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    Financial ConditionRemove Financial Condition →

    New research on companies' financial conditions from Harvard Business School faculty on issues including financial liquidity, insolvency, and bankruptcy.
    Page 1 of 14 Results
    • 20 Jul 2021
    • Research & Ideas

    Bankruptcy Spells Death for Too Many Businesses

    by Rachel Layne

    Hasty liquidations cost creditors billions of dollars a year, research by Samuel Antill finds. What if more bankrupt companies were restructured—and revived—instead? Open for comment; 0 Comments.

    • 23 Nov 2020
    • Research & Ideas

    COVID Was Supposed to Increase Bankruptcies. Instead, They've Gone Down.

    by Rachel Layne

    Down economic cycles and increasing unemployment usually usher in a rise in bankruptcies. Not so in the COVID-19 recession, where just the reverse has happened. Research by Raymond Kluender and colleagues. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

    • 19 Oct 2020
    • Working Paper Summaries

    Bankruptcy and the COVID-19 Crisis

    by Jialan Wang, Jeyul Yang, Benjamin Iverson, and Ray Kluender

    Analyzing the impact of the COVID-19 crisis on bankruptcy filing rates in the United States, this study finds that large businesses, small businesses, and consumers experience very different effects of the crisis.

    • 29 Jun 2020
    • Working Paper Summaries

    Measuring the Perceived Liquidity of the Corporate Bond Market

    by Sergey Chernenko and Adi Sunderam

    The liquidity of corporate bond markets is crucial to their functioning. This paper proposes a novel measure of bond market liquidity based on portfolio holdings instead of transaction data. The measure can be applied to asset-backed securities, syndicated loans, and municipal securities for which publicly available data on transactions are not available.

    • 28 May 2020
    • Research & Ideas

    Coronavirus Could Create a 'Bankruptcy Pandemic'

    by Dina Gerdeman

    An expected explosion in bankruptcy proceedings over the coming months could overwhelm the courts, says Stuart Gilson. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

    • 20 Mar 2020
    • Research & Ideas

    How Small Businesses Can Survive the Coronavirus Outbreak

    by Danielle Kost

    COVID-19 will put many small businesses on life support. Karen G. Mills, who has been advising policymakers on aid options, offers guidance to owners on the brink of ruin. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

    • 23 Feb 2018
    • Working Paper Summaries

    Trade Creditors' Information Advantage

    by Victoria Ivashina and Benjamin Iverson

    Trade credit represents about a quarter of the liabilities of US firms. There are several theories explaining this fact. This study reexamines whether suppliers hold private information about their trade partners, by analyzing their behavior in bankruptcy.

    • 19 Sep 2017
    • Working Paper Summaries

    An Invitation to Market Design

    by Scott Duke Kominers, Alexander Teytelboym, and Vincent P. Crawford

    Effective market design can improve liquidity, efficiency, and equity in markets. This paper illustrates best practices in market design through three examples: the design of medical residency matching programs, a scrip system to allocate food donations to food banks, and the recent “Incentive Auction” that reallocated wireless spectrum from television broadcasters to telecoms.

    • 30 May 2017
    • Working Paper Summaries

    Lessons Unlearned? Corporate Debt in Emerging Markets

    by Laura Alfaro, Gonzalo Asis, Anusha Chari, and Ugo Panizza

    Emerging markets are contending with a worrisome slowdown in economic growth accompanied by the build-up of corporate debt. Understanding this and other potential vulnerabilities requires knowing more about the state of emerging market corporate balance sheets, the drivers of debt accumulation, and the effects of both on the macroeconomy.

    • 15 Aug 2016
    • Working Paper Summaries

    Liquidity Transformation in Asset Management: Evidence from the Cash Holdings of Mutual Funds

    by Sergey Chernenko and Adi Sunderam

    A key function of many financial intermediaries is liquidity transformation: creating liquid claims backed by illiquid assets. To date it has been difficult to measure liquidity transformation for asset managers. The study proposes a novel measure of liquidity transformation: funds’ cash management strategies. The study validates the measure and shows that liquidity transformation by asset managers is highly dependent on the traditional and shadow banking sectors.

    • 07 Jan 2015
    • Research & Ideas

    The Quest for Better Layoffs

    by Carmen Nobel

    Professor Sandra Sucher wants to change the way business thinks about workforce reductions. "We want people to learn about the forces they unleash in the firm when they institute layoffs." Open for comment; 0 Comments.

    • 24 Jul 2013
    • Op-Ed

    Detroit Files for Bankruptcy: HBS Faculty Weigh In

    by John Macomber, Robert C. Pozen, Eric D. Werker & Benjamin Kennedy

    After a long period of economic decline, the city of Detroit filed for bankruptcy protection last week. John Macomber, Robert Pozen, Eric Werker, and Benjamin Kennedy offer their views on some down-the-road scenarios. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.

    • 15 Jun 2009
    • Research & Ideas

    GM: What Went Wrong and What’s Next

    by Staff

    For decades, General Motors reigned as the king of automakers. What went wrong? We asked HBS faculty to reflect on the wrong turns and missed opportunities of the former industry leader, and to suggest ideas for recovery. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.

    • 07 Jul 2008
    • Research & Ideas

    Innovation Corrupted: How Managers Can Avoid Another Enron

    by Martha Lagace

    The train wreck that was Enron provides key insights for improving corporate governance and financial incentives as well as organizational processes that strengthen ethical discipline, says HBS professor emeritus Malcolm S. Salter. His new book, Innovation Corrupted: The Origins and Legacy of Enron's Collapse, is a deep reflection on the present and future of business. Key concepts include: Enron's stated purpose was too general to permit disciplined and responsible decision-making in the face of difficulty. The lessons of Enron relate to strengthening board oversight, avoiding perverse financial incentives for executives, and instilling ethical discipline throughout business organizations. Directors of public companies can adapt key aspects of the private-equity governance model to ensure that they fulfill their oversight responsibilities. Incentive systems should reward accomplishments other than economic performance, and penalize failures. Companies can take steps to help senior executives avoid the two sources of leadership failure at Enron: personal opportunism and flights to utopianism. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.

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