Publications

December 1998 (Revised January 2004)
Case

Singulus

By: Walter Kuemmerle and Chad S Ellis

Describes Singulus, the compact disk metallizer business of Leybold AG, a large German company, which has been put up for sale. In April 1995, buyout firm Schroder Ventures has to decide whether to acquire the business. The investment decision is complicated by a... View Details

Keywords: Leveraged Buyouts; Decision Choices and Conditions; Manufacturing Industry; Germany

November 2018 (Revised December 2018)
Case

CalSTRS Takes on Gun Violence

By: Vikram S Gandhi and Caitlin Reimers

In Spring of 2018, Chris Ailman, CIO of the $200 billion pension plan for California public school teachers (CalSTRS) was mandated by his board to “prioritize engagement with makers and retailers of firearms in California” following a series of gun-related tragedies in... View Details

Keywords: Pension Funds; Pension Plan; Asset Allocation; Screening; ESG; Gun Violence; Business and Government Relations; Values and Beliefs; Education Industry; California; United States

May 1998 (Revised May 2001)
Case

Merchandising at Nine West Retail Stores

By: Ananth Raman and Colin S Welch

Describes the merchandising decision process (organization, structure, and incentives) at Nine West retail stores, a large footwear retailer in the United States. Also describes changes currently occurring at Nine West and thus provides a context in which students can... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Structure; Situation or Environment; Motivation and Incentives; Decision Making; Change; Budgets and Budgeting; Forecasting and Prediction; Brands and Branding; Marketing Strategy; Product Marketing; Retail Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry; United States

2023
Working Paper

Trading Off Business and Family Investments: Evidence from U.S. Entrepreneurial Households

By: Olivia S Kim

Keywords: Downsizing; Small Business; Work-Life Balance; Household

July 2019
Supplement

Omidyar Network's Investment Decisions: MicroEnsure and Lenddo

By: Vikram S Gandhi

A team of investors at Omidyar Network explore two different investment possibilities in the budding financial inclusion space using their investment framework to consider capital alternatives available for both investments, each of which carries highly divergent... View Details

Keywords: Impact Investing; Micro Finance; Investment; Investment Return; Investment Activism; Investment Portfolio; Microfinance; Decision Choices and Conditions; India; Philippines

January 2011 (Revised January 2012)
Teaching Note

The Case of the Unidentified Healthcare Companies2010 (TN)

By: Richard M.J. Bohmer and Ethan S Bernstein

Teaching Note for 611043. View Details

Keywords: Health Industry

November 2008 (Revised February 2009)
Case

Omron: Sensing Society

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and Ethan S Bernstein

"Leading profitable growth is only part of the goal. We cannot live without breathing, but we do not live in order to take a breath,” said Omron's President and CEO, Hisao Sakuta, in 2008. Omron, a $7B global supplier of sensors, control system components, advanced... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Transformation; Competitive Advantage; Leadership; Goals and Objectives; Globalized Firms and Management; Innovation and Invention; Values and Beliefs; Mission and Purpose; Electronics Industry

December 2019
Supplement

The Rise Fund: TPG Bets Big on Impact

By: Vikram S Gandhi and Shawn A. Cole

February 2019 (Revised October 2019)
Teaching Note

The Rise Fund: TPG Bets Big on Impact

By: Vikram S Gandhi, Caitlin Reimers Brumme and Sarah Mehta

Teaching Note for HBS No. 318-041. View Details

Keywords: Impact Investing; Impact Measurement; Equity; Investment; Measurement and Metrics; Financial Services Industry; San Francisco

October 2019
Supplement

Environmental Technologies Fund (ETF Partners)

By: Shawn A. Cole and Vikram S Gandhi

07 Jul 2020
Research & Ideas

Market Investors Pay More for Resilient Companies

The steep market drop in the early days of the COVID-19 crisis is being used as a laboratory to study the importance of companies investing in stakeholder relations with their employees, suppliers, and customers, and how those investments could be strategic resources... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz; Financial Services

March 2018 (Revised March 2018)
Supplement

Blue Haven Initiative: The PEGAfrica Investment

By: Vikram S Gandhi, Caitlin Reimers and Amram Migdal

November 2022 (Revised March 2024)
Background Note

The Role of ESG in Investment Strategy

By: Vikram S Gandhi, Christopher Diak and Radhika Kak

February 1999 (Revised March 2004)
Case

JAFCO America Ventures, Inc.: Building A Venture Capital Firm

By: Walter Kuemmerle, Kiichiro Kobayashi and Chad S Ellis

JAFCO, a large Japanese venture capital firm, is making a second attempt to enter the U.S. venture capital market. The U.S. subsidiary, JAFCO America Ventures, is in the midst of a challenging turnaround. Going forward, the U.S. subsidiary's leadership needs to make a... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Market Entry and Exit; Multinational Firms and Management; Corporate Strategy; Financial Services Industry; Japan; United States

03 Feb 2016
What Do You Think?

How Do You Hire an 'Impostor'?

commented that, “I would any day prefer self moderation to empty haughtiness.” Nilgun Yetis described them as “very talented and wholehearted people.” GuestReader put it this way: “Lack of certainty in one’s ability to succeed is reasonable at the outset of a new or... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

October 1998
Case

Star TV in India--1998

By: Tarun Khanna, Geetu S Karnani and Tanya Z Haider

Keywords: Television Entertainment; Media and Broadcasting Industry; India

Find at Harvard

12 Oct 1999
Research & Ideas

What It Takes: Minorities in the Executive Suite

Express; Solomon Trujillo, president and CEO of U S West Communications; and Ann Fudge, president of Maxwell House Coffee Company and Post Cereals? How did these people of color overcome the odds and break through the glass ceiling that... View Details

Keywords: by Judith A. Ross

21 Feb 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research: February 21

characterization of the value. For every subset, S, consider the zero-sum game played between S and its complement, where the players in each of these sets collaborate as a single player, and where the payoff is the difference between the... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

June 2008 (Revised February 2011)
Case

Year Up: A Social Entrepreneur Builds High Performance

By: Allen S Grossman and Naomi Greckol-Herlich

Year Up, a nonprofit job-skills training program for low-income, urban youth has run four successful programs in four cities for the past seven years. Now, after an ambitious capital campaign, the organization is poised to grow into a national program in an attempt to... View Details

Keywords: Social Entrepreneurship; Growth Management; Quality; Nonprofit Organizations; United States