Publications

2005
Other Unpublished Work

Corporate Financing Decisions When Investors Take the Path of Least Resistance

By: Malcolm Baker, Joshua Coval and Jeremy Stein

We explore the consequences for corporate financial policy that arise when investors exhibit inertial behavior. One implication of investor inertia is that, all else equal, a firm pursuing a strategy of equity-financed growth will prefer a stock-for-stock merger to... View Details

Keywords: Decisions; Behavior; Stocks; Mergers and Acquisitions; Policy; Investment; Financial Institutions; Equity; Corporate Finance

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March 2011
Article

Institutional Demand Pressure and the Cost of Corporate Loans

By: Victoria Ivashina and Zheng Sun

Between 2001 and 2007, annual institutional funding in highly leveraged loans went up from $32 billion to $426 billion, accounting for nearly 70% of the jump in total syndicated loan issuance over the same period. Did the inflow of institutional funding in the... View Details

Keywords: Leveraged Buyouts; Financial Crisis; Credit; Debt Securities; Financing and Loans; Interest Rates; Investment

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February 2020
Case

Rotoplas: Bringing More and Better Water

By: John D. Macomber and Carla Larangeira

Private companies were being turned to for potable water in the world’s megacities due to impacts of climate change including droughts and flooding. Mexico City had endured several water-related crises, with its population suffering from floods, droughts, water... View Details

Keywords: Water Supply; Water Management; Finance; Infrastructure; Urban Development; Business and Government Relations; Latin America; Mexico

October 2023
Case

Driving Sustainability at AB InBev

By: Ethan Rouen and Antonio Manuel Oftelie

It was the height of the summer in 2022, and Michel Doukeris, the CEO of Anheuser-Busch InBev (AB InBev), and Peter Kraemer, the company’s Chief Supply Officer, gazed across the vast desert surrounding Zacatecas, Mexico. They were visiting their Grupo Modelo Brewery,... View Details

Keywords: Innovation; Transformation; Decisions; Environmental Sustainability; Leading Change; Growth Management; Business Model; Food and Beverage Industry; Mexico

25 Jun 2018
Research & Ideas

In America, Immigrants Really Do Get the Job Done

toward a healthy economy and future gains? There are several levers such as investing heavily in robotics and labor-augmenting machinery, but immigration can also be a powerful way for countries to continue economic development and... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Agriculture & Agribusiness; Technology; Service

October 1998 (Revised May 2001)
Case

Preview Travel (A)

By: William A. Sahlman, Nicole Tempest, Daniel H Case III and Robert Keller

Preview Travel was a leader in the online travel industry, having generated $80 million in bookings in 1997 and growing at a 34% compound annual growth rate per quarter. This case describes the evolution of Preview Travel's business plan and financing strategy and... View Details

Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Business Model; Initial Public Offering; Valuation; Internet and the Web; Business Plan; Capital; Financial Strategy; Travel Industry; United States

12 Dec 2005
Research & Ideas

Using the Law to Strategic Advantage

as they strive to become more legally astute. I am very proud of the fact that both Jim Kinnear, former CEO and chair of Texaco, and Arthur Rock, venture capitalist extraordinaire, endorsed the book as a must-read for aspiring CEOs and... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Legal Services

Web

Courses by Faculty Unit - Course Catalog

Management) Paul Gompers Spring 2026 Q3Q4 3.0 IFC: Israel; Startups and Venture Capital Paul Gompers Richard Ruback January 2026 J 3.0 Investment Management and Capital Markets Luis Viceira Emil Siriwardane... View Details

November 2013 (Revised January 2015)
Case

Restructuring JAL

By: Malcolm Baker, Adi Sunderam, Nobuo Sato and Akiko Kanno

Hideo Seto, the recently appointed chairman of the investment committee of the Enterprise Turnaround Initiative Corporation, must decide whether to push JAL group, Japan's largest airline, into bankruptcy or to act as a sponsor in an out-of-court restructuring. The... View Details

Keywords: Bankruptcy; Costs Of Financial Distress; Cost vs Benefits; Air Transportation; Restructuring; Capital Structure; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Air Transportation Industry; Japan; United States

September 2016 (Revised March 2020)
Teaching Note

Fasten: Challenging Uber and Lyft with a New Business Model

By: Feng Zhu

Fasten, a new ridesharing start-up in Boston, entered the scene in September 2015 hoping its unique vision of transparency for both driver and passenger and strategy to keep riders' fares low and charge drivers a flat $0.99 fee per ride, as opposed to the 20%–30%... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Transportation; Business Startups; Business Model; Transportation Industry; Boston

Web

Investor - Entrepreneurship

coach Build relevant startup experience to make you a better investor Join a Startup Bootcamp team Plug into the Investor community Join the Venture Capital/Private Equity , Entrepreneurship through Acquisition (ETA), and Impact View Details

31 Mar 2009
First Look

First Look: March 31, 2009

Shadow of a Giant (A) Harvard Business School Case 609-002 As the only significant competitor to Intel Corporation in PC microprocessors, Advanced Micro Devices faced daunting investment choices. Not only did it have to fund... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

Web

2022 Reunion Presentations - Alumni

Why Startups Fail Professor Thomas R. Eisenmann (MBA 1983, DBA 1998) + More Info – Less Info Most startups fail. About two-thirds of venture capital investments do not earn a positive return. Surprisingly,... View Details

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Cases & Teaching Notes - Institute For Strategy And Competitiveness

H. Lee and Meredith A. Alger Michael Pykosz, Geoff Price, and Griffin Myers opened Oak Street Health’s first clinic in 2013. By 2016, with backing from venture capital, Oak Street was serving 22,000 patients in 19 locations in Chicago,... View Details

23 Jun 2009
First Look

First Look: June 23

of the vision requires leaders to invest in the tools, guide their use, and pave the way for transformation. Perhaps the urgency of the current economic crisis can provide the impetus to overcome resistance to change and turn problems... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

September 2006
Supplement

Medco Energi Internasional (CW)

In late 2004, Hilmi Panigoro, CEO of the publicly traded Indonesian oil company Medco Energi Internasional, is striving to regain majority control of the company his brother Arifin founded in 1980. The Asian financial crisis of 1999 led to a major restructuring that... View Details

Keywords: Leveraged Buyouts; Restructuring; Family Business; Financing and Loans; Ownership Stake; Business and Shareholder Relations; Energy Industry; Indonesia; Singapore

January 2025
Case

Negotiating a Legacy at Sustainable Harvest (A)

By: Jillian Jordan, Julian Zlatev, Alicia Dadlani and Martha Hostetter

The specialty coffee importer Sustainable Harvest was the first certified B Corp in the coffee industry due to its investments in building coffee farmers’ capacity and livelihood. But in 2022, after coffee prices plummeted and the company’s bank declined to extend its... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation; Mergers and Acquisitions; Trust; Ethics; Plant-Based Agribusiness; Volatility; Futures and Commodity Futures; Social Enterprise; Valuation; Business Model; Credit; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Food and Beverage Industry; United States; Europe