Publications

14 Sep 2023
Blog Post

MBAs Accelerate Their Social Enterprise Ventures

solar-powered irrigation for Indian farmers. While solar irrigation can reduce agricultural production costs by up to 25% and eliminate 132M tons of CO2 emissions annually, upfront costs remain a barrier. Solara aims to make ownership... View Details

02 Oct 2017
What Do You Think?

Do Bitcoin and Digital Currency Have a Future?

ever about innovative financial endeavors. So that brings me to the subject of digital money or “cryptocurrency,” a form of encrypted digital money. How should we think about the future of a currency that is manufactured (“mined”) and priced in the View Details

Keywords: by James L. Heskett; Financial Services

21 Feb 2005
Op-Ed

Is Business Management a Profession?

began to move into the position of dominance that it enjoys in the MBA curriculum today. Building on the foundational work of Adolf Berle and Gardiner Means on the separation of ownership and control in the large corporation, and of... View Details

Keywords: by Rakesh Khurana, Nitin Nohria & Daniel Penrice

November 2006 (Revised October 2017)
Case

China: 'To Get Rich Is Glorious'

By: Richard Vietor and Julia Galef

In 1978, Deng Xiaoping assumed the leadership of an impoverished China, after Mao Zedong's disastrous Cultural Revolution. During the next 17 years, Deng applied pragmatic policies to liberalize the Chinese economy gradually while maintaining the power of the Communist... View Details

Keywords: History; Leadership; Privatization; Policy; Macroeconomics; Economic Systems; Development Economics; Government and Politics; Business Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; China

Web

2022 Reunion Presentations - Alumni

2006) + More Info – Less Info Can one be a fiduciary and invest sustainably? Are these roles at odds with one another other? What does it mean to be an ESG investor? In this session, we will use a case study on JP Morgan Private Bank to... View Details

20 Mar 2000
Research & Ideas

Incubators: The New Venture Capitalists?

staffing, services, physical space, strategic guidance and more — are popping up in the private sector almost as fast as the dot.com companies they hope to hatch. They're pulling in veteran entrepreneurs and established Internet players... View Details

Keywords: by Kenneth Liss

January 2022
Case

SpartanNash Company: The Amazon Warrants (A)

By: Benjamin C. Esty, E. Scott Mayfield and Daniel Fisher

As of 12/31/21, Amazon held $22 billion of equity and warrants in related companies. In fact, it often requests a free grant of warrants when it enters into a new commercial agreement with a supplier. Over the past 20 years, Amazon has gotten warrants in almost 20... View Details

Keywords: Valuation; Value Creation; Consumer Behavior; Negotiation; Distribution; Ownership; Partners and Partnerships; Business Strategy; Equity; Distribution Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; United States

January 2024 (Revised May 2024)
Case

Uncle Nearest: Creating a Legacy

By: Hise Gibson, Archie L. Jones, Nicole Gilmore and Ai-Ling Jamila Malone

Fawn Weaver, as a Black woman and industry outsider in a capital-intensive, highly regulated, competitive and male-dominated spirits industry, successfully overcame numerous obstacles to launch a premium American whiskey brand, Uncle Nearest in 2017, which became the... View Details

July 2022 (Revised September 2022)
Case

Birla Carbon Egypt: Building Soft Power in a Foreign Country

By: Jeremy Friedman and Malini Sen

Birla Carbon, a flagship business of the nearly $60-billion global conglomerate and India-headquartered Aditya Birla Group (ABG), is one of the world's top manufacturers and suppliers of high-quality carbon black. The largest among its 16 manufacturing plants is Birla... View Details

01 Sep 2023
News

End Game

the list. They could sell the company and donate all the money, for example, but then there would be no way to guarantee a new owner would maintain its core values. They could sell a minority stake to a like-minded private equity firm but... View Details

Keywords: Jen McFarland Flint; Miscellaneous Store Retailers; Retail Trade

22 Feb 2022
News

Breaking News

agnostic about nonprofit versus for-profit because, ultimately, community ownership and governance have different dynamics, and this is possible in all different flavors. Within this public benefit corporation version, there are shares... View Details

