Publications

September 2020 (Revised June 2021)
Case

Eaton Corporation: Portfolio Transformation and The Cost of Capital

By: Benjamin C. Esty, E. 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

July 2011
Case

Shifting the Diversity Climate: The Sodexo Solution

By: David A. Thomas and Stephanie J. Creary

This case profiles the evolution of Sodexo's diversity initiative. Diversity became a key priority for Sodexo, North America in 2001 after a class-action lawsuit was filed and certified in Washington, D.C. against Sodexo Marriot Services, Inc., the food services... View Details

Keywords: Diversity; Business Strategy; Globalization; Management Teams; Gender; Race; Ethnicity; Age; Food and Beverage Industry; North America; Washington (state, US)

November 2022
Case

Wendy Estrella: Scaling Multiple Businesses

By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang and Sarah Mehta

Entrepreneur Wendy Estrella, a self-made, Latina millionaire based in Lawrence, Massachusetts, is attempting to simultaneously scale her law practice as well as her property management and development company. What path should she take for each and can she do it all,... View Details

Keywords: Business Ventures; Change; Competency and Skills; Decision Making; Demographics; Entrepreneurship; Personal Development and Career; Legal Services Industry; Real Estate Industry; Massachusetts

February 2020 (Revised January 2022)
Case

Mission Related Investments at the Ford Foundation (A)

By: Shawn Cole, Michael Norris and T. Robert Zochowski

In 2017, Darren Walker, president of the Ford Foundation, one of the largest philanthropic foundations in the world, was preparing to meet with his board of directors to discuss beginning a mission related investments (MRI) program. Walker hoped to devote $1 billion of... View Details

Keywords: Mission-Related Investing; Philanthropy; Foundation; Endowments; Socially Responsible Investing; Investment; Institutional Investing; Investment Activism; Governance; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Mission and Purpose; Social Enterprise; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; United States; New York (city, NY)

01 Mar 2003
News

Dick Franyo: From Banker to Barkeeper

With thirty years in the investment banking business under his belt, Richard L. Franyo (MBA ’72), then managing director of investment banking for Deutsche Bank, was ready for a change. But after a heady career that included playing a key role in building Alex. Brown &... View Details

Keywords: Deborah Blagg; Food Services and Drinking Places; Hospitality

April 2021 (Revised December 2023)
Case

The Mahindra Group: Leading with Purpose

By: Ranjay Gulati and Rachna Tahilyani

India headquartered Mahindra Group is a multibillion-dollar federation of companies operating across the globe. It is ahead of its time in articulating its purpose and mapping its values, something it had first done at inception and then refreshed yet again as ‘Rise’... View Details

Keywords: Mission and Purpose; Organizational Culture; Change Management; Communication Strategy; Family Ownership; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Revenue; Auto Industry; Financial Services Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Technology Industry; Asia; India; Mumbai; South Korea; Italy; United States

May 2020 (Revised March 2022)
Case

The Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic and the Global Economy (A)

By: Alberto Cavallo and Christian Godwin

In April 2020, the world struggled to contain the exponential escalation of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic. Dozens of countries had imposed restrictions on travel, work, and social gatherings. A large share of the global population was under lockdowns and... View Details

01 Mar 2008
News

THE 6 MYTHS OF CREATIVITY

Creativity’s reputation as a mysterious, unknowable trait (something of a myth in itself) has led to some erroneous ideas about what it is and how it functions in organizations. Here, Professor Teresa Amabile quashes some of these long-held beliefs once and for all.... View Details

Keywords: Arts, Sports, Language, Driving, and Other Schools; Educational Services; Management

April 2010 (Revised May 2017)
Case

Tremblant Capital Group

By: Robin Greenwood

Brett Barakett, CEO and founder of Tremblant Capital Group, a New York–based hedge fund, must decide what to do with his fund's position in Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, which has dropped in value by more than 40% in recent months. Tremblant is a hedge fund that... View Details

Keywords: Business Earnings; Behavioral Finance; Stocks; Investment Funds; Consumer Behavior; Competitive Advantage; Financial Services Industry; New York (city, NY)

Article

Why Schumpeter Was Right: Innovation, Market Power and Creative Destruction in 1920s America

