Publications

April 2014
Article

Golden Parachutes and the Wealth of Shareholders

By: Lucian A. Bebchuk, Alma Cohen and Charles C.Y. Wang

Golden parachutes (GPs) have attracted substantial attention from investors and public officials for more than two decades. We find that GPs are associated with higher expected acquisition premiums and that this association is at least partly due to the effect of GPs... View Details

Keywords: Golden Parachute; Acquisitions; Takeovers; Acquisition Takeover; Acquisition Likelihood; Acquisition Premiums; Agency Costs; Managerial Slack; Dodd-Frank; Executive Compensation; Acquisition; Corporate Governance; Business and Shareholder Relations

June 2013
Supplement

Multiasistencia: Redefining the Relationship with its Service Professionals. Spreadsheet Supplement

By: Francisco de Asis Martinez-Jerez

Multiasistencia, a major Spanish BPO of insurance repairs, is changing the relational contract with its service profesionals from a referral model to a guaranteed workload one. View Details

Keywords: Outsourcing; Incentives; Relational Contracts; Business Model; Motivation and Incentives; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Contracts; Insurance Industry; Spain

November 1997
Case

Royal Ahold NV: Shopkeeper to the Global Village

By: Ray A. Goldberg and Tom Clay

Royal Ahold has become one of the top U.S. food retailers in the United States and Europe, with a family firm that began in the Netherlands and grew to a listing on the U.S. Stock Exchange. It wants to be a global player and is trying to develop a global strategy. View Details

Keywords: Family Business; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Global Strategy; Leadership Style; Public Ownership; Food and Beverage Industry

08 Apr 2021
Blog Post

HBS Entrepreneurship Immersion - Four Highlights

development, and investor relations teams. Here are four highlights from HBS that I found very valuable: 1. Partnering with High Potential Startups in HBS Rock Accelerator As a Rock Venture Partner, it was a highlight to co-lead the... View Details

March 1996 (Revised November 1996)
Case

Supermarkets in Inner Cities

By: James E. Austin and Jaan Elias

Excerpts from five articles that present the challenges and opportunities inherent in opening and operating supermarkets in inner-city neighborhoods. View Details

Keywords: Urban Scope; Market Entry and Exit; Alliances; Business and Government Relations; Problems and Challenges; Development Economics; Business and Community Relations; Business Ventures; Strategic Planning; Cooperation

February 2009 (Revised February 2022)
Case

Fannie Mae: Public or Private?

By: David A. Moss, Cole Bolton and Kimberly Hagan

In 1987, President Ronald Reagan established the President's Commission on Privatization to identify federal government functions that could be shifted to the private sector. One agency that the Commission considered was the Federal National Mortgage Association, or... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Financial Institutions; Mortgages; Government and Politics; Business History; Privatization; Private Sector; Laws and Statutes; United States

July 2006 (Revised August 2007)
Case

The Mozilla Foundation: Launching Firefox 1.0 (A)

Explores the Mozilla Foundation's decisions leading up to the launch of Firefox 1.0, including its default browser, managing corporate partnerships, managing product development, and moving toward a revenue-based model. Mitchell Baker, president of the Mozilla... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Commercialization; Open Source Distribution; Partners and Partnerships; Information Technology; Social Entrepreneurship; Applications and Software; Innovation and Invention; Information Technology Industry; United States

October 1990 (Revised November 1992)
Case

Ceramics Process Systems Corp. (A)

By: Clayton M. Christensen

A small ceramics company started by a group of MIT professors struggles with some basic technology strategy issues. A plan to take "one commercializable step" at a time in order to get a foothold in the market goes awry because of incompatibility between the company's... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Technology; Problems and Challenges; Market Entry and Exit; Innovation Strategy; Technological Innovation; Research and Development; Production; Manufacturing Industry; Cambridge

10 Oct 2018
News

Building Paths to Success

influence.” That small act led to an epiphany for Traill, who set out on a mission to create venture philanthropy that could back social entrepreneurs with strategy and guidance to support young people. A year later, he founded Social... View Details

Keywords: Jill Radsken

April 2002 (Revised October 2002)
Case

Andina Bottling Co.

By: V.G. Narayanan and Alberto Ballve

Andina Bottling develops an information system for monitoring the performance and operations of its various foreign and domestic subsidiaries. View Details

Keywords: Operations; Information Technology; Performance Evaluation; Decision Making; Business Subsidiaries; Measurement and Metrics; Business or Company Management; Distribution

March 2019 (Revised May 2019)
Case

Fetchr: A New Way of Last Mile Delivery

By: V.G. Narayanan and Eren Kuzucu

By mid-2016, five years of aggressive growth had transformed Fetchr from a small logistics startup to a 1,000-employee, full-fledged last-mile delivery company operating across four countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). Already beneficiaries of the... View Details

13 Nov 2000
Research & Ideas

Corporate Venturing: Entrepreneurship on the Inside

for those who want to help them reinvent themselves. "We think about all these great large companies that have failed," said HBS professor Michael Roberto, who moderated the discussion. "But there are lots of great examples of new View Details

Keywords: by Kenneth Liss

01 Jun 2011
News

HBS Entrepreneurship at a Glance

50. That’s how many years HBS has been researching and teaching entrepreneurship. It’s also the percentage of the School’s alumni who classify themselves as entrepreneurs ten to fifteen years after graduation. Among those who have founded successful View Details

November 2023
Case

Will Fintechs and Central Banks Play in Emtech's Sandbox?

By: Daniel Isenberg and William R. Kerr

In February 2023, Emtech’s founder Carmelle Cadet is facing a dilemma. Rapidly running out of cash, Cadet has a term sheet from a leading VC but has a choice of how to structure the investment. The decision will have significant implications for Cadet’s own stake, as... View Details

Keywords: Cryptocurrency; Business Startups; Venture Capital; Cash Flow; Currency; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Digital Platforms

August 2009 (Revised February 2013)
Case

Eddie Bauer (A)

By: Paul Healy, Sharon Katz and Aldo Sesia

In June 2005, Eddie Bauer, the specialty apparel retailer, emerged from bankruptcy. Under the plan of reorganization former creditors converted their debt into common shares, taking 100% ownership in the reconstituted company. Large banks-including Bank of America and... View Details

Keywords: Financial Statements; Mergers and Acquisitions; Restructuring; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Stock Shares; Valuation; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Retail Industry; United States

March 2006 (Revised March 2014)
Teaching Note

Founder-CEO Succession at Wily Technology (TN)

By: Noam Wasserman

Teaching Note to 805150. View Details

Keywords: Management Succession; Governing and Advisory Boards; Selection and Staffing; Transformation; Venture Capital; Business Startups; Decisions

July 1996 (Revised January 1997)
Case

Northwest Airlines: Brush with Bankruptcy (A)--November 1992

By: Leonard A. Schlesinger and Davis Dyer

Deals with Northwest's financial crisis between the fall of 1992 and the following spring. Northwest's leaders face the problem of how to meet an impending $600 million payment on the 1989 LBO loan when the airline had run out of cash. Concludes by outlining options... View Details

Keywords: Air Transportation; Restructuring; Leveraged Buyouts; Crisis Management; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Financial Strategy; Financial Crisis; Air Transportation Industry; United States