Publications

Find at Harvard

March 2017
Case

Cantel Medical

By: John R. Wells and Gabriel Ellsworth

Cantel Medical Corporation provided infection prevention and control products and services for patients, caregivers, and other healthcare providers. In 2016, Cantel generated sales of $665 million and net profits of $60 million, double the levels of five years earlier.... View Details

Keywords: Cantel; Charles Diker; Furniture Industry; Matrix Organization; Acquisition; Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Conglomerates; Business Units; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Organization; For-Profit Firms; Chemicals; Profit; Revenue; Geographic Scope; Multinational Firms and Management; Health; Health Care and Treatment; Business History; Business or Company Management; Goals and Objectives; Growth and Development Strategy; Organizational Structure; Problems and Challenges; Research and Development; Opportunities; Strategy; Adaptation; Business Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Diversification; Expansion; Information Technology; Biotechnology Industry; Chemical Industry; Health Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry; United States; New Jersey

September 1994 (Revised March 1995)
Case

RailTex, Inc. (A)

By: Norman A. Berg and James Weber

By 1992, RailTex, Inc., had acquired and was operating 23 geographically separate short-line railroads (feeder lines for larger railroads) in Mexico, Canada, and primarily in the United States. Founded in 1977 with $500,000 of capital as a railcar leasing company, the... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Business Divisions; Cost Management; Growth and Development; Growth and Development Strategy; Management Systems; Product Marketing; Logistics; Risk and Uncertainty; Valuation

Find at Harvard

09 Aug 2013
Research & Ideas

Read All About It: Digital CEO Buys Traditional Media!

David Collis Thomas Henry Carroll Ford Foundation Adjunct Professor of Business Administration The joke used to be that you could only make a million dollars in the airline industry if you started with a hundred million dollars. With the View Details

Keywords: by Jim Aisner; Journalism & News; Publishing

26 Jun 2012
First Look

First Look: June 26

the shoes of his long-time predecessor who had created the U.S. telecommunications giant via a series of acquisitions and, before departing, had initiated the company's strategic repositioning. The new CEO reflected on Verizon's recent... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

04 Mar 2013
Lessons from the Classroom

Lessons from Running GM’s OnStar

automobiles; it was up to Huber to figure out what that meant. Primarily the GM leadership was looking to justify GM's earlier multibillion-dollar acquisitions of Hughes Aircraft (which included commercial satellites) and Electronic Data... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Auto

October 2022 (Revised January 2023)
Case

Century Bank: Closing Time?

By: Lauren Cohen, Grace Headinger and Bill Kwon

Barry Sloane, second-generation Chairman, President, and CEO of his family’s bank, Century Bank, weighed whether to sell to Eastern Bank. As a small regional bank, Century faced a number of challenging trends, such as digitization and market share decline in the coming... View Details

Article

Businessmen and Land Ownership in the Late Nineteenth Century

By: Tom Nicholas

This article analyses the proportions of personal to real estate wealth for a group of 295 businessmen profiled in the Dictionary of business biography. It shows that businessmen who owned land on a large scale in the late nineteenth century were a comparatively small... View Details

Keywords: Ownership; Personal Finance; Property; Biography; History; Acquisition; Wealth; Power and Influence; Status and Position; Integration; Transformation; Market Transactions

Find at Harvard

Read Now

22 Jun 2021
Research & Ideas

The COVID-19 Mutiny: When Teams Leave and Take Their Clients

but it’s reasonable to assume that many companies and individuals will continue with full or hybrid remote work arrangements for months to come. Who’s moving and how? Lift outs help companies add talent without the logistical and psychological stressors of View Details

Keywords: by Robin Abrahams, Boris Groysberg, and Steven L. Manchel

02 Feb 2016
First Look

February 2, 2016

VP for North Asia, had been negotiating a possible acquisition with Jackie Jin, the chairman of a leading Chinese appliance manufacturer named Hefei Rongshida Sanyo Electric Company (Hefei Sanyo), for almost six months when suddenly Hefei... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

08 Jul 2014
First Look

First Look: July 8

a broad range of issues including innovation and acquisitions in addition to labor practices and resource sustainability. A close examination of Nike's experience has led the author to conclude that a dedicated board-level committee of... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

17 Aug 2010
First Look

First Look: August 17

of America Acquires Merrill Lynch (A) Robert C. Pozen, Charles E. BeresfordHarvard Business School Case 310-092 On December 22, 2008, Bank of America (BofA) chairman and CEO Ken Lewis convened a special board of directors meeting to review his company's pending View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

24 Apr 2018
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, April 24, 2018

Group between 2015 and late 2017 when it grew rapidly through global acquisitions to become 170 on the 2017 Fortune 500 list. A firm that had begun as a provincial airline in China was now a giant global conglomerate and suddenly the... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

12 Jan 2010
First Look

First Look: Jan. 12

Working PapersA Reference Point Theory of Mergers and Acquisitions Authors:Malcolm Baker, Xin Pan, and Jeffrey Wurgler Abstract The use of judgmental anchors or reference points in valuing corporations affects several basic aspects of... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

February 1997 (Revised October 2002)
Case

The Exxel Group: September 1995

By: Josh Lerner, Alex Hoye and Gonzalo Pacanins

The Exxel Group, a private equity group based in Buenos Aires, is considering a buyout of Argencard, Mastercard's exclusive licensee in Argentina. To complete the deal, however, it will need to raise additional financing from U.S. investors. Both the valuation and the... View Details

Keywords: Leveraged Buyouts; Developing Countries and Economies; Private Equity; Financing and Loans; Investment; Negotiation Deal; Problems and Challenges; Valuation; United States; Buenos Aires

July 1996
Case

Bayside Controls, Inc.

By: H. Kent Bowen, Jennifer Kochman and Sylvie Ryckebusch

Two recent MBA graduates acquire a small and ailing metal-machining company that had manufactured small aerospace components. Through clever application of state-of-the-art manufacturing, engineering, and marketing/sales concepts, they turned the company into a growing... View Details

Keywords: Business Earnings; Leveraged Buyouts; Machinery and Machining; Leading Change; Growth and Development Strategy; Marketing Strategy; Production; Personal Development and Career; Sales; Aerospace Industry

April 1991 (Revised December 1997)
Case

Southland Corp. (A)

By: Richard S. Ruback

Examines the Thompson's $4.9 billion leveraged buyout of the Southland Corp. in 1987. As the original founders of Southland, the Thompsons were concerned about losing control over the company upon learning of the Belzberg family's acquiring interest. The teaching... View Details

Keywords: Leveraged Buyouts; Governance Controls; Corporate Governance; Bids and Bidding; Valuation; Forecasting and Prediction; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Strategy; Cash Flow

February 2019 (Revised January 2021)
Case

Quiksilver Inc. and Oaktree Capital Management

By: Kristin Mugford and Mike Harmon

Sports lifestyle company Quiksilver filed for bankruptcy in September 2015. Oaktree is considering an additional investment in the company to facilitate the restructuring. Students must consider whether Oaktree should invest given the risks of the turnaround... View Details

Keywords: Bankruptcy; Bankruptcy Reorganization; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Acquisition; Restructuring; Debt Securities; Transformation; Decision Making; Borrowing and Debt; Investment Return; Crisis Management; Negotiation; Retail Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Consumer Products Industry; France; United States