Publications

March 2024 (Revised March 2024)
Teaching Note

CoPilot(s): Generative AI at Microsoft and GitHub

By: Frank Nagle and Maria P. Roche

This teaching note is the companion to case N9-624-010 CoPilot(s): Generative AI at Microsoft and GitHub, which takes place in late 2021. The case briefly describes the history of both GitHub and Microsoft with a particular focus on open source software (OSS)—software... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; AI and Machine Learning; Applications and Software; Technological Innovation; Product Launch; Open Source Distribution; Product Development; Commercialization; Competition; Resource Allocation; Technology Industry

6 PM – 7 PM EST, 04 Mar 2021
Virtual Programming

Water & Climate Change: Innovating for Access and Efficiency

The Harvard Business School Business & Environment Initiative and Food, Agriculture, & Water Club invite you to join us for Water & Climate Change: Innovating for Access and Efficiency. This discussion will aim to highlight the connection between climate change and... View Details

05 Mar 2019
First Look

New Research and Ideas, March 5, 2019

non-democracies. The Value of First Impressions: Leveraging Acquisition Data for Customer Management By: Padilla, Nicolas, and Eva Ascarza Abstract— Managing customers effectively is crucial for firms'... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

June 2003
Case

IBM and Linux (A)

By: Carliss Y. Baldwin, Siobhan O'Mahony and James Quinn

In the fall of 1998, Dan Frye, member of IBM's emerging technologies and business team, is trying to decide whether to forge a strategic alliance with the Linux Development Community (LDC). Just two years earlier, IBM had its first exposure to an "open source" software... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Open Source Distribution; Problems and Challenges; Alliances; Cooperation; Computer Industry; Information Technology Industry

November 2004
Case

Barry Diller and IAC/InterActiveCorp

By: William A. Sahlman and Ryland Matthew Willis

Describes a discussion involving Barry Diller and the top management team at IAC/InteractiveCorp. about whether to buy LendingTree.com. If so, at what price and on what terms? View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Strategy; Management Teams; Business or Company Management

Keywords: Mihir A. Desai; Corporate, Subsidiary, and Regional Managing Offices; Corporate, Subsidiary, and Regional Managing Offices; Corporate, Subsidiary, and Regional Managing Offices; Corporate, Subsidiary, and Regional Managing Offices

01 Mar 2011
News

Tax and Grow

© politicalcartoons.com/Jimmy Margulies With the U.S. economic recovery stuck in low gear and traditional monetary and fiscal policy options seemingly exhausted, now is a good time to consider more novel... View Details

February 2016
Case

Hon Hai's Investment in Sharp

By: Mihir A. Desai, Keith Chi-ho Wong and Zachary Markovich

In March 2012, Hon Hai Precision Industry Company, Ltd. (Hon Hai) announced its investment in the Sharp Corporation (Sharp). The deal was structured in two parts: the first had Hon Hai investing in Sharp, and the second involved Hon Hai founder, chairman, and CEO Terry... View Details

Keywords: Hon Hai; Sharp; LCD-TFT; East Asia; Net Present Value; Acquisitions; Valuation; Negotiation Deal; Acquisition; East Asia

September 2017 (Revised September 2023)
Case

Chase Sapphire: Creating a Millennial Cult Brand

By: Shelle Santana, Jill Avery and Christine Snively

The launch of the Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card was enthusiastically received by millennial consumers, a cohort that had previously eluded JPMorgan Chase and its competitors. With the one-year anniversary of the launch approaching, managers are focused on... View Details

17 Aug 2020
Research & Ideas

What the Stockdale Paradox Tells Us About Crisis Leadership

don't work out.” How does it apply? (or, Why there is no “normal” to come back to) Your state, industry, organization—or unconscious mind—may be pinning hopes on some other event or date after which some version of “rescue” will come: a vaccine, a cure, a reliable... View Details

Keywords: by Boris Groysberg and Robin Abrahams

December 2006 (Revised October 2016)
Case

eClinicalWorks: The Paths to Growth

By: Robert F. Higgins and Mark Rennella

In January 2006, eClinicalWorks (eCW) had an acquisition opportunity that could fundamentally change the way they had done business since the inception of the company in 1999. eClinicalWorks was a privately run business in the healthcare information technology field... View Details

Keywords: Young Companies; Strategic Revelation; Strategy And Execution; Strategy Development; Strategy And Leadership; Financing Strategy; Financing Risk; Financing; Expansion; Business Growth and Maturation; Organizational Culture; Financing and Loans; Customer Focus and Relationships; Acquisition; Growth and Development Strategy; Information Technology Industry; Health Industry; Massachusetts

December 2008 (Revised October 2012)
Case

Special Economic Zones in India: Public Purpose and Private Property (A)

By: Laura Alfaro and Lakshmi Iyer

In 2005, the government of India enacted the Special Economic Zones (SEZ) Act in order to attract investment, generate export revenues, and create manufacturing jobs. However, several planned projects faced difficulties in acquiring land for setting up the SEZ. In... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Development Economics; Economic Growth; Policy; Government Legislation; Property; Business and Community Relations; Business and Government Relations; India

July 2022 (Revised January 2023)
Case

Vicky Tsai and Tatcha: Confronting Stereotypes

By: Geoffrey Jones and Veronica Tong

Teaching Plan for HBS Case No. 323-007. This case examines the career of Vicky Tsai, the creator of San Francisco-based TATCHA, a Japanese-themed luxury beauty brand launched in 2009. It explores how Tsai developed the concept, assembled management, and successfully... View Details

Keywords: Cosmetics Industry; Japan; Startup; Marketing; Entrepreneurship; Growth and Development; Product Development; Product Marketing; Acquisition; Identity; Brands and Branding; Ethnicity; Gender; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; United States

01 Dec 2022
News

December 2022 Alumni and Faculty Books and Podcasts

he has to Pittsburgh’s business elite while maintaining the objectivity to tell the hard truths about those same people. Ultimately, he must thwart a terrorist plot that could disrupt the massive corporate merger that would restructure... View Details

22 Oct 2008
Working Paper Summaries

Variation in Experience and Team Familiarity: Addressing the Knowledge Acquisition-Application Problem

Keywords: by Robert S. Huckman & Bradley R. Staats; Video Game; Web Services

Article

Investor Activism and Takeovers

By: Robin Greenwood and Michael Schor

Recent work documents large positive abnormal returns around the time that a hedge fund announces its activist intentions with a publicly listed firm. We show that these returns are largely explained by the ability of activists to force target firms into a takeover: In... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Private Equity; Investment Return; Investment Activism; Investment Portfolio; Public Ownership

October 2021
Article

Directors' Perceptions of Board Effectiveness and Internal Operations

By: J. Yo-Jud Cheng, Boris Groysberg, Paul M. Healy and Rajesh Vijayaraghavan

We contribute to the growing literature on the effectiveness of corporate boards by examining the effect of two insights that have been largely unexplored in prior studies that use public data. First, since boards’ responsibilities are wide-ranging, more holistic... View Details

Keywords: Boards Of Directors; Corporate Governance; Governing and Advisory Boards; Performance Effectiveness; Perception

Find at Harvard

February 2011 (Revised June 2013)
Case

Businesses for Sale by Briggs Capital, 2010

By: Richard S. Ruback and Royce Yudkoff

Briggs Capital was a regional mergers and acquisitions advisory firm that helped owners to sell their small firms. The case presents a company that was for sale in the fall of 2010—a troubled manufacturer of post and beam style homes and log homes. Using the actual... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Exit or Shutdown; Entrepreneurship; Financial Condition; Investment; Financial Services Industry; Boston