Publications

October 2019
Supplement

Impax Laboratories: Executing Accretive Transactions (A)

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Daniel Fisher

Impax Laboratories was a technology-based pharmaceutical company that used a “dual platform” strategy to sell both generic and branded treatments. While Impax had grown organically for most of its history, it was beginning to use major acquisitions for growth. In the... View Details

Keywords: Financial Reporting; Financial Statements; Mergers and Acquisitions; Capital Structure; Financial Strategy; Competition; Competitive Advantage; Corporate Strategy; Pharmaceutical Industry; United States

August 2017 (Revised November 2019)
Case

Capitol Digital

By: Richard Ruback and Royce Yudkoff

The case describes the acquisition of Capitol Digital, which specialized in litigation support and digital forensics, including due diligence findings and first year operational plans. View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Planning

November 2011 (Revised December 2012)
Case

Rent the Runway

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Laura Winig

Two months after a successful launch in November 2009, the cofounders of Rent the Runway (RTR), a website that rented designer dresses, are debating whether to grow their startup at a measured pace and focus on improving operational effectiveness, or raise a new round... View Details

Keywords: Lean Startup; Electronic Commerce; Fashion; Expansion; Business Startups; Growth and Development Strategy; E-commerce; Fashion Industry

April 1989 (Revised October 2005)
Case

James Burke: A Career in American Business (A)

By: Richard S. Tedlow and Wendy Smith

Presents an historical overview of the professional career of James E. Burke, chairman and CEO of Johnson & Johnson. Examines the corporation's handling of three major occurrences--the Tylenol poisonings in 1982 and 1986 and the acquisition and subsequent sale of... View Details

Keywords: Business History; Marketing Strategy; Ethics; Personal Development and Career; Crisis Management; Consumer Products Industry; Health Industry; United States

June 2016
Teaching Note

$19B 4 txt app WhatsApp...omg!

By: David J. Collis

Teaching note for HBS No. 715-441 on Facebook's $22 billion acquisition of WhatsApp. View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Finance; Management; Strategy; Communications Industry; Computer Industry; Information Industry; Information Technology Industry; Web Services Industry; Telecommunications Industry

March 2005 (Revised January 2009)
Case

Wabash Music, Inc.

By: Timothy A. Luehrman

Wabash Music, Inc. is contemplating an acquisition outside its core music business as a way of diversifying and developing cash for unexpected commercial success. View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Music Entertainment; Cash; Diversification

Find at Harvard

November 2008 (Revised November 2024)
Case

Tottenham Hotspur plc

By: Lauren H. Cohen, Joshua D. Coval and Christopher J. Malloy

Tottenham Hotspur Football Club is a publicly-owned professional soccer team based in London, England. The club's chairman, Daniel Levy, is contemplating a significant investment in physical assets, including the development of a new stadium as well as the acquisition... View Details

Keywords: Valuation; Capital Budgeting; Decision Making; Competency and Skills; Cash Flow; Investment; Buildings and Facilities; Sports; Investment Portfolio; Financial Strategy; Sports Industry; London

05 Jul 2010
News

Tech customers question industry's takeover spree

October 2007 (Revised February 2008)
Background Note

Evaluating M&A Deals: Accretion vs. Dilution of Earnings-per-share

By: Carliss Y. Baldwin

When discussing the pros and cons of an acquisition, practitioners often talk about the impact of the deal on the buyer's earnings-per-share (eps). An acquisition is said to be "accretive" if the buyer's eps goes up post-deal; it is "dilutive" if the buyer's eps goes... View Details

Keywords: Business Earnings; Mergers and Acquisitions; Private Equity; Negotiation Deal

December 2012 (Revised January 2015)
Technical Note

Early Career LBOs Using the Search Fund Model

By: Howard Stevenson, Michael Roberts and Jim Sharpe

The funded search model is one alternative for individuals who, at some point in their career, want to run their own companies. This note looks at the funded search, as a means to entrepreneurship through acquisition and describes the path to buy and run a business... View Details

Keywords: Search Funds; Search; Entrepreneurial Finance; Investor Behavior; Career Planning; Entrepreneurial Management; Fundraising; Negotiation; Entrepreneurship; Capital Structure; Borrowing and Debt; Personal Development and Career; Private Ownership; Acquisition; Finance; Leveraged Buyouts

June 1995
Case

Strategic Countermoves: Coca-Cola vs. Pepsi

Describes strategic acquisitions by Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola in the late 1980s. The context allows students to evaluate the implications of the mergers for the competitiveness of the industry. View Details

Keywords: Competition; Mergers and Acquisitions; Manufacturing Industry; Food and Beverage Industry

May 1993 (Revised June 1993)
Case

Friendly Cards, Inc.

By: William E. Fruhan Jr.

Involves analysis of a major capital investment proposal, an acquisition of another company, an estimate of the funds required for these two possible outlays, and a recommended course of management action. View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Capital; Capital Budgeting; Investment

March 1991 (Revised December 1994)
Case

Marks and Spencer Ltd. (B)

By: Cynthia A. Montgomery

Describes the firm's 1988 expansion into the United States through the acquisition of Brooks Brothers, a specialty up-market men's clothing chain and Kings Super Markets, a high quality New Jersey grocer. View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development Strategy; Expansion; Business Strategy; Mergers and Acquisitions; Globalization; Retail Industry; United States

May 2010 (Revised July 2010)
Case

Bank of America Acquires Merrill Lynch (A)

By: Robert C. Pozen and Charles E. Beresford

On December 22, 2008, Bank of America (BofA) chairman and CEO Ken Lewis convened a special board of directors meeting to review his company's pending acquisition of investment bank Merrill Lynch. Negotiations for the acquisition had begun a few months earlier, during... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Decision Choices and Conditions; Financial Crisis; Corporate Governance; Government Legislation; Crisis Management; Business and Government Relations; Banking Industry

May 2008 (Revised June 2009)
Case

House of Tata: Acquiring a Global Footprint

By: Tarun Khanna, Krishna G. Palepu and Richard Bullock

Chronicles the globalization of the Tata Group, one of India's largest business groups. Since 2000, many Tata Group operating companies have aggressively built international businesses, particularly through overseas acquisitions. After describing the globalization... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Developing Countries and Economies; Globalized Firms and Management; Growth and Development Strategy; India; United States

January 1991 (Revised April 1995)
Case

Cooper Industries' Corporate Strategy (A)

By: David J. Collis

Describes the development of a successful corporate strategy based on the acquisition and subsequent consolidation of low-technology manufacturing companies. Starting with a company history and discussion of current business segments, the case goes on to detail the... View Details

Keywords: Value Creation; Corporate Strategy; Acquisition; Manufacturing Industry

February 2023 (Revised March 2023)
Case

Twitter Turnaround and Elon Musk

By: Andy Wu and Goran Calic

Late afternoon on Friday, October 27th, 2022, Elon Musk was the center of attention at Twitter’s San Francisco headquarters. The night before, Musk officially took the company private and became Twitter’s majority shareholder, finally ending a months-long acquisition... View Details

Keywords: Elon Musk; Twitter; Acquisition; Revenue; Advertising; Social Media; Business or Company Management; Public Opinion; Job Cuts and Outsourcing