Publications

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October 2024 (Revised May 2025)
Case

Southern California Industrial: Freezer Drive

By: Arthur I Segel, Dwight Angelini and W. Matt Kelly

In the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, a Boston based real estate private equity firm was seeking to make their very first West Coast investments in hopes of establishing their presence in the strategic region. An exciting property suddenly became available on the... View Details

Keywords: Real Estate Development; Acquisition; Health Pandemics; Risk and Uncertainty; Expansion; Cost vs Benefits; Investment Return; Real Estate Industry

Article

The Feeling of Not Knowing It All

By: Haiyang Yang, Ziv Carmon, Dan Ariely and Michael I. Norton

How do consumers assess their mastery of knowledge they have learned? We explore this question by investigating a common knowledge consumption situation: encountering opportunities for further learning. We argue and show that such opportunities can trigger a... View Details

Keywords: Knowledge Consumption; Consumption Of Learning; Judgment Of Knowledge; Feeling Ofknowing; Confidence In Knowledge; WYSIATI; FONKIA; Knowledge Acquisition; Learning; Perception

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24 Aug 2009
Research & Ideas

SuperCorp: Values as Guidance System

doubled its size by acquiring a large European company and was about to do it again by buying an Australian global company. Zambrano viewed clear core values and standards as an important element of success,... View Details

Keywords: by Rosabeth Moss Kanter

07 Dec 2016
Blog Post

Marketing Reimagined: A Recap of the 2016 Marketing Innovation Conference

memorable take-a-ways came out of the session. For example, Matt Taylor, CEO of Tracksmith and Becca Freeman of LOLA shared the power of earned media for early-stage startups. Several of the panelists also addressed paid media; efforts... View Details

Keywords: Entertainment / Media / Sports

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

October 2016
Supplement

24 Hour Fitness (B): Ownership Changes, 2005–2016

By: John R. Wells and Gabriel Ellsworth

In 2016, 24 Hour Fitness was the number-two fitness chain in the United States, generating revenues of $1.4 billion from 441 clubs serving 3.8 million members. Based in San Ramon, California, 24 Hour Fitness operated clubs in 13 states. Having grown rapidly to become... View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Advertising Campaigns; Buildings and Facilities; Acquisition; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Model; Business Organization; For-Profit Firms; Customers; Customer Focus and Relationships; Customer Satisfaction; Age; Training; Private Equity; Financing and Loans; Price; Profit; Revenue; Geographic Location; Geographic Scope; Health; Nutrition; Business History; Human Resources; Employees; Employee Relationship Management; Recruitment; Selection and Staffing; Journals and Magazines; Human Capital; Business or Company Management; Goals and Objectives; Growth and Development Strategy; Management Teams; Marketing; Brands and Branding; Marketing Channels; Marketing Communications; Marketing Strategy; Social Marketing; Demand and Consumers; Market Entry and Exit; Media; Organizational Design; Private Ownership; Problems and Challenges; Groups and Teams; Sales; Salesforce Management; Situation or Environment; Welfare or Wellbeing; Sports; Strategy; Business Strategy; Competition; Competitive Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Corporate Strategy; Expansion; Segmentation; Information Technology; Internet; Mobile Technology; Online Technology; Software; Web Sites; Value; Valuation; Media and Broadcasting Industry; Media and Broadcasting Industry; United States; California; San Francisco

27 Apr 2010
First Look

First Look: April 27

case:http://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cb/product/210041-PDF-ENG Merger Integration at Bank of America: The TrustWeb Project Gary P. Pisano and Bradley R. StaatsHarvard Business School Case 610-054 This case... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

April 2010 (Revised March 2011)
Case

The Auction for Travelport (A)

By: Andrei Hagiu and Misha Sanwal

A senior Blackstone director is deciding how aggressively to bid for Travelport, a travel distribution business containing several key services and platforms. Travelport's most important properties were Galileo, one of the top 3 global distribution systems (GDSs),... View Details

Keywords: Value Creation; Product Positioning; Cost vs Benefits; Private Equity; Leveraged Buyouts; Competitive Advantage; Auctions; Industry Structures; Travel Industry

June 2021
Article

Engineering Serendipity: When Does Knowledge Sharing Lead to Knowledge Production?

