Publications
Publications
Show Results For
- All HBS Web
(2,612)
- Faculty Publications (675)
- June 2014
- Teaching Note
Steve Carpenter at Cake Financial
After investing $9 million of venture capital, Cake Financial had failed to reach critical mass. In early 2010 Cake's assets were sold and the company was dissolved. Founded in 2006, the San Francisco-based Internet company allowed users to monitor their investments... View Details
- June 2014
- Case
Starbucks Coffee Company: Transformation and Renewal
By: Nancy F. Koehn, Kelly McNamara, Nora N. Khan and Elizabeth Legris
Starbucks Coffee Company: Transformation and Renewal analyzes the turnaround and reconstruction of Starbucks Coffee Company from 2008 to 2014 as led by CEO and co-founder Howard Schultz. The case offers executives and students an opportunity to examine in depth how... View Details
Keywords: Howard Schultz; Starbucks; Transformation; Turnaround; Change; Decision Making; Entrepreneurship; Growth and Development; Leadership; Organizations; Problems and Challenges; Risk and Uncertainty; Strategy; Value; Consumer Products Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Retail Industry; North and Central America; Europe; Asia; South America; Middle East; Latin America
- May 2014 (Revised March 2017)
- Case
Unilever's Lifebuoy in India: Implementing the Sustainability Plan
Unilever's new Global Brand VP must not only revitalize Lifebuoy soap's sagging market performance, but simultaneously impact the health of one billion people worldwide. The latter challenge comes from Unilever's new CEO who has introduced the Unilever Sustainable... View Details
Keywords: Multinational Management; Corporate Social Responsibility; Strategy Implementation; Marketing Strategy; Mission And Purpose; Change Management; International Business; Global; Fast-moving Consumer Goods; Soap; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Health Care and Treatment; Environmental Sustainability; Global Strategy; Developing Countries and Economies; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; Health Industry; India
- 2014
- Working Paper
The Cost of Friendship
By: Paul A. Gompers, Vladimir Mukharlyamov and Yuhai Xuan
We investigate how personal characteristics affect people's desire to collaborate and whether this attraction enhances or detracts from performance in venture capital. We find that venture capitalists who share the same ethnic, educational, or career background are... View Details
- February 2014 (Revised August 2016)
- Case
Strava
By: Joseph B. Lassiter III, William A. Sahlman and Sid Misra
Strava is a new fast-growing social network for the avid cyclist and runner. The Strava case traces the entrepreneurial journey of two serial entrepreneurs who have been co-founders in a prior venture, and who have co-founded Strava 3 years ago. The protagonists must... View Details
Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Cycling; Biking; Running; Sports; Technology; Mobile App; Mobile; GPS; Motivation; Behavioral Science; Founders; Term Sheet; Investment; Terms; Silicon Valley; Lifestyle; Strava; Financing; Fundraising; Angel; Valuation; Growth; Forecast; Business Startups; Business Plan; Trends; Forecasting and Prediction; Decision Choices and Conditions; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Institutional Investing; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Innovation Leadership; Innovation Strategy; Innovation and Management; Technological Innovation; Management Succession; Growth Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Market Timing; Bicycle Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Technology Industry; Sports Industry; Web Services Industry; California; New England
- February 2014 (Revised April 2015)
- Case
Go Beyond Investing
By: Lynda Applegate, Vincent Dessain, Emilie Billaud and Daniela Beyersdorfer
In 2013, Brigitte Baumann, founder of the Pan-European angel investing provider Go Beyond Investing, reflected on the evolution of her venture and the way forward. Her company, which offered deal flow and training to novice and experienced angel investors and ran... View Details
- January 2014
- Case
Maricopa, Inc.: Finding the Right Treatment for Growth
The founders of Maricopa, Inc., a startup that sold proprietary hair-care products directly to salons, were preparing a board presentation to address the young company's inability to meet financial projections. While the products had caught on with customers, the... View Details
- 2016
- Working Paper
Consequences to Directors of Shareholder Activism
By: Ian D. Gow, Sa-Pyung Sean Shin and Suraj Srinivasan
