Publications

December 2018 (Revised March 2019)
Case

iyzico: Fundraising in Emerging Markets (A)

By: Marco Di Maggio and Gamze Yucaoglu

The case opens in 2016 as Barbaros Ozbugutu, co-founder and CEO of the Istanbul-based payment technology start-up iyzico, contemplates the offers the company received for its Series C round. The case then describes iyzico’s origins and provides a detailed overview of... View Details

Keywords: Iyzico; Fundraising; Business Startups; Venture Capital; Emerging Markets; Private Sector; For-Profit Firms; Management; Information Technology; Growth Management; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Negotiation Offer; Decision Making; Turkey

September 2020 (Revised January 2021)
Case

Catalys Pacific

By: Joshua Lev Krieger

In 2019, BT Slingsby founds Catalys Pacific, the first biotech “venture creation” fund in Tokyo. After convincing some of the biggest Japanese pharmaceutical firms to invest, BT hopes the fund can make a big splash and transform biotechnology innovation in Japan. After... View Details

Keywords: Pharmaceutical Companies; Biotech; Health Care; Entrepreneur; Innovation; International Business; Entrepreneurial Finance; Entrepreneurship; Finance; Innovation Strategy; Venture Capital; Strategy; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Pharmaceutical Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry; Tokyo

July 2016
Case

'Golden Leash' Pay for Directors at The Dow Chemical Company

By: Ian Gow, Suraj Srinivasan and Neeraj Goyal

In November 2014, The Dow Chemical Company was faced with the prospect of a proxy battle with prominent hedge fund and activist investor Third Point Management. The activist had criticized Dow’s recent performance and advocated that the company split itself to maximize... View Details

Keywords: Motivation and Incentives; Governing and Advisory Boards; Executive Compensation; Investment Activism; Chemical Industry

13 Mar 2005
Research & Ideas

The Tricky Business of Nonprofit Brands

co-branding opportunities that they deserve. Two examples come to mind, the American Red Cross's use of 9/11 funds and the United Way executive scandals. Both of these events... View Details

Keywords: by Manda Salls

September 1994
Case

BayFunds

By: Alvin J. Silk, Lisa Klein Pearo and Jamie Harper

In June, 1994, the Senior Vice President of BayBank's Investment Management Group is preparing a strategic plan for her organization's line of mutual funds. Sixteen months earlier, BayBank, Massachusetts's leading retail bank, had entered the mutual fund business by... View Details

Keywords: Banks and Banking; Marketing Strategy; Brands and Branding; Investment Funds; Product Marketing; Integration; Financial Services Industry

April 2009
Teaching Note

TravelCenters of America (TN)

By: Robin Greenwood and Daniel Jacob Goldberg

Teaching Note for [209030]. View Details

Keywords: Investment Funds; Valuation; Opportunities; Business Organization; Real Estate Industry; New York (state, US)

01 Oct 2001
News

Making a World of Difference

touch with our shared humanity." It was a lack of such shared humanity, in fact, that motivated Slifka to establish The Abraham Fund after visiting Israel and finding that his Jewish friends there did not... View Details

Keywords: Young, Susan; Management of Companies and Enterprises; Management of Companies and Enterprises

October 1992 (Revised December 1993)
Case

Vanguard Group, Inc. (A)

By: Jay O. Light

Deals with the general mission and strategy of a large mutual fund complex. View Details

Keywords: Investment Funds; Business Strategy; Mission and Purpose; Financial Services Industry

24 May 2021
Blog Post

Rebekah Emanuel: Host of Season 3 of the Climate Rising Podcast

Entrepreneur’s Circle where innovators are in a space where the industries are different but many of the structural components that they're looking at are quite similar, and so the amount View Details

November 2007 (Revised October 2009)
Case

Ligand Pharmaceuticals Incorporated

In an activist role, the hedge fund Third Point LLC has three board seats and an ownership stake of 9.5% in Ligand Pharmaceuticals, Inc., a specialty pharmaceutical company. Third Point believed that Ligand had a strong drug portfolio and pipeline but that it was... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Private Equity; Investment Activism; Investment Funds; Governing and Advisory Boards; Bids and Bidding; Ownership Stake; Pharmaceutical Industry; United States

Find at Harvard

March 2016 (Revised August 2016)
Case

CreditEase: Taking Inclusive Finance Online

By: Michael Chu, John S. Ji and Nancy Hua Dai

The world’s largest peer-to-peer (P2P) lender annually disbursing over a million loans totaling $10 billion, China’s CreditEase, must decide whether to IPO in the NYSE its online lending platform, Yirendai, before the year-end window closes in 2015. Yirendai sought to... View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Internet and the Web; Financing and Loans; Credit; Growth and Development Strategy; Financial Services Industry; China

January 1983 (Revised August 1988)
Case

Universal Robotics Corp.

Three former classmates are founding a company to design, develop, manufacture, and market industrial robots. Principal issues involve the sources, amount, and form of outside investment, the allocation of equity, and the terms and conditions under which outside funds... View Details

Keywords: Technology; Business Startups; Corporate Finance; Manufacturing Industry; Manufacturing Industry

20 Nov 2014
News

When Activist Investors Aim at Strong Companies

March 2023 (Revised January 2025)
Case

Wilshire Lane Capital

By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang, Lindsay N. Hyde and Stacy Straaberg

In September 2021, Adam Demuyakor (MBA 2017) was faced with decisions about how to launch his venture capital (VC) investment firm. His previous investment activities were a series of angel investments and special purpose vehicles alongside two part-time general... View Details

Keywords: Ownership Stake; Investment Funds; Venture Capital; Business and Shareholder Relations; Real Estate Industry; Real Estate Industry; Los Angeles; California; United States

April 1998
Case

Responding to 21st Century Financial Crisis

By: Huw Pill

During the 1990s, financial crises appear to have been almost annual events. Examples abound: the collapse of S & Ls in the United States; currency mayhem in Europe; Mexican devaluation and banking crisis; Japanese banks teetering on the verge of default; currency and... View Details

Keywords: Global Range; Financial Crisis