Publications

SSRN

Read Now

August 2006 (Revised June 2010)
Case

SUN Brewing (A)

The Khemka family of India, founders, managers, and majority owners of Russia-based SUN Brewing, faces a difficult decision in 1998. Following the rouble's massive devaluation in August 1998, the stock price of SUN Brewing, which is publicly listed on the Luxemburg... View Details

Keywords: Family Business; Decision Choices and Conditions; Capital Markets; Financing and Loans; Emerging Markets; India; Russia

December 2001 (Revised April 2003)
Case

Financing PPL Corporation's Growth Strategy

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Carrie Ferman

PPL Corp., an electric utility in Pennsylvania, needs to finance $1 billion of peaking plants as part of its new growth strategy. In February 2001, Steve May, director of finance for PPL's Global Division, is responsible for recommending a finance plan. After... View Details

Keywords: Financial Management; Financial Instruments; Project Finance; Financial Strategy; Corporate Finance; Leasing

10 Nov 2009
First Look

First Look: Nov. 10

no. 11 (November 2009) Article: http://hbr.harvardbusiness.org/2009/11/what-would-peter-say/ar/1 Teach Workers About the Perils of Debt Authors:Annamaria Lusardi and Peter Tufano Publication:Harvard Business Review 87, no. 11 (November... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

16 Jul 2013
First Look

First Look: July 16

low and unstable income, but also by heavy debt burdens. We find that the inability to save contributes to this indebtedness. Access to free savings accounts substantially decreases participants' propensity to use short-term credit. In... View Details

Keywords: Anna Secino

12 May 2015
Working Paper Summaries

Financing Payouts

Keywords: by Joan Farre-Mensa, Roni Michaely & Martin C. Schmalz

31 Jul 2012
First Look

First Look: July 31

PublicationsFinancial Development, Fixed Costs and International Trade Authors:Bo Becker, David Greenberg, and Jinzhu Chen Publication:Review of Corporate Finance Studies (forthcoming) Abstract Exporting firms face significant up-front costs in product design,... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

Research Summary

Innovation and Productivity

In this stream of research, Professor Steinwender examines how firms adjust their innovative behavior and productivity in response to changes in the external environment. Analyzing Spanish firm-level data, she finds that two mechanisms proposed in the economic... View Details

October 2013 (Revised February 2019)
Teaching Note

Red Hen Baking Company

By: Richard Ruback, Royce Yudkoff and Lisa Paige

The case explores the decision to expand in a small business setting. In 2007, the Red Hen Baking Company (RHB) was deciding whether to move from its cramped and inefficient Duxbury, Vermont facility to a new facility in nearby Middlesex, Vermont. It had been in... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Capital; Risk Management; Expansion

24 Jul 2000
Research & Ideas

Value Maximization and Stakeholder Theory

our actions and opportunities, at least in the short run. It is our job as directors, managers, and employees to resist the temptation to conform to the pressures of equity and debt markets when those markets do not have the private... View Details

Keywords: by Michael C. Jensen

23 Dec 2014
First Look

First Look: December 23

answer might have appeared just too obvious: payouts are funded with free cash flow-at least over long enough time periods. In stark contrast to this commonly held view, we find that firms rely on the capital markets to finance a third of aggregate payouts, mainly with... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

23 Jan 2023
Research & Ideas

After High-Profile Failures, Can Investors Still Trust Credit Ratings?

Credit ratings play an essential role in global finance by assessing whether borrowers can meet their debt obligations. Agency analysts study data from financial statements to make initial assessments about bond issuers, which include... View Details

Keywords: by Ben Rand

16 Nov 2021
HBS Case

How a Company Made Employees So Miserable, They Killed Themselves

can make extreme means seem justifiable.” A company spiraling into debt France Télécom’s troubles started in the late 1990s, after the French government turned the national telephone monopoly into a publicly traded company, now known as... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

November 2015
Case

Katherine Schuler at Boxes & Bins, Inc.

By: Linda A. Hill and James Kindley

This case is about Katherine Schuler, soon to become senior vice president of marketing at a fast-growing retail organization, Boxes & Bins (B&B). Part of Schuler's success has been due to her "fit" into a company with clear values and principles. In particular, B&B... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Personal Development and Career; Growth and Development Strategy; Retail Industry

01 Oct 2009
Working Paper Summaries

Systemic Risk and the Refinancing Ratchet Effect

Keywords: by Amir E. Khandani, Andrew W. Lo & Robert C. Merton; Construction; Real Estate

02 Oct 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, October 2, 2018

significant chilling effect on downstream innovation. Download working paper: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=54706 Towards a New Approach for Upgrading Europe’s Competitiveness By: Ketels, Christian, and Michael E. Porter Abstract—The traumatic... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

January 2025
Case

Arsenal Capital Partners' Refinancing of Pinnacle

By: Victoria Ivashina and Srimayi Mylavarapu

Arsenal Capital Partners’ portfolio company, Pinnacle, a leading producer of high-performance adhesive technologies, has experienced rapid growth under Arsenal’s ownership. Over just two years, Pinnacle's EBITDA increased from $13.5 million to $60 million. By mid-2021,... View Details

Keywords: Business Exit or Shutdown; Decision Choices and Conditions; Private Equity; Financing and Loans; Growth Management

March 2004 (Revised April 2005)
Case

International Rivers Network and the Bujagali Dam Project (A)

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Aldo Sesia

In the summer of 2002, the International Rivers Network (IRN), an environmental NGO located in Berkeley, California, was engaged in what appeared to be the last hours of a three year campaign to stop a $582 million dam and hydropower project at Bujagali Falls in... View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Corporate Disclosure; Project Finance; Investment; Environmental Sustainability; Projects; Developing Countries and Economies; Energy Industry; Uganda

28 Aug 2009
Working Paper Summaries

The Impact of Private Equity Ownership on Portfolio Firms’ Corporate Tax Planning

Keywords: by Brad Badertscher, Sharon P. Katz & Sonja Olhoft Rego; Financial Services

2025
Working Paper

Bank Capital and the Growth of Private Credit

By: Sergey Chernenko, Robert Ialenti and David Scharfstein

We show that business development companies (BDCs), a significant source of private credit, are very well capitalized according to bank capital frameworks. These types of private credit funds have median risk-based capital ratios of about 36%, which is 26 percentage... View Details

Keywords: Financing and Loans; Capital; Credit; Financial Institutions