Publications

June 2001 (Revised September 2010)
Exercise

Deal-crafting Toolkit

By: Michael A. Wheeler

Illustrates the potential sources of value creation as well as practical barriers to its achievement. Students analyze five brief scenarios that would yield efficient trades over valuation, discount rates, expectations, and risk tolerance, but that might be thwarted by... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation Deal; Negotiation Process; Behavior; Valuation; Value Creation

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15 Feb 2012
News

Will Business Step Up or Step Out?

November 2020
Case

Valuing Celgene's CVR

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Daniel Fisher

When Bristol-Myers Squibb (BMS) acquired Celgene Corporation in November 2019, Celgene shareholders received cash, BMS stock, and a contingent value right (CVRs) that would pay $9 if the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved three of Celgene’s late stage... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Value; Valuation; Judgments; Decision Making; Cash Flow; Financial Instruments; Cognition and Thinking; Pharmaceutical Industry; Biotechnology Industry; United States

December 2019 (Revised March 2021)
Case

Carroll Family Farms

By: Forest Reinhardt, Christian Godwin and James Weber

The Carroll Family, U.S. pig and grain farmers, needed to decide what to plant, whether to purchase land, emphasize pigs or grain, or other investments.

Seven family members across three generations owned and operated Carroll Family Farms (CFF). In... View Details

Keywords: Agribusiness; Animal-Based Agribusiness; Plant-Based Agribusiness; Operations; Strategy; Family Business; Asset Management; Globalization; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; United States; Brazil; China

January 2015
Case

Cresud and Argentina

By: David E. Bell and Mary Shelman

Argentina-based Cresud managed 1 million hectares (2.5 million acres) of land in South America. For 20 years, the publicly traded company's strategy had been to acquire underutilized properties and turn them into productive farmland for cattle and crops. In 2014,... View Details

Keywords: Argentina; Farmland Ownership; Farming; Government Agricultural Policy; Agribusiness; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Argentina; South America

February 13, 2025
Article

Research: The Costs of Circumventing Tariffs

By: Jaya Y. Wen, Ebehi Iyoha, Edmund Malesky and Sung-Ju Wu

When tariffs are levied against a specific country, that country might attempt to circumvent the tariff by rerouting products through a third country to avoid the higher taxes. Research in the aftermath of the 2018 U.S.-China trade war examined this phenomenon, finding... View Details

Keywords: Trade; Global Strategy; International Relations; United States; China

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2010
Working Paper

Medium Term Business Cycles in Developing Countries

By: Diego A. Comin, Norman Loayza, Farooq Pasha and Luis Serven

We build a two-country asymmetric DSGE model with two features: (i) endogenous and slow diffusion of technologies from the developed to the developing country, and (ii) adjustment costs to investment flows. We calibrate the model to match the Mexico-U.S. trade and FDI... View Details

Keywords: Business Cycles; Developing Countries and Economies; Trade; International Finance; Foreign Direct Investment; Mathematical Methods; Mexico; United States

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January 1990 (Revised November 1990)
Background Note

Note on Compensation and Incentive Systems

Provides a brief analysis of issues in the design of an effective compensation system, with particular emphasis on incentives. Provides an analytic framework for thinking about compensation. Topics covered include the composition of the pay package, fringe benefits,... View Details

Keywords: Motivation and Incentives; Compensation and Benefits

September 1997 (Revised August 2007)
Case

Bankruptcy and Restructuring at Marvel Entertainment Group

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Jason Auerbach

Marvel Entertainment Group is the leading comic book publisher in the United States, with superheros like Spider-Man, the Incredible Hulk, the X-Men, and Captain America. It is also one of the leading manufacturers of sports and entertainment trading cards under the... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Decision Choices and Conditions; Borrowing and Debt; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Governance Controls; Courts and Trials; Planning; Entertainment and Recreation Industry

March 2018 (Revised May 2018)
Case

Celgene

By: Malcolm Baker and Emily McComb

In February 2011, Adam Koppel, a managing director at Brookside Capital, the public equity arm of Bain Capital, must decide whether to increase or exit the firm’s position in Celgene Corporation. News has emerged that raises potential safety concerns associated with... View Details

Keywords: Life Sciences; Biotechnology; Public Market Investing; Celgene; Revlimid; Hedge Fund; Growth Stocks; Valuation; Investment; Decision Choices and Conditions; Analysis; Biotechnology Industry

April 2004
Tutorial

Yield Curves and Bond Ratings Tutorial

By: William E. Fruhan Jr.

To preview this online product, Authorized Faculty can call our customer service department at 1-800-545-7685 or 617-783-7600. This online tutorial explains what drives the shape of the yield curve for traded debt securities. Also describes the metrics used by rating... View Details

Keywords: Bonds; Investment Return; Financial Services Industry

21 Jul 2011
News

Goldman Sachs Model Championed by Blankfein Planted Seeds of Own Distress

March 2025 (Revised March 2025)
Case

Good for the Seller, Good for the Buyer and Good for Society: Sampo-yoshi, Sustainability and Trust at ITOCHU

By: Sandra J. Sucher and Bethelehem Y Araya

In 2024, ITOCHU CEO Masahiro Okafuji was at a crossroads. As the thirteenth CEO since ITOCHU’s founding in 1858, he had fueled the company’s growth since 2011 by bringing ITOCHU’s founding philosophy of Sampo-yoshi (good for the seller, good for the buyer and... View Details

Keywords: Sustainability; Trust; Profit; Growth and Development Strategy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Mission and Purpose; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Environmental Sustainability; Japan

06 Nov 2012
News

Election 2012: Corporate America gets feisty

February 2010
Case

Real Blue? Viagra and Intellectual Property Rights Law in China

By: Regina M. Abrami and Tracy Manty

On July 5, 2004, Pfizer's China team received disappointing news. China's patent review board just invalidated the company's existing patent on one of its most successful drugs, Viagra. Making matters worse, a Guangdong-based pharmaceutical company laid claim to... View Details

Keywords: Trade; International Relations; Patents; Trademarks; Lawsuits and Litigation; Rights; Business and Government Relations; Pharmaceutical Industry; China