Publications

2006
Other Unpublished Work

Structural Closure and Exposure: Market Reactions to Announcements of Acquisitions and Divestitures

By: Mikolaj Jan Piskorski and Nitin Nohria

Keywords: Acquisition; Business Exit or Shutdown; Market Entry and Exit

Read Now

November 1997 (Revised August 1998)
Case

Palm Computing, Inc. 1995: Financing Challenges

By: Myra M. Hart and Stephanie Dodson

The president, Donna Dubinsky, and the chairman and founder, Jeff Hawkins, discuss an opportunity to sell their company to U.S. Robotics. They must weigh this option versus accepting venture capital funding, partnering with a large company that could provide... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Partners and Partnerships; Business Exit or Shutdown; Decision Choices and Conditions; Computer Industry; Information Technology Industry

18 Feb 2014
First Look

First Look: February 18

case: http://hbr.org/product/cynthia-carroll-at-anglo-american-a/an/414019-PDF-ENG Harvard Business School Case 414-020 Cynthia Carroll at Anglo American (B) In 2007, Cynthia Carroll, the newly appointed chief executive of mining giant Anglo American, ordered the... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

January 2022
Case

Dating Ring

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Lindsay N. Hyde

In 2015, the co-founders of Dating Ring, an online dating startup that relied on human matchmakers to arrange dates between its members, were deciding whether to either shut down the service or instead manage Dating Ring as a "lifestyle company," ramping down growth... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Failure; Business Exit or Shutdown; Internet and the Web; Venture Capital; Service Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; United States

December 2015
Teaching Note

Nokia's Bridge Program (A) & (B)

By: Sandra J. Sucher and Susan J. Winterberg

This teaching note is designed to be used in conjunction with the cases "Nokia's Bridge Program: Redesigning Layoffs (A)," HBS No. 615-013, and "Nokia's Bridge Program: Outcome and Results (B)," HBS No. 615-014. Instructors could also assign "Layoffs: Effects on Key... View Details

Keywords: Layoffs; Plant Closure; Outplacement; Shared Value; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Business Exit or Shutdown

March 2003
Case

Compaq's Struggle

By: Carliss Y. Baldwin and David Lane

In 1997, Compaq Computer was locked in price competition with industry leader Dell. Although Compaq sought to escape difficulty by acquiring Digital Equipment Corp. ,a maker of more lucrative servers and minicomputers, in 1998 the simultaneous effort to remain a... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Exit or Shutdown; Asset Pricing; Alliances; Competitive Strategy; Computer Industry

January 2025
Case

Arsenal Capital Partners' Refinancing of Pinnacle

By: Victoria Ivashina and Srimayi Mylavarapu

Arsenal Capital Partners’ portfolio company, Pinnacle, a leading producer of high-performance adhesive technologies, has experienced rapid growth under Arsenal’s ownership. Over just two years, Pinnacle's EBITDA increased from $13.5 million to $60 million. By mid-2021,... View Details

Keywords: Business Exit or Shutdown; Decision Choices and Conditions; Private Equity; Financing and Loans; Growth Management

December 2003
Case

Sale of Hephaestus, Inc. to Vulcan Ventures, Inc.

Henry Hephaestus founded Hephaestus, Inc. in 1895. Its first product was a tapered roller bearing for use with horse-drawn wagons and carriages. It reduced friction on the axle and reduced the force necessary to move a heavy load, thereby enabling one horse to do the... View Details

Keywords: Business Exit or Shutdown; Entrepreneurship; Family Ownership; Manufacturing Industry

13 Apr 2020
Research & Ideas

Small Businesses Are Worse Off Than We Thought

effects of the economic shutdown and the ways in which small businesses are adjusting both their behaviors and expectations as the situation unfolds, the researchers aim to help shape potential policy responses. THE CORONAVIRUS CRISIS... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz; Financial Services

05 May 2017
Working Paper Summaries

Survival of the Fittest: The Impact of the Minimum Wage on Firm Exit

Keywords: by Dara Lee Luca and Michael Luca; Food & Beverage

February 2003 (Revised December 2005)
Case

Susan Griffin: Formulation of a Long-Term Investment Strategy

By: Dwight B. Crane and Julia Stevens

Susan Griffin, owner and cofounder of a small manufacturing company, is formulating a long-term investment strategy. Griffin plans to sell her $10 million company and invest the revenue. She must decide how to allocate her investment so that she can rely entirely on... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Business Exit or Shutdown; Investment

December 2003 (Revised February 2004)
Case

Scott Lawson's Dilemma

By: Thomas R. Piper

The head of SysCom's test equipment division is concerned about how to answer employee and customer questions concerning the possible sale or liquidation of the division. The consequences of alternative approaches (full transparency vs. strong optimism and reassurance)... View Details

Keywords: Business Exit or Shutdown; Interpersonal Communication; Business Divisions; Corporate Governance; Ethics; Manufacturing Industry; Technology Industry

April 2003
Case

Energis (A)

By: John R. Wells

Describes the history of Energis, one of the United Kingdom's major alternative telecommunications network service providers (altnets). Tracks the company from its birth as a diversification move by the National Grid, the U.K.'s leading electricity distributor, through... View Details

Keywords: History; Change Management; Business Exit or Shutdown; Business Growth and Maturation; Organizational Structure; Industry Structures; Telecommunications Industry; United Kingdom

March 2001
Supplement

Francisco de Narvaez at TIA: Selling the Family Business

By: Linda A. Hill and Kristin Doughty

Francisco de Narvaez reflects on the process of selling his family's retail business. View Details

Keywords: Family Business; Business Exit or Shutdown

October 2011 (Revised August 2012)
Case

INNOVA-MEX's Bid for ENKONTROL

By: Ramana Nanda, William R. Kerr and Carin-Isabel Knoop

In their second year, two Mexican HBS MBAs joined forces to start a search fund based in Mexico City. They had raised money to acquire an existing private company in Mexico with an initial enterprise value between $5 million and $15 million. Just seven months after... View Details

Keywords: Business Exit or Shutdown; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Investment Funds; Corporate Finance; Mexico City

July 2012
Case

Shut It Down?

By: Clayton Rose

Meredith, the head of a major division of a financial firm, must confront an unexpected response and challenge from a senior colleague when she proposes shutting down an underperforming unit. View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Collaboration; Business Units; Business Exit or Shutdown; Leadership; Strategy; Financial Services Industry

winter 1976
Article

Please Note Location of Nearest Exit: Exit Barriers and Planning

By: M. E. Porter

Keywords: Strategic Planning; Business Exit or Shutdown; Market Entry and Exit

Find at Harvard

December 2010 (Revised January 2013)
Case

Triple Point Technology

By: Richard S. Ruback and Royce Yudkoff

The founding CEO of Triple Point Technology, Peter Armstrong, was considering the sale of the company. The company specialized in providing its clients with software used for transaction processing and risk management in various commodity markets. Triple Point... View Details

Keywords: Business Exit or Shutdown; Private Equity; Financial Management; Negotiation Offer; Sales; Valuation

February 1999 (Revised June 1999)
Case

Investitori Associati: Exiting the Savio LBO (A)

By: Josh Lerner, Dino Cattaneo and Giampiero Mazza

Investitori Associati seeks to exit a leveraged buyout investment. Choosing the appropriate way in which to undertake their exit-an initial public offering or sale of the firm-proves problematic. View Details

Keywords: Private Equity; Initial Public Offering; Business Exit or Shutdown; Leveraged Buyouts