Publications

11 Oct 2006
Research & Ideas

The Success of Reverse Leveraged Buyouts

billion--but analysts have been disappointed by a share price in the mid-teens. Are RLBOs really the risky, under-performing investment that is claimed? In fact, says Harvard Business School Professor Josh Lerner, RLBOs generally outperform other initial public... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Banking; Financial Services

Career Coach

Kristen Fitzpatrick

Kristen (HBS '03) is Managing Director, HBS Career and Professional Development. In this role, she coaches alumni and MBA students. Through her interactions with recruiters over the past decade, Kristen is familiar with many industries... View Details

Keywords: Education; Manufacturing; Consumer Products; Social Enterprise

April 2002 (Revised July 2002)
Case

Imagicast

By: John T. Gourville and Alison Berkley Wagonfeld

Imagicast has brought to market an interactive, multimedia retail kiosk designed to increase product sales. In spite of promising projections by industry analysts and detailed demand forecasts by Imagicast management, the company has yet to sell a single kiosk. Time... View Details

Keywords: Forecasting and Prediction; Crisis Management; Product Launch; Demand and Consumers; Sales; Technology; Retail Industry; United States

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September 2018 (Revised August 2019)
Case

The Progressive Corporation, 2018

By: John R. Wells and Benjamin Weinstock

In early 2019, The Progressive Corporation (Progressive), the USA’s third-largest auto insurance writer, reported earned premiums were up 20% in 2018 compared to the previous year, and net income was up 64%. Direct sales of personal auto policies rose 21%, while agent... View Details

14 Aug 2018
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, August 14, 2018

and healthy innovation. Publisher's link: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=54851 in press Management Science Procedural Justice and the Risks of Consumer Voting By: Kim, Tami, Leslie John, Todd Rogers, and Michael I. Norton... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

December 2011
Case

Bergerac Systems: The Challenge of Backward Integration

By: David A. Garvin and Sunru Yong

Bergerac Systems is a small, rapidly growing manufacturer of diagnostic instruments used in veterinary practices. The company introduced the OmniVue chemistry analyzer, which enables veterinarians to run a wide range of blood and blood chemistry tests on their animal... View Details

Keywords: Financial Analysis; Manufacturing Strategy; Strategy; Production; Supply Chain Management; Vertical Integration; Performance Capacity; Financial Strategy; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

29 Mar 2016
First Look

March 29, 2016

nature of strategy, organizational design, and leadership. Management: An Integrated Approach is the only introductory management text on the market to address this challenge by taking an integrated and... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

June 2005 (Revised May 2006)
Case

Covisint (A): The Evolution of a B2B Marketplace

By: Lynda M. Applegate and Elizabeth Collins

Ford Motor Co., General Motors, and DaimlerChrysler--the three original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) that dominated the automotive industry throughout the 20th century--launched Covisint in February 2000 as an industry supply chain exchange that would drive out cost... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Supply Chain Management; Business Startups; Management Teams; Manufacturing Industry; Auto Industry; United States

October 2002
Exercise

Luster Paint Corporation, The

By: Janice H. Hammond

Describes a marketing director about to launch a new process for demand forecasting. Provides data that allow students to do a multivariable regression analysis. A rewritten version of an earlier case. View Details

Keywords: Forecasting and Prediction; Analytics and Data Science; Management Practices and Processes; Demand and Consumers; Mathematical Methods

27 Jan 2009
First Look

First Look: January 27, 2009

Alejandro Ruzzier Abstract It is often argued that competition forces managers to make better choices, thus favoring managerial autonomy in decision making. I formalize and challenge this idea. Suppose that View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

October 2018
Supplement

African Bank Investments Limited (B)

By: Lynn S. Paine and Will Hurwitz

Less than a year after joining the board of African Bank Investments Limited (ABIL), the newest director finds himself in difficult discussions with other directors about removing the struggling company’s CEO. The case is set in South Africa in mid-2014 as shares in... View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Personal Finance; Corporate Accountability; Governing and Advisory Boards; Corporate Governance; Crisis Management; Insurance; Leadership; Management; Risk Management; Banking Industry; Financial Services Industry; Insurance Industry; Africa; South Africa

Web

Strategy - Faculty & Research

explain market equilibrium under perfect competition, then discusses reasons that real-world markets deviate from this model, including product and cost differentiation, barriers to entry and exit, and... View Details

July–August 2023
Article

Accounting for Carbon Offsets

By: Robert S. Kaplan, Karthik Ramanna and Marc Roston

Markets for carbon trading function poorly, and many traded offsets do not actually perform as promised. Without robust protocols for monitoring offsets and in the absence of proper accounting mechanisms, market-based approaches to reducing atmospheric GHG will be... View Details

Keywords: Climate Change; Environmental Accounting; Environmental Regulation

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14 Jun 2023
Op-Ed

Every Company Should Have These Leaders—or Develop Them if They Don't

We’ve long known that organizations require so-called flexible leaders to respond to rapid market fluctuations; the last couple of years have only emphasized that necessity. The environment we operate in—shaped by the pandemic, social... View Details

Keywords: by Hise Gibson

TeachingInterests

The Business of Entertainment, Media, and Sports (MBA)

By: Anita Elberse

This second-year MBA course is primarily designed for students pursuing a career in the entertainment, media and sports sectors -- including film, television, music, publishing, video games, the performing arts, sports, fashion, and advertising -- or who plan to work... View Details

Career Coach

Robert Kimmel

Robert Kimmel (HBS '03) brings 15 years of operations management and consulting experience. He enjoys working with students who are exploring moves into operational roles, considering a departure from consulting, or deciding between... View Details

Keywords: Consulting; Consumer Products; Entrepreneurship; Manufacturing; Private Equity; Financial Services (All)

May 1999 (Revised August 1999)
Case

Victory Supermarkets: Expansion Strategy?

By: David E. Bell and Ann Leamon

Jay DiGeronimo, president of a 16-store supermarket chain, is trying to decide the timing and method for expanding his chain. The family-owned company could continue in a maintenance mode, with each family member running one store. It could expand slowly using a new... View Details

Keywords: Budgets and Budgeting; Cost vs Benefits; Trade; Investment; Market Entry and Exit; Supply Chain Management; Private Ownership; Competition; Expansion; Retail Industry

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September 2002 (Revised March 2006)
Case

Environmental Power Corporation: Changing Manure Into Gold?

By: Ray A. Goldberg and Laure Mougeot Stroock

In 2002, Environmental Power Corp. (EPC), a small company developing renewable energy projects, was attempting to commercialize its "digester," a facility that extracted methane from manure, reduced manure's environmental impact, and generated electricity. The company... View Details

Keywords: Commercialization; Energy Generation; Renewable Energy; Environmental Sustainability; Investment; Projects; Wastes and Waste Processing; Corporate Finance; Business and Government Relations; Energy Industry