Publications

August 2008
Case

Progressive Corporation: Variable Dividends

By: Timothy A. Luehrman and Brenda W. Chia

In 2006, Progressive Corporation announced a change in its dividend policy. Henceforth, dividends would be paid annually rather than quarterly and, more importantly, would be set according to a formula that would result in considerably greater year-to-year variability... View Details

Keywords: Capital Structure; Policy; Goals and Objectives; Performance; Business and Shareholder Relations; Insurance Industry

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... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

21 Jul 2006
Op-Ed

Enron Jury Sent the Right Message

disguise debt, and the opaque disclosure and reporting of a wide variety of structured finance transactions and related accounting practices, to name just a few. Many of these practices are actually... View Details

Keywords: by Malcolm S. Salter

June 2006
Teaching Note

Cola Wars Continue: Coke and Pepsi in 2006 (TN)

By: David B. Yoffie

Teaching Note to 706447. View Details

Keywords: Industry Structures; Competitive Strategy; Revenue; Price; Brands and Branding; Emerging Markets; Growth and Development; Profit; Performance; Food and Beverage Industry; United States

Web

Field Course: Investing for Impact - Course Catalog

capital in the Boston area. Structured as a combined case and field course to provide both case-based learning as well as hands-on student experiential learning in financial, commercial, and operational diligence, as well as experience... View Details

07 Dec 2010
First Look

First Look: Dec. 7

(Ex-Im), and his team struggled to find a way to help finance the sale of Boeing aircraft to Emirates. Ex-Im responds to the challenges in the credit market with an innovative offering. This case provides students with an opportunity to... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

March 2011
Teaching Note

First Boston's Union Carbide Deal: Acquiring a New Client (TN)

By: Robert G. Eccles and Penny Rossano

Teaching Note for 897201. View Details

Keywords: Governing and Advisory Boards; Negotiation Offer; Investment Banking; Relationships; Revenue; Capital Structure; Chemical Industry

2000
Chapter

The Determinants of Corporate Venture Capital Success: Organizational Structure, Incentives, and Complementarities

By: Paul Gompers and Josh Lerner

Keywords: Venture Capital; Success; Organizational Structure; Motivation and Incentives; Business Ventures

2009
Book

Reorganize for Resilience: Putting Customers at the Center of Your Organization

By: Ranjay Gulati

In an era of raging commoditization and eroding profit margins, survival depends on resilience: staying one step ahead of your customers. Sure, most companies say they're "customer focused," but they don't deliver solutions to customers' thorniest problems. Why?... View Details

Keywords: Competency and Skills; Customer Focus and Relationships; Profit; Organizational Culture; Organizational Structure; Cooperation

Find at Harvard

March 2014 (Revised May 2014)
Teaching Note

The TELUS Share Conversion Proposal

By: Lucy White and Benjamin C. Esty

On February 21, 2013, TELUS announced a proposal to convert the firm's non-voting shares into voting shares on a one-to-one basis, thereby eliminating the firm's dual class structure. Shareholders were scheduled to vote on the proposal at the firm's annual general... View Details

February 2010 (Revised January 2014)
Supplement

CommonAngels (B)

By: Lynda M. Applegate and Kaitlyn Simpson

This case discusses changes in CommonAngels' investment model and organization between 2005 and 2009. View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Investment; Organizational Structure; Social and Collaborative Networks; Financial Services Industry

October 2013 (Revised September 2014)
Case

The TELUS Share Conversion Proposal

By: Lucy White, Benjamin C. Esty and Lisa Mazzanti

On February 21, 2013, TELUS announced a proposal to convert the firm's non-voting shares into voting shares on a one-to-one basis, thereby eliminating the firm's dual class structure. Shareholders were scheduled to vote on the proposal at the firm's annual general... View Details

December 2019
Case

WeWork Files for an IPO

By: Lynn S. Paine and Will Hurwitz

For the board of The We Company—better known as WeWork—August 14, 2019, promised to be a pivotal day. It was then that WeWork’s IPO prospectus, known as an S-1 filing, would be made public, giving potential investors, the media, and the general public a window into the... View Details

Keywords: Capital Structure; Corporate Accountability; Corporate Governance; Going Public; Leadership; Management; Private Equity; Valuation; Venture Capital; Real Estate Industry; Technology Industry; United States

01 Mar 2003
News

Inside the Revolution

center,” says Enriquez of the LSP’s central functions. “For example, we work with the Finance faculty, studying how to value assets and structure the finances of businesses as... View Details

Keywords: Garry Emmons; Eileen McCluskey; Jonathan West; Life Sciences Project; LSP; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services

April 1988 (Revised May 1992)
Case

Gaz de France

By: W. Carl Kester

The treasurer of Gaz de France is an aggressive, proactive manager of his company's liability structure, running one of the largest swap books of any non-financial corporation in the world. Currency futures, interbank forwards, and currency options are also frequently... View Details

Keywords: Decisions; Borrowing and Debt; Currency Exchange Rate; Credit Derivatives and Swaps; Policy; Management; Organizational Structure; Energy Industry; Europe

07 Apr 2008
Research & Ideas

The Debate over Taxing Foreign Profits

influence how investors diversify their portfolios; the organizational and ownership decisions firms make; firm investment[PDF] decisions; and myriad financing decisions, including capital structure and... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

13 Dec 2016
First Look

December 13, 2016

strategies with the new entrants. Yet, while the much needed increase in sources for financing has been welcome by small businesses, these innovative fintech lenders have sparked concerns around transparency and the high costs charged to... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

August 1988 (Revised April 1998)
Case

IBM 360: Giant as Entrepreneur

By: Joseph L. Bower

Presents the ingredients that went into a major entrepreneurial shift by IBM--investing $5 billion into a new product line that would obsolete any existing computer product line offered by the competition, or by IBM itself. The economic and technical challenges of this... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Financial Management; Investment; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Structure; Problems and Challenges; Competitive Strategy; Information Technology Industry