Publications

Web

Systems for Scaling Ventures (SSV) - Course Catalog

organizations prioritizing innovation and employee empowerment, rather than standardization and tight monitoring of rote processes. This is not a course about launching a startup or financing it, nor a course about highly stable,... View Details

22 Jun 2010
First Look

First Look: June 22

on Innovation and Entrepreneurship, edited by David Audretsch, Oliver Falck, and Stephan Heblich. Cheltenham, U.K.: Edward Elgar Publishing, Inc., forthcoming Abstract Financing constraints are one of the biggest concerns impacting... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

01 Jun 2017
News

Supercharged

are driving electric adoption While electrification of SUVs and light trucks remains a challenge, some of the very largest people movers have already made the leap. Ryan Popple (MBA 2006), CEO of Proterra (and former senior director of View Details

Keywords: Alexander Gelfand; illustrations by Tavis Coburn

31 Jul 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, July 31, 2018

Finance By: Beshears, John, James J. Choi, David Laibson, and Brigitte C. Madrian Abstract—This chapter provides an overview of household finance. The first part summarizes key facts regarding household financial behavior, emphasizing... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

16 Jan 2018
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, January 16, 2018

reimagine the regional ecosystems in which they participate. They should search for systemic, multisector opportunities; mobilize complementary partners; and obtain seed and scale-up financing from organizations with a mission to... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

December 1996 (Revised July 1997)
Case

USG Corporation

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Tara L. Nells

In 1988, USG was the world's largest gypsum producer and one of the world's largest building-products companies. On May 2, 1988, USG's board of directors announced a proposed leveraged recapitalization plan to thwart a hostile cash tender offer by Desert Partners. With... View Details

Keywords: Capital Structure; Mergers and Acquisitions; Corporate Governance; Valuation; Cash Flow; Leveraged Buyouts; Restructuring; United States

October 1981 (Revised August 2010)
Case

Quabbin Cablevision Company

By: Henry B. Reiling

Several entrepreneurs are considering the purchase of an existing cable TV business with the financial assistance of several investors. They must decide whether to establish the company as a partnership or a corporation, and how to capitalize the company for an optimal... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Organization; Television Entertainment; Entrepreneurship; Capital Structure; Taxation; Telecommunications Industry; Massachusetts

January 2020 (Revised December 2024)
Case

Governing PG&E

By: Lynn S. Paine and Will Hurwitz

The five commissioners of the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) listened intently at a public forum in April 2019 as PG&E Corporation’s out-going chairman Richard Kelly described the company’s proposed new board. PG&E, which provided electricity and natural... View Details

04 Sep 2019
News

Alumni and Faculty Books for September 2019

Equity Finance class, an advanced elective course offered in the Harvard Business School MBA elective curriculum. The structure of the book follows the timeline of a typical investment. Starting with deal... View Details

29 Jun 2007
First Look

First Look: June 29, 2007

under severe economic conditions. We show that many structured finance instruments can be characterized as economic catastrophe bonds, but offer far less compensation than alternatives with comparable payoff... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

December 1998
Case

Australian Wheat Board Limited.: Becoming a Grower-owned Corporation

By: Ray A. Goldberg, Carin-Isabel Knoop and Cate Reavis

In July 1999, the Australian Wheat Board (AWB), a statutory national and international grain marketing organization, would become grower-owned. As a private corporation, the AWB would no longer receive government borrowing guarantees and would have to rely on its own... View Details

Keywords: Transformation; Capital Structure; Globalized Markets and Industries; Monopoly; Employee Ownership; Competition

21 Dec 2009
Research & Ideas

Good Banks, Bad Banks, and Government’s Role as Fixer

systemically risky institutions, it would jeopardize its political independence. And that would be a big mistake. Excerpt: the New Structure Of U.s. Financial Regulation by Robert Pozen, from Too Big To Save To provide taxpayers with an... View Details

Keywords: by Roger Thompson; Banking; Financial Services

October 2001 (Revised November 2001)
Case

Club Med (C): The "Re-New" Plan

By: Frances X. Frei, Daniel Rethazy and Hanna Rodriguez-Farrar

Supplements the (A) and (B) cases. View Details

Keywords: Business Subsidiaries; Industry Structures; Competitive Advantage; Organizational Culture; Cost; Customer Satisfaction; Accommodations Industry; United States