Publications

January 2005 (Revised March 2008)
Case

Kohler Co. (A)

Kohler Co., best known for its plumbing fixtures, is a large, private family firm. As part of a recapitalization aimed at preserving family ownership of Kohler Co., nonfamily shareholders, who held 4% of common stock, were required to sell their shares to the company.... View Details

Keywords: Family Business; Capital Structure; Cash Flow; Stocks; Price; Family Ownership; Business and Shareholder Relations; Valuation

November 2000 (Revised December 2000)
Case

Loewen Group Inc., The

By: Stuart C. Gilson and Jose Camacho

A publiclytraded funeral home and cemetery consolidator faces imminent financial distress. The company has aggressively grown through use of debt. Restructuring the debt is potentially very costly to creditors, shareholders, suppliers, and other corporate stakeholders.... View Details

Keywords: International Accounting; Restructuring; Capital Structure; Cost of Capital; Debt Securities; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Crisis Management; Business and Shareholder Relations; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Service Industry

09 Mar 2010
First Look

First Look: March 9

talented and more risk-averse managers, and these managers work less hard, earn less, and display lower job satisfaction. Download the paper: http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/10-073.pdf Equity-Debtholder Conflicts and Capital View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

10 Sep 2013
First Look

First Look: September 10

particular, supportive incumbent industrial structures for input and output markets are strongly linked to higher establishment entry rates. We also find substantial evidence for the Chinitz effect where small local incumbent suppliers... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

15 Jan 2019
First Look

New Research and Ideas, January 15, 2019

financing a risky venture. Structured experimentation, popularized by Eric Ries’ The Lean Startup, has been widely embraced as the gold standard for how to approach the commercialization of radical new ideas. From Boston to Beijing to... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

17 Aug 2010
First Look

First Look: August 17

better ex-ante characteristics, bank-affiliated investments have slightly worse outcomes than non-affiliated investments. Also consistent with theory, the cyclicality of banks' engagement in private equity and favorable financing terms are negatively correlated with... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

17 Nov 2015
First Look

November 17, 2015

forthcoming Journal of Financial Economics Introduction: New Perspectives on Corporate Capital Structure By: Acharya, Viral, Heitor Almeida, and Malcolm Baker Abstract—The National Bureau of Economic... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

November 2020
Teaching Note

Unilever's Response to the Future of Work

By: William R. Kerr and Bailey McAfee

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 820-104. View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Human Capital; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Mission and Purpose; Organizational Structure; Transformation; Human Resources; Consumer Products Industry; Europe

01 Jun 2012
News

Letters to the Editor

Bloomfield Hills, MI A Taxing Question Regarding his My Two Cents column, “My Beautiful Capital Gain,” in the March issue, I’d ask this of Dal LaMagna (MBA 1970): The money you invested was already taxed once at ordinary income tax rates,... View Details

Keywords: Administration of Economic Programs; Government; Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services; Professional Services

13 May 2013
Blog Post

"I never thought I would be a business person until…”

areas ranging from shipping, shipbuilding, industrial plants and energy. I was asked to join the in-house consulting unit that was established right after I joined STX. Later on, I progressed on to a more finance related role dealing with corporate M&A projects as... View Details

Keywords: Manufacturing

February 1997 (Revised December 1997)
Case

Arbor Health Care Company

By: Myra M. Hart and Stephanie Dodson

A venture-funded start-up runs into trouble when health care reimbursement policies change radically. With the help of its board, the company develops a new strategy, becomes profitable, and makes a public offering. The second wave of changes introduced by Clinton... View Details

Keywords: Industry Structures; Growth and Development Strategy; Management Succession; Business Startups; Transformation; Strategy; Venture Capital; Policy; Initial Public Offering; Health Industry

01 Apr 2014
First Look

First Look: April 1

primarily on substitutes but copied from rivals. Next, they actively tested their assumptions and made major resource commitments to the business model they identified as the most lucrative. Finally, they deliberately maintained a loosely View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

30 Oct 2006
First Look

First Look: October 31, 2006

framework for sovereign capital structure analysis. It is useful for assessing vulnerability, policy analysis, risk management, investment analysis, and design of risk control strategies. Both public and... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

01 Dec 2009
News

Hope for Reform Dims

reforms.” In a freewheeling Q&A session with some 400 students in Burden Hall on September 30, Thain advocated action on three fronts: consolidating the six federal agencies that regulate financial institutions to eliminate overlapping and duplicative jurisdictions... View Details

Keywords: Securities, Commodities, and Other Financial Investments; Finance; Administration of Economic Programs; Government

22 Apr 2008
First Look

First Look: April 22, 2008

the company had lost its "human touch" in the process of professionalizing and modernizing to capitalize on the fantastic market opportunities that had opened up in Spain. Some felt that the work was now too View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

September 2019
Case

Teaming Up to Win the Rail Deal at GE (A)

By: Amy Edmondson, Ranjay Gulati and Rachna Tahilyani

In 2012, Nalin Jain, then head of GE aviation for South Asia, was given the added responsibility for GE’s transportation business in India, including bidding for a $2.5 billion contract to manufacture, service and maintain 1,000 diesel locomotives for state owned... View Details

Keywords: Recruitment; Selection and Staffing; Human Capital; Groups and Teams; Leadership Style; Leading Change; Organizational Design; Organizational Structure; Industrial Products Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Rail Industry; Transportation Industry; United States; India

23 Jan 2020
Research & Ideas

Businesses Need a 'Catalyst' to Make CSR Practices Stick

local maize farmers. By providing purchasing commitment and quality standards, the catalyst was able to access seed financing to invest in post-harvest handling and processing equipment, as well as structure on-farm training and access to... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

October 2019
Supplement

Impax Laboratories: Executing Accretive Acquisitions (B)

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Daniel Fisher

Explores events after Impax announced the acquisition of a portfolio of generic pharmaceutical products from Teva in June 2016. View Details

Keywords: Financial Reporting; Financial Statements; Mergers and Acquisitions; Capital Structure; Financial Strategy; Competition; Competitive Advantage; Corporate Strategy; Pharmaceutical Industry; United States