Publications

March 2022 (Revised April 2022)
Teaching Note

Group Functions at the Maersk Group

By: David J. Collis

In 2014, seven years after he was appointed CEO of the Danish shipping and oil conglomerate A.P. Møller Maersk (the Maersk Group), Nils Andersen was reexamining the size and role of corporate headquarters in the company he had reshaped as a "premium conglomerate."... View Details

Keywords: Maersk; Business Units; Conglomerates; Decentralization; Core Business; Value Added; Synergy; Headquarters; Shipping; Petroleum; Oil And Gas; Drilling; Corporate Strategy; Business Conglomerates; Business Divisions; Transportation Industry; Shipping Industry; Denmark

02 Oct 2008
What Do You Think?

Workout vs. Bailout: Should Government Take Advantage of the Buffett Effect?

attitudes toward these matters may help explain the reasoned responses to this month's questions, responses surprisingly devoid of emotion. Granted, the emphasis of the column was on how the Government should act, not whether. But responses, by and large, resisted the... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett

April 2004
Case

Case Vignette: The Salesman Saga

By: G. Felda Hardymon, Josh Lerner and Ann Leamon

A venture capitalist faces a situation in which a struggling portfolio company has found a promising vice president of sales through a recruitment agency. The candidate would be an excellent fit for another one of the investor's companies--one that is doing much... View Details

Keywords: Salesforce Management; Corporate Governance; Venture Capital; Ethics; Recruitment

14 May 2013
First Look

First Look: May 14

Elfers left Georges Doriot's American Research and Development Corporation to found Greylock, his own venture capital firm. Over the ensuing three decades followed a series of eight Greylock partnerships,... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

April 2020
Teaching Note

Cambridge Franchise Partners

By: Richard S. Ruback, Royce Yudkoff and Ahron Rosenfeld

Teaching Note for HBS No. 217-082. Cambridge Franchise Partners (CFP) was established by Matt Perelman and Alex Sloane (both HBS ’15) to pursue a roll-up strategy in the quick service restaurant (QSR) sector. Burger King (BK) approved CFP’s request to become a... View Details

Keywords: Roll-up; Franchise; Franchise Management; Small Firms Management; Franchise Ownership; Small Business; Management; Acquisition

July 2019
Teaching Note

Arlan Hamilton and Backstage Capital

By: Laura Huang

Teaching Note for HBS No. 419-029. Frustrated by an inability to convince existing venture capital firms to invest in companies led by women, people of color, and LGBT founders, Arlan Hamilton started her own firm, Backstage Capital, in 2015. Hamilton understood the... View Details

Keywords: Black Leadership; LGBTQ; People Of Color; Entrepreneurship; Mission and Purpose; Venture Capital; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Identity; Personal Characteristics; Prejudice and Bias; Social Issues; Diversity; Gender; Race

15 May 2012
First Look

First Look: May 15

failure resulting from asymmetric information. However, if platforms can impose exclusive dealing, then they will do so, which results in market inefficiency. Download the paper: http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/11-080.pdf Creating a View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

Research Summary

Formulating technology commercialization strategies

Even if young organizations succeed in acquiring the specialized talent necessary to further develop a recently-discovered technology, they may face an uncertain path in commercializing the original invention. Initial conceptions of what might constitute a useful... View Details

16 Dec 2002
Research & Ideas

Mentoring—Using the Voice of Experience

professionals in venture capital firms or who were cashed-out entrepreneurs acting as angels for small start ups. Both sets of people had certain expertise that they were trying to transmit to highly inexperienced entrepreneurs.... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

05 Feb 2007
Research & Ideas

Business and the Global Poor

undertaking traditional value creation activities—from sourcing to engaging the poor in production to distribution and sales—in low-income markets. To the degree that these ventures empower the poor—either by improving their quality of... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

August 1991
Case

Momenta Corp. (A)

Momenta is a one-month-old high-tech company founded by Kamran Elahian who has already helped found two other successful firms. Having faced problems of teamwork and communication before, Kamran is determined to establish the right corporate culture early on. Teaching... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Culture; Business Startups

April 2005 (Revised February 2006)
Case

L'Oreal and the Globalization of American Beauty

By: Geoffrey G. Jones, David Kiron, Vincent Dessain and Anders Sjoman

Examines L'Oreal's acquisition of leading U.S. cosmetics brands, including Maybelline, Redken, and Kiehl's, and their subsequent renewal and globalization. Reviews the history of L'Oreal, now the world's largest cosmetics company, from its origins in France in 1907.... View Details

Keywords: Management; Corporate Strategy; Problems and Challenges; Brands and Branding; Business History; Globalization; Acquisition; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; Consumer Products Industry; France; United States

April 2005
Background Note

Strategies of Unrelated Diversification

By: Bharat N. Anand and Samhita Patwardhan Jayanti

Conglomerates lie at the heart of debates in corporate strategy. They include, perhaps, the best known companies in history--Beatrice Corp., General Electric, ITT, Siemens, and ABB--and at various times over the last few decades have been both admired and vilified as a... View Details

Keywords: Diversification; Business Conglomerates; Corporate Strategy; Value

September 2015 (Revised March 2016)
Case

Intuit: Turbo Tax PersonalPro - A Tale of Two Entrepreneurs

By: Shikhar Ghosh, Joseph Fuller and Michael Roberts

The case provides a vehicle for teaching about both corporate intrapreneurship and the use of lean startup methods. It tells the story of a product manager within Intuit who develops an idea for a new product that spans two of the company's existing business... View Details

Keywords: Business Units; Business or Company Management; Applications and Software; Accounting; Product Development; Financial Services Industry

June 2005 (Revised May 2006)
Background Note

Reminders for Owner-Managers Regarding the Board of Directors of Private Companies

By: John A. Davis

Presents a consolidated list of corporate governance best practices for owner-managers of private companies, including family businesses. View Details

Keywords: Governing and Advisory Boards; Family Business

October 2007 (Revised February 2010)
Case

Adelphia Communications Corp.'s Bankruptcy

By: Stuart C. Gilson and Belen Villalonga

In 2002, a massive accounting fraud and corporate looting scandal involving the founding Rigas family made Adelphia the 11th largest bankruptcy case in history, and the third-after WorldCom and Enron-among those triggered by fraud. Set in 2005, when Adelphia is... View Details

Keywords: Family Business; Restructuring; Crime and Corruption; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Corporate Governance; Governance Controls; Family Ownership

March 2016 (Revised May 2021)
Case

Michael Milken: The Junk Bond King

By: Tom Nicholas and Matthew G. Preble

Michael Milken, an investment banker who dominated the junk bond market in the 1980s, was sentenced to jail in 1990 after pleading guilty to a number of securities and tax-related felonies. In the preceding decade, Milken had helped usher in a new wave of leveraged buy... View Details

Keywords: Junk Bonds; High-yield Bonds; Financial Innovation; Shareholder Value; Bonds; Capital; Capital Structure; Cost of Capital; Crime and Corruption; Entrepreneurship; Ethics; Finance; Investment Banking; Leveraged Buyouts; Mergers and Acquisitions; Ownership; Private Equity; Restructuring; United States

April 2001 (Revised August 2003)
Case

Vodafone AirTouch's Bid for Mannesmann

Vodafone's bid for Mannesmann was the largest ever cross-border hostile bid. This case examines the economic, financial, and corporate governance issues in the deal. View Details

Keywords: Horizontal Integration; International Finance; Valuation; Corporate Governance; Acquisition; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Telecommunications Industry