Publications

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

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

March 2000 (Revised May 2000)
Case

U.S. Gas Transportation, Inc.

By: John A. Davis, Myra M. Hart and Sharon Peyus

Presents a career dilemma for a husband/wife owner-manager team. Nanci and Len Mackenzie have received an offer for their highly successful entrepreneurial business, U.S. Gas Transportation, Inc. The Mackenzies are concerned about what the sale might do to their... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Family Ownership; Family Business; Personal Development and Career; Organizational Culture; Employees; Business Exit or Shutdown; Planning; Transportation Industry

Find at Harvard

01 Dec 1998
News

Short Takes

ownership over time); and family owners (shareholders who are descendants of the firm's founders). "The study suggests that these three owner types have sufficient formal authority, social influence, and... View Details

Keywords: Judith A. Ross

01 Feb 1999
News

Minding Families' Business

sole ownership of Telemedia to their children-Philippe III (MBA '88), François (MBA '89), and Nanon (MBA '91)-de Gaspé Beaubien doesn't see his work as complete. "I can't tell you how much pain exists in View Details

Keywords: Daniel Penrice

October 2007
Case

Blue River Capital

By: Krishna G. Palepu, Tarun Khanna and Richard Bullock

Examines the strategy and experience of Indian private equity firm Blue River Capital. Blue River was established in 2005 to invest primarily in middle market, particularly family-run, businesses in India. Blue River caters to this niche as an active investor,... View Details

Keywords: Private Equity; Investment Portfolio; Corporate Governance; Emerging Markets; Family Ownership; Competitive Strategy; Financial Services Industry; India

May 2010 (Revised September 2013)
Case

Friend Bank: The Time for Hope

By: Clayton S. Rose and Aldo Sesia

In 2010, Friend Bank was entering the fifth year of Hope Harris Johnson's ambitious 20-year growth plan to transform her family's one branch community bank into an institution with a substantial presence in southeastern Alabama. Harris Johnson was pleased, so far, with... View Details

Keywords: Family Business; Financial Crisis; Banks and Banking; Growth and Development Strategy; Risk Management; Family Ownership; Competitive Advantage; Banking Industry; Alabama

01 Sep 2004
News

American Dream

inheritance to purchase the Wall Drug Store in 1931, it was just that: a drug store. At the height of the Great Depression, in a part of the country sometimes described as “the geographic center of nowhere,” the family struggled to make... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna; Amusement, Gambling, and Recreation Industries; Arts, Entertainment; Accommodation; Hospitality

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

June 2010
Teaching Note

Playing with Fire at Sittercity (A) (TN)

By: Noam T. Wasserman and Rachel Gordon

Note: This mini-Teaching Note was created to provide a brief overview of the teaching plan for this case. Please see the upcoming, fuller Teaching Note for an extensive overview of the underlying research, pedagogical approaches, and other teaching issues. View Details

Keywords: Internet and the Web; Service Delivery; Family Ownership; Problems and Challenges; Growth and Development Strategy; Expansion; Service Industry; Boston

26 Jan 2004
Research & Ideas

How Women Can Get More Venture Capital

workforce to try to get her family organized and in order. Do you think those were red flags for the VCs? Though the VCs didn't say it, they had to have been wondering, "If things go wrong at home, will you still be doing the... View Details

Keywords: by Mallory Stark & Martha Lagace

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

March 2022 (Revised October 2022)
Case

Transforming Kimball International, Inc. (A)

By: Lynn S. Paine and Will Hurwitz

Kimball International, Inc. (KII), led by CEO Kristie Juster, and its board of directors, chaired by Kim Ryan, faced critical questions about KII’s future in the spring of 2021. Two years earlier, the board had appointed Juster as the new CEO of KII, a publicly traded,... View Details

November 2001
Supplement

Interview with Philip Casey at AmeriSteel

By: Joseph L. Bower and Sonja Ellingston Hout

Gerdau Group is a family-controlled Brazilian manufacturer and distributor of long steel products. Philip Casey describes the evolution of the company's strategy, organization, and financial and management issues as the company has grown to be the #2 steel producer in... View Details

Keywords: Finance; Growth and Development Strategy; Distribution; Production; Organizations; Family Ownership; Corporate Strategy; Manufacturing Industry; Brazil

April 2002 (Revised June 2003)
Case

News Corporation

By: Bharat N. Anand and Kate Attea

In 2001, News Corp. is the smallest of the major media and entertainment conglomerates, but it has the broadest global presence. In an effort to establish a major distribution presence in the United States, News Corp. had looked to acquire DirecTV, the largest U.S.... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Business Conglomerates; Globalization; Distribution; Organizational Culture; Family Ownership; Competition; Consolidation; Corporate Strategy; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Journalism and News Industry; United States; Australia

Web

In the News - Entrepreneurship

School HBS's Rock Center for Entrepreneurship Hosts Second Annual Demo Day Re: Julia Austin, Lindsay Hyde, Allison Mnookin & Christina Wallace 07 Mar 2025 Financial Times The Hidden Dangers of Family Offices Re: Lauren Cohen 06 Mar 2025... View Details

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

03 May 2004
Research & Ideas

Business History around the World

School's Alfred Chandler, the doyen of business historians, famously ascribed Britain's relative economic decline to the United States from the late nineteenth century to that country's proclivity towards family or "personal... View Details

Keywords: by Cynthia Churchwell

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