Publications

December 2015
Case

An Intern's Dilemma (A)

By: Sandra J. Sucher and Matthew Preble

An HBS student is asked to misrepresent himself during the course of his summer internship by his employer in order to obtain data from industry competitors. View Details

Keywords: Conflict; Leadership; Conflict Management; Competition; Ethics; Knowledge Acquisition; Organizational Culture; Employees; Power and Influence

April 2002 (Revised June 2003)
Case

News Corporation

By: Bharat N. Anand and Kate Attea

In 2001, News Corp. is the smallest of the major media and entertainment conglomerates, but it has the broadest global presence. In an effort to establish a major distribution presence in the United States, News Corp. had looked to acquire DirecTV, the largest U.S.... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Business Conglomerates; Globalization; Distribution; Organizational Culture; Family Ownership; Competition; Consolidation; Corporate Strategy; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Journalism and News Industry; United States; Australia

April 1991 (Revised July 1991)
Case

RJR Nabisco Board: Guardians of the Gate? (A)

By: Jay W. Lorsch

Charles Hugel, the chairman of RJR Nabisco, receives a call from RJR Nabisco's CEO, Ross Johnson; Johnson plans to present an LBO plan to the board of directors at the board meeting the following week. The case details Hugel's actions as chairman, and describes the... View Details

Keywords: Leveraged Buyouts; Situation or Environment; Bids and Bidding; Decision Making; Managerial Roles; Governing and Advisory Boards; Management Teams; Consumer Products Industry; Food and Beverage Industry

June 2007 (Revised July 2008)
Case

Kinder Morgan, Inc. - Management Buyout

Kinder Morgan, Inc., was a leader in the transportation and distribution of energy throughout North America, managing a master limited partnership with over $35 billion in infrastructure assets. In the summer of 2006, Richard Kinder, the founder and chairman of Kinder... View Details

Keywords: Leveraged Buyouts; Fairness; Governing and Advisory Boards; Privatization; Partners and Partnerships; Conflict of Interests; North America

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

February 2011 (Revised January 2017)
Case

Countrywide plc

By: Stuart C. Gilson and Sarah L. Abbott

One of the world's leading investors in distressed companies, Oaktree Capital Management, is contemplating a "loan to own" investment in the debt of Countrywide plc, a financially troubled residential real estate agent based in the U.K. Only sixteen months earlier,... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Restructuring; Financial Crisis; Capital Structure; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Financial Management; Investment; Real Estate Industry; United Kingdom

October 2007 (Revised May 2009)
Case

Offering the Right Service in the Right Place: Growing Orthopedics at the Brigham and Women's/Faulkner (BW/F) Hospitals

By: V.G. Narayanan, Michael G. Wilson and Rachel Gordon

After the merger of two local hospitals, hospital leaders much decide how to reorganize services to take advantage of newly created efficiencies. Focuses on the Orthopedics department at one of the hospitals. View Details

Keywords: Cost Accounting; Mergers and Acquisitions; Cost vs Benefits; Service Operations; Organizational Structure; Performance Efficiency; Competitive Advantage; Health Industry

January 2001 (Revised May 2010)
Case

BP Amoco (B): Financing Development of the Caspian Oil Fields

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Michael Kane

British Petroleum and Amoco were the two largest members of the Azerbaijan International Oil Consortium (AIOC), an 11-firm consortium that was spending $10 billion to develop oil fields in the Caspian Sea. As of March 1999, AIOC had completed a $1.9 billion development... View Details

Keywords: Investment; Policy; Capital Budgeting; Project Finance; Emerging Markets; Mergers and Acquisitions; Financing and Loans; Financial Strategy; Mining Industry; Energy Industry; United Kingdom; Europe

December 1998 (Revised September 1999)
Case

Novartis: Betting on Life Sciences

By: Ray A. Goldberg, Carin-Isabel Knoop and Srinivas Sunder

The merger of Ciba-Geigy and Sandoz produced genomic-based synergies for health care, agribusiness, and nutritional supplements. How to build on the strength of the individual divisions and provide synergies that would continue Novartis' leadership role is the question... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Divisions; Health Care and Treatment; Leadership; Product Positioning; Science-Based Business; Corporate Strategy; Pharmaceutical Industry

12 Feb 2008
First Look

First Look: February 12, 2007

analysis. Then, you'll learn how to apply these tools in a variety of decision contexts, including securities analysis, credit analysis, corporate financing policies analysis, mergers and acquisitions analysis, and governance and... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

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

19 Jun 2012
First Look

First Look: June 19

the acquisition of U.S. Oncology, an integrated cancer care company, whose expertise it could leverage in offerings catered to other physician specialties. With a vast portfolio of products and services serving a wide spectrum of health... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

17 May 2011
First Look

First Look: May 17

Talismark, which helped its customers manage their waste, was considering re-engineering its business fundamentals to dramatically increase profitability by changing its sales and information processes. Implementing the changes would be expensive and would interrupt... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

20 Aug 2001
Research & Ideas

Making an Ally of Uncle Sam

antitrust, intellectual property, product approval processes, and technical standards. When governments review applications for mergers and acquisitions or hear legal cases concerning intellectual-property rights or takeover disputes,... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Watkins, Mickey Edwards & Usha Thakrar

29 Aug 2024
Research & Ideas

Shoot for the Stars: What to Know About the Space Economy

sector. There was a big boom, a few years ago, in these private space enterprises trying to go public through special purpose acquisition companies (SPACs). In a SPAC, somebody would start a company with the sole idea of acquiring a... View Details

Keywords: by Kara Baskin; Aerospace

April 2020
Case

Ment.io: Knowledge Analytics for Team Decision Making

By: Yael Grushka-Cockayne, Jeffrey T. Polzer, Susie L. Ma and Shlomi Pasternak

Ment.io was a software platform that used proprietary data analytics technology to help organizations make informed and transparent decisions based on team input. Ment was born out of founder Joab Rosenberg’s frustration that, while organizations collected ever... View Details

Keywords: Decision Making; Information Technology; Knowledge; Knowledge Acquisition; Knowledge Management; Operations; Information Management; Product; Product Development; Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Communications Industry; Information Industry; Information Technology Industry; Web Services Industry; Middle East; Israel