Publications

September 2003 (Revised June 2005)
Case

Polycom's Acquisition Process

Describes the acquisition decision-making process employed at Polycom. Focuses on the potential acquisition of the firm's archrival, Picturetel, in mid-2001. View Details

Keywords: Decision Making; Mergers and Acquisitions

August 2000 (Revised July 2002)
Background Note

Fundamental Enterprise Valuation: Capital Expenditures (CAPEX)

By: Carliss Y. Baldwin

A technical note that defines capital expenditures (CAPEX). View Details

Keywords: Valuation; Business Ventures; Capital; Spending

December 2007
Article

Why Do Firms Hold So Much Cash? A Tax-Based Explanation

By: C. Fritz Foley, Jay Hartzell, Sheridan Titman and Garry Twite

Keywords: Business Ventures; Cash; Taxation

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15 Nov 2006
Keynote Speech

Profit in Purpose: Can Corporations Make the Connection?" Panelist. "Leading in the Age of Ambiguity

By: Lynn Paine

Keywords: For-Profit Firms; Mission and Purpose

August 1999 (Revised February 2000)
Case

Cisco Systems, Inc.: Acquisition Integration for Manufacturing (A)

By: Steven C. Wheelwright, Charles A. Holloway, Nicole Tempest and Christian G. Kasper

Describes the procedures and processes used by Cisco Systems in its acquisition of high-technology firms. Its goal is to retain key engineering talent and to leverage existing product development efforts, but to quickly merge acquired companies its own systems and... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Leveraged Buyouts; Acquisition; Integration; Mergers and Acquisitions; Production; Activity Based Costing and Management; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Innovation and Management; Technological Innovation; Talent and Talent Management; Human Resources; Manufacturing Industry; Technology Industry; England

Alumni WDYDWYD

Marlene Krauss

science. Then I saw the opportunity to combine business and medicine and through my venture fund created leading edge medical devices and biotechnology companies. I recently retired for a week, organized a... View Details

March 1999 (Revised November 2001)
Case

Honda-Rover (B): Honda Draws the Line

By: Ashish Nanda, James K. Sebenius and Ron Fortgang

Supplements the (A) case. View Details

Keywords: Business Exit or Shutdown; Joint Ventures; Alliances; Knowledge Sharing; Strategy; Contracts; Negotiation Process; Change Management; Negotiation Tactics; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Auto Industry; United Kingdom

October 1995 (Revised July 1996)
Case

Aspen Technology, Inc.: Currency Hedging Review

By: Peter Tufano

The chief financial officer of a rapidly growing U.S.-based software firm that sells its process-control software to industrial users around the globe must review the goals, strategies, and policies of the firm's currency hedging program. This review is prompted by... View Details

Keywords: Currency Exchange Rate; Applications and Software; Investment; Business Startups; Business Strategy; Information Technology Industry; United Kingdom; United States

June 2009
Teaching Note

Curled Metal Inc. - Engineered Products Division (TN)

By: Frank V. Cespedes

Teaching Note for [709434]. View Details

Keywords: Sales; Product Development; Customers; Business Divisions; Price; Business Strategy; Cost; Production; Mining Industry

August 2007
Case

Manila Water Company

By: V. Kasturi Rangan, David Wheeler and Jane Comeault

In 1997, the Philippines government privatized its water utility in the metropolitan Manila area. The East Zone concession was won by Manila Water Company and the West Zone concession by Maynilad Water Services. Over the next decade, Manila Water turned in an... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Framework; Business or Company Management; Bids and Bidding; Privatization; Performance Improvement; Utilities Industry

November 1999 (Revised May 2001)
Case

AGENCY.COM (A): Launching an Interactive Service Agency

By: Ashish Nanda, Thomas J. DeLong and Scot H. Landry

Having recently launched one of Silicon Valley's first start-ups, cofounders Chan Suh and Kyle Shannon ponder whether their interactive consulting firm is prepared to bid for work from a very large client. View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Internet and the Web; Problems and Challenges; Business Strategy; Decision Making; Entrepreneurship; Consulting Industry; Information Technology Industry

Career Coach

Jon Puz

roles have included general management, strategy, business development, sales, account management, product, operations, marketing, technology, finance, HR and more. Jon has partnered with a variety of investors, including angel, View Details

01 Oct 2001
News

New Economy Notables: Peter C. Wendell

Park, California, company boasts an impressive list of multibillion dollar market cap successes, including Healtheon, Intuit, Micromuse, and Strata- Com. Wendell passes his craft on to students enrolled in a popular second-year venture... View Details

Keywords: Young, Susan; Finance

May 1993 (Revised June 2004)
Case

PepsiCo Bottling in Mexico

By: Kenneth A. Froot

This case describes Pepsico's program to restructure its Mexican bottling network. It wants to work with existing bottlers and find an organizational arrangement that will allow the bottlers to grow and change with the Mexican soft drink industry. View Details

Keywords: Bottling; Mergers and Acquisitions; Joint Ventures; Multinational Firms and Management; International Finance; Valuation; Programs; Organizational Design; Food and Beverage Industry; Mexico

October 2018 (Revised October 2018)
Teaching Note

La-Z-Boy (A)

By: Joseph B. Fuller and Julia Kelley

Kurt Darrow, CEO of La-Z-Boy furniture, must decide whether to continue an overhaul of the company's strategy in the face of a collapse in demand during the great recession. Having pared back La-Z-Boy's portfolio of brands and manufacturing network, he intends to... View Details

2017
Working Paper

Knowledge Flows within Multinationals—Estimating Relative Influence of Headquarters and Host Context Using a Gravity Model

By: Prithwiraj Choudhury, Mike Horia Teodorescu and Tarun Khanna

From the perspective of a multinational subsidiary, we employ the classic gravity equation in economics to model and compare knowledge flows to the subsidiary from the MNC headquarters and from the host country context. We also generalize traditional economics gravity... View Details

Keywords: Multinationals; Knowledge Flows; Cosine Similarity; Gravity Model; Multinational Firms and Management; Knowledge Dissemination; Business Headquarters; Immigration

October 2011 (Revised December 2011)
Case

Vignette: Alternative Liquidity Options

By: Felda Hardymon, Josh Lerner and Ann Leamon

The growth of companies that facilitate the sales of unregistered stock, such as that granted to employees of successful but long-private companies, has raised a number of questions among regulators, investors, and company founders. This brief vignette sketches out... View Details

Keywords: Financial Liquidity; Private Equity; Stocks; Business Growth and Maturation; Sales

August 2009 (Revised August 2010)
Case

Calera Corporation

By: Joseph B. Lassiter III, Thomas J. Steenburgh and Lauren Barley

Brent Constantz, founder, CEO, and president of Calera Corporation, felt a surge of optimism as he gazed at the recently commissioned prototype flue gas processing line at Calera's R&D facility in Moss Landing, California. It was late May 2009, and Calera was an... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Product Design; Product Development; Environmental Sustainability; Commercialization; Green Technology Industry