Publications

October 2016
Case

Triangulate: Stay, Pivot or Exit?

By: Thomas Eisenmann, Shikhar Ghosh and Christopher Payton

Sunil Nagaraj, Triangulate's founder had spent a few years trying to launch a dating application that matched users based on their behavior on social media. Based on input from advisors, the company changed its focus from a B2B site to a B2C dating site with a unique... View Details

Keywords: Early Stage; Pivot; Two Sided Markets; Business Model; Business Exit or Shutdown; Product Launch; Venture Capital; Failure; Internet and the Web; Entrepreneurship; Information Technology; Social and Collaborative Networks; United States; North America

14 Oct 2013
Research & Ideas

Time that Government Reopens for Business

London or the Quai D'Orsay in Paris (the French Foreign Ministry) or the Central Party School in Beijing, where all the top Chinese bureaucrats go, you're probably beginning to change your views not just... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Aisner

January 2018
Case

Ak Gıda: IPO or Strategic Sale

By: Suraj Srinivasan and Eren Kuzucu

In 2015, Yıldiz Holding, one of the world’s largest producer of confections, biscuits and crackers, was at the end of its divestiture process from Ak Gida, one of the leading dairy companies in Turkey. The company had adopted a dual track process, pursuing an initial... View Details

Keywords: Valuation; Private Sector; For-Profit Firms; Business Model; Business Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Growth and Development Strategy; Value Creation; Decision Making; Growth Management; Mergers and Acquisitions; Initial Public Offering; Business Conglomerates; Business Exit or Shutdown; Family Business; Joint Ventures; Food and Beverage Industry; Turkey

February 2016 (Revised May 2016)
Case

Dinr: My First Start-up (A)

By: Shikhar Ghosh and Kristina Maslauskaite

In May 2012, a young employee at Google's London office, Markus Berger, was thinking whether he should quit his job and go after his dream of becoming an entrepreneur. Berger's idea was to create Dinr, a company that would offer an upscale food ingredient delivery... View Details

Keywords: Exit Strategy; Startup; Start-up; Business Exit or Shutdown; Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Food

06 Apr 2016
Research & Ideas

Should Entrepreneurs Pitch Products or Ideas for Products?

is enough interest to go further? Which is the better strategy for young innovators? What are the pros and cons of each? Can the risks be measured and mitigated? “The pitch or spec dilemma touches any independent inventor looking to sell... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Motion Pictures & Video; Entertainment & Recreation; Banking

October 2022 (Revised January 2023)
Case

Century Bank: Closing Time?

By: Lauren Cohen, Grace Headinger and Bill Kwon

Barry Sloane, second-generation Chairman, President, and CEO of his family’s bank, Century Bank, weighed whether to sell to Eastern Bank. As a small regional bank, Century faced a number of challenging trends, such as digitization and market share decline in the coming... View Details

02 Jul 2001
What Do You Think?

Built to Last or Bought to Sell?

like private equity fund managers, especially in terms of forming exit strategies at the time of business development; base decisions on an assumption of increasing competitive discontinuity and... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

January 2009
Case

Supersonic Business Jets

By: Dennis A. Yao and Julia Rozovsky

In the fall of 2002, Brian Barents, ex-CEO of Galaxy Aerospace, faced an important decision: whether or not to enter the supersonic business jet (SSBJ) industry. Supersonic flight-flight faster than the speed of sound-had long tantalized leaders of commercial aerospace... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Entrepreneurship; Governance Compliance; Market Entry and Exit; Business Strategy; Cooperation; Aerospace Industry

September 2019 (Revised May 2020)
Supplement

Keroche (D): Transforming the Core Business

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Pippa Tubman Armerding

This case describes Keroche co-founder Tabitha Karanja’s decision to exit the wine business following the Kenyan government’s 2007 increase in excise taxes on wine. In August 2007, Keroche introduced the vodka drink Viena Ice as a replacement for its fortified wines,... View Details

27 Apr 2021
Research & Ideas

IPO or M&A? How Venture Capital Shapes a Startup's Future

company to a larger one. In contrast, startups funded by a VC syndicate with less familiar co-investors are most likely to exit through a potentially splashy IPO that could let founders retain more control, says Harvard View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

2025
Working Paper

Bringing Science to Market: Knowledge Foundations, Inventor-Founders, and Performance

By: Justine Boudou and Maria Roche

In this paper, we examine how a startup’s knowledge foundations—embedded in its core technology—influence its performance in the exit market. Using a dataset of 1,006 biomedicine startups founded between 2005 and 2015, we focus on two key factors: (1) the degree of... View Details

Keywords: Firm Performance; Knowledge Foundations; Exits; Academic Startups; Inventor-founder; Specialized Scientific Knowledge; Competitive Advantage; Value Creation; Research; Information Publishing; Business Startups; Entrepreneurship

Read Now

2024
Book

Deals: The Economic Structure of Business Transactions

By: Guhan Subramanian and Michael Klausner

Drawing on real-life cases from a wide range of industries, two acclaimed experts offer a sophisticated but accessible guide to business deals, designed to maximize value for your side.

Business transactions take widely varying forms—from multibillion-dollar... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation; Contracts

Find at Harvard

21 Feb 2018
Research & Ideas

When a Competitor Abandons the Market, Should You Advance or Retreat?

opportunity to redouble their efforts and grab more market share, or take it as a warning that it might be time to get out while the getting was good? A new research study suggests that more companies than expected see a half-empty glass... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Pharmaceutical; Health

2011
Working Paper

Business Model Innovation and Competitive Imitation: The Case of Sponsor-Based Business Models

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Feng Zhu

We study sponsor-based business model innovations where a firm monetizes its product through sponsors rather than setting prices to its customer base. We analyze strategic interactions between an innovative entrant and an incumbent where the incumbent may imitate the... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Innovation and Invention; Market Entry and Exit; Competitive Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Value

Read Now

Business transactions take widely varying forms―from multibillion-dollar corporate mergers to patent licenses to the signing of an all-star quarterback. Yet every deal shares the same goal, or at least should: to maximize the joint value created and to distribute... View Details

06 Jun 2018
Research & Ideas

Cut Salaries or Cut People? The Best Way to Survive a Downturn

agents at adjacent firms, competitive outside options abounded,” the study notes. The exit begins Once pay reductions were announced, “highly productive” workers, or those who took in 20 to 25 percent more... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

July 2003 (Revised February 2004)
Background Note

M&A Legal Context: Standards Related to the Sale or Purchase of a Company

By: Carliss Y. Baldwin, Constance E. Bagley and James Quinn

Introduces students to the legal standards affecting officers and directors when selling or purchasing a company. Provides a practical understanding of the Revlon Standard, the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, Rule 10b-5, and the legal criteria for a cause of... View Details

Keywords: Laws and Statutes; Law Enforcement; Government Legislation; Acquisition; Business Exit or Shutdown; Corporate Governance; Going Public; Courts and Trials