Publications

January 2001
Teaching Note

ZEFER: Building and Positioning an e-Business Consulting Company TN

By: Richard L. Nolan and George Francis Westerman III

Keywords: Product Positioning; Internet and the Web; Business Ventures; Consulting Industry

March 1998 (Revised August 2000)
Case

Bumper Acquisition (C), A

By: James K. Sebenius and David T. Kotchen

Carries the negotiation between Thermo-Impact and Medallion Capital through October 1996. The companies began talks in 1995 when Medallion offered to buy Thermo-Impact. Students view developments from the perspective of Thermo-Impact's owners and must make decisions... View Details

Keywords: Decisions; Negotiation Process; Negotiation Participants; Entrepreneurship; Acquisition; Manufacturing Industry; Auto Industry; Illinois

January 1997
Case

Dr. Sergio Ceccuzzi and SMI: Negotiating Cross-Border Acquisitions in Europe (A)

By: James K. Sebenius

Over several years, Societa Metallurgica Italiana SpA (SMI), a small Italian copper processing firm, successfully completed a number of challenging acquisitions. This case explores SMI's negotiation strategies and tactics, concentrating especially on its acquisition of... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Negotiation; Strategy; Manufacturing Industry; France; Italy

November 1995 (Revised January 1998)
Case

Transformation of Pratt & Whitney North Haven (A)

By: H. Kent Bowen, Linda A. Hill, Andrew P. Burtis, Sylvie Ryckebusch and John Schiavone

Pratt & Whitney is a leader in the development and manufacturing of gas turbine engines for commercial and military aircraft. Economic conditions for the airline and defense industries are forcing the airplane engine builders to restructure. Ed Northern, a new general... View Details

Keywords: Transformation; Restructuring; Production; Opportunities; Economy; Aerospace Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Connecticut

February 2017 (Revised January 2022)
Supplement

Bankruptcy at Caesars Entertainment (B)

By: Kristin Mugford

Keywords: Gaming; Chapter 11; Fraudulent Conveyance; Apollo; TPG; Bankruptcy; Leveraged Buyouts; Restructuring; Capital Structure; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Private Equity; Financial Management; Lawsuits and Litigation; Negotiation; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Las Vegas

January 2010 (Revised April 2013)
Case

Aubrey McClendon's Special Incentive Compensation at Chesapeake Energy (A)

By: Paul Healy, Clayton S. Rose and Aldo Sesia

Aubrey McClendon, founder and CEO of Chesapeake Energy, was, according to Fortune Magazine, the highest paid U.S. CEO in 2008 receiving over $100 million in total compensation. McClendon received this compensation despite a significant drop in the company's stock price... View Details

Keywords: Financial Statements; Financial Reporting; Price; Stock Options; Valuation; Joint Ventures; Business Growth and Maturation; Economic Growth; Growth and Development Strategy; Change Management; Energy Industry; United States

June 2019
Teaching Note

Zebra Medical Vision

By: Shane Greenstein and Sarah Gulick

Teaching note is meant to accompany Zebra Medical Vision case, which offers a look at a company’s decisions as a small startup competing with other startups and major technology companies. It also demonstrates the challenges faced by a machine learning company working... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Science-Based Business; Applications and Software; Patents; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Health Care and Treatment; Health Industry; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Technology Industry; Israel

October 1996 (Revised March 2000)
Teaching Note

Intercon Japan TN

By: Roy D. Shapiro and Marie-Therese M. Flaherty

Teaching Note for (9-688-056). View Details

Keywords: Multinational Firms and Management; Production; Business Subsidiaries; Conflict and Resolution; Supply Chain; Manufacturing Industry; Japan

April 1995
Case

Montague Corporation (A)

By: Norman A. Berg and James Weber

The Montague Corp. is a small company started in 1987 and owned by David Montague, age 31, and his father. The company designs, manufactures in Taiwan, and sells through distributors worldwide a high-quality "bicycle that folds." The company offices are located in... View Details

Keywords: Business Strategy; Financial Strategy; Financial Management; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Globalized Firms and Management; Family Business; Bicycle Industry; Taiwan; Cambridge

November 2022
Case

Para: Pay Transparency and Gig Drivers' Rights

By: Christopher Stanton and George Gonzalez

The case presents the founding vision and early days of a young startup that seeks to empower delivery drivers with tools and transparency. The company's flagship mobile app has been taken up by tens of thousands of delivery drivers across major U.S. cities who use it... View Details

Keywords: Gig Workers; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Applications and Software; Disruptive Innovation; Compensation and Benefits; Technology Industry; San Francisco

