Publications

21 May 2018
HBS Case

How Would You Price One of the World's Great Watches?

taseffski When Stefan Thomke finished writing the Harvard Business School case study on A. Lange & Söhne, he sent it to the German watchmaker for feedback. The company’s response was a first for the 25-year Harvard Business School professor: The executives had a... View Details

Keywords: by Roberta Holland; Fashion

December 2003 (Revised December 2004)
Case

Building Hedge Funds at Prospero Capital

This case discusses the issues facing a relatively new and small equity hedge fund as it attempts to expand its investor base. View Details

Keywords: Expansion; Business Startups; Finance; Financial Services Industry

August 2007
Article

Financial Contracting in Biotech Strategic Alliances

Keywords: Finance; Contracts; Science; Strategy; Alliances; Biotechnology Industry

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November 1985 (Revised July 1989)
Supplement

Signode Industries, Inc. (D)

Signode's packaging division president makes a final decision on the price-flex policy. View Details

Keywords: Marketing Strategy; Price; Policy; Steel Industry

April 2008 (Revised March 2009)
Background Note

China's Financial Markets: 2007

Provides an overview of capital markets in mainland China in 2007, evaluating the up-to-date performance of key components of the markets, highlighting concerns as China strives to modernize its financial system to meet global competition and support its fast growing... View Details

Keywords: Economic Growth; Capital Markets; Financial Markets; Globalized Markets and Industries; Competition; China

September 2007 (Revised October 2007)
Case

TA Associates - MetroPCS (A)

Hythem El-Nazer, a young investment professional at TA Associates, believes he has found an attractive investment opportunity for the firm, MetroPCS, a wireless telecomm service provider. However, two months earlier, TA had invested considerable resources on this... View Details

Keywords: Private Equity; Investment; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Growth and Development Strategy; Financial Services Industry; Telecommunications Industry

16 Mar 2022
Blog Post

Taking Your Shot in the Sports Industry with Adam Laitsas (MBA 2016), SVP, Head of Marketing for Madison Square Garden Sports

years on the men’s basketball team and earned his Bachelor’s Degree in finance. While at St. John’s, Laitsas loved stepping onto the court at Madison Square Garden in New York City, a place he describes as “the Mecca of sports.” At the same time, he found himself drawn... View Details

January 2009 (Revised May 2010)
Case

Altoona State Investment Board: December 2008

By: Josh Lerner

Rod Calhoun, the head of the Altoona State Investment Board's private equity investment program, considered the communication he had just received. It was from Permira, the leading European buyout fund, and concerned its fourth fund, to which Altoona had made a £ 100... View Details

Keywords: Private Equity; Financial Management; Financial Strategy; Investment Funds; Partners and Partnerships

27 Jun 2007
Lessons from the Classroom

Learning to Make the Move to CEO

executives in his classroom. While they come from countries around the world and from a variety of industries, they share a common characteristic. "They're at a point where it's valuable for them to stop and reflect," says Simons, a specialist in accounting,... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Education

January 2007 (Revised March 2011)
Case

Yale University Investments Office: August 2006

By: Josh Lerner

The Yale Investments Office must decide whether to continue to allocate the bulk of the university's endowment to illiquid investments--hedge funds, private equity, real estate, and so forth. Considers the risks and benefits of a different asset allocation strategy.... View Details

Keywords: Higher Education; Asset Management; Financial Management; Financial Strategy; Investment Portfolio; Risk Management

25 Apr 2005
Research & Ideas

New Learning at American Home Products

This entry into medical instruments was similar to the strategy of Squibb, but took place on a much more modest scale than that of SmithKline or Warner-Lambert. The disposal of the confectionery and household goods followed. In 1984... View Details

Keywords: by Alfred D. Chandler Jr.; Chemical; Health; Manufacturing; Pharmaceutical

Article

Strategic Assets, Interdependence and Technological Change: An Empirical Investigation of Complementarity in Pharmaceutical Drug Discovery

By: S. Thomke and W. Kuemmerle

Keywords: Strategy; Assets; Information Technology; Change; Information; Health; Pharmaceutical Industry

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May 2014
Case

Sasol: U.S. Growth Program

By: Richard H. K. Vietor

Sasol, the world's largest producer of synthetic oil from coal and gas, has announced plans to build a huge Catalytic cracker and gas-to-liquids plant in Lake Charles, Louisiana. This $21 billion venture will be the single largest foreign direct investment in US... View Details

Keywords: Oil ＆ Gas; Risk; Risk And Uncertainty; Petroleum; Synthesis; Diesel; Foreign Direct Investment; Chemicals; Strategy; Energy Industry; United States

18 Feb 2021
News

Kenya Is Becoming a Global Hub of FinTech Innovation

Keywords: FinTech

24 Apr 2014
News

From observers to active participants in the global economy

By investing in African countries, moving them beyond subsistence, Jonathan Bloom (MBA 1972) fuels some of the world’s potentially fastest-growing markets. As deputy vice president for the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC), he oversees investment programs in... View Details

15 May 2013
Research & Ideas

From McRibs to Maseratis: The Power of Scarcity Marketing

about "making moments that are so good." But by removing the Double Down from the menu, KFC made the moment when it came back in 2011 not just "so good," but even better. Nor is KFC alone in adopting this approach. McDonald's has pursued a similar... View Details

Keywords: Re: Michael I. Norton

2022
Working Paper

Many Markets Make Good Neighbors: Multimarket Contact and Deposit Banking

By: John William Hatfield and Jonathan Wallen

We investigate the relationship between the interest rates offered to consumers in a deposit banking market and the contact that banks in that market have with each other in other markets. We show, in a simple theoretical model, that such overlapping relationships... View Details

Keywords: Antitrust; Deposit Banking; Market Power; Multimarket Contact; Banks and Banking; Markets; Competition