Publications

June 2007 (Revised January 2008)
Case

The Vanguard Group, Inc. in 2006 and Target Retirement Funds

By: Luis M. Viceira

The Vanguard Group is one of the largest asset managers in the U.S., with over $1 trillion in assets, ninety percent of which are mutual fund assets, and more than 12,000 employees at year-end 2006. Vanguard has built a strong reputation as the manager of reference for... View Details

Keywords: Asset Management; Investment Funds; Personal Finance; Brands and Branding; Retirement; Trust; Financial Services Industry; United States

18 Feb 2019
Book

What’s Really Disrupting Business? It’s Not Technology

entrepreneurs are more deliberate than this, beginning by analyzing the existing model in their industry and then layering their own innovation on top. But they still proceed largely by feeling their way, reacting opportunistically to... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost; Service; Service; Service; Service

November 2009
Supplement

Managing a Global Team: Greg James at Sun Microsystems, Inc. (B)

By: Tsedal Neeley

This case updates students on the steps Greg James took to solve the problems that instigated the crisis documented in “Managing a Global Team: Greg James at Sun Microsystems, Inc. (A).” We find out how James solves the process problems involved in his team's breakdown... View Details

Keywords: Customer Satisfaction; Globalized Firms and Management; Crisis Management; Service Delivery; Business Processes; Performance Productivity; Groups and Teams; Technology Industry

November 2023 (Revised April 2024)
Case

Celsius Network Inc.: Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt in the Brave New World of Crypto Bankruptcy

By: Stuart C. Gilson and Sarah L. Abbott

In July 2022, Celsius Network filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. CEO Alex Mashinsky acknowledged that Celsius had grown its assets “faster than the Company was prepared to deploy [them]” and as a result had made “certain poor asset deployment decisions.” Two months after... View Details

Keywords: Cryptocurrency; Chapter 11; Restructuring; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Asset Management; Acquisition; Borrowing and Debt; Financial Services Industry; United States

April 2005 (Revised January 2007)
Case

Furman Selz LLC (A): A Tale of Two Acquisitions

By: Nancy D. Beaulieu, Boris Groysberg and Kyle Doherty

Profiles a firm that was reacquired by two companies with different degrees of success. Highlights integration challenges present in acquisition deals when the primary assets of the target are human capital. Focuses on Furman Selz's acquisition by Xerox in 1987; its... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Transition; Valuation; Human Capital; Compensation and Benefits; Integration; Organizational Culture; Banking Industry; Banking Industry; United States

November 2017 (Revised April 2019)
Case

Summa Equity: Building Purpose-Driven Organizations

By: George Serafeim

In 2015, Reynir Indahl left top Nordic private equity firm Altor Equity Partners to found Summa Equity (Summa). After long contemplation following the financial crisis, Indahl was convinced the financial system was producing negative externalities and that the current... View Details

01 Mar 2010
News

John Crowley’s Extraordinary Measures

FAMILY PORTRAIT: John and Aileen Crowley with Megan, John Jr., and Patrick. When John Crowley (MBA ’97) flew to Portland, Oregon, last spring to watch the filming of a movie about his life, what he saw was “beyond surreal.” The actors’ trailers all sported the full... View Details

Keywords: Sarah Auerbach; Ambulatory Health Care Services; Ambulatory Health Care Services; Ambulatory Health Care Services; Ambulatory Health Care Services

October 2023 (Revised October 2024)
Case

UnDosTres: Building the Paytm of Mexico

By: Álvaro Rodríguez Arregui, Max Hancock and Amy Klopfenstein

Arpit Gupta, Naveen Sharma, and Vikram Deswal co-founded the mobile payment app UnDosTres in Mexico City in 2015. In the past, Gupta had worked at Paytm, an India-based payment app valued at over $1 billion. In Mexico, the co-founders hoped to recreate Paytm’s success.... View Details

Keywords: Technology Adoption; Advertising; Digital Platforms; Growth and Development Strategy; Adaptation; Technology Industry; Technology Industry; Mexico; India

