Publications
Publications
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(1,978)
- Faculty Publications (615)
- 2019
- Working Paper
The Strategic Management of Execution
By: David J. Collis
“Tell me David, is it better to have a great strategy poorly executed or a so-so strategy really well executed?” The age-old question suggests there is a fundamental tradeoff between strategy and execution. The tone in which it is asked typically flags that the... View Details
- June 2019 (Revised November 2019)
- Case
Malaysia: An 'Asian Tiger' Reawakens
On May 9, 2018, in an extraordinary upset, Mahathir Mohamad again became Malaysia’s Prime Minister. Najib Razak, who had headed the government since 2009, had been swept up in the 1MDB scandal—perhaps the biggest state-corruption incident in history. Although... View Details
- June 2019
- Article
Debt Redemption and Reserve Accumulation
By: Laura Alfaro and Fabio Kanczuk
In the past decade, foreign participation in local-currency bond markets in emerging countries increased dramatically. We revisit sovereign debt sustainability under the assumptions that countries can accumulate reserves and borrow internationally using their own... View Details
- June 2019
- Article
Debt Traps? Market Vendors and Moneylender Debt in India and the Philippines
By: Dean Karlan, Sendhil Mullainathan and Benjamin Roth
A debt trap occurs when someone takes on a high-interest rate loan and is barely able to pay back the interest, and thus perpetually finds themselves in debt (often by refinancing). Studying such practices is important for understanding financial decision-making of... View Details
Keywords: Borrowing and Debt; Household; Personal Finance; Decision Making; Behavior; India; Philippines
- May 2019
- Article
Corporate Debt, Firm Size and Financial Fragility in Emerging Markets
By: Laura Alfaro, Gonzalo Asis, Anusha Chari and Ugo Panizza
The post-Global Financial Crisis period shows a surge in corporate leverage in emerging markets and a number of countries with deteriorated corporate financial fragility indicators (Altman’s Z-score). Firm size plays a critical role in the relationship between... View Details
- April 2019 (Revised December 2021)
- Case
Sears: The Demise of an American Icon
By: Kristin Mugford and Sarah L. Abbott
In 2019, ESL Investments’ $5.2 billion offer to purchase Sears Holdings out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy, was accepted, despite opposition from the company's unsecured creditors and other parties. ESL, which was led by Eddie Lampert, had acquired a stake in Sears following... View Details
- April 2019 (Revised December 2019)
- Case
Turnaround at Mattel, 2017
By: Ted Berk
Just nine months into her new role as chief executive of Mattel, the world's leading toy maker, Margo Georgiadis faces a set of unexpected, inter-related decisions in the fall of 2017. Mattel's performance had been lagging for a number of years, and Georgiadis had been... View Details
- April 2019
- Article
Private Equity and Financial Fragility during the Crisis
By: Shai Bernstein, Josh Lerner and Filippo Mezzanotti
Do private equity firms contribute to financial fragility during economic crises? We find that during the 2008 financial crisis, PE-backed companies increased investments relative to their peers, while also experiencing greater equity and debt inflows. The effects are... View Details
- February 2019 (Revised October 2022)
- Case
Scandal at Steinhoff
By: Kristin Mugford and Phil Caruso
- February 2019 (Revised January 2020)
- Case
Pierre Foods Acquisition of Advance Foods (A)
By: Guhan Subramanian and Mike Harmon
This case (A), and its related cases (B-E), establish a setting to discuss an M&A transaction and some of the key legal contracts that are associated with it. In 2010, private equity backed food manufacturer Pierre Foods is contemplating the acquisition of a key... View Details
- February 2019 (Revised March 2019)
- Case
Banorte and the Capital Call Facility: Infrastructure Finance in Mexico
By: John D. Macomber, Carla Larangeira and Fernanda Miguel
As a result of Mexico´s pension industry deregulation, pension funds were able to invest in energy and infrastructure projects through a variety of financial instruments, particularly through Capital Development Certificates (CKDs), an asset class that served as a... View Details
- February 2019 (Revised January 2021)
- Case
Quiksilver Inc. and Oaktree Capital Management
By: Kristin Mugford and Mike Harmon
Sports lifestyle company Quiksilver filed for bankruptcy in September 2015. Oaktree is considering an additional investment in the company to facilitate the restructuring.
