Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition - Publications - Faculty & Research

01 Jun 2009
News

Crisis and Creativity

creates an opening for entrepreneurs who can meet the profitability challenge by reexamining the whole business model — a process that might involve customer acquisition or retention, or pricing innovations. It is only fitting for the... View Details

Keywords: Bhaskar Chakravorti

01 Apr 2001
News

Hit Radio Show and HBS Alumni Help Young Classical Musicians

Slavet, a nonprofit arts entrepreneur and partner in a real estate development and management firm. “But we want to be more than that. Through our radio show, Web site, education programs, and upcoming TV special, we’re establishing an... View Details

Keywords: Arts, Entertainment; Broadcasting (except Internet); Information

O. Wayne Rollins

In 1964, Rollins completed what is believed to be the first leveraged buy-out in business history through the acquisition of Orkin Exterminating Company. Through a number of... View Details

Keywords: Services

June 2007 (Revised July 2009)
Case

Bert Twaalfhoven: The Successes and Failures of a Global Entrepreneur

Bert Twaalfhoven (70; HBS '54) is faced with two offers to acquire the manufacturing holding company he had built up over 40 years. Despite the attractive price, which would net Twaalfhoven and his family $70 million, he is reluctant to sell the company because his... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Family Business; Entrepreneurship; Globalization; Management Succession; Manufacturing Industry

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Andres Sarmiento

Why was earning your MBA at Harvard Business School important to you? Working at American Airlines' through the bankruptcy process made me reconsider the form of impact that I intended to have. My career until that point had consisted in... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Entrepreneurship; Entrepreneurship

Horace C. Wright

Wright spent 44 years with the company and led it through its transition from the small Chicago Flexible Shaft Company to its present incarnation as Sunbeam Corporation. Under his leadership, Sunbeam dramatically expanded its home... View Details

Keywords: Fabricated Goods

14 May 2008
Research & Ideas

Getting Down to the Business of Creativity

pointillist painter, and it's easy to imagine Bill Gates or Oprah Winfrey humming the same tune. But if creativity is integral to business, and to entrepreneurship in particular, how exactly does it occur? Where does this unicorn-like... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Retail; Apparel & Accessories; Fashion; Entertainment & Recreation

25 Feb 2020
News

Case Study: The Credit Bureau

they see three options: First, they could double down on the D2C side, which helps get the brand out there quickly, although it is subject to more competition and acquisition costs. The second option is to integrate with real estate... View Details

Keywords: Jen McFarland Flint; Real Estate

William W. George

George is credited with Medtronic’s phenomenal growth from a small producer of pacemakers to an international manufacturer of a broad line of medical devices. Through strategic acquisitions and organic... View Details

Keywords: Healthcare

John T. Chambers

Chambers grew Cisco from a company with $1.2 billion in sales to $10 billion in sales by 1998. Chambers has grown Cisco through both acquisitions and internal development. He capitalized on the... View Details

Keywords: Computers & Electronics

05 Sep 2006
First Look

First Look: September 5, 2006

Gary Kusumi is considering. GMAC Insurance, the wholly-owned auto insurance subsidiary of General Motors, formed through the merger of two smaller insurance firms, is at a strategic cross-roads. Progressive changed the competitive... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

Web

Online Entrepreneurial Marketing Course | HBS Online

This course is part of the Entrepreneurship & Innovation and Marketing track. Introduction to Entrepreneurial Marketing ENROLL NOW No application needed for our certificate programs. Start your journey today! Entrepreneurial Marketing... View Details

Richard M. Rosenberg

Under Rosenberg’s leadership, BankAmerica has become the second largest bank in the United States. Through a series of major acquisitions and the deployment of skillful marketing programs, Rosenberg has... View Details

Keywords: Finance

Conrad N. Hilton

Starting with one 40-room hotel, Hilton created a massive hotel franchising chain through selective acquisitions including the Waldorf-Astoria. By the end of the 1970s, there were about 250 Hilton Hotels... View Details

Keywords: Restaurants & Lodging

01 Jun 2011
News

The House that Howard Built

continues, “without a really clear idea of what I was going to do.” He knew that research and integration with more well-established areas — through cases on entrepreneurship across a variety of disciplines... View Details

Keywords: Garry Emmons; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services; Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services; Professional Services

01 Jan 2012
News

Franklin P. “Pitch” Johnson Jr., MBA 1952

1967 Founds Asset Management Company 1980 Provides early capital for Amgen, joins board 1998 Appointed chairman, San Francisco Opera Association 1999 Funds BUILD, nonprofit promoting entrepreneurship to disadvantaged youth 2002 Receives... View Details

19 Jun 2013
News

Your Guide to Social Enterprise

achieve its social mission? "Social entrepreneurship is hard to define, but you know it when you see it," says Georgia Levenson Keohane (MBA 2000). There's a lot to see in it these days, as a kind of social View Details

Keywords: Religious, Grantmaking, Civic, Professional, and Similar Organizations; Personal Services; Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services; Professional Services

Robert O. Anderson

Anderson parlayed a small oil business in New Mexico into one of the largest and most successful oil businesses in the United States. From 1966 to 1982, through acquisitions and strategic diversification,... View Details

Keywords: Utilities & Energy

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Courses by Faculty - Course Catalog

Accounting & Management Fall 2024 Q1Q2 3.0 Richard Ruback Field Course: Entrepreneurship through Acquisition (Application Only) Entrepreneurial Management, Finance Spring 2025... View Details

C. William Pollard

Pollard led ServiceMaster’s dramatic growth and diversification through the acquisitions of Terminix, TruGreen/ChemLawn, Merry Maids, and American Home Shield. During his tenure, Pollard continued... View Details