Publications

December 2010
Article

Acquisitions as Exaptation: The Legacy of Founding Institutions in the U.S. Commercial Banking Industry

By: Christopher Marquis and Zhi Huang

This study focuses on the imprinting of institutional environments, particularly how founding institutions impact intra-organizational capabilities and how such imprints may have different external manifestations in subsequent historical eras. We introduce the concept... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Commercial Banking; Organizations; Theory; Policy; Government and Politics; Management Practices and Processes; Strategy; Competency and Skills; United States

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2019
Working Paper

U.S. Antitrust Law and Policy in Historical Perspective

By: Laura Phillips Sawyer

The key pieces of antitrust legislation in the United States—the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890 and the Clayton Act of 1914—contain broad language that has afforded the courts wide latitude in interpreting and enforcing the law. This article chronicles the judiciary’s... View Details

Keywords: Antitrust; Trusts; Restraint Of Trade; Merger; Cartel; New Deal; Harvard School; Chicago School Of Law And Economics; Post-Chicago; Law; Competition; Policy; Vertical Integration; Horizontal Integration; Acquisition

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25 Nov 2018
News

How This Entrepreneur Went From 200 Investor Rejections To A $300 Million Acquisition

Keywords: Food and Beverage Stores; Food and Beverage Stores

February 2018 (Revised October 2020)
Case

The Marriott-Starwood Merger: Navigating Brand Portfolio Strategy and Brand Architecture

By: Jill Avery, Chekitan S. Dev and Laure Mougeot Stroock

In September 2016, Marriott completed its $13.3 billion acquisition of Starwood Hotels & Resorts, which added 11 brands to its already robust 19 hotel brand portfolio. Tina Edmundson, Marriott's global brand officer, was charged with making sense of the brand portfolio... View Details

2023
Working Paper

Segmented Going-Public Markets and the Demand for SPACs

By: Angela Ma, Miles Zheng and Jessica Bai

We provide a regulatory-arbitrage-based explanation for the origin and proliferation of the Special Purpose Acquisition Company (SPAC). SPAC sponsors act as non-bank intermediaries, and the SPAC market structure appeals to yield-seeking investors and riskier,... View Details

Keywords: Special Purpose Acquisition Companies; Non-bank Intermediaries; Regulatory Arbitrage; Adverse Selection; Initial Public Offering

SSRN

June 2020
Teaching Note

Shiseido Acquires Drunk Elephant

By: Jill Avery

On October 7, 2019, the Shiseido Group announced that it would acquire clean skincare brand Drunk Elephant for $845 million, a valuation of 8.5 times sales. Did Shiseido pay too much or too little for this brand asset? How much was the Drunk Elephant brand worth and... View Details

10 Apr 2019
Working Paper Summaries

Trade Secrets Protection and Antitakeover Provisions

Keywords: by Aiyesha Dey and Joshua White

January 2016
Case

COFCO

By: David E. Bell and Natalie Kindred

In 2015, COFCO, China's state-owned agribusiness giant, was working to protect China's food security (a key national security priority) by extending its control of the global food system through overseas acquisitions. At the same time, COFCO sought to grow its market... View Details

2019
Case

Krueger-Gilbert Health Physics: Can a Serial Acquisition Strategy Work for a Diagnostic Consulting Firm?

By: Jason Pananos and A.J. Wasserstein

May 2015
Case

Transforming Alkermes into a Global Biopharmaceutical Company

By: C. Fritz Foley and Nicholas Haas

In the summer of 2011, Jim Frates, CFO of Alkermes faced choices about how to finance the acquisition of Dublin, Ireland-based Elan Drug Technologies (EDT)—a deal that was expected to close in the fall. The case describes the history of Alkermes, provides information... View Details

Keywords: Financing; Debt; Merger; CFO; Financial Management; Biotechnology Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry; United States; Europe

December 2017 (Revised May 2018)
Case

Amazon Buys Whole Foods

By: José B. Alvarez, David Lane and Joni Coughlin

The June 2017 news that e-commerce giant Amazon was paying $13.7 billion for organic supermarket chain Whole Foods precipitated a broad sell-off in the shares of grocery retailers and suppliers. Behind the precipitous declines lay recognition that Amazon’s bold move... View Details

