Publications

September 1985 (Revised January 1986)
Case

Peter Wendell

By: William A. Sahlman

Contains a description of a decision confronting an employee of IBM in late 1981. Should he leave IBM to become head of a new venture capital fund which will specialize in technology investments? The case is designed to expose students to the nature of the opportunity... View Details

Keywords: Personal Development and Career; Jobs and Positions; Opportunities; Valuation; Decision Choices and Conditions; Resignation and Termination; Venture Capital; Financial Services Industry; Financial Services Industry

November 2010 (Revised May 2014)
Case

Dow's Bid for Rohm and Haas

By: Benjamin C. Esty and David Lane

This case analyzes Dow Chemical Company's proposed acquisition of Rohm and Haas in 2008. The $18.8 billion acquisition was part of Dow's strategic transformation from a slow-growth, low-margin, and cyclical producer of basic chemicals into a higher-growth,... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Financial Crisis; Capital Structure; Financial Condition; Financial Management; Contracts; Lawsuits and Litigation; Risk and Uncertainty; Valuation; Chemical Industry

January 2021
Case

Anodot: Autonomous Business Monitoring

By: Antonio Moreno and Danielle Golan

Autonomous business monitoring platform Anodot leveraged machine learning to provide real-time alerts regarding business anomalies. Anodot’s solution was used in various industries in order to primarily monitor business health, such as revenue and payments, product... View Details

Keywords: Digital Platforms; Internet and the Web; Knowledge Sharing; Information Management; Sales; Value Creation; Product Positioning; Israel

13 Sep 2021
Research & Ideas

Science: The Unlikely Frontier for New Business Ideas

Grounding innovation in science also results in more unique products. For companies with thousands of patents, the View Details

Keywords: by Avery Forman

March 2018 (Revised March 2018)
Teaching Note

OpenInvest

By: Boris Vallee and Caitlin Reimers Brumme

Founded by a team of hedge fund and NGO alumni, OpenInvest launched its platform in 2015 to enable retail investors to tailor their portfolio to their personal values in an automated way, for instance by screening out weapon manufacturers stocks or overweighting LGBTQ... View Details

Keywords: Socially Responsible Investing; Investing For Impact; Robo-advisors; Investment; Values and Beliefs; Customization and Personalization; Technology; Financial Services Industry

July 2019 (Revised April 2021)
Case

Salary Finance

By: John R. Wells and Benjamin Weinstock

In April 2019, Asesh Sarkar, co-founder and chief executive of Salary Finance Limited, a London-based FinTech, faced tough choices. Sarkar had founded Salary Finance with Dan Cobley and Daniel Shakhani in 2015. The company’s value proposition was quite simple: partner... View Details

Keywords: Credit; Financing and Loans; Wages; Innovation and Invention; Expansion; Growth and Development Strategy; Organizational Culture; Decision Choices and Conditions; Financial Services Industry

November 2017 (Revised April 2019)
Case

Summa Equity: Building Purpose-Driven Organizations

By: George Serafeim and David Freiberg

In 2015, Reynir Indahl left top Nordic private equity firm Altor Equity Partners to found Summa Equity (Summa). After long contemplation following the financial crisis, Indahl was convinced the financial system was producing negative externalities and that the current... View Details

04 May 2009
Research & Ideas

What’s Next for the Big Financial Brands

headquarters reminds us that a brand is a precious asset. The value of any brand asset depends upon whether it has delivered on its past promises and is believed likely to do... View Details

Keywords: by John Quelch; Banking; Financial Services

23 Aug 2019
Sharpening Your Skills

Has the Corporate Mission Just Been Disrupted?

as important as rewarding investors is using the power of business to build a better society. Roundtable members committed to building up local communities, investing more in... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Green Technology

14 Jun 2004
Research & Ideas

The Big Money for Big Projects

matters in the investment decisions made in financing a project. Could you explain this further? A: Modigliani and Miller's (M&M) "irrelevance" View Details

Keywords: by Ann Cullen; Financial Services

10 Nov 2003
Research & Ideas

The Hard Numbers on Social Investments

industry experts who estimated the returns to be significantly lower than professional venture investing due to less investor diversification and capital limitations that prevent investment View Details

Keywords: by Manda Salls

14 Mar 2011
Research & Ideas

Water, Electricity, and Transportation: Preparing for the Population Boom

the need to change," Delorme said, adding that electricity demand will double in 20 years if we maintain status quo practices. This raised an important question: "How do we connect View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

November 2020 (Revised February 2021)
Case

Integrating Beam Suntory (A)

By: David G. Fubini, Rawi Abdelal and David Lane

The spring 2014 acquisition of U.S. alcoholic spirits maker Beam Inc. by Japan’s Suntory Holdings vaulted Suntory from 15th to third-largest international spirits company in the world. Yet Suntory had borrowed nearly the entire $16 billion purchase price, and relied on... View Details

Keywords: Family Business; Communication; Borrowing and Debt; Globalization; Corporate Governance; Governing and Advisory Boards; Retention; Leadership; Supply Chain; Organizational Structure; Ownership; Relationships; Conflict and Resolution; Integration; Value Creation; Food and Beverage Industry; Japan; United States; Chicago

15 May 2012
First Look

First Look: May 15

and Yaron Yehezkel Abstract In the context of platform competition in a two-sided market, we study how ex-ante uncertainty and ex-post asymmetric... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

September 2020
Case

Minerva 2004: Discovery

By: John R. Wells and Benjamin Weinstock

After nearly five years in operation, Doctor Cynthia Bamdad, founder and CEO of Minerva Biotechnologies Corporation (Minerva), was reflecting on the company’s next steps. In a few short years, she and her small team had managed to develop a nanoparticle process for... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Financing and Loans; Strategy; Decision Choices and Conditions; Biotechnology Industry

07 Apr 2003
Research & Ideas

XTV: Xerox’s Attempted Recovery From “Fumbling the Future”

product line within Xerox. He had the support of Xerox's chief executive officer, David Kearns, for establishing the new internal structure. This structure would work much like... View Details

Keywords: by Henry Chesbrough

March 2008 (Revised May 2008)
Case

Carlyle Japan (A)

By: David B. Godes, Masako Egawa and Mayuka Yamazaki

Tamotsu Adachi, Managing Director of Carlyle Japan, wants to formulate a strategy to improve his firm's ability to source high-quality deals at competitive valuations, or prices. Buyout funds like Carlyle typically have two deal phases: sourcing and monitoring. These... View Details

Keywords: Financial Instruments; Leveraged Buyouts; Supply Chain Management; Marketing Channels; Sales; Financial Services Industry; Japan

March 2015
Teaching Note

CVS Health: Promoting Drug Adherence

By: Leslie John, John Quelch and Robert Huckman

Email mking@hbs.edu for a courtesy copy.

This Teaching Note explains the theory of the case and teaching plan for the case: CVS Health: Promoting Drug Adherence (515010). The case finds Helena Foulkes, Executive... View Details