Students must consider whether Oaktree should invest given the risks of the turnaround... View Details
Keywords: Bankruptcy; Bankruptcy Reorganization; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Acquisition; Restructuring; Debt Securities; Transformation; Decision Making; Borrowing and Debt; Investment Return; Crisis Management; Negotiation; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry; France; United States
- January 2019 (Revised January 2022)
- Case
Chinese Infrastructure Investments in Sri Lanka: A Pearl or a Teardrop on the Belt and Road?
By: Meg Rithmire and Yihao Li
In 2015, a surprise presidential election result seemed to imperil Chinese investments in Sri Lanka, which were associated with China’s Belt and Road Initiative to build global infrastructure. In the previous decade, China had undertaken two major projects in the... View Details
- 2018
- Working Paper
Corporate Refinancing, Covenants, and the Agency Cost of Debt
By: Daniel Green
How valuable are restrictive debt covenants in reducing the agency costs of debt? I exploit the revealed preference decision to refinance fixed-coupon bonds, which weighs observable interest rate savings against the unobservable costs of a change in restrictive... View Details
Keywords: Covenants; Refinancing; Corporate Bonds; Agency Costs; Debt Policy; Borrowing and Debt; Bonds; Interest Rates
- November 2018 (Revised October 2019)
- Case
Rebuilding Puerto Rico
By: Laura Alfaro, Laura Phillips Sawyer and Haviland Sheldahl-Thomason
On September 20, 2017, Hurricane Maria swept over Puerto Rico, devastating the island’s infrastructure and agriculture. The natural disaster was layered atop years of mounting financial distress. Before the hurricane, Puerto Rico had accumulated $74 billion in debt and... View Details
- 2018
- Working Paper
Towards a New Approach for Upgrading Europe's Competitiveness
By: Christian Ketels and Michael E. Porter
The traumatic experience of the European sovereign debt crisis, followed by the outcome of the British referendum on leaving the European Union, has sent shockwaves through Europe. For the first time since the signing of the Treaties of Rome six decades ago, the very... View Details
- September 2018 (Revised January 2019)
- Teaching Note
Gemini Investors
By: Richard S. Ruback, Royce Yudkoff and Ahron Rosenfeld
Teaching Note for HBS No. 211-066. Gemini Investors was a private equity firm that targeted equity investments of between $4 million to $6 million per firm. In the period from 2000 to 2015, Gemini had successfully deployed four funds, all licensed as Small Business... View Details
- 2018
- Working Paper
After the Carnival: Key Factors to Enhance Olympic Legacy and Prevent Olympic Sites from Becoming White Elephants
By: Isao Okada and Stephen A. Greyser
In recent years, the total spending on hosting the Olympic Games has snowballed. The 2008 Beijing Olympic Games spent $40 billion on infrastructure development, and the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics reached $50 billion. Even when the glorious but costly Olympic Games come... View Details
- August 2018 (Revised June 2019)
- Case
Oaktree: Pierre Foods Investment
By: Victoria Ivashina and Mike Harmon
This case is a setting to discuss “loan to own” investment strategy that is often pursued by distressed investors. The aftermath of the 2007 financial crisis left many companies with poor liquidity and limited ability to obtain credit. One of these companies was Pierre... View Details
- August 2018 (Revised September 2018)
- Case
LendingClub (A): Data Analytic Thinking (Abridged)
By: Srikant M. Datar and Caitlin N. Bowler
LendingClub was founded in 2006 as an alternative, peer-to-peer lending model to connect individual borrowers to individual investor-lenders through an online platform. Since 2014 the company has worked with institutional investors at scale. While the company assigns... View Details