Publications

February 2008 (Revised May 2008)
Case

Tad O'Malley: The Investment Conundrum

By: Felda Hardymon, Josh Lerner and Ann Leamon

Tad O'Malley has just started as an associate with Empire Investment Group. He must evaluate three investment opportunities facing the big leveraged buyout firm. All are global, but each pertains to different offices and each deal has different strengths and... View Details

Keywords: Leveraged Buyouts; Decision Choices and Conditions; Private Equity; Investment; Strength and Weakness; Negotiation Deal; Personal Development and Career

19 Apr 2004
Research & Ideas

Ground-Floor Opportunities for Retail in India

brands in a country where small, individual stores selling no-name goods have been the rule for decades. But success doesn't arrive overnight. Biyani cited a few factors to consider when launching a retail operation in India: Foreign View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Consumer Products; Retail

05 Dec 2005
Research & Ideas

VCs Survey Post-Bubble Opportunities

Venture investing has picked up from the post-dot-bomb era of a few years ago—but does the comeback signal good times ahead or a mini bubble of misguided exuberance? To provoke discussion, HBS professor Bill Sahlman threw down the... View Details

Keywords: by Julie Hanna; Financial Services

December 2006
Case

Southern Company's Investment in CEMIG

In the spring of 1997, Southern Company had the opportunity to acquire a significant portion of the electric utility in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. The shares in the utility, CEMIG, were being sold by the state government as part of a comprehensive... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Strategy; Privatization; Investment; Acquisition; Globalized Markets and Industries; Utilities Industry; Brazil

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August 2024 (Revised October 2024)
Case

Discerene Group: Long-Term Public-Markets Investing

By: Luis M. Viceira and Brent Schwarz

This case discusses active investing based on fundamental valuations and price distortions created by market events, and whether contractual terms between investment managers and their investors can help align incentives between long-term investors and active managers.... View Details

Keywords: Financial Strategy; Investment Funds; Valuation; Financial Markets; Financial Services Industry; Connecticut

21 Sep 2017
Cold Call Podcast

State Street’s SHE: Investing in Women Leaders

Keywords: Re: Vikram Gandhi; Financial Services

January 1995
Case

Keller Fund's Option Investment Strategies, The

By: W. Carl Kester

A closed-end mutual fund's decision to study option trading provides an opportunity to study the profit profile and pricing of multiple option investment strategies (e.g., buy a call, buy a put, write a call, buy stock-write call, etc.). This case is designed to... View Details

Keywords: Investment Funds; Stock Options; Profit; Price; Strategy; Financial Services Industry

October 2007 (Revised March 2008)
Case

First National Bank's Golden Opportunity

By: Shawn A. Cole, Peter Tufano, Daniel Schneider and Daryl Collins

Executives at First National Bank in South Africa are considering whether to launch a potentially exciting, but rather unorthodox, new savings product. Instead of paying interest, this product gives depositors the chance to win large cash prizes each month. Michael... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Banks and Banking; Investment; Innovation and Invention; Product Launch; Demand and Consumers; Banking Industry; South Africa

January 2013
Case

Omidyar Network: Pioneering Impact Investment

By: Michael Chu and Lauren Barley

Omidyar Network, having deployed to date over $500 million in ways ranging from donations to commercial equity capital, must decide whether to back Anudip, an Indian organization dedicated to providing the rural unemployed and marginalized with livelihoods linked to... View Details

Keywords: Social Enterprise; Social Entrepreneurship; Investment; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; India

17 Oct 2013
Research & Ideas

Reserve Bank Governor Discusses India’s Financial Opportunities

phase." A month after becoming the governor of the Reserve Bank of India, Rajan came to HBS to deliver the 2013 Leatherbee Lecture, "India: The Opportunities and Challenges Ahead." In addition to running India's central... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

17 Aug 2016
Working Paper Summaries

Venture Capital Data: Opportunities and Challenges

Keywords: by Steven N. Kaplan and Josh Lerner; Financial Services; Banking

05 Mar 2007
Research & Ideas

Risky Business? Protecting Foreign Investments

Foreign investment in developing countries has always involved an element of risk. Just ask Verizon Communications, which could lose hundreds of millions of dollars in Venezuela should President Hugo Chávez follow through with plans... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Energy; Utilities

July–August 2023
Article

Investing in Growth Through Uncertainty

By: Ranjay Gulati

When faced with disruptions and downturns, many leaders and companies instinctively focus on cutting costs to maintain profitability. But some identify opportunities and then take thoughtful action to emerge from crisis even stronger. That means not only planning for... View Details

Keywords: Crisis Management; Strategic Planning

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November 2013
Case

Canyon-Agassi Investing in Charter Schools

By: Nicolas P. Retsinas, Nicole Shomair, Vernon Beckford and Lisa Strope

After an unusual round of doubles in May 2011, real estate investor Bobby Turner, Managing Partner, Canyon-Agassi Charter School Facilities Fund (CACSFF) and Chairman, CEO, and Co-Founder of Canyon Capital Realty Advisors, found himself at a loss for words. Turner was... View Details

Keywords: Charter Schools; Real Estate; Fund Raising; Social Entrepreneurship; Education; Real Estate Industry; United States

18 Jun 2001
Research & Ideas

Tech Investment the Wise Way

be appropriate to the opportunities inherent in the new technology. If not, its use will lead to inaccurate analysis and underinvestment. That is one source of the bias exhibited by successful firms facing novel technologies, and it is... View Details

Keywords: by Henry Chesbrough & Richard S. Rosenbloom

30 Nov 2020
Research & Ideas

COVID Not Slowing VC Investment

expect their investments to outperform major equity indexes going forward, and they’re continuing to fund new endeavors. “It’s sort of the opposite of doom and gloom,” Gompers says. “We were surprised by how relatively unaffected the... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost; Financial Services; Banking

July 2013 (Revised October 2014)
Case

Value Retail: Opportunities for European Expansion

By: Arthur I Segel

Scott Malkin, CEO of Value Retail, a developer and operator of European outlet villages serving luxury brands, is planning on developing a 18,503 m2 open-air outlet village to be built 98 kilometers south of Milan on land he was about to acquire for 7.26 million lira.... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Investment; Risk and Uncertainty; Expansion; Retail Industry; Milan