Publications

December 2002 (Revised October 2013)
Case

Williams, 2002

By: Joshua Coval, Robin Greenwood and Peter Tufano

Williams, a Tulsa, Oklahoma-based firm in various energy businesses, must decide whether to accept a financing package offered by Berkshire Hathaway and Lehman Brothers. The proposed one-year credit facility would provide the firm with financial resources in a... View Details

Keywords: Financial Management; Crisis Management; Credit; Capital Structure; Financial Strategy; Financing and Loans; Financial Instruments; Energy Industry; United States

21 Apr 2009
First Look

First Look: April 21, 2009

markets for its principal assets? The case also examines how management at State Street responded to the deterioration in its capital ratios generated by "fair value" accounting. Purchase this... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

06 Mar 2012
First Look

First Look: March 6

U.S. corporations, which enjoy ready access to the deepest capital markets in the world. Venture capital, for example, and the public equity markets that support it, has channeled money to innovative ideas that have transformed industries... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

October 2019
Supplement

Impax Laboratories: Executing Accretive Transactions (A)

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Daniel Fisher

Impax Laboratories was a technology-based pharmaceutical company that used a “dual platform” strategy to sell both generic and branded treatments. While Impax had grown organically for most of its history, it was beginning to use major acquisitions for growth. In the... View Details

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

07 Dec 2009
Research & Ideas

Government’s Positive Role in Kick-Starting Entrepreneurship

supported by numerous examples of government intervention that has triggered the growth of a venture capital sector. For instance, the Small Business Investment Company [SBIC] program in the United States... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Technology

14 Nov 2019
Book

Lifting the Lid on Turkey's Hidden Business History

that with the first scholarly business history of Modern Turkey. Business, Ethics and Institutions: The Evolution of Turkish Capitalism in Global Perspectives was co-edited by Asli M. Colpan, of the Kyoto University, Graduate School of... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

10 Jun 2015
Research & Ideas

The Transparency Revolution in Corporate Reporting

decipher what kind of company they are buying into. The Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) is an NGO established in 2011 with designs on cutting through that noise. Much the way the Financial Accounting Standards Board has systematized accounting... View Details

Keywords: Re: George Serafeim

24 Jul 2013
Op-Ed

Detroit Files for Bankruptcy: HBS Faculty Weigh In

Once the hub of American manufacturing, Detroit is in a long state of economic decline. The rubber finally hit the road last week, when the city filed for bankruptcy protection. The challenges ahead for those that call the Motor City home... View Details

Keywords: by John Macomber, Robert C. Pozen, Eric D. Werker & Benjamin Kennedy; Auto

10 Mar 2008
Research & Ideas

Encouraging Entrepreneurs: Lessons for Government Policy

ideal choice for the study because its labor market shares many of the same characteristics as those found in the United States and the United Kingdom. "Aside from being a source of ideas and opportunities, these former entrepreneurs... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna

14 Jun 2004
Research & Ideas

The Big Money for Big Projects

debt, which means the loan repayments must come from project cash flows only. In municipally financed or public financed projects, a government entity is the borrower or the debt is backed by a government guarantee. In the case of the Big Dig, the View Details

Keywords: by Ann Cullen; Financial Services

October 2019
Case

A Conversation with Ellen J. Kullman, Chairman & CEO of DuPont, 2009-2015

By: Lynn S. Paine and Will Hurwitz

Ellen J. Kullman, the retired Chairman and CEO of DuPont, describes how she guided the storied science and technology company through a contentious proxy battle with activist investor Trian Partners, which acquired DuPont shares in 2013 and sought to break up the... View Details

Keywords: Agribusiness; Capital Structure; Corporate Accountability; Corporate Governance; Institutional Investing; Leadership; Leadership Style; Management; Transformation; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Chemical Industry; United States

16 Mar 2010
First Look

First Look: March 16

peripheral locations. If the goal of state and local policy makers is to encourage venture capital investment, outperformance of non-local investments suggests that policy makers might want to mitigate costs... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

15 Nov 2004
Research & Ideas

Solving the Health Care Conundrum

services as well as information that assesses the relative value delivered by providers. Because the United States has competition in health care, we would expect to see improving value, but we see just the opposite. Value-based... View Details

Keywords: by Michael E. Porter; Health

08 Oct 2012
Research & Ideas

The Immigrants Who Built America’s Financial System

As today's fiscal deficit and dragging economy continue to cast long shadows, it's easy to forget much darker times in American history. Shortly after winning its independence from Great Britain, the United States was bankrupt. Individual... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Financial Services; Banking

October 2017 (Revised April 2024)
Case

Snap Inc. Goes Public (A)

By: Lynn Sharp Paine and Will Hurwitz

Snap Inc.’s chairman must decide how to address investor concerns about the company’s unprecedented plans to issue only non-voting shares in its upcoming IPO. The case is set in early 2017 following the public availability of Snap’s IPO filing with the U.S. Securities... View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Capital Structure; Corporate Accountability; Governing and Advisory Boards; Corporate Governance; Going Public; Business and Shareholder Relations; Leadership; Management; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Venture Capital; Technology Industry; Telecommunications Industry; Information Technology Industry; United States; California

19 Sep 2011
Research & Ideas

Doomsday Coming for Catastrophic Risk Insurers?

he's seen improvements in the way reinsurers distribute risk over the last two decades, he still questions whether reinsurers in their current form can survive a major catastrophic event. "Reinsurers assume the risk of, and hold the View Details

Keywords: by Maggie Starvish; Financial Services

October 2018
Supplement

Zenefits Board of Directors (B)

By: Lynn S. Paine and Will Hurwitz

Supplements the (A) case. View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Business Model; Corporate Accountability; Governing and Advisory Boards; Corporate Governance; Crisis Management; Entrepreneurship; Human Resources; Leadership; Risk Management; Venture Capital; Technology Industry; Telecommunications Industry; Information Technology Industry; United States; California