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February 2003
Case

Jeff Sloane (A)

Traces the career decision-making process of Jeff Sloane, an MBA student, from his second year of graduate school through five (plus) years post-graduation. Sloane encounters many significant challenges, including the adverse effects of a faltering economy, the tragedy... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Personal Development and Career

May 1993 (Revised May 1994)
Case

Managing for Integrity: Three Vignettes

By: Lynn S. Paine

Three situations are described. A branch manager for a retail brokerage firm must decide whether to change the branch's cash management techniques to increase interest earnings. An auto mechanic must decide whether to oversell parts and repairs to meet sales and... View Details

Keywords: Growth Management; Ethics; Decision Making; Organizational Culture; Financial Management; Sales; Organizational Change and Adaptation

February 1987 (Revised August 1989)
Background Note

United States Trade Law

By: David B. Yoffie

Examines the manner in which U.S. trade law and policy has evolved, with emphasis on trade in manufactured goods and services as well as the relationship between the executive and the legislature. The structure and content of U.S. trade law is discussed including a... View Details

Keywords: Trade; Machinery and Machining; Policy; Law Enforcement; Outcome or Result; Business and Government Relations; United States

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06 Mar 2015
Video

An Economy Doing Half Its Job - Boston, MA

March 2009 (Revised November 2009)
Case

WL Ross and Plascar

By: C. Fritz Foley and Linnea Meyer

How can distressed investors take advantage of the procedures governing an international bankruptcy? Wilbur L. Ross, chairman and CEO of the private equity firm WL Ross & Co., LLC, has the opportunity to bid for debt and equity claims on Plascar Industria e Comercio... View Details

Keywords: Borrowing and Debt; Private Equity; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Investment; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Globalized Firms and Management; Globalized Markets and Industries

28 Oct 2009
Lessons from the Classroom

HBS Begins Teaching Consumer Finance

financial service firms that serve them, including traditional banks, insurance companies, credit card issuers, and brokers, as well as a host of entrepreneurial ventures in this space. Q: When did you get the idea to develop such a... View Details

Keywords: by Roger Thompson; Financial Services; Education

14 Nov 2007
Research & Ideas

Growing CEOs from the Inside

leaders. Q: What happens when your firm has not done proper succession planning, and needs to find a new CEO quickly? A: Well, inevitably you bring in a search firm to help with the process. There will tend... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Employment

May 2016 (Revised August 2022)
Case

RegionFly: Cutting Costs in the Airline Industry

By: Susanna Gallani and Eva Labro

RegionFly is a small, private airline specializing in ultra-premium services. Founded shortly after the "Golden Age of airline travel," RegionFly's financial performance had been strong for several decades. More recently, however, the results have taken a downward... View Details

Keywords: Recession; Downsizing; Profitability; Cost Management; Profit; Luxury; Competitive Strategy; Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Divisions; Logistics; Decision Making; Strategic Planning; Air Transportation Industry

August 2015 (Revised June 2021)
Case

Amazon.com, 2021

By: John R. Wells, Benjamin Weinstock, Gabriel Ellsworth and Galen Danskin

In February 2021, Amazon announced 2020 operating profits of $22,899 million, up from $2,233 million in 2015, on sales of $386 billion, up from $107 billion five years earlier (see Exhibit 1). The shareholders expressed their satisfaction (see Exhibit 2), but not all... View Details

Keywords: Strategic Analysis; Retail; E-commerce; Amazon; Internet; Amazon.com; AmazonFresh; Jeff Bezos; Cloud Computing; Marketplaces; Streaming; E-reader Market; Digital Media; Mobile App; Online Retail; Shipping; Database; Tablet; Kindle; Kindle Fire; Smartphone; Delivery; Digital Platforms; Competition; Internet and the Web; Corporate Strategy; Digital Marketing; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Model; Business Organization; For-Profit Firms; Film Entertainment; Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Music Entertainment; Television Entertainment; Profit; Revenue; Global Strategy; Multinational Firms and Management; Taxation; Business History; Human Resources; Resignation and Termination; Books; Human Capital; Working Conditions; Business or Company Management; Goals and Objectives; Growth and Development Strategy; Growth Management; Management Practices and Processes; Industry Growth; Industry Structures; Media; Distribution; Distribution Channels; Order Taking and Fulfillment; Infrastructure; Logistics; Product Development; Supply Chain; Supply Chain Management; Organizational Culture; Public Ownership; Work-Life Balance; Problems and Challenges; Labor and Management Relations; Strategy; Adaptation; Business Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Diversification; Expansion; Integration; Horizontal Integration; Vertical Integration; Information Infrastructure; Information Technology; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Price; Applications and Software; Marketing; Marketing Strategy; Working Capital; Customer Focus and Relationships; Customer Value and Value Chain; Retail Industry; Advertising Industry; Distribution Industry; Electronics Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Information Technology Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Motion Pictures and Video Industry; Music Industry; Publishing Industry; Shipping Industry; Technology Industry; Video Game Industry; Web Services Industry; United States; Washington (state, US); Seattle

