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- February 2024
- Case
Shore Capital Partners: The Next Ten Years
By: Boris Groysberg and Kerry Herman
Private equity firm Shore Capital Partners is at an inflection point, after 12 years of phenomenal growth and success. Now, as the partners consider options, should Shore remain micro-cap focused, or move into more mid-cap investments? Should Shore hold investments... View Details
- February 2024
- Article
Come Together: Firm Boundaries and Delegation
By: Laura Alfaro, Nick Bloom, Paola Conconi, Harald Fadinger, Patrick Legros, Andrew F. Newman, Raffaella Sadun and John Van Reenen
We develop an incomplete-contracts model to jointly study firm boundaries and the allocation of decision rights within them. Integration has an option value: it gives firm owners authority to delegate or centralize decision rights, depending on who can best solve... View Details
- January 2024 (Revised June 2024)
- Case
School of Rock: Tuning into Structured Empowerment (A)
By: Tatiana Sandino, Jeffrey Rayport, Samuel Grad and Stacy Straaberg
In summer 2021, School of Rock was a youth-oriented music education company with 291 franchise- and company-owned schools globally. Before CEO Rob Price’s hire in 2017, School of Rock’s nonconformist rock ‘n’ roll culture led to variability in teaching styles,... View Details
Keywords: Business Growth and Maturation; Business Plan; Change Management; Transformation; Communication Strategy; Decisions; Curriculum and Courses; Teaching; Employee Relationship Management; Knowledge Sharing; Leadership Style; Business or Company Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Management Style; Marketing Strategy; Mission and Purpose; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Organizational Structure; Franchise Ownership; Performance Expectations; Performance Improvement; Strategic Planning; Attitudes; Conflict Management; Corporate Strategy; Applications and Software; Technology Adoption; Education Industry; Music Industry; Massachusetts; United States
- January 2025
- Teaching Note
Vytal: Packaging-as-a-Service
By: George Serafeim, Michael W. Toffel and Stacy Straaberg
Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 124-007. The Germany-based startup Vytal operated the largest digital-native reusable packaging-as-a-service network globally, having raised nearly €15 million, established a large network of restaurant partners, and prevented the use of... View Details
Keywords: Environmental Sustainability; Innovation and Invention; Business Growth and Maturation; Growth and Development Strategy; Business Startups; Resource Allocation; Risk Management; Adoption; Strategy; Performance Productivity; Service Delivery; Service Operations; Supply Chain; Distribution; Entrepreneurship; Climate Change; Green Technology Industry; Service Industry; Retail Industry; Germany; Europe
- November 2023 (Revised April 2024)
- Case
BiomX: Bringing Phage Back to the Stage
By: Paul A. Gompers, Elie Ofek, Orna Dan and Emilie Billaud
In the spring of 2023, and following the favorable results of a trial involving its phage cocktail for treating lung infections among cystic fibrosis (CF) patients, the leadership of BiomX had several critical issues to wrestle with. First, given its precarious... View Details
- November 2023 (Revised July 2024)
- Case
Aviva plc: Examining Net Zero
The board of Aviva Plc, one of the world’s largest insurers, must review its climate risk exposures and evaluate next steps. Risk experts at the firm have conducted a robust set of analyses prepared for its regulator, the Bank of England, simulating how various climate... View Details
- October 2023
- Article
Finding New Business and Developing Relevant Sales Capabilities
There are few alternatives to growth for most companies. It’s the rare firm whose goal involves getting smaller and, for employees, there is a strong correlation between their company’s growth rate, promotion opportunities, and job satisfaction. But a growth strategy... View Details
- September 2023
- Case
FoodCloud: Tackling Food Insecurity and Climate Change in One Bite
By: Brian Trelstad and Emer Moloney
In 2013, Aoibheann O’Brien and Iseult Ward founded FoodCloud, a non-profit social enterprise that aimed to address food waste and food insecurity issues. Through its technology platform, Foodiverse, FoodCloud connected surplus food from retailers with community groups... View Details
- September 2023 (Revised April 2024)
- Case
Atomwise: Strategic Opportunities in AI for Pharma
By: Satish Tadikonda
Abraham Heifets and his co-founder, Izhar Wallach, had founded Atomwise to develop i) an AI engine to transform drug discovery by creating better medicines faster, and ii) a machine learning-based discovery engine that combined the power of convolutional neural... View Details
- September 2023 (Revised March 2024)
- Case
ReMo Energy: Sizing Up Investors
By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang and Tom Quinn
In 2023, executives with ReMo Energy (founded 2020) were deciding which size ammonia plant to build as their first project. Their innovative model produced ammonia—useful for making fertilizer and for energy storage—from renewable energy, and they had received funding... View Details
Keywords: Factories, Labs, and Plants; Business Startups; Cost vs Benefits; Design; Energy Conservation; Energy Generation; Renewable Energy; Venture Capital; Investment Return; Goods and Commodities; Size; Infrastructure; Risk and Uncertainty; Science-Based Business; Commercialization; Technological Innovation; Chemical Industry; Energy Industry; Green Technology Industry; United States; Boston
- August 2023
- Case
Constellation Pharmaceuticals: Corporate Development at a Novel Therapeutic Company