By: Tom Nicholas

Are firms with strong market positions powerful engines of technological progress? Joseph Schumpeter thought so, but his hypothesis has proved difficult to verify empirically. This article highlights Schumpeterian market-power and creative-destruction effects in a... View Details

Keywords: Innovation and Invention; Power and Influence; Emerging Markets; Rank and Position; Status and Position; Capital Markets; Capital Structure; Information Technology; Patents; Creativity; Economic Systems; Development Economics; United States

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November 2014
Article

The Impact of Corporate Sustainability on Organizational Processes and Performance

By: Robert G. Eccles, Ioannis Ioannou and George Serafeim

We investigate the effect of corporate sustainability on organizational processes and performance. Using a matched sample of 180 U.S. companies, we find that corporations that voluntarily adopted sustainability policies by 1993—termed as High Sustainability... View Details

Keywords: Sustainability; Sustainability Management; Sustainability Research; Sustainability Reporting; Sustainability Targets; Corporate Social Responsibility; Corporate Accountability; Reporting; Corporate Governance; Investor Clientele; Investor Communication; Stock Market; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Environmental Sustainability; Performance; United States

02 Jul 2013
First Look

First Look: July 2

New Line of Inquiry By: Moss, David, Anant Thaker, and Howard Rudnick Abstract—The substantial increase in inequality in the United States over the past three decades has provoked considerable debate, with... View Details

Keywords: Anna Secino

February 2003 (Revised June 2003)
Case

Interface's Evergreen Services Agreement

In an attempt to reduce its ecological footprint, Interface Americas, a leading manufacturer of commercial carpet tile, has launched the Evergreen Services Agreement (ESA)--a lease agreement that provides would-be carpet purchasers with comprehensive floor-covering... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Product; Environmental Sustainability; Innovation and Invention; Leasing; Consumer Products Industry; Houston

February 2020 (Revised March 2020)
Case

Prime Coalition: Catalytic Capital for Climate Innovation

By: Ramana Nanda, Benjamin N. Roth and Olivia Hull

With long development timelines and high risk, new energy technologies were often left to languish in the “valley of death,” unable to raise enough funds to bring a product to market. In 2014, Sarah Kearney founded the nonprofit Prime Coalition to solve this problem.... View Details

Keywords: Energy Conservation; Renewable Energy; Social Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Investment; Innovation and Invention; Technological Innovation; Mission and Purpose; Science-Based Business; Nonprofit Organizations; Social Enterprise; Energy Industry; Technology Industry; Green Technology Industry; United States

July 2014
Case

Thompson Asset Management

By: William Fruhan and John Banko

Thompson Asset Management (TAM) is a small investment advisory and asset management firm in Jacksonville, Florida, with about $100 million in assets under management in two different funds. Since starting the firm in 2009, the CEO and founder Allison Thompson has had a... View Details

Keywords: Small Business; Asset Management; Expansion; Investment Portfolio; Financial Services Industry; Florida

Person Page

Media

This lists media reports covering my firm dollarDEX Investments or me (or my colleagues), or columns written by me (or my colleagues). There are all... View Details

Person Page

Press / Media

By: Karim R. Lakhani

Can America Invent Its Way Back?

BusinessWeek, by Michael Mandel, 12 Sept. 2008

Today, researchers are focusing on ways to make those... View Details

01 Jun 2011
News

America the Unequal

surveyed approved of some inequality, but their ideal was far more equal than the current level. Why then, given the consensus on this more equal America, are Americans not clamoring for wealth redistribution? First, the expansion of consumer credit in the View Details

Keywords: income disparity; class mobility

2009
Working Paper

International Differences in the Size and Roles of Corporate Headquarters: An Empirical Examination

By: David J. Collis, David Young and Michael Goold

This paper examines differences in the size and roles of corporate headquarters around the world. Based on a survey of over 600 multibusiness corporations in seven countries (France, Germany, Holland, UK, Japan, US, and Chile) the paper describes the differences among... View Details

Keywords: Business Headquarters; Size; Organizational Structure; Culture; Japan; France; Germany; Netherlands; United Kingdom; United States; Chile