Publications

February 2012 (Revised December 2013)
Case

Saks Incorporated

By: Carliss Baldwin and Stefon Burns

Saks Fifth Avenue, a luxury department store chain, has been hard hit by the 2008 financial crisis and stock market crash. Speculation about impending bankruptcy is rampant in the press. The CEO, Stephen Sadove, must decide how to respond. View Details

Keywords: Retail; Fashion; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Financial Crisis; Fashion Industry; Retail Industry; United States

July 1996 (Revised January 1997)
Case

Northwest Airlines: Brush with Bankruptcy (A)--November 1992

By: Leonard A. Schlesinger and Davis Dyer

Deals with Northwest's financial crisis between the fall of 1992 and the following spring. Northwest's leaders face the problem of how to meet an impending $600 million payment on the 1989 LBO loan when the airline had run out of cash. Concludes by outlining options... View Details

Keywords: Air Transportation; Restructuring; Leveraged Buyouts; Crisis Management; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Financial Strategy; Financial Crisis; Air Transportation Industry; United States

Find at Harvard

June 2023
Supplement

Leading with Trust: Sarah Al-Suhaimi Video Supplement

By: Sandra J. Sucher, Sarah Livick-Moses and Dave Habeeb

This supplement features video interviews with Sarah Al Suhaimi, CEO of NCB Capital, the investment arm of Saudi's largest bank. View Details

Keywords: Leadership And Change Management; Women And Leadership; Women Executives; Stakeholder Management; Investment Banking; Growth and Development Strategy; Change Management; Strategy; Finance; Asset Management; Financial Services Industry; Saudi Arabia; Middle East

08 Aug 2016
Working Paper Summaries

The Unintended Consequences of the Zero Lower Bound Policy

Keywords: by Marco Di Maggio and Marcin Kacperczyk; Banking

Brian K. Baik

Brian Baik is an assistant professor in the Accounting and Management Unit at Harvard Business School. He teaches the Financial Reporting and Control course in the MBA required curriculum.

Professor Baik studies how information, financial reporting, and... View Details

Keywords: private equity (LBO funds); venture capital industry

February 2020
Case

Halftime for Heidelberg

By: Debora L. Spar

The case follows President Rob Huntington as he seeks to find a viable way forward for Heidelberg University. Located in Tiffin, Ohio, Heidelberg is a small, private, four-year university. As with many similar institutions of higher education, it currently faces a... View Details

Keywords: University; University Administration; University Endowment; Endowments; Brand Management; Higher Education; Strategic Planning; Brands and Branding; Education Industry; Ohio

09 Feb 2015
Working Paper Summaries

Cashing Out: The Rise of M&A in Bankruptcy

Keywords: by Stuart Gilson, Edith Hotchkiss & Matthew Osborn

February 2015
Case

BlackRock: Diversity as a Driver for Success

By: Boris Groysberg and Katherine Connolly

In July 2014, the Global Executive Committee (GEC) for BlackRock, the world's largest asset manager, held a two-day offsite to discuss the state of talent within the firm. A year prior, in 2013, Chairman and CEO Laurence (Larry) Fink had asked Global Head of HR Jeff... View Details

Keywords: Women And Leadership; Diversity; General Management; Leadership; Change Management; Human Capital; Leading Change; Management Practices and Processes; Organizational Culture; Financial Services Industry; United States

Web

Coping with Sudden Changes in Cash Needs and Availability

View Slide Presentation View Details

Dutch Leonard

Herman B. ("Dutch") Leonard is Eliot I. Snider and Family Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School and the George F. Baker, Jr. Professor of Public Sector Management at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government. In... View Details

Keywords: education industry; federal government; health care; nonprofit industry; state government

April 2022 (Revised May 2022)
Case

Mastercard Labs (A) (Abridged)

By: Linda A. Hill, Sunil Gupta, Emily Tedards and Julia Kelley

When Ajaypal (Ajay) Banga became the CEO of Mastercard in 2010, he shifted the company’s competitive focus from card networks to cash itself. Mastercard’s new vision of a “World Beyond Cash” distilled into a three-pronged framework: Grow the core business, Diversify... View Details

July 1998 (Revised October 1998)
Case

Jan Eriksson at Novartis Indonesia: Turmoil in the Indonesian Pharmaceutical Industry

By: Carin-Isabel Knoop and Anthony St. George

Jan Eriksson is the country manager of the Indonesian joint venture of Basel-based Novartis (Novartis Indonesia), the world's largest pharmaceutical company, formed by the 1996 merger between Sandoz and Ciba-Geigy. The case describes the actions he has taken since... View Details

Keywords: Joint Ventures; Mergers and Acquisitions; Crisis Management; Management Teams; Financial Crisis; Pharmaceutical Industry; Indonesia

November 2010 (Revised May 2014)
Case

Dow's Bid for Rohm and Haas

By: Benjamin C. Esty and David Lane

This case analyzes Dow Chemical Company's proposed acquisition of Rohm and Haas in 2008. The $18.8 billion acquisition was part of Dow's strategic transformation from a slow-growth, low-margin, and cyclical producer of basic chemicals into a higher-growth,... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Financial Crisis; Capital Structure; Financial Condition; Financial Management; Contracts; Lawsuits and Litigation; Risk and Uncertainty; Valuation; Chemical Industry

26 Oct 2012
News

Mindfulness Helps You Become a Better Leader

November 1999
Case

Reshaping Apple Computer's Destiny 1992 (Abridged)

By: Clayton M. Christensen and Tara Donovan

Examines John Sculley's management approach toward transforming Apple Computer during the personal computer industry crisis in 1992. Focuses on Sculley's management style, his creation of a new management team, and his efforts to create a professional management system... View Details

Keywords: Transformation; Crisis Management; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Management Style; Management Systems; Management Teams; Computer Industry; California

March 2013
Case

First Green Bank: Bringing Bloom to Desert Landscapes

By: Christopher Marquis and Juan Almandoz

First Green Bank is a bank start-up in the midst of the financial crisis which aims to promote sustainability while making money as a bank. The case presents an ethical dilemma as it considers a loan to an arms manufacturer. View Details

Keywords: Social Entrepreneurship; Financial Crisis; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Business and Community Relations; Environmental Sustainability; Ethics; Banking Industry; United States; Florida