Publications

1999
Chapter

Technological prestige and the accumulation of alliance capital

Keywords: Information Technology; Capital; Alliances

June 2013
Article

Signals across Multiple Networks: How Venture Capital and Alliance Networks Affect Interorganizational Collaboration

By: Umit Ozmel, Jeffrey J. Reuer and Ranjay Gulati

In this paper, we examine the contingent effects of signals generated by different types of networks on new ventures' formation of future strategic alliances. We argue that the signaling value of a given tie in reducing adverse selection is more pronounced when another... View Details

Keywords: Networks; Venture Capital; Alliances

Find at Harvard

February 2007
Case

South African Airways (A)

By: Joshua D. Margolis, Laura Morgan Roberts and Laura Winig

Amid efforts to engineer a turnaround at South African Airways (SAA), the CEO confronts an impending strike at the struggling company. How should the company address questions of distributive and procedural justice in post-Apartheid South Africa, and how should the CEO... View Details

Keywords: Fairness; Crisis Management; Employees; Employment; Growth and Development; Developing Countries and Economies; Air Transportation Industry; South Africa

December 1999 (Revised April 2004)
Case

Capital Alliance Private Equity: Creating a Private Equity Leader in Nigeria

Describes the creation of the first private equity fund in Nigeria and the fund's potential first investment in GS Telecom, a Nigerian telecommunication service company. The fund's managers are keenly aware that a bad first investment could create a vicious circle for... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Entrepreneurship; Telecommunications Industry; Nigeria

01 Sep 2018
News

An SUV Built for African Roads—by African Workers

African continent and import taxes are exorbitant, prices can run sky-high—to the tune of US$80,000 for a 2011 Toyota Land Cruiser, for instance. To address these problems, Nairobi-based startup Mobius Motors has reimagined an affordable... View Details

Keywords: Amy Yee

06 Feb 2023
Blog Post

African American Student Union Spotlight on HBCUs

The HBS African American Student Union (AASU) strives to be an extended family for its members from the moment they decide to attend HBS, through the transition to second year, and beyond graduation. Here we profile two AASU members who... View Details

February 2000 (Revised April 2005)
Case

Gray Security: Building a South African Services Firm

Describes Gray Security Services, an entrepreneurial South African firm that has recently gone through a financial restructuring with the help of Brait Capital Partners, a private equity firm. Gray provides complete security services to companies in South Africa, other... View Details

Keywords: Initial Public Offering; Entrepreneurship; Equity; Growth and Development Strategy; Service Industry; South Africa

02 Jul 2015
News

Public-Private Alliance Can Solve Affordable Housing Crunch

10 Jan 2005
Research & Ideas

Motivation and the Cross-Sector Alliance

alliances are built. By motivations, we mean the conscious values and explicit purposes that initially drive individuals and organizations to explore the possibility of working across sectors. It is vital that each partner have clarity... View Details

Keywords: by James Austin, Ezequiel Reficco & SEKN research team

August 2007 (Revised June 2008)
Case

The Lapdesk Company: A South African FOPSE

Shane Immelman, founding CEO of Lapdesk (South Africa), is facing several acute problems: a conflict between his director of marketing and his director of field operations; a dramatic increase in prices by a key supplier; and a major strategic alliance that does not... View Details

Keywords: Social Enterprise; For-Profit Firms; Entrepreneurship; Problems and Challenges; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Education Industry; South Africa

28 Feb 2024
Blog Post

African American Student Union Spotlight on Entrepreneurship

The HBS African American Student Union (AASU) aims to create a close-knit community for its members from the time they choose to join HBS, through their transition to the second year, and extending beyond graduation. In this feature, we... View Details

30 Apr 2001
Research & Ideas

Entering the Age of Alliances

donor and grateful recipient, toward deeper, strategic alliances. These changes are already under way, and the changing alliance landscape is rich in variety, with businesses and nonprofits from Boston to Seattle finding new ways to work... View Details

Keywords: by James Austin

February 2008 (Revised November 2008)
Case

Radical Collaboration: IBM Microelectronics Joint Development Alliances

By: Willy Shih, Gary Pisano and Andrew A. King

IBM's "Radical Collaboration" model has been an innovative approach to meeting the challenges of the huge R&D and capital investments that are needed to stay competitive in the global semiconductor industry. This model has required a rethinking of what is proprietary,... View Details

Keywords: Cost Management; Investment; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Problems and Challenges; Alliances; Networks; Partners and Partnerships; Research and Development; Competitive Advantage; Semiconductor Industry

December 2008 (Revised October 2009)
Case

Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa (AGRA)

By: David E. Bell and Brian Matthew Milder

In 2006, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and the Rockefeller Foundation joined together to form a new organization, AGRA, to tackle the historic challenge of increasing agricultural production in Africa. Launched with much fanfare and led by former U.N.... View Details

Keywords: Developing Countries and Economies; Investment Funds; Food; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Business and Government Relations; Non-Governmental Organizations; Poverty; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Africa

20 Feb 2019
News

Building an Ecosystem for African Entrepreneurs

Talk to Tony O. Elumelu (AMP 166, 2004) for more than a few minutes and you are sure to hear about “Africapitalism.” The Nigerian businessman and philanthropist coined the term in 2010 to describe the investment strategy that has shaped his career and will, he... View Details

Keywords: April White

02 Nov 2015
News

Making Higher Ed Accessible to Africans

being his own boss, Royster instead went to work at Boston-based Capital Resource Partners, then the African-American private equity firm TSG Capital in Stamford, Connecticut. At TSG he was introduced to one... View Details

Keywords: Jill Radsken

June 2019
Case

The National Museum of African American History and Culture and Lonnie Bunch

By: Steven Rogers and Derrick Jackson

Lonnie Bunch creates the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) with only half the federal support given to the first 17 Smithsonian historical or zoological institutions. Bunch, to borrow from the African American experience of creating “a... View Details

Keywords: Museums; Fundraising; Arts; Buildings and Facilities; Ethnicity; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Strategy; Marketing; Success; Leadership; Entrepreneurship

September 2021 (Revised February 2023)
Case

Harambe: Mobilizing Capital in Africa

By: Anywhere (Siko) Sikochi, Dilyana Karadzhova Botha and Francesco Tronci

Harambe was a non-profit organization whose mission was to build an ecosystem to identify promising young African entrepreneurs and provide them access to training, markets, capital, and support networks. From 2007 to 2021, Harambe had grown to a network of 367... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Nonprofit Organizations; Business Model; Strategy; Organizational Structure; Business Startups; Capital; Venture Capital; Social and Collaborative Networks; Networks; Developing Countries and Economies; Emerging Markets; Africa; South Africa