Publications

September 2006 (Revised April 2008)
Case

The Howland Long-Term Opportunity Fund

By: Andre F. Perold and David S. Scharfstein

Melissa Howland, founder of an investment firm, must choose between two competing investments, which differ in size, maturity, and rate of return. View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Financial Instruments; Investment Return; Investment Funds; Value

October 2002 (Revised August 2004)
Case

Canary Wharf

By: William J. Poorvu, Arthur I Segel and Camille Douglas

On September 25, 2002, Peter Anderson was due to meet with Morgan Stanley in ten minutes. Anderson had been the finance director of Canary Wharf Group (CWG) since Paul Reichmann and a group of investors had repurchased Canary Wharf in 1995. Anderson had joined Olympia... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Negotiation; Business or Company Management; Financial Management; Financial Strategy; Financing and Loans; Crisis Management; Problems and Challenges; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Success

February 2005 (Revised November 2012)
Supplement

UAL 2004: Pulling Out of Bankruptcy (CW)

By: Daniel Baird Bergstresser, Kenneth A. Froot and Darren Robert Smart

UAL is a large air transportation company with roots that go back to the 1920s. As a legacy carrier, going back to before the 1978 deregulation of air transportation markets, United Airlines is burdened with cost structures that make it difficult to compete with newer... View Details

Keywords: Bankruptcy; Compensation; Costs; Loans; Reorganization; Restructuring; Financing and Loans; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Compensation and Benefits; Air Transportation Industry; United States

June 2007
Article

Law and Finance in Historical Perspective: Politics, Bankruptcy Law, and Corporate Governance in Brazil, 1850-2002

By: Aldo Musacchio

Keywords: Law; Finance; History; Perspective; Government and Politics; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Corporate Governance; Brazil

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October 1997 (Revised January 2008)
Case

Asda (A)

By: Michael Beer and James Weber

In the mid-1980s, Asda was one of the most successful retail companies in the United Kingdom. By 1991, the chain of 200 grocery stores had a lack of direction, a demoralized workforce, declining profits, rising debt, collapsing stock price, and was facing bankruptcy.... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Crisis Management; Management Teams; Business Strategy; Retail Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; United Kingdom

October 2000 (Revised January 2002)
Case

Individual and the Corporation, The: Kathy Levinson and E*TRADE (B)

By: Joseph L. Badaracco Jr. and Susan Harmeling

Supplements the (A) case. View Details

Keywords: Conflict of Interests; Leadership; Managerial Roles; Values and Beliefs; Decision Choices and Conditions; Gender; Diversity; Financial Services Industry

31 Jul 2014
News

Making Private Equity Public Knowledge

says Sheyner. And Sheyner estimates that the industry counts only about 20,000 strong nationwide and hires just a couple thousand annually from a pool of tens of thousands, meaning that firms don't need to do much recruiting outside of the top tier. These are the View Details

Keywords: Dan Morrell

2008
Chapter

The Importance of Default Options for Retirement Saving Outcomes: Evidence from the United States

By: John Beshears, James J. Choi, David Laibson and Brigitte C. Madrian

This paper summarizes the empirical evidence on how defaults impact retirement savings outcomes. After outlining the salient features of the various sources of retirement income in the U.S., the paper presents the empirical evidence on how defaults impact retirement... View Details

Keywords: Saving; Financial Condition; Retirement; Investment Funds; Microeconomics; Outcome or Result; Government and Politics; Financial Institutions; Macroeconomics; United States

January 2006 (Revised March 2007)
Case

Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG (A): True to Brand?

By: Jeffrey Fear and Carin-Isabel Knoop

Examines one of the most important entrepreneurial decisions made in the history of Porsche, made in early 1998: to build a sport utility vehicle (SUV)--the Cayenne. After decades of relying on one or two sports car models and nearly going bankrupt and losing its... View Details

Keywords: Diversification; Supply Chain Management; Luxury; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Globalization; Brands and Branding; Manufacturing Industry; Auto Industry

06 Nov 2019
Op-Ed

Torched Planet: The Business Case to Reinvent Almost Everything

interest to torch the planet. Mark Carney, the Governor of the Bank of England, points out that insured losses from extreme weather events have risen five-fold in the last 30 years. He wonders if the financial markets face the risk of a... View Details

Keywords: by Rebecca Henderson; Energy

January 2001 (Revised March 2002)
Case

Ford Motor Company's Value Enhancement Plan

By: Andre F. Perold

In April 2000, Ford Motor Co. announced a shareholder Value Enhancement Plan (VEP) to significantly recapitalize the firm's ownership structure. Ford had accumulated $23 billion in cash reserves and under the VEP would return as much as $10 billion of this cash to... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Forecasting and Prediction; Capital Structure; Cash; Financial Liquidity; Policy; Business and Shareholder Relations; Value; Auto Industry

October 2000 (Revised January 2002)
Case

Individual and the Corporation, The: Kathy Levinson and E*TRADE (A)

By: Joseph L. Badaracco Jr. and Susan Harmeling

Kathy Levinson, the president and COO of ETRADE and a lesbian mother of two children, must decide whether and how to participate in the "No on Knight" campaign. The campaign opposes California ballot proposition 22, which requires California to recognize only marriages... View Details

Keywords: Conflict of Interests; Leadership; Managerial Roles; Values and Beliefs; Decision Choices and Conditions; Gender; Diversity; Financial Services Industry

16 Jan 2012
Research & Ideas

Private Meetings of Public Companies Thwart Disclosure Rules

executives. Two, they wanted to determine whether these meetings actually affected the success of the investors' trades. The duo began their research by obtaining detailed investor meeting records from a mid-cap company traded on the New York Stock Exchange, under the... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Financial Services

Web

Unpacking Hidden Risk in the Trusted Treasury Market | Working Knowledge

the market. While Treasuries have long been considered a safe haven, new research by Wallen and Lina Lu, a senior financial economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, reveals how regulatory shifts have created the View Details

September 2008
Supplement

Mr. Nelson Peltz, Founding Partner, Trian Partners. Interviewed by Professor John Quelch

By: John A. Quelch

Professor John Quelch interviewed Mr. Nelson Peitz, Founding Partner of Trian Partners on events and decisions leading up to the decision to acquire the Snapple brand and the results of that corporate decision. View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Decision Choices and Conditions; Private Equity; Investment; Brands and Branding; Financial Services Industry; Financial Services Industry

30 Sep 2014
First Look

First Look: September 30

regimes and codes of conduct-that diffuse global standards. But little is known about the conditions under which companies adhere to these standards. We conduct one of the first large-scale comparative studies to determine which... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

March 2006 (Revised August 2006)
Case

Putnam Investments: Rebuilding the Culture

By: Nitin Nohria and Charles Nichols

Charles "Ed" Haldeman Jr. is promoted CEO of Putnam Investments after the firm was badly damaged by a series of improper trading practices. He is charged with the task of managing the crisis, repairing the company culture, and putting the firm back into a pattern of... View Details

Keywords: Crime and Corruption; Organizational Culture; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Ethics; Investment Funds; Investment; Leading Change; Decision Choices and Conditions; Financial Services Industry; United States