Publications

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December 1989
Supplement

People Express Decline: Interview with Don Burr, Video

By: Michael Beer

Presents an interview with Don Burr, CEO, as he reviews his account of how and why People Express failed as a corporation and was ultimately sold to Continental Airlines. View Details

Keywords: Management Teams; Failure; Business Exit or Shutdown; Air Transportation Industry

17 Apr 2015
News

A Driving Force for a Sustainable World

Fabienne Herlaut (MBA 1984) has strived for sustainability in the greater world and in her own life. The founder and managing partner of Ecomobilité Ventures, a 25 million multi-corporate venture fund based in France and committed to... View Details

Keywords: Jill Radsken; Funds, Trusts, and Other Financial Vehicles; Finance; Transit and Ground Passenger Transportation; Transportation

October 2010
Teaching Note

Whole Foods: Balancing Social Mission and Growth (TN)

By: Christopher Marquis and Bobbi Thomason

Teaching Note for 410023. View Details

Keywords: Food; Growth and Development; Mergers and Acquisitions; Mission and Purpose; Supply Chain; Business Model; Growth and Development Strategy; Integration; Management Practices and Processes; Labor Unions; Food and Beverage Industry; United States

May 1999 (Revised September 2003)
Case

Advanced Inhalation Research, Inc.

This case presents a look at the early start-up phase and development of Advanced Inhalation Research (AIR), a company engaged in the development of a new drug-delivery technology. Focuses on the risks, the steps taken to manage it, and the manner in which the company... View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Risk Management; Valuation; Financing and Loans; Health Care and Treatment; Acquisition; Business Startups; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

After ill-fated attempts to make money by buying and selling oil leases, Sinclair entered the refining business in 1906, acquiring several companies that were eventually consolidated into Sinclair Oil. Once the larger View Details

Keywords: Utilities & Energy

December 1993 (Revised June 2000)
Case

Kochman, Reidt + Haigh, Inc.

By: Richard S. Ruback and Roy Burstin

A small company faces the dilemma of how to finance growth (i.e., internally generated cash flows vs. outside financing sources). An innovative concept positions the company in promoting a niche within the kitchen-cabinet industry and in looking for an optimal way of... View Details

Keywords: Cash Flow; Business Growth and Maturation; Entrepreneurship; Corporate Finance; Growth and Development Strategy; Consumer Products Industry; Utilities Industry

2012
Working Paper

Is India's Manufacturing Sector Moving Away from Cities?

By: Ejaz Ghani, Arti Grover Goswami and William R. Kerr

This paper investigates the urbanization of the Indian manufacturing sector by combining enterprise data from formal and informal sectors. We find that plants in the formal sector are moving away from urban and into rural locations, while the informal sector is moving... View Details

Keywords: Urban Development; Policy; Factories, Labs, and Plants; Geographic Location; Education; Infrastructure; Manufacturing Industry; India

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February 2009 (Revised June 2011)
Background Note

A Note on the Legal and Tax Implications of Founders' Equity Splits

By: Noam T. Wasserman and Lauren Barley

This note summarizes key legal and tax issues that founders should consider as they contemplate an equity split and ownership structure. Specific issues covered include why founders should not delay splitting the equity and whether they should involve an attorney or... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Equity; Taxation; Intellectual Property; Law; Ownership; Partners and Partnerships

January 2009
Case

Wolf Elmore Brewer, Inc.

By: John A. Davis

This case describes how Alex Wolf, the founder of a small architecture and urban planning firm based in Portland, Oregon, decides to offer partnership to two trusted colleagues, and then how strains develop in their relationship. It asks what can be done to improve... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Interpersonal Communication; Entrepreneurship; Partners and Partnerships; Conflict Management

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May 2001 (Revised May 2015)
Case

Compagnie Lyonnaise de Transport (A)

By: Michael Tushman and Michael J. Roberts

Describes the issues surrounding the funding of a centralized research service that supports two related divisions. The company has a very decentralized and financially driven culture, and the centralized service is used unequally, setting up a conflict. View Details

Keywords: Business Divisions; Organizational Culture; Relationships; Conflict Management; Balance and Stability; Transportation Industry; France

March 1998 (Revised July 1998)
Case

Boston Duck Tours,1996: Has Boston Gone Quackers?

By: Myra M. Hart and Stephanie Dodson

While on vacation in Memphis, former investment manager Andy Wilson discovers a unique "tour bus" that travels over land and through water. He decides to transplant the concept to Boston and to add both historical and theatrical features to the amphibious tour. As he... View Details

Keywords: Opportunities; Creativity; Entrepreneurship; Financing and Loans; Problems and Challenges; Business Startups; Tourism Industry; Tennessee; Boston

January 1977 (Revised April 1983)
Case

Corning Glass Works: The Electronic Products Division (B)

By: Michael Beer

Focuses on the recommendations and implementation strategy made by the organizational development group for the electronic product division's problems. View Details

Keywords: Business Divisions; Growth and Development Strategy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Problems and Challenges; Adaptation

August 1986 (Revised May 2005)
Case

Mike Finkelstein (B)

By: Carliss Y. Baldwin, Charles Bryan and Ken Leet

Following his successful turnaround of WTXX, Waterbury, Mike Finkelstein joined Odyssey Partners with a mandate to build a communications company. From 1982-1985, he acquired three more stations, financing each as an independent partnership. However, increasing... View Details

Keywords: Business Exit or Shutdown; Cash; Business or Company Management; Bonds; Cost vs Benefits; SWOT Analysis; Alignment; Acquisition; Financial Strategy; Corporate Finance; Communications Industry

Woolworth spotted a potential enterprise in stores that sold only low, one-price goods. Despite the failure of his first store, his later ventures proved immensely profitable, allowing him to combine his View Details

Keywords: Retail

04 Apr 2018
Op-Ed

Op-Ed: Why Private Investors Must Fund 'New Nuclear' Power Right Now

number of new ventures have proposed truly novel nuclear designs and have persuaded private investors to fund their path to market. These ventures have drawn up detailed plans to get their designs off the... View Details

Keywords: by Joseph Lassiter; Energy; Green Technology

01 Sep 2009
News

Faculty Books

and skilled people to accomplish what relief agencies could not: an information system and supply chain that managed the flow of relief supplies. IBM’s actions exemplify an emerging business idea: the vanguard company creating synergy... View Details

Keywords: Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services; Publishing Industries (except Internet); Information

Benjamin Ha

Ben currently is the managing partner of Photon Venture Partners, an early-stage investor in interactive entertainment, consumer database marketing technology and artificial intelligence software and hardware. Prior to founding Photon... View Details

Keywords: Entertainment;#237;#Artificial Intelligence;#75;#Venture Capital;#1;#Advertising;#64;#Software/App

September 1994 (Revised May 1995)
Case

Time Life, Inc. (A)

By: David A. Garvin and Jonathan West

Time Life has historically been a continuity book publisher, selling 20-volume book series via direct mail. Now, however, music and video/TV divisions have been added, and the CEO is trying to craft a strategy that will align the divisions so they can produce... View Details

Keywords: Business Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Business Divisions; Horizontal Integration; Production; Creativity; Alignment; Advertising; Publishing Industry