Publications

December 2005 (Revised August 2007)
Case

NewSchools Venture Fund in 2004: At a Crossroads

By: Stacey M. Childress and Caroline Joan King

Founded as one of the first venture philanthropy organizations in the United States in 1998, NewSchools Venture Fund brought new investors and new ideas to public education reform. By 2004, the organization and its founder were reassessing their model and their role in... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Education; Social Entrepreneurship; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Growth and Development Strategy; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; United States

Find at Harvard

September 2003 (Revised May 2006)
Case

Eyeblaster: Enabling the Next Generation of Online Advertising

By: Elie Ofek

Eyeblaster management has to decide on the best course of action to sustain its momentum from enabling online rich media advertising. Pressure from competitors is forcing the company to re-evaluate its previous marketing strategy that focused primarily on getting... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Marketing Strategy; Market Entry and Exit; Performance Evaluation; Digital Marketing; Growth and Development Strategy

December 2002 (Revised June 2003)
Case

Vignette: The Rebar Dilemma

By: G. Felda Hardymon, Josh Lerner and Ann Leamon

Martin Smith, a new associate at an LBO firm, must respond to a problem posed by his boss, based on an historical deal that suddenly came undone. After months of negotiation, his firm's plan to buy a bankrupt competitor of one of its portfolio companies and close it... View Details

Keywords: Leveraged Buyouts; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Competition; Growth and Development Strategy; Business or Company Management

07 May 2019
News

How Sonja Hoel Perkins Saved John McAfee from an Especially Bad Deal

attending Harvard Business School, Hoel Perkins landed a job on the ground floor of the venture capital firm TA Associates in Boston. There she impressed management with her computer skills—all self-taught—and her knack for finding... View Details

Alvin G. Brush

In 1935, American Home Products purchased Brush’s company, Affiliated Products, Incorporated and installed Brush as AHP’s new CEO. Over the next thirty years, Brush presided over a massive growth and diversification plan, purchasing... View Details

Keywords: Healthcare

28 Feb 2024
Blog Post

African American Student Union Spotlight on Entrepreneurship

embarked on an entrepreneurial journey. Anthony Martore (MBA 2025) Where is your hometown? I was born in San Francisco, California and raised just south of Oakland in Hayward, California. What was your pre-MBA industry and role? Before attending View Details

17 Feb 2011
News

Field Report: Rwanda

Karisimbi Partners, a three-person private consulting group that works with small- to mid-sized enterprises. “The idea behind Karisimbi’s model is that sustained economic growth in Rwanda requires private enterprise, reform, and direct... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services; Religious, Grantmaking, Civic, Professional, and Similar Organizations; Personal Services

14 Oct 2010
News

Jobs Bill Misses Mark

Sometimes good politics and good policy just don’t mix. Take the Small Business Jobs Act that President Obama recently signed, for example. A bill that purports to create jobs is good politics just before a midterm election. But HBS... View Details

Keywords: Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services; Administration of Economic Programs; Government

Profile

John Smith-Ricco

In college, John Smith-Ricco did not have business ambitions; instead, he intended to pursue advanced degrees in history aimed at a career as an academic. But a research fellowship in South Africa changed his perspective. "I was... View Details

March 2021 (Revised February 2025)
Teaching Note

Afterpay U.S.: The Omnichannel Dilemma

By: Antonio Moreno and Anibha Singh

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 519-086. In 2018, Nick Molnar, the founder of the Australia-based online payment service Afterpay began its expansion to the U.S. market. The service had gained a loyal following in Australia by enabling customers to pay for online... View Details

August 1988 (Revised July 1996)
Case

Colt Industries

Colt Industries is a conglomerate that is considering undertaking a leveraged recapitalization. The deal would involve a large one-time dividend to stockholders, which would be financed by over $1 billion in new debt. Unlike in an leveraged buyout, however, public... View Details

Keywords: Business Conglomerates; Equity; Economic Growth; Ownership Stake; Stocks; Borrowing and Debt; Employee Stock Ownership Plan; Financial Strategy

18 Apr 2005
Research & Ideas

Selling Luxury to Everyone

Business Administration at HBS, called luxury goods "a changing space, a space with extraordinary zip and excitement…Things are kicking along vigorously." "Simultaneous with that, there's all kinds of change,"... View Details

Keywords: by Julie Jette; Consumer Products

March 2024 (Revised September 2024)
Case

Supercell 2.0: Clash of Plans

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport and George Gonzalez

Founded in 2010, Supercell was a Helsinki, Finland-based mobile gaming company that had developed and launched five global hit mobile games: Clash of Clans, Clash Royale, Hay Day, Brawl Stars, and Boom Beach. The company’s early philosophy was that it could produce... View Details

Keywords: Business Growth and Maturation; Restructuring; Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Organizational Structure; Corporate Strategy; Video Game Industry; Finland

November 2008
Case

Malaysia Airlines (A)

In the first six weeks on the job, the new CEO of Malaysia Airlines (MAS) has developed an ambitious turnaround plan, including aggressive job cuts and route eliminations, but MAS's largest shareholder, Khazanah Nacional, the sovereign wealth fund, is tasked with... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Economic Growth; Investment Funds; Sovereign Finance; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Business and Government Relations; Business and Shareholder Relations; Air Transportation Industry; Malaysia