Research Summary

Background

By: Gerald Zaltman

A major theme underlying most of Gerald Zaltman's research concerns the representation of thought. This includes how managers and customers represent their thinking to others and how they represent ideas and knowledge given to them. This theme finds expression in a... View Details

September 2018 (Revised August 2021)
Teaching Note

Blackstone at Age 30 and Blackstone at 35

By: Josh Lerner

This teaching note is meant to guide in the instruction of HBS No. 316-013 "Blackstone at 30" case. It examines the process of institutionalization and scaling in private equity and alternative investments more generally, looking specifically at how Blackstone's size... View Details

Keywords: Finance; Blackstone; Alternative Assets; Venture Capital; Private Equity; Business Growth and Maturation; Public Ownership; Cost vs Benefits; Financial Services Industry

September 2018 (Revised June 2019)
Case

THE VELUX FOUNDATIONS: Selecting Impact Funds

By: Vikram Gandhi, Caitlin Reimers Brumme and Nathaniel Schwalb

After much internal debate, THE VELUX FOUNDATIONS of Denmark have decided to allocate a small percentage of their investment portfolio to impact investments. Cambridge Associates, one of the leading investment advisory firms in the world, has been engaged to assist... View Details

Keywords: Impact Investing; Mission-Related Investing; Foundations; Investment; Venture Capital; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Strategy; Investment Funds; Decision Making; Consulting Industry; Financial Services Industry; Denmark; Europe

November 1998 (Revised July 1999)
Case

Merrill Lynch's Acquisition of Mercury Asset Management

By: Andre F. Perold, Imran Ahmed and Randolph B Altschuler

In the Spring of 1998, Merrill Lynch faced an array of challenges and opportunities related to its global asset management business. The firm had recently completed its $5.3 billion cash acquisition of U.K.-based Mercury Asset Management, a transaction that made it one... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Asset Management; Currency; Financial Strategy; Global Strategy; Brands and Branding; Distribution; Production; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Retirement; Japan; Europe; United Kingdom

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January 2008 (Revised February 2008)
Case

Restructuring at Nova Chemical Corporation

Management of a diversified chemicals company faces two financial decisions: whether to finance a major investment in new production facilities for its rapidly expanding Environmental Products Division, and whether to sell a more slowly growing non-specialty chemicals... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Decision Choices and Conditions; Chemicals; Environmental Sustainability; Corporate Finance; Chemical Industry

February 2006 (Revised April 2006)
Case

Grove International Partners

By: Robert F. Higgins, Carin-Isabel Knoop and Suzanne Petrela

Grove International Partners, one of the world's largest international real estate private equity funds, is actively seeking new investment opportunities in the seniors housing industry. The firm has identified two potential opportunities--one located in Japan and one... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Private Equity; Investment; Opportunities; Financial Services Industry; Health Industry; Japan; United Kingdom

January 2006 (Revised February 2006)
Case

E.ON Corporate Strategy

By: Forest L. Reinhardt and Sebastian Frankenberger

Examines the corporate strategy of German energy giant E.ON. The firm is vertically integrated, horizontally diversified across electricity and natural gas, and active in numerous countries in Europe as well as in the United States. Explores the costs and benefits of... View Details

Keywords: Diversification; Vertical Integration; Corporate Strategy; Globalization; Energy Sources; Economics; Energy Industry; Germany; United States; Europe

February 2002
Article

Market Timing and Capital Structure

By: Malcolm Baker and Jeffrey Wurgler

It is well known that firms tend to raise equity when their market values are high relative to book and past market values. We document that the resulting effects on capital structure are very persistent. As a consequence, current capital structure is strongly related... View Details

Keywords: Valuation; Equity; Capital Structure; Theory; Market Timing; Financial Markets