Using a comprehensive sample for 2004–2012, we examine the impact of shareholder activist campaigns on the careers of directors of targeted firms. We find that activism is associated with directors being almost twice as likely to leave—and performance-sensitivity of... View Details
- January 2014
- Supplement
Ford Asia Pacific & Africa: The E-coating Facility Decision in Gujarat, India (B)
By: Juan Alcacer and Nancy Hua Dai
The case reveals that Ford decided to open its own e-coating plant in Gujarat, India, and details how the decision was made at different organizational levels. View Details
- January 2014 (Revised March 2014)
- Case
Ford Asia Pacific & Africa: The E-coating Facility Decision in Gujarat, India (A)
By: Juan Alcacer and Nancy Hua Dai
In April 2013, Ford Asia Pacific & Africa (FAPA) was examining its options for e-coating service metal parts for the Ford Customer Service Division in Sanand, Gujarat, India. Randy Creel, Director of Parts Supply & Logistics, FAPA, worked with his colleagues in the US,... View Details
- January 2014
- Supplement
J.C. Penney's 'Fair and Square' Strategy (C): Back to the Future
By: Elie Ofek, Jill Avery and Jose B. Alvarez
Rehired in April 2013, Myron E. "Mike" Ullman III was brought back to stabilize the retailer's business. Under Ron Johnson's "Fair and Square" program, sales had declined rapidly and quarterly losses and expensive capital investments had put severe pressure on cash... View Details
- November 2013 (Revised May 2023)
- Case
Valuing Yahoo! in 2013
By: Luis M. Viceira and Atul Khosla
In late July 2013, Danielle Engle, Managing Director of Clairemont Capital, was contemplating what to do about a large investment her fund had in the stock of Yahoo! Inc. In mid-2012, Clairemont had invested nearly $75M in Yahoo! after the tech company settled a highly... View Details
- November 2013 (Revised January 2015)
- Case
Restructuring JAL
By: Malcolm Baker, Adi Sunderam, Nobuo Sato and Akiko Kanno
Hideo Seto, the recently appointed chairman of the investment committee of the Enterprise Turnaround Initiative Corporation, must decide whether to push JAL group, Japan's largest airline, into bankruptcy or to act as a sponsor in an out-of-court restructuring. The... View Details
- November 2013
- Teaching Note
8 Spruce Street
By: Arthur I Segel
The case begins in March 2009 during the depths of the recession with Forest City Ratner (FCR) Companies, a New York City based developer, facing the decision to halt construction half-way on 8 Spruce Street, the tallest residential tower in the Western Hemisphere, or... View Details
- October 2013
- Supplement
Advantage Partners: Dia Kanri (B)
By: Paul A. Gompers, Nobuo Sato and Akiko Kanno
This case presents the final decision and outcomes for the (A) case. View Details
- October 2013
- Case
Oaktree and the Restructuring of CIT Group (A)
By: Victoria Ivashina and David Scharfstein
CIT's prepackaged bankruptcy marked the first time a major financial institution was able to successfully restructure and emerge from Chapter 11 bankruptcy, challenging conventional views that a financial firm could not survive bankruptcy proceedings as a going... View Details
- October 2013
- Article
Corporate Venturing
By: Josh Lerner
For decades, large companies have been wary of corporate venturing. But as R&D organizations face pressure to rein in costs and produce results, companies are investing in promising start-ups to gain knowledge and agility. The logic of corporate venturing is... View Details
- August 2013 (Revised November 2015)
- Case
Prudential Financial - General Motors Pension Risk Transfer: Back to the Future?
By: Luis M. Viceira and Emily A. Chien
In November 2012, Prudential Financial and General Motors closed on a $25.1B pension risk transfer (PRT) transaction, the largest of its kind to date by an order of magnitude both in the U.S. market and globally. In exchange for an in-kind transfer of $25.1B in... View Details
- August 2013 (Revised October 2013)
- Case
MedImmune Ventures
By: Richard G. Hamermesh and David Lane
Ron Laufer is the new Senior Managing Director of MedImmune Ventures, the corporate venture capital arm of AstraZeneca, a leading pharmaceuticals firm. Laufer has to decide whether to pursue a high-potential, but very risky, early-stage investment. The decision Laufer... View Details
- June 2013 (Revised June 2014)
- Case
Valero Energy Corporation and Tight Oil
By: Richard H.K. Vietor, Eric Adamson, Aaron Byrd, Ned Chiverton, Mariko Meier and Rob Rain
Valero Energy, an incredibly successful US refiner, needs to make some decisions about tight oil. As production of light tight oil increases—from Eagle Ford, Bakken and elsewhere—Valero considers whether to add topping capacity to handle it, on top of its recent... View Details