By: Jacqueline N. Lane, Ina Ganguli, Patrick Gaule, Eva C. Guinan and Karim R. Lakhani

We investigate how knowledge similarity between two individuals is systematically related to the likelihood that a serendipitous encounter results in knowledge production. We conduct a natural field experiment at a medical research symposium, where we exogenously... View Details

Keywords: Cognitive Similarity; Innovation; Knowledge Production; Natural Field Experiment; Knowledge Acquisition; Knowledge Sharing; Relationships

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02 Aug 2016
First Look

August 2, 2016

for several decades. More recently, however, the results have taken a downward trend, due in part to the impact of the Great Recession on the entire airline industry. Not only were premium service providers affected more significantly, but the recent wave of View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

09 Jun 2009
First Look

First Look: June 9

the (C) case details the results of an employee survey that was conducted on two manufacturing lines. Purchase this case: http://hbsp.harvard.edu/b01/en/common/item_detail.jhtml?id=609080 Kmart and ESL Investments (B): The Sears View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

November 2007 (Revised June 2011)
Case

ISS A/S (A)

By: Clayton S. Rose

Provides the opportunity to examine the nature and extent of a company's responsibilities to its bondholders, and to develop an enhanced understanding of the challenges in managing contractual obligations, and circumstances under which business leaders might agree to... View Details

Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Bonds; Contracts; Private Equity; Leveraged Buyouts; Privatization; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Borrowing and Debt; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Europe

20 Mar 2005
Research & Ideas

Lessons of Successful Entrepreneurs

acquisition activities, he said. "That's nuts." Steve Hafner, founder and CEO of Kayak.com, an online travel information site, said an alternative to growing your own customers is to secure... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

August 1998
Case

Record Masters

By: William A. Sahlman, Michael J. Roberts and Laurence E. Katz

Kent Dauten, a former general partner at the Chicago private equity firm of Madison Dearborn Partners, has engaged in a search to personally sponsor a buyout in which he can play an active management role. He has received a selling memorandum for Record Masters, a... View Details

Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Leveraged Buyouts; Valuation; Negotiation Deal; Investment

Career Coach

Annette Rodriguez-Ferrer

(now CCMP Capital). Annette has significate public, private and non-profit Board experience. Currently, she serves as Executive Chairperson of Wax Center Partners and previously held Board positions with... View Details

Keywords: Consumer Products; Entrepreneurship; Impact Investing; Financial Services (All); Investment Banking; Financial Services (All); Investment Management; Financial Services (All); Private Equity; Financial Services (All); Health Care; Retail; Startup - Founder; Entrepreneurship; Startup - Joiner; Entrepreneurship

02 Sep 2002
Research & Ideas

Foreign Multinationals in the U.S.: A Rocky Road

highly attractive host economy over the following decade. There are major acquisition opportunities in, for example, the fragmented U.S. banking sector, and the probable further weakening of the dollar over... View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Johnston & Martha Lagace

10 May 2011
First Look

First Look: May 10

Decker, Inc. William E. FruhanHarvard Business School Case 211-067 This case allows instructors to explore shareholder value creation and transfer opportunities in merger and... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

13 Mar 2018
First Look

March 13, 2018

terms of the deal and exclusivity agreement already sketched out with Citigroup or to approve a definitive merger agreement with Wells Fargo. Purchase this... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

June 1987 (Revised September 1997)
Case

Mebel, Doran & Co.

By: Samuel L. Hayes III

Puts the student in the position of a senior official of a major New York investment bank who discovers that information has leaked to the market on a confidential takeover plan that was being developed by a corporate client. The official has to decide how to deal with... View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Decision Choices and Conditions; Investment Banking; Mergers and Acquisitions; Crisis Management; Banking Industry; Financial Services Industry