh Lerner and Ann Leamon

Martin Smith, a new associate at an LBO firm, must respond to a problem posed by his boss, based on an historical deal that suddenly came undone. After months of negotiation, his firm's plan to buy a bankrupt competitor of one of its portfolio companies and close it... View Details

Keywords: Leveraged Buyouts; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Competition; Growth and Development Strategy; Business or Company Management

18 Jul 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, July 18, 2017

customer value propositions. However, this proved difficult to sustain over the long run, and the business ultimately went into bankruptcy in 2001. How did Polaroid rise to a position of such preeminence,... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

03 Jun 2014
First Look

First Look: June 3

from its existing term loan lender that includes some aggressive and unusual features. This includes the requirement that, immediately upon filing for Chapter 11, School Specialty undertake to sell its assets under Section 363 of the U.S.... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

Forthcoming
Article

Crisis Interventions in Corporate Insolvency

By: Samuel Antill and Christopher Clayton

We model the optimal resolution of insolvent firms in general equilibrium. Collateral-constrained banks lend to (i) solvent firms to finance investments and (ii) distressed firms to avoid liquidation. Liquidations create negative fire-sale externalities. Liquidations... View Details

Keywords: Insolvent Firms; Government Intervention; Liquidation; Econometric Models; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Policy

SSRN

March 2020
Case

Sizmek Chapter 11: Surviving Walled Gardens in Their Ad Tech Empire

By: Ayelet Israeli, Danilo Tauro and Sarah Gulick

This case provides a post-mortem of the advertising technology (adtech) company Sizmek. Sizmek grew via multiple acquisitions, with the vision of becoming an integrated adtech company that could leverage AI to buy digital media, while creating and serving display and... View Details

Keywords: Digital Marketing; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Mergers and Acquisitions; Applications and Software; Internet and the Web; Competition; Marketing; Advertising Industry; Web Services Industry; United States; Europe

23 Apr 2016
News

Tipping His Cap to Open Source

As COO at Delta Airlines, Jim Whitehurst (MBA 1994) helped bring the legacy carrier back from the brink of bankruptcy in 2006 while fending off a takeover bid by US Airways. That feat accomplished, he moved... View Details

01 Dec 2013
News

Faculty Q&A: Playing the Hits

ALL IN: The bigger the bet Hollywood makes, the better. Photo courtesy of Anita Elberse Offstage at a Lady Gaga concert seems an unlikely place for academic fieldwork. But that's exactly the kind of... View Details

Keywords: Patrick Kirchner; Arts, Entertainment; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services

June 1991 (Revised February 1994)
Case

Transportation Displays, Inc. (A)

William Apfelbaum, president and CEO of Transportation Displays, Inc., must restructure both the company's method of doing business and its liabilities to keep it from bankruptcy. The value he hopes to receive from the reorganized company will be an important issue in... View Details

Keywords: Value Creation; Restructuring; Insolvency and Bankruptcy