Publications

July 2021
Case

Bessemer Venture Partners: Century Fund

By: Jo Tango and Alys Ferragamo

In July of 2021, Bessemer Venture Partners (BVP) contemplated the future of its growth investing practice, known as “Century.” While still relatively new as a focused initiative, BVP’s growth investing already had significant momentum. The fund’s investment pace had... View Details

Keywords: Leveraged Buyouts; Financial Institutions; Growth and Development Strategy; Investment Banking; Competitive Strategy; Public Sector; Venture Capital; Private Equity; Acquisition

February 2019 (Revised August 2019)
Case

Maccabitech: The Promise of Israel's Healthcare Data

By: Scott Duke Kominers and Carin-Isabel Knoop

Dr. Varda Shalev bridges technology and medicine through Maccabitech, a "research and innovation wing" of Israel's Maccabi Healthcare Services (MHS) that partners with research institutions, pharmaceutical companies, and startups. Shalev hopes to scale Maccabitech's... View Details

Keywords: Big Data; Healthcare; Analytics and Data Science; Digital Platforms; Health Care and Treatment; Innovation and Invention; Research; Entrepreneurship; Risk Management; Israel

January 2016
Case

Sentient Jet: The Uber of Private Jets

By: Anat Keinan and Sandrine Crener

Founded in 1999 in the Boston area, Sentient Jet had become a leading private aviation company in the United States. Its success was built on the introduction of a groundbreaking membership program that offered business travelers the flexibility and convenience of... View Details

September 1997 (Revised May 1999)
Case

Automated Intelligence Corporation

By: James K. Sebenius and David T. Kotchen

Precision Controls is a Minnesota-based manufacturer of electronic control devices. To enhance its product line, Precision would like to establish an artificial intelligence research group, either through internal development or, preferably, by merging with or... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Valuation; Research and Development; Stock Shares; Negotiation Process; Negotiation Tactics; Mergers and Acquisitions; Manufacturing Industry; Electronics Industry; Minnesota

20 Mar 2007
First Look

First Look: March 20, 2007

firm-size distribution and de jure and de facto measures of international capital integration. We then explore causal channels through which foreign capital may encourage entrepreneurship. We find evidence that entrepreneurial activity in... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

Web

Curriculum - MBA

Entrepreneurship Public entrepreneurship is designed for students who want to solve the world’s biggest, toughest problems; for those individuals that want to sell to the world’s biggest customers and to... View Details

October 2007 (Revised January 2009)
Case

The Hertz Corporation (A)

By: Timothy A. Luehrman and Douglas Scott

Examines the leveraged buyout of Hertz in 2005, a complex, high-profile deal and a good example of cutting-edge practice in private equity. The first of a two-part series on the Hertz LBO, adopts the perspective of Clayton, Dubilier & Rice, the leader of a private... View Details

Keywords: Leveraged Buyouts; Private Equity; Bids and Bidding; Negotiation Deal; Valuation; Value Creation; Financial Services Industry; United States

Web

Live from Klarman Hall - Alumni

Srikant Datar kicks off Reunion Weekend by sharing his key priorities, which will strengthen and accelerate the School’s impact in the world. Video Recording Navigating Uncertain Times: Teaching Through Political Shifts and Advancing the... View Details

18 Apr 2007
HBS Case

How Magazine Luiza Courts the Poor

so in an innovative manner, through virtual showrooms that use computers and sales staff to help customers navigate the store's inventory and make a purchase. "The company had an amazing influence on customer behavior," Frei... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Retail

March 2021 (Revised March 2024)
Case

M-KOPA: Empowering Lives

By: V. Kasturi Rangan, Wale Lawal and Pippa Tubman Armerding

The Pay As You Go solar power company in East Africa had sales of $71 million in 2019. It wished to grow to $300 million by 2025. M-KOPA, founded by three entrepreneurs in 2011, had grown nicely in Kenya and Uganda to reach nearly 750,000 households with an innovative... View Details

Keywords: Mobile Payment; Go-to-market Strategy; Business At The Base Of The Pyramid; Business Growth; Social Entrepreneurship; Renewable Energy; Business Model; Growth and Development Strategy; Expansion; Marketing Strategy; Developing Countries and Economies; Kenya; Uganda; Nigeria

November 1997 (Revised November 2010)
Case

Hikma Pharmaceuticals (A)

By: John A. Quelch

The president of a Jordanian pharmaceutical company is contemplating how to further penetrate the U.S. market, either through its own manufacturing and sales efforts, or as a supplier to a third party. View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Globalized Markets and Industries; Emerging Markets; Expansion; Pharmaceutical Industry; Jordan; United States

Career Coach

Minal Mehta

Minal (Harvard Business School ‘10, Stanford ‘03) has over two decades of experience in the technology industry. Most recently, she was the cofounder and CEO of AllTakes, a venture-backed online platform designed to foster secure and meaningful connections among users... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Entrepreneurship; Entrepreneurship

November 2021 (Revised December 2021)
Case

Praava Health: A New Model for Bangladesh

By: Michael Chu

Launched in Dhaka, Bangladesh, in 2018, Praava Health (‘Praava’) delivered high-quality in-clinic primary and specialist care, backed by its own high quality diagnostic laboratories, imaging and pharmacy. Praava was founder Sylvana Sinha’s response to what she saw as a... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Health Care and Treatment; Investment Return; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Business Model; Growth and Development Strategy; Health Industry; Bangladesh; Asia

Carl Kester is a Baker Foundation Professor and the George Fisher Baker Jr. Professor of Business Administration, Emeritus at Harvard Business School. He is a member of the Finance Unit. He served as Deputy Dean for Academic Affairs (2006-2010), Chairman of the... View Details

Keywords: asset management; banking; education industry; financial services; investment banking industry; pharmaceuticals; private equity (LBO funds)

Web

Placement - Doctoral

Shaping Organizational Outcomes through Management Control Systems: Evidence from the Field Advisors: Dennis Campbell (Chair), Tatiana Sandino , and Susanna Gallani Jihwon Park Accounting & Management, 2020 Placement: CUNY, Baruch... View Details

September 2020 (Revised June 2021)
Case

Eaton Corporation: Portfolio Transformation and The Cost of Capital

By: Benjamin C. Esty, E. Scott Mayfield and Daniel Fisher

In 2000, Eaton Corporation was a broadly diversified industrial conglomerate. But its strategy was evolving and its focus was narrowing around “power management” and more recently on “intelligent power,” the use of digitally enabled products and services designed to... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Conglomerates; Business Divisions; Cost of Capital; Corporate Finance; Value; Valuation; Industrial Products Industry; United States; Denmark; Republic of Ireland

2009
Working Paper

Firsthand Experience and the Subsequent Role of Reflected Knowledge in Cultivating Trust in Global Collaboration

By: Mark Mortensen and T. B. Neeley

While scholars contend that firsthand experience—time spent onsite observing the people, places, and norms of a distant locale—is crucial in globally distributed collaboration, how such experience actually affects interpersonal dynamics is poorly understood. Based on... View Details

Keywords: Interpersonal Communication; Experience and Expertise; Globalized Firms and Management; Knowledge Acquisition; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Trust