Publications

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12 PM – 1 PM EDT, 24 Apr 2018
Webinars: Career

Rethinking Retirement

Baby Boomers are reshaping retirement to create a life stage of possibilities and growth. But a step back from work requires a great deal of thought and consideration, and it's natural to feel uncertain. This program will provide a framework to plan and address each... View Details

01 Dec 2003
What Do You Think?

Is This the Twilight Era for the Managed Mutual Fund?

Some time ago he concluded that mutual fund investment managers: (1) through their investment decisions destroy as much value for investors as they create—a view for which there is a great deal of evidence—and (2) through their behaviors... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

06 Dec 2010
Sharpening Your Skills

Sharpening Your Skills: Doing Business in Emerging Markets

Sharpening Your Skills dives into the HBS Working Knowledge archives to bring together articles on ways to improve your business skills. Questions To Be Answered: How do I identify opportunities in emerging markets? How important are relations with the host country?... View Details

March 1999 (Revised April 1999)
Case

AccuFlow, Inc.

By: Jay O. Light

A small hydraulic-valve manufacturer attempts a second buyout in order to take out its current equity partners. A three-way deal must be negotiated between management, the new mezzanine lender, and the departing equity owners. View Details

Keywords: Negotiation Types; Leveraged Buyouts; Equity; Manufacturing Industry; Industrial Products Industry

December 2008 (Revised April 2010)
Case

Proteus Biomedical: Making Pigs Fly

By: Richard G. Hamermesh, Lauren Barley and Ginger Graham

Proteus is a healthcare start-up that has developed technology to embed electronics for computing and sensing in existing medical devices and drugs. The technology could potentially change the basis of competition in the pharmaceutical industry. The company is... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Technological Innovation; Rights; Negotiation Deal; Business Strategy; Health Industry; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry

March 1998
Case

Launch

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport

Launch has developed an entertainment publication on CD-ROM with 240,000 subscribers and has recently introduced an on-line entertainment product (www.mylaunch.com) to complement the CD-ROM. Deals with multiple-channel delivery and platform selection and branding on... View Details

Keywords: Digital Platforms; Internet and the Web; Distribution Channels; Information Publishing; Brands and Branding; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Publishing Industry

04 Feb 2020
Video

Dr. Prathap C. Reddy

Prathap C. Reddy, founder of India-based Apollo Hospitals, describes his early challenges of dealing with Indian government policies that discouraged setting up of private hospitals. He discusses the political... View Details

Guhan Subramanian

Guhan Subramanian is the Joseph Flom Professor of Law and Business at the Harvard Law School and the Douglas Weaver Professor of Business Law at the Harvard Business School. He is the first person in the history of Harvard... View Details

December 1983 (Revised August 1988)
Background Note

The Start-Up Process

By: Howard H. Stevenson and Michael J. Roberts

Describes the various stages in the start-up process and describes in detail the questions that can be asked and the analysis that can be performed to help deal with the issues that arise at each stage. View Details

Keywords: Business Startups

December 2002 (Revised June 2003)
Case

Vignette: The Rebar Dilemma

By: G. Felda Hardymon, Josh Lerner and Ann Leamon

Martin Smith, a new associate at an LBO firm, must respond to a problem posed by his boss, based on an historical deal that suddenly came undone. After months of negotiation, his firm's plan to buy a bankrupt competitor of one of its portfolio companies and close it... View Details

Keywords: Leveraged Buyouts; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Competition; Growth and Development Strategy; Business or Company Management

16 Jan 2012
Research & Ideas

Private Meetings of Public Companies Thwart Disclosure Rules

In the fall of, the US Securities and Exchange Commission issued a new rule meant to combat the problem of selective disclosure among public companies and their favorite investors. Regulation Fair Disclosure (Reg FD) mandated that any time a publicly traded company... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Financial Services

April 2004 (Revised May 2006)
Background Note

Achieving Profitable Growth and Market Value

By: James L. Heskett and Richard G. Hamermesh

Provides an overview of how a new venture needs to change as it passes from the initial start-up to the growth phase. Explores how a venture's leadership, strategy, and execution need to evolve to deal with rapid growth. View Details

Keywords: Growth Management; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Startups; Change Management

16 Jan 2012
News

Private Meetings of Public Companies Thwart Disclosure Rules

October 2007 (Revised July 2013)
Case

Vertex Pharmaceuticals and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation: Venture Philanthropy Funding for Biotech

By: Robert F. Higgins, Sophie LaMontagne and Brent Kazan

In 2001, Vertex Pharmaceuticals Incorporated acquired the San Diego-based biotech company, Aurora Biosciences. The combination of Vertex's and Aurora's technologies would improve the flow of novel drug candidates into development. However, several questions related to... View Details

Keywords: Philanthropy; Philanthropy Funding; Innovation; Funding Model; Venture Capital; Partners and Partnerships; Financing and Loans; Investment Funds; Acquisition; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Biotechnology Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry; San Diego

06 Nov 2007
First Look

First Look: November 6, 2007

negotiations and poses an immediate tactical challenge in the context of the overall process. The (B) case describes the strategies, tactics, and results of these negotiations, along with Welz's broader insights into a more productive approach to the common challenge... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

January 1983 (Revised July 2007)
Case

Neill Hance

Neill Hance takes advantage of all available information and resources to insure a smooth entry into a culture--an entry that would have normally been rather difficult to deal with because of stereotyping and perceived threat. View Details

Keywords: Knowledge Acquisition; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Organizational Culture; Personal Development and Career; Planning; Prejudice and Bias

Find at Harvard

May 2016 (Revised August 2019)
Teaching Note

Project Deutschland: Unpeeling the Onion of a Distressed Real Estate Portfolio

By: Nori Gerardo Lietz and Ricardo Andrade

James Tallest analyzed the opportunity to invest in a distressed portfolio of high quality properties in Germany by acquiring one or more non-performing loans from Deutschland Bank. While he considers the many aspects of the deal that is about to unfold, he must decide... View Details

Keywords: Real Estate; Distress Investing; Non-performing Loan; Borrowing and Debt; Capital Structure; Private Equity; Negotiation Deal; Valuation; Real Estate Industry; Financial Services Industry; Germany; Europe