December 2022 (Revised August 2023)
Case

Ribbit Capital and the Gauntlet Investment Opportunity

By: Shai Bernstein and Allison M. Ciechanover

Ten-year-old, Palo Alto-based Ribbit Capital is best-known for its global investments in fintech. The firm was also an early advocate of crypto and blockchain, having invested in more than two dozen startups in the space in the past decade. In the Spring of 2022,... View Details

Keywords: Alternative Assets; Cryptocurrency; Business Startups; Investment Portfolio; Decision Choices and Conditions; Negotiation Deal; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Venture Capital; Financial Services Industry; California

April 2005 (Revised January 2006)
Case

Protege Partners: The Capacity Challenge

By: Randolph B. Cohen

In February 2005, Jeffrey Tarrant (HBS '85) and Ted Seides (HBS '99) considered their strategy for Protege Partners, founded in July 2002 as a fund of hedge funds (FOHF) specializing in small hedge funds. Protege's assets under management had grown to $1.1 billion, and... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Business Growth and Maturation; Investment Funds; Financial Services Industry

Web

HBS OnBoard | Social Enterprise | Harvard Business School

motivations, interests and skills as well as frameworks for evaluating specific board opportunities. OnBoard LinkedIn group For alumni to connect with each other, share resources and board opportunities. OnBoard Virtual Session Recordings Introduction to Nonprofit... View Details

October 2019 (Revised January 2020)
Case

Fixing Facebook: Fake News, Privacy, and Platform Governance

By: David Yoffie and Daniel Fisher

Mark Zuckerberg founded Facebook based on the idea that connecting people was a fundamentally good thing—and a way to turn a handsome profit. But from the beginning, Facebook received criticism both for how it handled user privacy and how it curated user-generated... View Details

Keywords: Platform; Governance; Privacy; Internet and the Web; Corporate Governance; Ethics; Business and Government Relations; Strategy; Digital Platforms; Web Services Industry

May 2024
Case

A New Aiera for Equity Research

By: Joseph Pacelli, Charles CY Wang and James Barnett

Aiera (pronounced “era”) co-founder and CEO Ken Sena considers strategic pathways to growth for the artificial intelligence (AI)-powered platform used to source, verify, and transcribe earnings calls, company presentations, and other corporate events. View Details

Keywords: Financial Reporting; Financial Statements; Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; AI and Machine Learning; Growth and Development Strategy; Accounting Industry; Accounting Industry; Accounting Industry; United States

Web

Entrepreneurial Support - Business & Environment

please visit the Rock Center for Entrepreneurship’s website . HBS EC Course - Tough Tech Ventures - Joshua Lev Krieger and Jim Matheson While tough technology has the potential to transform incumbent industries and tackle our most... View Details

Web

Entrepreneurial Management Awards & Honors - Faculty & Research

Economics , January 2022) with Jason Mao, Antoinette Schoar, and Nan R. Zhang. Mitchell B. Weiss : Winner of the 2022 Apgar Award for Innovation in Teaching. 2021 Jeffrey J. Bussgang : Received the Robert F. Greenhill Award in 2021 for Outstanding View Details

22 Feb 2022
News

Breaking News

of the capital stack to support others coming in on top of that, which might have higher return expectations? How do we assemble that so that we can hit both impact and investment outcomes? What other shifts in the industry are you... View Details

Keywords: Jen McFarland Flint; illustration by Dana Smith; News, Library, Internet, and Other Services; News, Library, Internet, and Other Services

01 Oct 2002
News

Michael F. Cronin

under management. Given Cronin's background, it's not surprising that the WP portfolio favors traditional industrial and service companies that are strong on business fundamentals. Examples include Herald... View Details

October 2011
Case

Strategy and Governance at Yahoo! Inc.

By: Krishna G. Palepu, Suraj Srinivasan, David Lane and Ian McKown Cornell

Yahoo! faces a number of governance and strategic challenges in late 2011 as it tries to compete with rivals such as Google and find ways to monetize its shareholding and business links with Alibaba Group in China and Yahoo! Japan. The company is now valued at almost... View Details

Keywords: Competitive Strategy; Corporate Governance; Web Services Industry