September 2021 (Revised December 2021)
Case

Spire, the CubeSat Revolution, and the Government as a Space Data Customer

By: Matthew Weinzierl, Mehak Sarang and Brendan L. Rosseau

This case outlines the rise of Spire Global, a young space company using CubeSats to provide weather data and weather prediction services. In addition to tracing the evolution of a space startup from novel idea to publicly-traded company, the case also examines the... View Details

Keywords: Space; Government Contracting; Remote Sensing; Satellites; Business Startups; Public Sector; Cost vs Benefits; Competition; Weather; Forecasting and Prediction

2012
Working Paper

Information Technology and Boundary of the Firm: Evidence from Plant-Level Data

By: Chris Forman and Kristina McElheran

We study the relationship between different margins of information technology (IT) use and vertical integration using plant-level data from the U.S. Census of Manufactures. Focusing on the short-run decision of whether to allocate production output to downstream plants... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Technology Adoption; Production; Factories, Labs, and Plants; Vertical Integration; Supply Chain; Manufacturing Industry; United States

Read Now

March 2011 (Revised March 2013)
Supplement

a-connect: In Search of Talent Partners (B)

By: Robert G. Eccles and Penelope Rossano

The a-connect: In Search of Talent Partners (B) case updates company changes since the (A) case. Key updates include leadership and management appointments and organizational changes. View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Selection and Staffing; Leadership; Growth and Development Strategy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Structure; Consulting Industry

October 2010 (Revised April 2013)
Case

Bridge International Academies: A School in a Box

By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Katharine Lee

Bridge International was founded in 2007 as a for-profit social enterprise to address the educational needs of poor children in Africa. Ten schools were operational in Kenya by 2010. The plan was to franchise nearly 3,000 schools all over Africa. The case is meant to... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Education; Growth and Development; Franchise Ownership; Strategic Planning; Problems and Challenges; Social Enterprise; Segmentation; Education Industry; Africa; Kenya

September 2008 (Revised August 2010)
Case

Boston Teacher Residency: Developing a Strategy for Long-term Impact

By: Stacey M. Childress, Geoff Eckman Marietta and Sara Suchman

In June 2008, Jesse Solomon, the founding director of the Boston Teacher Residency (BTR), faced an important decision about the organization's strategic direction. Since its founding in 2003, 125 of its graduates had joined the Boston Public Schools (BPS) and BTR had... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Teaching; Entrepreneurship; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Performance Improvement; Business Strategy; Education Industry; Boston

December 2009
Article

Empire-Building or Bridge-Building? Evidence from New CEOs' Internal Capital Allocation Decisions

By: Yuhai Xuan

This article investigates how the job histories of CEOs influence their capital allocation decisions when they preside over multi-divisional firms. I find that, after CEO turnover, divisions not previously affiliated with the new CEO receive significantly more capital... View Details

Keywords: Business Divisions; Decision Choices and Conditions; Capital Budgeting; Financial Management; Managerial Roles; Resource Allocation

Read Now

September 2000 (Revised February 2007)
Case

Freeport Studio

By: Rajiv Lal and James Weber

Describes the start-up and first-year difficulties of Freeport Studio, a unit of L.L. Bean, founded in 1998 to sell women's clothing by catalog. First-year sales were far below plan, and projected profits did not materialize. Fran Philip must identify the problems and... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Profit; Growth and Development Strategy; Marketing Strategy; Strategic Planning; Problems and Challenges; Creativity

October 1993 (Revised November 1994)
Case

Michigan Manufacturing Corp.: The Pontiac Plant--1988

By: Clayton M. Christensen

Michigan Manufacturing is a broad-line maker of components for the automotive industry. It has developed a network of nine plants as its product line has grown. Newer, higher-volume products tend to be made in newer, focused, high-volume plants, while older product... View Details

Keywords: Cost Accounting; Factories, Labs, and Plants; Profit; Brands and Branding; Mission and Purpose; Networks; Auto Industry; Manufacturing Industry

July 1987
Case

Altoona Corp.: Computer Products Division

By: Roger E. Bohn and Robert H. Hayes

A relatively small manufacturer of computer memory disks has achieved a major market position through the use of its statistical quality control (SQC) program. It is now expanding the production of a new line of disks and is encountering problems getting the process... View Details

Keywords: Factories, Labs, and Plants; Volatility; Performance Consistency; Performance Improvement; Performance Productivity; Quality; Mathematical Methods; Hardware; Manufacturing Industry