Publications

April 2002 (Revised February 2003)
Module Note

Teaching Project Finance: An Overview of the Large-Scale Investment Course

By: Benjamin C. Esty

Large-Scale Investment is a case-based course about project finance for second-year MBA students. Project finance involves the creation of a legally independent project company financed with nonrecourse debt for the purpose of investing in a single-purpose industrial... View Details

Keywords: Projects; Financing and Loans

07 Jul 2022
HBS Case

How a Multimillion-Dollar Ice Cream Startup Melted Down (and Bounced Back)

pay enough attention to financial discipline and keeping track of cash in and cash out, [which] can get an entrepreneur into trouble.” Even with an average store profitability of 15 percent, and the fact that it was shipping its View Details

Keywords: by Pamela Reynolds

August 2019 (Revised March 2022)
Case

Family Matters: Governance at the Zamil Group

By: Christina R. Wing, Suraj Srinivasan and Esel Çekin

This case focuses on a large Saudi Arabian industrial conglomerate and family business Zamil Group’s corporate and family governance journey. The 12 sons of the founder led and grew the group successfully after taking over from their father in 1961. The secret to their... View Details

Keywords: Middle East; Family Ownership; Family-owned Business; Saudi Arabia; Family Business; Governance; Organizational Structure; Values and Beliefs; Industrial Products Industry; Industrial Products Industry; Middle East; Saudi Arabia; Bahrain

Web

Global Impact of the Collapse | Baker Library | Bloomberg Center | Harvard Business School

every inch of those financial graphs represents hope or fear, confidence or dread, triumph or ruin, celebration or sorrow.” [22] Investors in financial products related to... View Details

August 2011 (Revised November 2018)
Case

Lind Equipment

By: Richard S. Ruback and Royce Yudkoff

Lind Equipment failed to meet its loan covenants with its senior bank lender in the summer of 2008, just six months after it was acquired. While the senior bank debt comprised only 6% of the capital used in the acquisition and was fully secured, it exercised its right... View Details

Keywords: Financial Condition; Borrowing and Debt; Capital; Revenue; Financing and Loans; Financial Strategy; Financial Management; Acquisition; Financial Crisis; Currency Exchange Rate; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Industrial Products Industry; Industrial Products Industry

April 2013 (Revised April 2013)
Case

Justin Anson Distillery, Inc.

A distiller increases whiskey production and income declines because of accounting methods in use. Questions are raised regarding the treatment of expenditures which can be classified as production, inventory, or period costs. The necessary aging process raises added... View Details

Keywords: Financial Statements; Financing and Loans; Cost; Accounting; Food and Beverage Industry

15 Jul 2008
First Look

First Look: July 15, 2008

relentless execution—efficient, timely, consistent production and delivery of goods or services—is the surefire path to customer satisfaction and positive financial results. But this is a myth in the... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

01 May 2024
What Do You Think?

Have You Had Enough?

Is About Control, Delegation, or Theater? 2006: How Important Is 'Executive Intelligence' for Leaders? 2003: Can We Have Too Much Productivity Improvement? Key historic events: The COVID-19 pandemic: What Are Lessons for Leaders from This... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

17 Dec 2012
Research & Ideas

Teaming in the Twenty-First Century

workforce are expressed," she says. “The most counterproductive thing a manager can do is to come down hard in a punitive manner on a well-intentioned failure.” "There's a growing recognition across all sectors about the importance of speaking up," Edmondson continues.... View Details

Keywords: by Maggie Starvish

December 2007
Case

Ruling the Modern Corporation: The Debate over Limited Liability in Massachusetts

By: David A. Moss and Eugene Kintgen

In 1830, Governor Levi Lincoln, Jr. urged the Massachusetts state legislature to introduce a limited liability regime for manufacturing corporations similar to that adopted in neighboring states. At least since 1809, shareholders in the state's manufacturing... View Details

Keywords: Capital; Debt Securities; Legal Liability; Production; Business and Shareholder Relations; Manufacturing Industry; Massachusetts

August 1995 (Revised September 1995)
Case

Hutton Branch Manager (A)

By: Lynn S. Paine and Jane Palley Katz

The manager of an E.F. Hutton branch office must decide how best to approach a colleague whose aggressive and ethically problematic cash management practices have cost the branch a major institutional client. These practices had been encouraged by top management at... View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Business or Company Management; Decisions; Management Skills; Cash Flow; Financial Management; Investment; Management Teams; Financial Services Industry

Find at Harvard

29 Jul 2019
Research & Ideas

How Companies Benefit When Employees Work Remotely

Github, among others, were 4.4 percent more productive than those following a more traditional “work-from-home” policy that gives schedule flexibility but requires workers to live near the office. “While prior academic research has... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz

October 2024 (Revised November 2024)
Case

SWEN Blue Ocean: Impact Investing Goes to Sea

By: Vikram S Gandhi and David Allen

In August 2023, SWEN Blue Ocean, a €170 million impact fund that invested in startups contributing to ocean sustainability, faced a critical investment decision. Part of SWEN Capital Partners, an €8 billion, Paris-based private equity fund, Blue Ocean was co-founded in... View Details

Keywords: Communication Technology; Environmental Sustainability; Green Technology; Venture Capital; Private Equity; Investment Funds; Science-Based Business; Technological Innovation; Financial Services Industry; France; Paris; Italy

08 May 2012
First Look

First Look: May 8

supported this prediction. Auxiliary analyses suggest that contrast effects and non-random scheduling of interviews are unlikely alternative explanations. Six Myths of Product Development Authors:Stefan Thomke and Donald Reinertsen... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

29 Jan 2019
First Look

New Research and Ideas, January 29, 2019

forthcoming Journal of International Economics Corporate Debt, Firm Size and Financial Fragility in Emerging Markets By: Alfaro, Laura, Gonzalo Asis, Anusha Chari, and Ugo Panizza Abstract— The post-Global View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

04 Oct 2019
Blog Post

Finding My Passion in the Startup Space

This post was originally published on the Alumni Careers Blog. When I was 17, I moved to the US to study. Back home in Greece, the country was succumbing to a financial crisis. I questioned whether I would ever be able to move back to my... View Details

Web

Business, Government & the International Economy - Faculty & Research

Mueller, Joris, Jaya Y. Wen, and Cheryl Wu. "Public Displays of Alignment: Firm Speech in Autocratic Regimes." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 25-064, June 2025. Integral Outside: The Financial Curb Market, the Electric... View Details

23 Jun 2023
HBS Case

This Company Lets Employees Take Charge—Even with Life and Death Decisions

care teams after experiencing firsthand as a nurse, and then a decade as a senior leader of two large health care organizations, how the health care system managed quality and productivity in ways that required counterproductive layers of... View Details

Keywords: by Annelena Lobb; Health

December 1961 (Revised January 1994)
Case

Plowman Poultry Farm

By: Samuel L. Hayes III

A poultry farmer wanted to expand production greatly and sought a large extension of his line of credit from his bank in addition to his existing loan on which he had not made payment. The Board of Directors must review a detailed account of events leading to this... View Details

Keywords: Governing and Advisory Boards; Animal-Based Agribusiness; Expansion; Decision Choices and Conditions; Financing and Loans; Commercial Banking; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry