Publications

06 Nov 2012
First Look

First Look: November 6

entrepreneurs. The results are consistent with intra-section learning, where the close ties between section-mates lead to insights about the merits of business plans. Corporate Ownership Structure and the Choice Between Bank Debt and... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

09 Dec 2008
First Look

First Look: December 9, 2008

discussion of how ownership concentration constrains restructuring alternatives, how hedge fund investors might confront controlling shareholders, and how the mispricing of agency costs can give rise to View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

September 2006
Case

Stedman Place: Buy or Rent?

By: Andre F. Perold and David S. Scharfstein

A couple has to decide whether to continue renting a townhouse or buy the one next door. Allows for a discussion of net present value, internal rate of return, and the costs and benefits of homeownership. View Details

Keywords: Cost vs Benefits; Decisions; Asset Pricing; Investment Return; Housing; Family Ownership; Renting or Rental; Valuation

February 2014 (Revised August 2015)
Case

The Estate Tax Debate

By: Matthew Weinzierl, Katrina Flanagan and Valerie Galinskaya

Per dollar of revenue, no tax policy generates more sound and fury than the taxation of estates. To supporters, the tax is a break on the concentration of wealth and power and an easy way to fund redistribution. To opponents, the tax is an unjust punishment of the... View Details

Keywords: Atkinson-Stiglitz; Optimal Capital Taxation; Bequest Motives; Taxation; Family and Family Relationships; Property

December 1993 (Revised September 2003)
Supplement

Beech-Nut Nutrition Corporation (D)

By: Lynn S. Paine

Prosecutors in the U.S. Justice Department's Office of Consumer Litigation reflect on their case against the Beech-Nut Nutrition Corp. View Details

Keywords: Crime and Corruption; Lawsuits and Litigation; Management; Family Ownership; Cognition and Thinking; Food and Beverage Industry

October 2006
Teaching Note

Precista Tools AG (TN) (A), (B), and (C)

By: John A. Davis and Courtney Sampson

Teaching Note to (488-046), (488-047), and (488-048). View Details

Keywords: Governing and Advisory Boards; Race; Management Succession; Family Ownership; Resignation and Termination; Conflict and Resolution; Switzerland

08 Nov 2016
First Look

November 8, 2016

Founded in December 2010, NOW, based in Atlanta, Georgia, was serving clients in nine states. With 2013 year-to-date revenue of roughly $100,000, NOW was financed with $2.5 million of founder as well as friends and family equity. NOW's... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

26 Apr 2011
Op-Ed

HBS Faculty Comment on Environmental Issues for Earth Day

policy makers know that these legal codifications would have tremendous impacts on the ability of entrepreneurs to obtain ownership rights to the geothermal resources and found new ventures. Colorado, for example, has ambitious renewable... View Details

Keywords: by Staff; Energy; Utilities

February 2005 (Revised June 2006)
Case

JCDecaux

By: John R. Wells and Vincent Dessain

Describes how JCDecaux, the second largest global outdoor advertising company, became the world leader in street furniture advertising in a fast consolidating business environment. Also explains why, in the late 1990s, JCDecaux diversified its activities into... View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Global Strategy; Leadership Style; Family Ownership; Strategic Planning; Competitive Strategy; Diversification; Advertising Industry

March 2022
Supplement

Transforming Kimball International, Inc. (B)

By: Lynn S. Paine and Will Hurwitz

Supplements the (A) case. View Details

November 2002 (Revised April 2004)
Case

TCS: An Entrepreneurial Air-Express Company in Pakistan

Introduces Khalid Awan, co-founder of TCS, an entrepreneurial air-express company in Pakistan. Awan has succeeded in building a sizeable company despite serious obstacles, including pressure from the public postal system, an environment prone to corruption, and a... View Details

Keywords: Family Business; Emerging Markets; Entrepreneurship; Leasing; Transportation Industry; United Arab Emirates; Pakistan

02 Sep 2014
Research & Ideas

Food Stamp Entrepreneurs: How Public Assistance Enables Business Bootstrapping

risks of business ownership and relaxing credit constraints," Olds writes in the 2014 paper "Entrepreneurship and Public Health Insurance." Studying The Social Safety Net Olds grew up on Medicaid, a Federal health insurance... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Health

26 Jun 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, June 26, 2018

the sale be distributed among family members? If the business is not sold, how should ongoing ownership and control be shared among family members? The exercise, which is... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

26 Nov 2001
Research & Ideas

Women Entrepreneurs Use Springboard for Funding

a small sampling of the twenty-three companies pitched: Michele Honomichl GPSLink. The average corporation uses up to ten systems to manage the human resources process in moving its executives and their families both abroad and... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

March 2004 (Revised March 2005)
Case

Oscar de la Renta

By: Bharat N. Anand, Elizabeth Lea Carpenter and Samhita Patwardhan Jayanti

Over three decades, Oscar de la Renta (ODLR) had established itself as one of the premier luxury brands in America. Its mainstay business had always been producing and marketing high-priced, couture/ready-to-wear luxury goods. Now, in September 2003, it faced a series... View Details

Keywords: Business Conglomerates; Borrowing and Debt; Growth and Development Strategy; Brands and Branding; Production; Family Ownership; Luxury; Competition; Diversification; Expansion; United States

October 2024
Case

Grain Management

By: Archie Jones, Michael Norris, Alliyah Gary and Chelsea Grain-Jefferson

Keywords: Family Business; Entrepreneurship; Private Equity; Management Succession; Ownership Stake; Retirement; Financial Services Industry; Telecommunications Industry; United States

September 2012 (Revised January 2013)
Case

SMARTBITES (A)

By: Michael Roberts, Jeronimo Silva and Amar Bhide

The case describes a Turkish brother-sister team who are evaluating the option of acquiring and operating a franchise of a US bakery/cafe in Turkey. They are comparing this option to that of simply starting a similar business. View Details

Keywords: Franchising; Start-up; Franchise Ownership; Family Ownership; Business Startups; Cost vs Benefits; Multinational Firms and Management; Food and Beverage Industry; Retail Industry; Turkey; United States

13 Sep 2004
Research & Ideas

Cash and the Woman-Owned Business

rather than problems with women's capabilities and commitment. The following sections explore these widely held beliefs about women's investment in, commitment to, and capability to run substantial businesses of their own. Do Women Underinvest In Their Businesses?... View Details

Keywords: by Candida Brush, Nancy M. Carter, Elizabeth Gatewood, Patricia G. Greene & Myra M. Hart

August 2006 (Revised February 2009)
Case

Medco Energi Internasional

In late 2004, Hilmi Panigoro, CEO of the publicly traded Indonesian oil company Medco Energi Internasional, is striving to regain majority control of the company his brother Arifin founded in 1980. The Asian financial crisis of 1999 led to a major restructuring that... View Details

Keywords: Leveraged Buyouts; Family Business; Restructuring; Financing and Loans; Ownership Stake; Business and Shareholder Relations; Indonesia; Singapore