Publications

February 2010
Teaching Note

Wanxiang Group: A Chinese Company's Global Strategy (TN)

By: Regina M. Abrami, William C. Kirby, F. Warren McFarlan and Keith Chi-ho Wong

Teaching Note for [308058]. View Details

Keywords: Business History; Global Strategy; Business Conglomerates; Vertical Integration; Goals and Objectives; Mergers and Acquisitions; Auto Industry; China; United States

December 2001 (Revised July 2005)
Case

E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Company: The Conoco Split-off (A)

By: Stuart C. Gilson and Perry Fagan

After taking 30% of its Conoco oil and gas subsidiary public in the largest domestic initial public offering (IPO) in U.S. history, management of E.I. du Pont de Nemours and Co. (DuPont) is considering divesting its remaining interest in Conoco. This goal is to be... View Details

Keywords: Business Conglomerates; Business Subsidiaries; Restructuring; Non-Renewable Energy; Chemicals; Assets; Initial Public Offering; Business and Shareholder Relations; Diversification; Value; Chemical Industry; United States

20 Aug 2024
Book

Why Competing With Tech Giants Requires Finding Your Own Edge

significantly reduce their downside risks and quickly begin to benefit from the ecosystem. Ping An’s ecosystems. Ping An started as a thirteen-person small property and casualty insurance office in China’s southern city of Shenzhen in 1988 and grew to become a View Details

Keywords: by Feng Zhu; Technology; Information Technology

01 Mar 2007
News

Daniel Vasella

Vasella Illustration by Dennis Balogh Twenty years ago a young doctor with a hankering for business experience gave up his clinical practice in Bern, Switzerland, and moved to East Hanover, New Jersey, to try his hand at drug sales with the Swiss View Details

Keywords: Roger Thompson; multinational pharmaceutical company; prescription drugs; vaccines; Medicare; generics business; Health, Social Assistance

01 Feb 2002
News

Telling the Electronic Century's Unfinished Story

savings and loans. I compare this disaster to a Greek epic, in which RCA is lured away from its core capabilities by "Sirens" consisting of the business press, the academy, and Wall Street, for whom conglomerates were then the business... View Details

Keywords: Electric Power Generation, Transmission, Distribution; Utilities

September 2020 (Revised June 2021)
Supplement

Eaton Corporation: Portfolio Transformation and The Cost of Capital

By: Benjamin C. Esty, Scott Mayfield and Daniel Fisher

In 2000, Eaton Corporation was a broadly diversified industrial conglomerate. But its strategy was evolving and its focus was narrowing around “power management” and more recently on “intelligent power,” the use of digitally enabled products and services designed to... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Conglomerates; Business Divisions; Cost of Capital; Corporate Finance; Value; Valuation; Industrial Products Industry; United States; Denmark; Republic of Ireland

November 1990 (Revised June 1993)
Case

FMC Corp.: A Recapitalization

By: William J. Bruns Jr. and Julie H. Hertenstein

A proposed recapitalization will use new debt to pay a large dividend to some shareholders in return for a reduction of their voting power. The result will be a highly leveraged financial structure and negative owners' equity. Students can trace the effects of proposed... View Details

Keywords: Financial Statements; Financial Strategy; Asset Management; Financial Management; Business Conglomerates; Borrowing and Debt; Business and Shareholder Relations; Capital Structure; Equity; Private Equity; Chemical Industry

Find at Harvard

17 Jun 2002
Research & Ideas

A Litmus Test for Entrepreneurs

initial caution, growth when it came was both fast and steady. When he sold the company in 1999 to the Spanish food conglomerate Campofrio, TelePizza spanned six countries with more than 600 outlets selling some $250 million worth of... View Details

Keywords: by Walter Kuemmerle

June 1991 (Revised December 1997)
Case

Takeover of the Norton Co., The

By: Thomas R. Piper

After a decade of mediocre performance, the Norton Co. enters 1990 with the prospect of increased sales in the next few years. Yet Norton is pursuing slow growth industries, and a lower than expected earnings announcement at the beginning of 1990 has depressed earnings... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Conglomerates; Goals and Objectives; Forecasting and Prediction; Performance Evaluation; Revenue; Bids and Bidding; Business Processes; Ownership Stake

04 May 2010
News

The History of Beauty

Keywords: Prof. Geoffrey Jones; beauty products; grooming; Clothing and Clothing Accessories Stores; Retail Trade

30 Jan 2017
Research & Ideas

Vanguard, Trian And The Problem With 'Passive' Index Funds

“activist investors,” seeing typical activist funds more focused on short-term value creation than on the long term.) In the case of the diversified conglomerate DuPont, Trian identified a host of problems including a structure that... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Financial Services

19 Jun 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, June 19, 2018

Japan's Dream Machine: Recruit Holdings Co., Ltd. Recruit Holdings, an advertising media, staffing, and business support conglomerate was founded in 1960 by Hiromasa Ezoe. Recruit was built on the principle that the company should add... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

03 Mar 2015
First Look

First Look: March 3

this case: https://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cbmp/product/815070-PDF-ENG Harvard Business School Case 715-432 Group Functions at the Maersk Group In 2014, seven years after he was appointed CEO of the Danish shipping and oil conglomerate A.P.... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

12 Dec 2017
First Look

New Research and Ideas, December 12, 2017

https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=53601 Harvard Business School Case 718-008 'Clarín Lies!': Bias, Post-Truth, and Populism in Argentina's Media War In 2012, Argentine media conglomerate Grupo Clarín and President Cristina... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

March 2001
Case

Sime Darby Berhad (C): Responding to the Asian Crisis

By: Tarun Khanna and Danielle Melito Wu

Supplements the (A) case. View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Business Conglomerates; Economy; Capital Markets; Emerging Markets; Business and Government Relations; Corporate Strategy; Value Creation; Financial Services Industry; Malaysia

April 1993
Teaching Note

Grupo Industrial Alfa, S.A.,1982 (TN)

By: Timothy A. Luehrman

Teaching Note for (9-292-008). View Details

Keywords: Cash Flow; Borrowing and Debt; Restructuring; Rights; Business Strategy; Negotiation; System; Business Conglomerates; Currency Exchange Rate; Energy Industry; Telecommunications Industry; Mexico

March 2001
Case

Sime Darby Berhad (B): The Asian Crisis Begins

By: Tarun Khanna and Danielle Melito Wu

Supplements the (A) case. View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Business Conglomerates; Economy; Capital Markets; Emerging Markets; Business and Government Relations; Corporate Strategy; Value Creation; Financial Services Industry; Malaysia