By: Satish Tadikonda and Brad Prosek
Constellation Pharmaceuticals was a company focused on epigenetic therapies for cancer patients. Despite a promising start and an early deal with a leading biopharma company, the company weathered twin setbacks in the end of a major research collaboration and the... View Details
- August 2023
- Article
Financing the Litigation Arms Race
By: Samuel Antill and Steven R. Grenadier
Using a dynamic real-option model of litigation, we show that the increasingly popular practice of third-party litigation financing has ambiguous implications for total ex-post litigant surplus. A defendant and a plaintiff bargain over a settlement payment. The... View Details
- 2023
- Working Paper
Beyond the Hype: Unveiling the Marginal Benefits of 3D Virtual Tours in Real Estate
By: Mengxia Zhang and Isamar Troncoso
3D virtual tours (VTs) have become a popular digital tool in real estate platforms, enabling potential buyers to virtually walk through the houses they search for online. In this paper, we study home sellers’ adoption of VTs and the VTs’ relative benefits compared to... View Details
- July 2023 (Revised May 2024)
- Case
Vytal: Packaging-as-a-Service
By: George Serafeim, Michael W. Toffel, Lena Duchene and Daniela Beyersdorfer
The Germany-based startup Vytal operated the largest digital-native reusable packaging-as-a-service network globally, having raised nearly €15 million, established a large network of restaurant partners, and prevented the use of millions of single-use take-out food... View Details
Keywords: Climate Risk; Digital; Platform Strategies; Data; Packaging; Sustainability; Start-up; Startup; Entrepreneur; Impact; Circular; Growth Strategy; Innovation; Environmental Sustainability; Innovation and Invention; Business Growth and Maturation; Growth and Development Strategy; Business Startups; Resource Allocation; Risk Management; Adoption; Strategy; Performance Productivity; Service Delivery; Service Operations; Supply Chain; Distribution; Entrepreneurship; Climate Change; Green Technology Industry; Service Industry; Retail Industry; Germany; Europe
- July 2023 (Revised November 2023)
- Supplement
Equity Restructuring at Dell Technologies: Buy Out, Buy Up, Buy In (B)
By: Stuart C. Gilson and Sarah L. Abbott
Following Dell’s return to the public market in 2018, the company’s stock underperformed. In June 2020, the Wall Street Journal reported that Dell was exploring various options with respect to its majority stake in the virtualization software company VMware. View Details
- May 2023 (Revised November 2023)
- Case
Arcos Dorados: Decarbonizing McDonald’s in Latin America
By: George Serafeim, Michael W. Toffel, Jenyfeer Martinez Buitrago and Mariana Cal
This case describes the decarbonization strategy of Arcos Dorados—McDonald’s largest independent franchisee, operating in 20 countries and territories in Latin America and the Caribbean—and how the company measured its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, including those... View Details
Keywords: Environmental Accounting; Animal-Based Agribusiness; Plant-Based Agribusiness; Change Management; Forecasting and Prediction; Environmental Sustainability; Food; Growth Management; Supply Chain; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Strategy; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Green Technology Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Latin America; North and Central America; South America
- April 2023
- Case
Elliott Management: Capital Allocation in Biopharma
By: Amitabh Chandra, Paul Clancy and Lauren Gunasti
The case explores the intersection of capital allocation and shareholder activism in the biopharmaceutical industry. As many biopharma companies face looming patent expirations for key medicines, the case asks the question of whether investing in R&D and M&A is an... View Details
- March 2023 (Revised September 2023)
- Case
Patagonia: 'Earth Is Now Our Only Shareholder'
By: Brian Trelstad, Nien-hê Hsieh, Michael Norris and Susan Pinckney
In September 2022, Yvon Chouinard, the iconoclastic founder of outdoor apparel company Patagonia, announced a new ownership model for his company. Chouinard and his family had held complete control of the company's voting and non-voting stock since its founding 50... View Details
Keywords: Trusts; Business Ventures; Business Organization; Family Business; Restructuring; Change; Disruption; Transition; Decision Making; Ethics; Values and Beliefs; Finance; Financial Management; Governance; Corporate Governance; Investment Activism; Leadership; Labor; Law; Common Law; Management; Goals and Objectives; Organizations; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Mission and Purpose; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Ownership; Ownership Type; Family Ownership; Private Ownership; Social Enterprise; Nonprofit Organizations; Society; Social Issues; Wealth and Poverty; Value; Value Creation; Apparel and Accessories Industry; United States
- February 2023
- Teaching Note
Bangladesh: Into the Maelstrom
In the fall of 2018, Rohima Begum considered her options as the small island, or “char,” on which her family’s house rested slowly but inescapably eroded into the mighty Brahmaputra River in northern Bangladesh. Should she move to another island or into the city on the... View Details
- February 2023
- Case
Seemore Meats & Veggies
By: Lou Shipley, Patricia Favreau and Mel Martin
Cara Nicoletti was an emerging food entrepreneur that had recently launched her first product, a sustainably sourced, vegetable-infused meat sausage. Brooklyn, New York City-based Seemore Meats & Veggies had seen promising signs of success in local markets and pockets... View Details