Publications

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

October 2009 (Revised July 2014)
Teaching Note

New Century Financial Corporation

By: Suraj Srinivasan and Krishna G. Palepu

Teaching Note for [109034] and [113-002]. View Details

Keywords: Management Practices and Processes; Business Model; Financial Liquidity; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Managerial Roles; Accounting Audits; Financial Crisis; Financial Services Industry; United States

fall 2010
Article

Lawsuits and Empire: On the Enforcement of Sovereign Debt in Latin America

By: Faisal Z. Ahmed, Laura Alfaro and Noel Maurer

The re-occurring phenomenon of sovereign default has prompted an enormous theoretical and empirical literature. Most of this research has focused on why countries ever chose to pay their debts (or why private creditors ever expected repayment). The problem originates... View Details

Keywords: Lawsuits and Litigation; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Sovereign Finance; Borrowing and Debt; Debt Securities; Motivation and Incentives; Markets; Equity; Banking Industry; Latin America

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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

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

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

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

06 Feb 2012
Research & Ideas

Kodak: A Parable of American Competitiveness

American company that filed for bankruptcy protection in January. The company developed the first digital camera in 1975. Yet Kodak was never able to ride the digital wave over the long haul, and the company's invention ironically served... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; 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

01 Jun 2009
News

Big Bailouts, Little Debate

Duhigg Photo Courtesy Charles Duhigg As a business writer for the New York Times, I often bump into HBS classmates and alumni who ask me, in a whisper, “What’s the real story behind the economic crisis? There’s some hidden tale that explains everything, right?” The... View Details

Keywords: Charles Duhigg; Finance; Administration of Economic Programs; Government

December 2010
Article

The Case for Professional Boards

By: Robert C. Pozen

When the world's largest financial institutions had to be rescued from insolvency in 2008, many experts laid the blame at the feet of corporate boards. But insufficient board oversight is a problem that had supposedly been solved in 2002. As the United States... View Details

Keywords: Financial Institutions; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Governing and Advisory Boards; Failure; Accounting Audits; Quality; Behavior; Legal Liability; Experience and Expertise; Corporate Governance; Governance Controls; Performance Effectiveness; United States

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01 Dec 2008
News

A Force for Good

Fouraker’s Deanship (1970 to 1980), in particular, McArthur held a range of increasingly important administrative positions. He also took on a highly unusual outside-world assignment as a Trustee in Bankruptcy of the Penn Central... View Details

Keywords: Jeffrey L. Cruikshank; Construction of Buildings; Construction; Monetary Authorities-Central Bank; Finance; Hospitals; Health, Social Assistance; Publishing Industries (except Internet); Information; Wood Product Manufacturing; Manufacturing; Rail Transportation; Transportation

09 Dec 2010
News

Driving the Market for Big-Rig Engines

Keywords: Machinery Manufacturing; Manufacturing

February 2011 (Revised December 2022)
Supplement

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

By: Stuart C. Gilson and Sarah Abbott

One of the leading publishers of textbooks and other educational materials for the U.S. K-12 educational instruction market has suffered a dramatic decline in sales and profits in the wake of the 2008-2009 financial market crisis and economic recession, and it now... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Decisions; Economic Slowdown and Stagnation; Borrowing and Debt; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Profit; Crisis Management; Goals and Objectives; Sales; Competition; Publishing Industry; United States

February 2010 (Revised September 2011)
Case

Lehman Brothers

By: Tom Nicholas and David Chen

In 2008, the U.S. financial system was in a state of crisis and Lehman Brothers went from a major Wall Street investment bank to an insolvent institution. It was a swift end for a firm that had its beginnings over 150 years prior. What would be the firm's legacy? And... View Details

Keywords: History; Business History; Development Economics; Business Exit or Shutdown; Investment Banking; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Economic Growth; Financial Crisis; Financial Services Industry; United States