Publications

December 1988 (Revised March 1989)
Case

Pabst Brewing Co.

At the end of 1984 the Pabst Brewing Co. was the object of a takeover contest for the second time in three years. Nearly two years after a reorganization in early 1983 Pabst still suffered from low margins and high debt service costs. This case describes the takeover... View Details

Keywords: Valuation; Restructuring; Bids and Bidding; Acquisition; Manufacturing Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; United States

2020
Working Paper

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—in the form of rising levels of repurchases and dividends—is... View Details

Keywords: Short-termism; Quarterly Capitalism; EU; Dividends; Equity Issuances; Equity Compensastion; Capital Flows; Capital Distribution; R＆D; Innovation; Investment; Corporate Governance; Investment Return; Acquisition; European Union

SSRN

Read Now

July 2001
Case

Regal Cinemas LBO (B)

By: Malcolm S. Salter and Daniel Green

Supplements the (A) case. View Details

Keywords: Leveraged Buyouts; Corporate Governance; Failure

January 1999 (Revised April 2004)
Case

Infox System GmbH

Apax, a private equity firm, has an opportunity to invest in a travel-related print-materials distribution business in Germany. Infox is typical of many buyout opportunities. One of the founders seeks to exit the business, and recently hired managers will have to... View Details

Keywords: Private Equity; Leveraged Buyouts; Entrepreneurship; Investment; Financial Services Industry; Germany

05 Jul 2006
First Look

First Look: July 5, 2006

case:http://harvardbusinessonline.hbsp.harvard.edu/b01/en/common/item_detail.jhtml?id=806121 EMC Corp.: Proposed Acquisition of VMware 806-153 This case involves the decision by the CEO of EMC Corp. whether to acquire VMware, a small... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

Profile

David A. Frankel

Data go on a global acquisition tear, buying up Cisco distributors around the globe, and transforming the company into the largest Cisco distributor outside the U.S. He was part of the IPO that raised $1.8 billion and listed the company... View Details

05 Apr 2018
News

A Philanthropic Eye Reframes African American Abstract Art

tech, but I have a pencil and cross it off.” Along the way, Joyner has collected objects from 1945 to the present. The American artists who comprise her earliest acquisitions were “all mightily overlooked,” she notes. “They were pioneers... View Details

Keywords: Jill Radsken

20 Oct 2016
News

Smart Moves

carmakers use INRIX data now, and the acquisition of OpenCar enables us to provide a much better user experience—an end-to-end ecosystem for in-car applications. Today, if you want to play Pandora in the car or get advice from Trip... View Details

Keywords: Robert S. Benchley; Support Activities for Transportation; Transportation

25 Feb 2013
Research & Ideas

Lean Strategy Not Just for Start-Ups

steady business with TurboTax, the tax preparation software that has been a part of the company's product line since its 1993 acquisition of ChipSoft. Thus it makes sense for the company to innovate within the realm of tax prep. That... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Financial Services

April 2021
Supplement

Exercise for Revlon: Surviving Covid-19

By: Kristin Mugford and Sarah Gulick

Exercise for Revlon: Surviving Covid-19 View Details

Keywords: Leveraged Buyouts; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Financial Liquidity; Bonds; Corporate Finance; Borrowing and Debt; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; Financial Services Industry; United States

August 2010
Article

Sell-Side School Ties

By: Lauren H. Cohen, Christopher J. Malloy and Andrea Frazzini

We study the impact of social networks on agents' ability to gather superior information about firms. Exploiting novel data on the educational backgrounds of sell-side equity analysts and senior officers of firms, we test the hypothesis that analysts' school ties to... View Details

Keywords: Investment Return; Investment Portfolio; Corporate Disclosure; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Knowledge Acquisition; Social and Collaborative Networks

November 2020 (Revised February 2022)
Case

CommonSpirit Health: Integrating a Merger of Equals

By: Robert S. Huckman, Hise Gibson and Nicole Gilmore

Soon after closing the 2019 merger of Catholic Health Initiatives (CHI) and Dignity Health to create CommonSpirit Health, Lloyd Dean and Kevin Lofton-–jointly appointed to the role of CEO—must make several operational and strategic decisions related to the integration... View Details

Keywords: Health Care Delivery; Hospital; Merger; Merger Integration; Hospital Mergers; Health Information Technology; CEOs; Health Care and Treatment; Mergers and Acquisitions; Integration; Leadership; Customer Value and Value Chain; Decision Choices and Conditions; Governance; Information Technology; Health Industry; United States

November 2020 (Revised April 2021)
Case

Roll-Ups and Surprise Billing: Collisions at the Intersection of Private Equity and Patient Care

By: Trevor Fetter and Kira Seiger

This case describes the increasing investment by private equity (PE) firms in patient care and other healthcare services. The case focuses on investments in physician staffing firms and roll-up strategy investments in physician practice management (PPM). Included in... View Details

01 Jun 2001
News

On the Inside

Top billing, of course, goes to her boss, George W. Bush (MBA ’75), but Labor Secretary Elaine L. Chao (MBA ’79) is also making a name for herself in the new administration. Chao, who has previously served in several government posts and as president of United Way of... View Details

Keywords: Government

16 Aug 2010
Lessons from the Classroom

HBS Introduces Marketing Analysis Tools for Managers

purchasing life. The CLV formula incorporates metrics that capture the outputs of three key customer strategies that firms employ: asset acquisition (attracting new customers to the firm); asset maximization (maximizing the value the firm... View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert

16 Feb 2004
Research & Ideas

Marketing Wine to the World

it expects to leverage its international operations to expand Beringer's presence in other nations. What troubles me most, though, is that these types of acquisitions appear to involve a great deal of cross-subsidization. Foster's has... View Details

Keywords: by Manda Salls; Consumer Products; Entertainment & Recreation; Food & Beverage

November 2007 (Revised June 2011)
Case

ISS A/S (A)

By: Clayton S. Rose

Provides the opportunity to examine the nature and extent of a company's responsibilities to its bondholders, and to develop an enhanced understanding of the challenges in managing contractual obligations, and circumstances under which business leaders might agree to... View Details

Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Bonds; Contracts; Private Equity; Leveraged Buyouts; Privatization; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Borrowing and Debt; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Europe