Publications

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November 2016 (Revised March 2018)
Case

Deutsche Bank: Structured Retail Products

By: Boris Vallée and Jérôme Lenhardt

Describes how Deutsche Bank, a leading European bank, is deciding whether or not to launch a new structured retail product in Germany: an autocallable note. Will this product find a market and how does it fit into the bank’s product portfolio? The case investigates how... View Details

2024
Book

Deals: The Economic Structure of Business Transactions

By: Guhan Subramanian and Michael Klausner

Drawing on real-life cases from a wide range of industries, two acclaimed experts offer a sophisticated but accessible guide to business deals, designed to maximize value for your side.

Business transactions take widely varying forms—from multibillion-dollar... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation; Contracts

February 2011
Article

When the Social Structure Overshadows Competitive Incentives: The Effects of Network Embeddedness on Joint Venture Dissolution

By: Francisco Polidoro Jr., Gautam Ahuja and Will Mitchell

The embeddedness of interfirm relationships in a social structure can engender order in new tie formation, but competitive incentives may undermine the order that firms seek to achieve and lead to tie dissolution. We examine how relational embeddedness (history of... View Details

Keywords: Social Structure; Business Enterprises; Strategic Alliances (Business); Business Networks (Research); Competition; Joint Ventures; Alliances; Social and Collaborative Networks

Business transactions take widely varying forms―from multibillion-dollar corporate mergers to patent licenses to the signing of an all-star quarterback. Yet every deal shares the same goal, or at least should: to maximize the joint value created and to distribute... View Details

1991
Book

Principals and Agents: The Structure of Business

By: John W. Pratt and Richard Zeckhauser

Keywords: Organizational Structure

24 Jun 2008
Working Paper Summaries

Bank Structure and the Terms of Lending to Small Businesses

Keywords: by Rodrigo Canales & Ramana Nanda; Banking

October 2013
Module Note

Note on LBO Capital Structure

By: Victoria Ivashina, Paul A. Gompers, Paul A. Gompers, Victoria Ivashina, Joris Van Gool and Joris Van Gool

This note discusses the capital structure often found in LBO transactions. Although the specifics of each capital structure vary case by case, in any given year, there is a great deal of similarity in the capital structure of these buyouts. These similarities exist... View Details

Keywords: Leveraged Buyouts; Capital Structure

18 May 2020
News

Big Structural Change

2016
Working Paper

The Structure of Board Committees

By: Kevin D. Chen and Andy Wu

We document and analyze board committee structures utilizing a novel dataset containing full board committee membership for over 6,000 firms. Board committees provide benefits (specialization, efficiency, and accountability benefits) and costs (information... View Details

Keywords: Board Of Directors; Board Committees; Specialization; Accountability; Information Segregation; Overloaded Directors; Multi-commitee Directors; Sarbanes-Oxley Act; Corporate Accountability; Governing and Advisory Boards; Accounting; Corporate Governance

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Article

Liability Structure in Small-Scale Finance

By: Fenella Carpena, Shawn Cole, Jeremy Shapiro and Bilal Zia

Microfinance, the provision of small individual and business loans, has experienced dramatic growth, reaching over 150 million borrowers worldwide. Much of the success of microfinance has been attributed to attempts to overcome the challenges of information asymmetries... View Details

Keywords: Microfinance; Emerging Markets; Financial Markets; Legal Liability; Banks and Banking; Banking Industry; India

January 2022
Technical Note

Introduction to Capital Structure Analytics

By: Samuel Antill and Ted Berk

This technical note provides an overview of key analytical approaches that are useful in assessing the appropriateness of a firm’s capital structure and funding plan. This note introduces basic quantitative tools and metrics that are commonly used as inputs to this... View Details

Keywords: Budgets and Budgeting; Business Plan; Forecasting and Prediction; Borrowing and Debt; Corporate Finance; Capital Structure; Cash Flow; Financial Liquidity; Financial Management; Financing and Loans

27 Dec 2019
News

Harvard Business School study: Structural issues in politics are impeding economic growth

September 1975 (Revised June 1983)
Background Note

Note on the Structural Analysis of Industries

By: Michael E. Porter

Provides a framework for the analysis of industry structure. Identifies the major structural features that influence the profit potential in industries and some illustrative implications of these for strategy formulation. Can be used as a reference note for business... View Details

Keywords: Industry Structures; Business Strategy; Profit

08 Dec 2023
News

New Leadership Role and Structure

MESSAGE FROM ANGELA CRISPI AND DEAN SRIKANT DATAR To: HBS Faculty and Staff From: Angela Crispi and Srikant Datar Re: New Leadership Role and Structure We are delighted to announce that effective January 1, 2024, Jana Kierstead will... View Details

January 2011 (Revised November 2011)
Case

Identifying Firm Capital Structure

Students are asked to link concealed balance sheets with firm descriptions. The case helps students understand how balance sheets reflect industry and firm characteristics. View Details

Keywords: Financial Statements; Business Ventures; Capital Structure