Keywords: Jen McFarland Flint; illustration by Dana Smith; News, Library, Internet, and Other Services; Information

18 Sep 2019
Op-Ed

WeWork—The IPO That Shouldn’t?

more recently floated, as low as potentially $15 billion. This would constitute a “down round,” and typically prior venture investors receive extra shares to protect their ownership percentage in a down round. There is only a cryptic... View Details

Keywords: by Nori Gerardo Lietz; Financial Services; Real Estate

12 Oct 1999
Research & Ideas

Porter’s Perspective: Competing in the Global Economy

modern competition; how they arise and decline; how they affect productivity, new business formation, and economic growth; and the roles both the private and the public sectors can have in developing them. Q: So, even in an age of... View Details

Keywords: Re: Michael E. Porter

July 2005 (Revised September 2016)
Case

24 Hour Fitness (A): The Rise, 1983–2004

By: John R. Wells, Elizabeth A. Raabe and Gabriel Ellsworth

In October 2004, Mark S. Mastrov, CEO of 24 Hour Fitness, reflected on how far his company had come in just over 20 years. From humble beginnings in 1983 in San Leandro, California, 24 Hour Fitness had grown to become the largest privately-owned health-club chain in... View Details

Keywords: 24 Hour Fitness; Mark Mastrov; Health Clubs; Fitness; Gyms; Chain; Weight Loss; Exercise; Personal Training; Retention; Sales Force Compensation; Incentive Systems; Buildings and Facilities; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Model; For-Profit Firms; Customers; Customer Focus and Relationships; Customer Satisfaction; Private Equity; Revenue; Geographic Scope; Multinational Firms and Management; Nutrition; Business History; Employees; Recruitment; Selection and Staffing; Human Capital; Business or Company Management; Goals and Objectives; Growth and Development Strategy; Marketing; Operations; Service Operations; Private Ownership; Problems and Challenges; Sales; Salesforce Management; Sports; Strategy; Business Strategy; Competition; Competitive Advantage; Competitive Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Expansion; Segmentation; Information Technology; Internet; Technology Platform; Web; Web Sites; Capital Structure; Performance; Organizational Structure; Organizational Culture; Health Industry; United States; California; San Francisco

September 2021 (Revised October 2021)
Case

Dream: Impact Through Real Estate

By: Michael Chu and John Masko

The Canadian city of Toronto had one of the largest housing affordability problems of any city in the developed world. One company trying to address this problem was Dream, one of the largest real estate groups in Canada. In 2021, Dream had just launched a new system... View Details

November 2005 (Revised December 2016)
Case

Bally Total Fitness (A): The Rise, 1962–2004

By: John R. Wells, Elizabeth A. Raabe and Gabriel Ellsworth

From a single, modest club in 1962, Bally Total Fitness had grown to become—in management’s words—the “largest and only nationwide commercial operator of fitness centers” in the United States in 2004. Bally had faced its share of challenges, but the last couple of... View Details

Keywords: Bally Total Fitness; Fitness; Gyms; Health Clubs; Chain; Securities And Exchange Commission; Paul Toback; Weight Loss; Exercise; Contracts; Personal Training; Retention; Accounting; Accounting Audits; Accrual Accounting; Finance; Advertising; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Model; For-Profit Firms; Customers; Customer Satisfaction; Public Equity; Financing and Loans; Revenue; Revenue Recognition; Geographic Scope; Multinational Firms and Management; Health; Nutrition; Business History; Lawsuits and Litigation; Management; Business or Company Management; Goals and Objectives; Growth and Development Strategy; Marketing; Operations; Service Delivery; Service Operations; Public Ownership; Problems and Challenges; Business and Shareholder Relations; Business Strategy; Competition; Corporate Strategy; Expansion; Segmentation; Trends; Cost Management; Profit; Growth and Development; Leadership Style; Five Forces Framework; Private Ownership; Opportunities; Motivation and Incentives; Competitive Strategy; Health Industry; United States; Illinois; Chicago