Publications

2020
Working Paper

Accounting for Product Impact in the Consumer Finance Industry

By: George Serafeim and Katie Trinh

We apply the product impact measurement framework of the Impact-Weighted Accounts Initiative (IWAI) in two competitor credit card providers within the consumer finance industry. We design a monetization methodology that allows us to calculate monetary impact estimates... View Details

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April 2016
Case

Detroit: On the Right Track?

By: Jan W. Rivkin and Manjari Raman

As this case opens in 2012, a cross-sector alliance to bring new rail transport to the Motor City seems about to collapse, and civic leaders have one last chance to save it. The case covers the rise of Detroit, the city’s devastating fall, and the ongoing potential... View Details

Keywords: Urban Development; Rail Transportation; Infrastructure; Transportation Industry; Michigan

June 2003 (Revised March 2006)
Case

Modi-Revlon

By: Rohit Deshpande and Seth Schulman

The head of the Indian subsidiary of cosmetics firm Revlon faces a crucial turnaround situation for the company. After a high-profile product launch, sales were very disappointing and Revlon was trying to decide whether it should pull out of India. The Indian majority... View Details

Keywords: Business Subsidiaries; Marketing Strategy; Product Launch; Product Design; Value Creation; India

July 1995 (Revised May 1997)
Case

Nutra Foods

By: David F. Hawkins

An investor reviews his equity investment and asks for help in understanding how the stock splits and dividends impact his investment and the company's stockholders' equity portion of the balance sheet. View Details

Keywords: History; Financial Management; Private Equity; Capital Structure; Valuation; Investment Return; Business and Shareholder Relations; Food and Beverage Industry; Food and Beverage Industry

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December 2020
Case

Urban Company

By: Krishna G. Palepu

Urban Company is an India-based market platform that helps customers book home services and at home beauty services. The company differentiated itself by investing heavily in building customer trust. Rather than merely positioning itself as a lead generating... View Details

Keywords: COVID-19 Pandemic; Entrepreneurship; Digital Platforms; Emerging Markets; Strategy; Service Delivery; Trust; Technology Industry; Service Industry; India

September 2016 (Revised March 2021)
Case

DBL Partners: Double Bottom Line Venture Capital

By: Shawn Cole, Mark Kramer, Tony L. He, Anshul Maudar and T. Robert Zochowski

This case explores the origins and current practices of DBL, a San Francisco–based venture capital fund and one of the first impact investment funds to achieve significant financial returns to scale. This case allows for a competitive analysis of DBL's investment... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Investment Funds; Financial Strategy; Financial Services Industry; Tanzania

Career Coach

Jonathan Shepherd

Jonathan is CPD's Corporate Relations Director overseeing principal investing: VC/PE, investment management and real estate. Since 2007, he has coached thousands of students & alumni View Details

01 Feb 2019
News

Cracking Frontier Markets

Article

Inviting Consumers to Downsize Fast-Food Portions Significantly Reduces Calorie Consumption

By: Janet Schwartz, Jason Riis, Brian Elbel and Dan Ariely

Policies that mandate calorie labeling in fast-food and chain restaurants have had little or no observable impact on calorie consumption to date. In three field experiments, we tested an alternative approach: activating consumers' self-control by having servers ask... View Details

Keywords: Food; Labels; Consumer Behavior; Interpersonal Communication; Motivation and Incentives; Food and Beverage Industry; Food and Beverage Industry

September 2007 (Revised September 2010)
Case

ValueAct: Shareholder in the Boardroom

By: Jay W. Lorsch and Alexis Chernak

ValueAct, a San Francisco investment firm, makes an investment in PerSe Technologies. The partners of ValueAct build relationships with the PerSe board and management. Eventually ValueAct is given a seat on the PerSe board and is able to influence a significant imprint... View Details

Keywords: Governing and Advisory Boards; Investment; Business and Shareholder Relations; Financial Services Industry; San Francisco

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June 2023 (Revised September 2023)
Simulation

Managing the Customer Journey Marketing Simulation: Adobe's Data-Driven Operating Model (DDOM)

By: Sunil Gupta, Rajiv Lal and Celine Chammas

Adobe started monitoring Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR), one of its primary metrics, when it shifted from selling its software in a box to selling the software as a subscription-based cloud service. They wanted to know when, where, and how much to invest in marketing.... View Details

Keywords: Customer Acquisition; Customer Journey; Marketing Strategy; Marketing; Customer Focus and Relationships; Budgets and Budgeting

08 Dec 2021
News

Who Read What: Business Leaders Share Their Favorite Books of 2021

19 Aug 2022
Blog Post

Climate Stories Episode #8: The Role of Solar and Wind Farming (and Other Tools) in the United States’ Clean Energy Future

transformative legislation will increase the solar investment tax credit to 30% and extend it to 2032, instead of declining to 10% in 2024.” Diana added: “It will spur creation of hundreds of thousands of... View Details

July 2023
Article

Takahashi-Alexander Revisited: Modeling Private Equity Portfolio Outcomes Using Historical Simulations

By: Dawson Beutler, Alex Billias, Sam Holt, Josh Lerner and TzuHwan Seet

In 2001, Dean Takahashi and Seth Alexander of the Yale University Investments Office developed a deterministic model for estimating future cash flows and valuations for the Yale endowment’s private equity portfolio. Their model, which is simple and intuitive, is still... View Details

Keywords: Forecasting and Prediction; Investment Portfolio; Analytics and Data Science

May 2020 (Revised October 2021)
Case

Valuing Peloton

By: E. Scott Mayfield

Peloton Interactive, a well-known venture-capital-backed unicorn in the connected fitness space, recently had gone public with a market capitalization of over $8.0 billion. However, in the weeks following its public debut, Peloton’s stock price had fallen by over 25%.... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Public Equity; Initial Public Offering; Disruptive Innovation; Business Strategy; Valuation; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; United States

January 2006 (Revised July 2006)
Case

Drug Testing in Nigeria (A)

By: Debora L. Spar

In 1996, a meningitis epidemic swept across Nigeria. Thousands of children were struck and, lacking appropriate medicine, were liable to die from the disease. Doctors at Pfizer had an antibiotic that could probably save most of these children's lives. The drug was new,... View Details

Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Health Pandemics; Health Testing and Trials; Developing Countries and Economies; Pharmaceutical Industry; Nigeria

August 2017 (Revised January 2020)
Case

PFA Pension: Expansion of Alternatives Portfolio

By: Victoria Ivashina, Federica Gabrieli and Jérôme Lenhardt

PFA Pension was the biggest commercial pension provider in Denmark. At the end of 2015, the company had decided to boost its investments into the alternative asset class, an area where it was lagging behind its competitors. The aim was to privilege direct investments... View Details

Keywords: Asset Management; Private Equity; Investment; Denmark; Europe

March 1994 (Revised December 1995)
Case

McArthur/Glen Realty Corp.

By: William J. Poorvu and John H. Vogel Jr.

Jonathan Potter is considering an investment in the newly formed McArthur/Glen Real Estate Investment Trust. The case gives some background on real estate investment trusts and their history. Also discusses manufacturers' outlet shopping centers, the type of real... View Details

Keywords: Investment; Real Estate Industry

January 2005 (Revised August 2014)
Exercise

Hamilton Real Estate: Confidential Role Information for the CEO of Estate One (BUYER)

By: Deepak Malhotra

Presents a two-party negotiation between the executive VP of Pearl Investments and the CEO of Estate One for the sale of real estate in the town of Hamilton. View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Price; Information; Contracts; Managerial Roles; Agreements and Arrangements; Sales; Strategy; Value; Real Estate Industry