Publications

February 2001 (Revised June 2001)
Case

ClubTools, Inc.

By: Paul W. Marshall and Kristin Perry

Discusses the development of an Internet start-up by a recent HBS graduate. Details the company's business plan, incubation, technology development, marketing strategy, and search for funding. View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Business Plan; Cash Flow; Marketing Strategy; Financing and Loans; Technological Innovation; Internet and the Web; Forecasting and Prediction

Find at Harvard

September 1992 (Revised March 1997)
Case

Summit Distributors (A)

By: William J. Bruns Jr. and Amy P. Hutton

Summit Distributors was in danger of violating loan covenants because of slow economic activity and forecasted losses and was faced with a choice. Changing the inventory valuation method from LIFO to FIFO would avoid default but would require higher future income... View Details

Keywords: Taxation; Cost Accounting; Cash Flow; Interest Rates; Economic Systems; Borrowing and Debt; Financial Statements; Valuation; Accounting Audits; Financing and Loans; Accounting Industry; Legal Services Industry

November 2011
Case

Pacific Grove Spice Company

By: William E. Fruhan and Craig Stephenson

Pacific Grove Spice Company is a profitable, rapidly growing manufacturer, marketer, and distributor of quality spices and seasonings. The company's business model requires significant investment in accounts receivable, inventory, and fixed assets to support sales.... View Details

Keywords: Capital Expenditures; Investments; Acquisitions; Securities Analysis; Debt Securities; Opportunities; Cost of Capital; Valuation; Investment; Capital Budgeting; Business Model; Cash Flow; Financing and Loans; Acquisition; Retail Industry; Food and Beverage Industry

14 Jun 2004
Research & Ideas

The Big Money for Big Projects

debt, which means the loan repayments must come from project cash flows only. In municipally financed or public financed projects, a government entity is the borrower or the debt is backed by a government... View Details

Keywords: by Ann Cullen; Financial Services

22 May 2007
First Look

First Look: May 22, 2007

realized bond risk and bond return volatility. The yield spread appears to proxy for business conditions, while the short rate appears to proxy for inflation and economic uncertainty. A decomposition of bond betas into a real cash View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

09 Jan 2006
Research & Ideas

Rebuilding Commercial Real Estate

and leases that make them—in good times—cash conveyor belts for their investors.) Says Lebovitz: "Investors now understand that with real estate you have an asset with stable cash flow plus appreciation... View Details

Keywords: by Roger Thompson; Construction; Real Estate

Web

Supplemental Financial Information | Annual Report 2024

are the generous gifts from its alumni and friends. Each year, the revenue and expenses that flow through the School’s income statement, balance sheet, and cash flow statement... View Details

January 2011
Case

Masdar and Tianjin: Eco-Cities

By: John D. Macomber

Compares Masdar City and Tianjin Eco-City, two high profile "sustainable cities." Each showcases technological and financial innovation. Is it real? Is it replicable and defensible? The case is intended to introduce main concepts and tradeoffs with respect to rapid... View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Business Model; Development Economics; Urban Development; Cash Flow; Project Finance; Competitive Advantage; Environmental Sustainability; City; Infrastructure

01 Jun 2013
News

Brick by Brick

founder. Under his management, product demand was so high at times that executives actually found themselves discussing ways to slow sales. That all changed in the early 1990s as seismic shifts pounded the toy market. Big-box toy View Details

Keywords: toys; Miscellaneous Store Retailers; Retail Trade

Fast Answer

Field Course: Investing for Impact

ratios: RMA Annual Statement Studies Offers industry default risk and cash flow measures for 400 lines of business whose total assets are less than $250 million. Available in IBISWorld: (Search for... View Details

11 Dec 2020
Research & Ideas

Economic Jitters Push Pandemic Job Seekers to Big Companies, Not Startups

talent to draw from, write the authors of a recent working paper titled Flight to Safety: How Economic Downturns Affect Talent Flows to Startups. This has important implications, says Shai Bernstein, an associate professor of business... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

04 May 2020
Research & Ideas

Predictions, Prophets, and Restarting Your Business

cycles The crisis demonstrates, painfully, the importance of cash. In his famous essay "The Yield from Money Held,” the economist William Hutt described cash in your pocket or on the balance sheet as “a fire engine when there are no... View Details

Keywords: by Frank V. Cespedes

January 2021
Supplement

Bespoken Spirits: Disrupting Distilling

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Daniel Fisher

On October 7, 2020, Bespoken Spirits publicly announced it had received $2.6 million of seed funding for its “sustainable maturation process,” a process that could produce award-winning whiskeys in just days rather than years using a novel technology and data science. ... View Details

Keywords: Business Ventures; Business Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Disruption; Entrepreneurship; Environmental Sustainability; Cash Flow; Disruptive Innovation; Innovation Strategy; Brands and Branding; Business Model; Consumer Products Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Service Industry; United States; California

November 2000 (Revised December 2000)
Background Note

Online Content Providers

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Alastair Brown

Describes the business model for online content providers, companies that distribute copyright content via the Internet. Focuses on their revenue and cost drivers and on the ways that online content providers create value for consumers. Also investigates the benefits... View Details

Keywords: Internet and the Web; Customers; Value Creation; Business Model; Internet and the Web; Cash Flow; Risk and Uncertainty; Growth and Development Strategy; Problems and Challenges; Decision Making; Profit; Information Industry