Publications

January 1996 (Revised November 1997)
Case

Weston Presidio Offshore Capital: Confronting the Fundraising Challenge

By: Josh Lerner

Weston Presidio Capital encounters substantial difficulties while raising its first fund. The incentives and roles of investment advisors ("gatekeepers") pension funds and consultants are explored. The relationship with lead investors is considered. View Details

Keywords: Private Equity; Financing and Loans; Investment Funds; Markets; Problems and Challenges; Relationships; Motivation and Incentives; Financial Services Industry

May 1986 (Revised October 1993)
Case

Moet-Hennessy Group

By: Malcolm S. Salter

Presents the strategic and organizational problems of a venerable French firm pursuing product and financial diversification in an international context. View Details

Keywords: Globalization; Product Marketing; Organizations; Diversification; France

May 1993 (Revised May 1996)
Case

BellSouth Enterprises: The Cellular Billing Project

When BellSouth Enterprises decided to aggressively pursue the international cellular market, it needed new software in order to cope with the complexities of cellular billing and the country-specific variations in the international cellular market. BellSouth made the... View Details

Keywords: Alliances; Market Entry and Exit; Software; Global Strategy; Telecommunications Industry; United States

March 2016
Case

M-Pesa: Financial Inclusion in Kenya

By: Rajiv Lal, Lisa Cox and Sarah McAra

M-Pesa, a mobile money transfer service launched in 2007 in Kenya by telecommunications company Safaricom, allowed people to send money via mobile messaging to contacts, such as friends and family, or even to pay for goods and services, such as groceries or a taxi... View Details

Keywords: Mobile Money Transfer; Market Transactions; Emerging Markets; Developing Countries and Economies; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Telecommunications Industry; Kenya

Research Summary

The State of Small Business Lending: Credit Access During the Recovery and How Technology May Change the Game

Small businesses are core to America's economic competitiveness. Not only do they employ half of the nation’s private sector workforce—about 120 million people—but since 1995 they have created approximately two-thirds of the net new jobs in our country. Yet in... View Details

The State of Small Business Lending: Credit Access during the Recovery and How Technology May Change the Game

Small businesses are core to America’s economic competitiveness. Not only do they employ half of the nation’s private sector workforce – about 120 million people – but since 1995 they have created approximately two‐thirds of the net new jobs in our country. Yet in... View Details

April–June 2014
Article

Firmes mondialisées et imaginaire de la beauté

By: G. Jones

This article highlights the role of business enterprises as influences on ideals of human beauty. The homogenization of such ideals has been one of the most noteworthy features of globalization over the last two centuries. This study suggests that firms were both... View Details

Keywords: American History; Economic History; Business History; Globalization; Entrepreneurship; History; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; Europe; North and Central America

Career Coach

Cici Xie

and cover letter reviews. Work Experience: Bank of America (M&A), T Rowe Price (internship at long-only asset manager), and Twin Peaks Capital (internship at Long-short hedge fund). View Details

November 2011 (Revised June 2013)
Case

Natura Cosméticos, S.A.

Rodolfo Guttilla, Director of Corporate Affairs for Natura Cosméticos S.A. (Natura), prepared for a meeting with key stakeholders to discuss the future of integrated reporting at Natura. A cosmetics company with a strong brand, robust growth in international and... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Integrated Corporate Reporting; Decision Making; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; Brazil

Career Coach

Imam Akinlade

Imam wants to help students think critically about their career paths and what really maters most to them, Having gained significant experience in consulting, impact investing and clean energy before HBS; and exploring several career paths while at HBS including... View Details

May 2011 (Revised June 2011)
Case

The Crisis at Tyco - A Director's Perspective

By: Suraj Srinivasan and Aldo Sesia

In 2002, Wendy Lane had been a member of the board of directors at Tyco International a little more than a year when the company's CEO Dennis Kozlowski and other top executives were accused of fraud, which ultimately led to resignations, imprisonments, lawsuits, and... View Details

Keywords: Management Teams; Reputation; Governing and Advisory Boards; Crisis Management; Accounting Audits; Problems and Challenges; Risk Management; Finance; Managerial Roles; Lawsuits and Litigation; Service Industry; United States

February 2003 (Revised May 2008)
Case

AFP Provida

By: Michael E. Porter, Arturo L. Condo and Andrea Prado

Describes the evolution of AFP Provida, one of the early entrants into the Chilean pension fund system established in 1981. By 1999, AFP Provida was not only the largest pension fund administrator in Chile, but also the largest in Latin America in terms of number of... View Details

Keywords: Developing Countries and Economies; Globalized Firms and Management; Industry Clusters; Competitive Advantage; Expansion; Financial Services Industry; Chile

November 1994
Case

VideoGuide, Inc. (A)

By: William A. Sahlman and Jason Green

VideoGuide is emerging from a development stage start-up and requires a significant capital infusion to commercialize its product. Various financing options are considered including going public, venture capital, private placement, or a strategic partner. Given the... View Details

Keywords: Capital Budgeting; Capital; Venture Capital; Financing and Loans; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Initial Public Offering; Markets; Partners and Partnerships; Growth and Development Strategy; Going Public

March 2016 (Revised May 2021)
Case

Michael Milken: The Junk Bond King

By: Tom Nicholas and Matthew G. Preble

Michael Milken, an investment banker who dominated the junk bond market in the 1980s, was sentenced to jail in 1990 after pleading guilty to a number of securities and tax-related felonies. In the preceding decade, Milken had helped usher in a new wave of leveraged buy... View Details

Keywords: Junk Bonds; High-yield Bonds; Financial Innovation; Shareholder Value; Bonds; Capital; Capital Structure; Cost of Capital; Crime and Corruption; Entrepreneurship; Ethics; Finance; Investment Banking; Leveraged Buyouts; Mergers and Acquisitions; Ownership; Private Equity; Restructuring; United States

Research Summary

Foreign Direct Investment, Finance, and Economic Development

Research has sought to understand how foreign direct investment affects host economies. This paper reviews the empirical literature, specifically addressing the question: How does FDI affect economic development of host countries and what is the role of local financial... View Details

Keywords: Foreign Direct Investment; Economic Development; Multinational Corporation; Finance

June 2021
Case

uBiome

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Olivia Graham

uBiome provided clinical tests that sequenced the DNA of human microbiome samples, providing data on health conditions directly to consumers or to prescribing physicians. Founded in 2012, the San Francisco-based startup raised $105 million from top-tier venture capital... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Crime and Corruption; Insolvency and Bankruptcy

November 2006 (Revised October 2007)
Case

Artisan Entertainment Inc.

Geoff Rehnert and Marc Wolpow have left Bain Capital to launch Audax Group. As part of their separation, they have been granted 90-day options to purchase Bain Capital's stake in a number of portfolio companies at Fair Market Value. As they conside whether to exercise... View Details

Keywords: Leveraged Buyouts; Private Equity; Financing and Loans; Investment Funds