Publications

March 2005 (Revised March 2007)
Supplement

Pacific Salmon Company, Inc. (CW)

By: Nabil N. El-Hage and Kenneth A. Froot

RRR, a $1 billion private equity fund, is trying to decide how much to bid for Pacific Salmon Inc. and how to finance the acquisition. View Details

Keywords: Food; Bids; Private Equity; Financing and Loans; Bids and Bidding; Acquisition; Food and Beverage Industry

December 2004 (Revised May 2006)
Case

Pacific Salmon Company, Inc.

By: Nabil N. El-Hage, Kenneth A. Froot and Christopher Edward James Payton

RRR, a $1 billion private equity fund, is trying to decide how much to bid for Pacific Salmon Inc. and how to finance the acquisition. View Details

Keywords: Food; Bids; Private Equity; Decision Making; Financing and Loans; Bids and Bidding; Acquisition; Corporate Finance; Financial Services Industry

February 2024
Article

An Economic Framework for Vaccine Prioritization

By: Mohammad Akbarpour, Eric Budish, Piotr Dworczak and Scott Duke Kominers

We propose an economic framework for determining the optimal allocation of a scarce supply of vaccines that become gradually available during a public health crisis, such as the Covid-19 pandemic. Agents differ in observable and unobservable characteristics, and the... View Details

Keywords: Vaccine; Fairness; Public Finance; Public Goods; Allocation Problems; Allocative Efficiency; Allocation Rules; Social Welfare; Pandemics; Inequality; COVID-19; COVID-19 Pandemic; Public Sector; Resource Allocation; Market Design; Marketplace Matching; Public Administration Industry

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January 1983 (Revised February 1988)
Case

Hospital Corp. of America (B)

By: W. Carl Kester

Focuses on HCAs financing options for reaching its target capital structure. The options include new equity conversion of convertible debentures, a debt-for-equity swap, the sale of assets, and fixed-rate debt. Students must address the problem of market timing and... View Details

Keywords: Assets; Capital Structure; Cash Flow; Equity; Debt Securities; Credit Derivatives and Swaps; Health Industry; United States

October 2012
Supplement

Winfield Refuse Management, Inc.: Raising Debt vs. Equity, Spreadsheet for Students (Brief Case) (CW)

By: W. Carl Kester and Sunru Yong

Keywords: United States; Acquisitions; Equity Capital; Debt Management; Financial Analysis; Administrative/Support/Waste Management/Remediation Services; Expansion; Capital Structure; Leveraged Buyouts; Borrowing and Debt; Equity; United States

2012
Case

Robert Whelan and the Student Loan Crisis (A)

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and Olivia Leskinen

Robert Whelan and the Student Loan Crisis (A) 2009 AL Fellow Bob Whelan developed an idea with partners that was a seed before his fellowship year and seemed to address a significant national challenge - college financing - with a creative concept and experience from... View Details

13 Nov 2020
Working Paper Summaries

Long-Run Returns to Impact Investing in Emerging Markets and Developing Economies

Keywords: by Shawn Cole, Martin Melecky, Florian Mölders, and Tristan Reed; Financial Services

19 Mar 2006
Research & Ideas

Unlocking Your Investment Capital

risks—a process that can release more equity capacity. Finally, Merton argues, the job of managing the company's derivatives portfolio should not be delegated to in-house financial experts. The strategic importance of how a company... View Details

Keywords: by Ann Cullen; Financial Services

February 1986
Case

General Foods Corp.: Project Duck Soup

General Foods must decide whether to acquire Entenmann's Bakery. Price and financing must also be decided. The teaching objectives include analysis of strategic fit, selection of purchase price, and financing method. Another issue is the debt to equity ratio that is... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Corporate Finance; Manufacturing Industry; Food and Beverage Industry

Erik Stafford joined the faculty at HBS in July 1999, where he has taught finance in the required and elective curricula of the MBA Program and in the CFA Investment Management Workshop.

Erik's research efforts focus on investment management, capital... View Details

Keywords: financial services

January 2000 (Revised May 2007)
Case

Dressen

By: Thomas R. Piper and Jeremy Cott

Divisional management must decide whether to support a leveraged buyout by a private equity group and, if so, what percent of ownership should go to the various partners involved. The appropriateness of the financing structure and the value of the equity depend on the... View Details

Keywords: Leveraged Buyouts; Capital Structure; Valuation; Ownership Stake; Forecasting and Prediction

Awards

Arthur Warga Award for Best Paper in Fixed Income

By: Luis M. Viceira

First Arthur Warga Award for the Best Paper in Fixed Income from The Society for Financial Studies, 2014 Finance Cavalcade, for “Monetary Policy Drivers of Bond and Equity Risks” (with John Y. Campbell and Carolin E. Pflueger). View Details

July 1973 (Revised August 1987)
Case

Central Express Corp.

Deals with the choice between debt and equity as a vehicle for financing expansion. Introduces the concept of EBIT charts and raises a number of other issues (e.g. dilution, leverage, etc.). View Details

Keywords: Expansion; Financing and Loans

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January 2006 (Revised August 2008)
Case

Vivaldi Food Concepts--The Start-up of an Asian Venture (A)

Joel Silverstein needs to raise an additional $1.5 million from private investors to round out the equity financing for his new Quick Service Restaurant venture in China, Korea, and Japan. How should he pitch the opportunity? What should be the terms? View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Private Equity; Business Startups; Retail Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Japan; China; South Korea

Find at Harvard

01 Jun 2025
News

Origin Story: Mary Chen (MBA 2026)

Chinese women from the US and around the world helped me understand and embrace my culture.” Pathfinder: “After college I worked at Bain as a generalist across industries and functions, but what I really liked was the private equity group... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna; photo by Leah Fasten; climate finance; MBA; student life

June 2013
Supplement

Wayne Ferrari: iAutomation at a Crossroads (Video Supplement)

This is the Video Supplement for Wayne Ferrari: I Automation at a Crossroads (HBS Case #813120). View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurs; Private Equity Exit; Pricing; Pricing Policies; Pricing Strategy; Pricing Structure; Distribution; Channels Of Distribution; Acquisitions; Integration; Growth; Salesforce Management; Price; Private Equity; Manufacturing Industry; Distribution Industry; Electronics Industry; United States

Royce Yudkoff is the MBA Class of 1975 Professor of Management Practice of Entrepreneurial Management at the Harvard Business School and a General Partner and co-founder of ABRY Partners, LLC in Boston, MA. Alongside Professor Richard Ruback, Royce currently... View Details

Malcolm P. Baker

Malcolm Baker is the Robert G. Kirby Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School, where he teaches the required course in finance and a short immersive program on investing in life sciences.

His research is in the... View Details

Keywords: private equity (LBO funds); private equity (LBO funds); private equity (LBO funds); private equity (LBO funds); private equity (LBO funds); private equity (LBO funds); private equity (LBO funds); private equity (LBO funds); private equity (LBO funds)

June 2018
Case

Burton Sensors, Inc.

By: William E. Fruhan and Wei Wang

Burton Sensors presents a realistic situation where a small, rapidly growing, and profitable temperature sensor original equipment manufacturer (OEM) reaches its debt capacity and seeks equity financing to sustain high growth. The president of the company must decide... View Details

Keywords: Financing and Loans; Acquisition; Investment; Financial Strategy; Decision Choices and Conditions