Publications

August 2021 (Revised March 2024)
Case

Danaher Corporation (Abridged)

By: Bharat Anand, David J. Collis and Sophie Hood

Between 1985 and 2007, Danaher has been one of the best-performing industrial conglomerates in the U.S. This case examines the corporate strategy of this diversified, global corporation. It describes the firm's portfolio strategy and the Danaher Business System—a... View Details

Keywords: Business Conglomerates; Global Strategy; Multinational Firms and Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Value Creation; Mergers and Acquisitions; Competitive Strategy

Article

What Do State-Owned Development Banks Do? Evidence from BNDES, 2002–09

By: Sergio G. Lazzarini, Aldo Musacchio, Rodrigo Bandeira-de-Mello and Rosilene Marcon

Defendants of state-owned development banks emphasize their role in reducing capital constraints and fostering productive investment; detractors point out that they may benefit politically connected capitalists or bail out inefficient firms. We study the effect of... View Details

Keywords: State Capitalism; Development Banks; Industrial Policy; Banking Industry; Brazil

August 2000 (Revised January 2006)
Case

Sears, Roebuck and Co. vs. Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.

This case is designed to familiarize students with the use of financial ratios. Two retailers, Sears, Roebuck and Co. and Wal-Mart Stores, Inc., have a very similar value for return on equity (ROE) in the 1997 fiscal year. Students use the information in the case and... View Details

Keywords: Value Creation; Financial Statements; Retail Industry; United States

2023
Working Paper

LALIGA—From a Soccer Competition Organizer to a Global Player in the Sports and Entertainment Industry

By: Stephen A. Greyser, Kenneth Cortsen and Juan Fuentes Fernández

LALIGA, the first- and second-tier professional soccer league (known as “football” outside of the U.S. and Canada) in Spain, enters its 100th soccer season later this decade. The most popular game in the world (Giulianotti, 2012) has gone through many changes since... View Details

Keywords: Soccer; ＂Sports Organizations,; Business History; Strategy; Brands and Branding; Technology Adoption; Sports Industry

Teaching Interest

Demystifying the Family Enterprise

By: Christina R. Wing

This course is primarily designed for students who are pursuing a career in family run businesses, family owned businesses, investment roles in family offices, or students that might invest in or wholly purchase a family owned business through a private equity firm,... View Details

March 1986 (Revised July 1986)
Case

Applications for Financial Futures

Consists of a series of four brief descriptions of the use of financial futures as hedging vehicles: a savings and loan hedging the rollover of three-month money market certificates with T-bill futures, a corporate debt issuer hedging the cost of a future debt issue... View Details

Keywords: Financial Instruments

February 2005
Article

Can Foreign Firms Bond Themselves Effectively by Renting U.S. Securities Laws?

By: Jordan I. Siegel

The study tests the functional convergence hypothesis, which states that foreign firms can leapfrog their countries' weak legal institutions by listing equities in New York and agreeing to follow U.S. securities law. Evidence shows that the SEC and minority... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Governance; Cross-listing; Reputation; Bonding; Business Ventures; Laws and Statutes; Financial Instruments; United States; Mexico

08 Aug 2023
News

Black Employees Not Only Earn Less, But Deal with Bad Bosses and Poor Conditions

Jerry R. Green

Jerry R. Green

David A. Wells Professor of Political Economy

John Leverett Professor in the University

Harvard University

Jerry Green is the John Leverett Professor in the University and the David A. Wells... View Details

Keywords: aerospace; education industry; insurance industry; professional services

Program

Family Office Wealth Management—Virtual

equity Stay informed about investing in frontier asset classes Analyze philanthropic opportunities and partnerships Evaluate philanthropic pursuits and partnership opportunities Consider the pros and cons of strategies such as impact... View Details

September 2020 (Revised November 2020)
Case

d.light

By: Michael Chu, Krishna G. Palepu and Dilyana Karadzhova Botha

Kenyan off-grid-solar pioneer d.light can power entire homes in rural Africa but must now decide how to fund the growth of its asset-heavy business model. Ned Tozun and Sam Goldman founded d.light in 2006 to transform lives through solar solutions enabling access to... View Details

Keywords: Alternative Energy; Business Model; Capital; Emerging Markets; Expansion; Financial Strategy; Renewable Energy; Strategy; Social Entrepreneurship; Energy Industry; Africa; Kenya; India

06 Dec 2011
First Look

First Look: Dec. 6

need to determine which of the lessons learned from Haier's international operations should be implemented in China and which skills learned at home could best be applied abroad. Purchase this case:http://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cb/product/712408-PDF-ENG Silver Lake and... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

Program

Designing and Executing Corporate Revitalization

Know when and how to take advantage of financial restructuring and private equity Overcome inertia and pivot the organization Create plans for addressing current and prospective obstacles Infuse the organization with a sense of purpose... View Details

Research Summary

Retail and the Internet

By: Rajiv Lal

The emergence of new technology, increasing number of new retail formats and the emphasis on store brands are contributing factors to enormous changes taking place in retailing. Rajiv Lal's work on the use of the Internet by retailers calls into question the... View Details

June 2021
Article

Short-Termism, Shareholder Payouts, and Investment in the EU

By: Jesse M. Fried and Charles C.Y. Wang

Investor-driven "short-termism" is said to harm EU public firms' ability to invest for the long term, prompting calls for the EU to better insulate managers from shareholder pressure. But the evidence offered—rising levels of repurchases and dividends—is incomplete and... View Details

Keywords: Short-termism; EU; Payout Policy; Innovation; Investment; Corporate Governance; Investment Return; Acquisition; European Union

SSRN

February 2016
Article

Do Measures of Financial Constraints Measure Financial Constraints?

By: Joan Farre-Mensa and Alexander Ljungqvist

Financial constraints are fundamental to empirical research in finance and economics. We propose two tests to evaluate how well measures of financial constraints actually capture constraints. We find that firms typically classified as constrained do not in fact behave... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Finance

SSRN

December 2012 (Revised January 2014)
Case

Residencial Los Andes

By: Nicolas P. Retsinas and Lisa Strope

Peninsula Investment Group is deciding whether or not to recapitalize an equity investment in a Residencial Los Andes, a residential project in Santiago, Chile, or take a substantial loss. The project did not meet its sales goals and the bank pressured the investors to... View Details

Keywords: Real Estate; Emerging Market; Latin America; Investment Management; Management; Negotiation; Finance; Entrepreneurship; Real Estate Industry; Latin America

November 1996
Case

Del Webb Corporation (C), The

By: Jay W. Lorsch and Samanta Graff

Dion and the other Del Webb directors were open to having Industrial Equity Pacific (IEP) and Webcott Holdings representation on the board. The IEP representative was perceived as reserved and lacking in sophistication. Cotter of Webcott, however, struck the directors... View Details

Keywords: Crisis Management; Management Succession; Strategic Planning; Governing and Advisory Boards; Horizontal Integration; Conflict Management