Keywords: Amazon; Whole Foods; Grocery; Grocery Delivery; Mergers ＆ Acquisitions; Business Models; Food Value Chain; Agribusiness; Mergers and Acquisitions; Operations; Competitive Strategy; E-commerce; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Retail Industry; Web Services Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; United States

January 2021
Supplement

Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited (B)

By: David J. Collis, Nobuo Sato and Akiko Kanno

This case is a follow up to HBS Case No. 721-373, Takeda Pharmaceutical Company Limited (A). Following the events of the previous case, Takeda reached an agreement to acquire Ireland-based Shire Plc. The case follows some of the achievements and challenges Takeda and... View Details

Keywords: Pharmaceutical Companies; Pharmaceuticals; M＆A; Mergers ＆ Acquisitions; Biotech; Biotechnology; R＆D; Talent Management; Mergers and Acquisitions; Globalization; Global Strategy; Talent and Talent Management; Strategy; Biotechnology Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry; Japan; Asia

2006
Article

Measuring the Effect of Multimarket Contact on Competition: Evidence from Mergers Following Radio Broadcast Ownership Deregulation

By: Joel Waldfogel and Julie Wulf

This paper examines the effects of multimarket contact on advertising prices in the U.S. radio broadcasting industry. While it is in general difficult to measure the effect of multimarket contact on competition, the 1996 Telecommunications Act substantially relaxed... View Details

Keywords: Marketing Communications; Markets; Geographic Location; Advertising; Ownership; Price; Media and Broadcasting Industry; Media and Broadcasting Industry; United States

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October 2009 (Revised April 2021)
Case

Ingrid Johnson and Nedbank Business Banking

By: Michael Tushman and David Kiron

This case discusses the issue of leading change at the business banking division of Nedbank, a prominent South African bank, between 2005 and 2009. (This timeframe, beginning just 11 years after Apartheid's end, covers Ingrid Johnson's leadership of this division... View Details

Keywords: Leadership And Change Management; Leadership; Leading Change; Banks and Banking; Organizational Culture; Organizational Structure; Change Management; Leadership Style; Banking Industry; South Africa

September 2014
Case

Radiometer, 2003

By: John R. Wells and Galen Danskin

In 2003, Radiometer was the world's leading supplier of blood gas analysis equipment and accessories for critical care patients. Based in Denmark, Radiometer sold through a combination of sales subsidiaries and distributors around the world, and generated sales of over... View Details

Keywords: Medical Devices; Medical Equipment ＆ Devices; Mergers ＆ Acquisitions; Strategic Analysis; Strategic Change; Family Business; Strategy; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Denmark; United States

1989
Other Unpublished Work

Congressional Testimony on Dealing with Persistent Acquisition Problems - U.S. Senate, Committee on Armed Services

By: J. Ronald Fox

Keywords: Government and Politics; Contracts; Problems and Challenges; United States

July 2008
Supplement

The Politics and Economics of Accounting for Goodwill at Cisco Systems (B)

By: Karthik Ramanna

Studies the role of Cisco in setting current US accounting standards for acquisitions and goodwill. Students are asked to analyze an acquisition in the context of an ongoing political debate on mergers accounting. View Details

Keywords: Goodwill Accounting; Standards; Mergers and Acquisitions; Business and Government Relations; United States

July 2008
Case

The Politics and Economics of Accounting for Goodwill at Cisco Systems (A)

By: Karthik Ramanna

Studies the role of Cisco in setting current U.S. accounting standards for acquisitions and goodwill. Students are asked to analyze an acquisition in the context of an ongoing political debate on mergers accounting. View Details

Keywords: Goodwill Accounting; Mergers and Acquisitions; Standards; Business and Government Relations; United States

July–August 2021
Article

SPACs: What You Need to Know

By: Max Bazerman and Paresh Patel

Special purpose acquisition companies, or SPACs, have been around in various forms for decades, but during the past two years they’ve taken off in the United States. In 2019, 59 were created, with $13 billion invested; in 2020, 247 were created, with $80 billion... View Details

Keywords: Special Purpose Acquisition Companies; SPACs; Mergers and Acquisitions; Going Public; Investment