Publications

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09 May 2011
Research & Ideas

Moving From Bean Counter to Game Changer

Buried in the middle layers of many organizations resides a strata of highly skilled experts, from HR managers to risk evaluators, whose collective wisdom and experience could prove invaluable in informing strategic decisions at the... View Details

Keywords: by Kim Girard; Banking

November 1994
Case

Spectrum Equity Investors, L.P.

Brion Applegate and Bill Collatos had already started a fund-raising campaign for their new venture-capital fund when the principals of a prestigious Wall Street investment bank asked them to become the two senior partners of an in-house $150 million fund. The case... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Personal Development and Career; Entrepreneurship

October 1987 (Revised November 1991)
Case

Fiat--1986

By: W. Carl Kester and Richard P. Melnick

Describes Fiat's 1986 Euro-equity offering of $2.1 billion of stock. The offering proved to be highly problematic, particularly for the lead manager, Deutsche Bank, and raises questions about the future of the Euro-equity market. Students are provided opportunities to... View Details

Keywords: Equity; Stocks; Negotiation Deal; Outcome or Result; Opportunities; Auto Industry

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November 2021 (Revised March 2022)
Case

Kwame Spearman at Tattered Cover: Reinventing Brick-and-Mortar Retail

By: Ryan Raffaelli and Kerry Herman

The case spotlights Kwame Spearman’s career-shifting decision to leave a NYC-based consulting job to return to his hometown of Denver, Colorado, and take over an iconic independent bookstore, The Tattered Cover. The case lays out ways Spearman envisions a new approach... View Details

Keywords: Retail; Leadership; Leading Change; Competitive Strategy; Personal Development and Career; Publishing Industry; Retail Industry; United States

June 2014
Teaching Note

Steve Carpenter at Cake Financial

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann

After investing $9 million of venture capital, Cake Financial had failed to reach critical mass. In early 2010 Cake's assets were sold and the company was dissolved. Founded in 2006, the San Francisco-based Internet company allowed users to monitor their investments... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Entrepreneurship; Business or Company Management; Business Model; Growth and Development Strategy; Business Strategy; Internet; Financial Services Industry; Web Services Industry

September 2002
Case

Seattle Public Schools, 1995-2002 (C2): Race, Class, and School Choice

Presents the decision by the Federal Court of Appeals for the ninth Circuit in the spring of 2002 to invalidate Seattle's use of race as a factor in allocating space in Seattle's oversubscribed schools. Summarizes the posture and content of the litigation, including... View Details

Keywords: Management; Leadership; Income; Social Entrepreneurship; Race; Lawsuits and Litigation; Education; Education Industry; Seattle

February 1982 (Revised November 1994)
Case

San Fabian Supply Co. (Philippines)

MacDowell Corp., a producer of construction supplies, terminated its exclusive distribution arrangement with San Fabian Supply Co., its sole distributor in the Philippines for nearly 20 years. Paul Cheng the owner of San Fabian had to decide whether to accept... View Details

Keywords: Relationships; Distribution Channels; Construction Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Philippines

06 May 2022
News

Professor David Moss: Strengthen

08 Aug 2011
News

Blind Spots, Bernie Madoff's and Ours

Causes and Consequences of Firm Disclosures of Anticorruption Efforts

Multinationals frequently operate in locations where laws against corruption are not widely enforced. We examine ratings of self-reported anticorruption efforts for 480 multinationals to better understand what factors underlie their efforts and their performance... View Details

2012
Chapter

Leading in Crises: Observations on the Political and Decision-Making Dimensions of Response

By: Herman B. Leonard and Arnold M. Howitt

Emergency response organizations, as we have argued in earlier writing, must deal with both "routine emergencies" (dangerous events, perhaps extremely severe, that are routine because they can be anticipated and prepared for) and "true crises" (which, because of... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Leadership; Decision Choices and Conditions; Crisis Management; Government and Politics

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July 2020
Supplement

CSL Capital Management: Patriot Proppants (B)

By: Victoria Ivashina and Yury Kapko

This two-part case series follows CSL Capital’s 2009 investment in the greenfield manufacturing company, Patriot Proppants. CSL, a recently established investment firm, employs a unique investment model, funding new ("greenfield") energy service businesses that serve... View Details

Keywords: Investment; Renewable Energy; Decision Making

Web

South Asia - Global

increase power. We include a “cookbook'' and code that should allow other researchers to use remote sensing for yield estimation and program evaluation. June 2025 Case TagHive: Edtech Pricing and Distributor Decisions By: Isamar Troncoso... View Details

21 Apr 2023
News

The $15 Billion Question: Have Loot Boxes Turned Video Gaming into Gambling?

November 2002 (Revised October 2003)
Case

Circles: Series D Financing

By: Paul W. Marshall and Kristin Lieb

Circles, a corporate concierge company on the verge of profitability, must make a decision whether to take a D-round venture capital despite ever-changing and ever-worsening terms. A four-year-old company with several major clients, it has met its business plan... View Details

Keywords: Cost vs Benefits; Financing and Loans; Management Teams; Growth and Development Strategy; Negotiation Process; Venture Capital; Governing and Advisory Boards; Entrepreneurship; Service Industry; Consulting Industry; Massachusetts

January 2023 (Revised September 2024)
Supplement

The END Fund (B)

By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Courtney Han

Founded in 2012, the END fund focused on eliminating five Neglected Tropical Diseases that accounted for 80% of the tropical diseases affecting nearly 1.5 billion people worldwide. Its roughly $25 million/year annual budget was fully committed when it got news that the... View Details

Keywords: Health Disorders; Investment Funds; Global Range; Nonprofit Organizations; Resource Allocation; Decisions; Health Care and Treatment; Mission and Purpose

Web

Finance Curriculum - Faculty & Research

Finance Overview Faculty Curriculum Seminars & Conferences Awards & Honors Doctoral Students MBA Required Curriculum (FIRST YEAR) Finance I This course examines the role of finance in supporting the functional areas of a firm, and fosters an understanding of how... View Details

September 2008 (Revised August 2009)
Case

Columbus Tubing: Steel is Real

By: Daniel C. Snow, Gary P. Pisano, Elena Corsi and Gudrun Urfalino Kristinsdottir

Columbus Tubing must choose to improve an old technology (steel) or to develop a new material (carbon fiber). The decision must take into account a complicated context: increased demand for the "old" steel products made in Italy, increasing power of carbon fiber... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Resource Allocation; Production; Research and Development; Information Technology; Bicycle Transportation; Asia; Italy