Publications

2020
Working Paper

Private Equity and COVID-19

By: Paul A. Gompers, Steven N. Kaplan and Vladimir Mukharlyamov

We survey more than 200 private equity (PE) managers from firms with $1.9 trillion of assets under management (AUM) about their portfolio performance, decisionmaking and activities during the Covid-19 pandemic. Given that PE managers have significant incentives to... View Details

Keywords: Health Pandemics; Private Equity; Management; Investment Portfolio; Performance; Decision Making; Value Creation

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April 2010 (Revised May 2017)
Case

Tremblant Capital Group

By: Robin Greenwood

Brett Barakett, CEO and founder of Tremblant Capital Group, a New York–based hedge fund, must decide what to do with his fund's position in Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, which has dropped in value by more than 40% in recent months. Tremblant is a hedge fund that... View Details

Keywords: Business Earnings; Behavioral Finance; Stocks; Investment Funds; Consumer Behavior; Competitive Advantage; Financial Services Industry; New York (city, NY)

Web

Publications - Faculty & Research

; Decision Making ; Going Public ; Ownership Stake ; Strategic Planning ; Venture Capital ; Problems and Challenges ; Business Cycles ; Digital Platforms ; Emerging Markets ; Market Timing ; Expansion ; Diversification ; Value ; Valuation... View Details

2009
Working Paper

The Impact of Private Equity Ownership on Portfolio Firms' Corporate Tax Planning

By: Brad Badertscher, Sharon P. Katz and Sonja Olhoft Rego

This study investigates whether private equity (PE) firms influence the tax practices of their portfolio firms. Prior research documents that PE firms create economic value in portfolio firms through effective governance, financial, and operational engineering. Given... View Details

Keywords: Private Equity; Investment Portfolio; Corporate Governance; Taxation; Ownership Stake; Value Creation

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April 2016
Supplement

Canadian Pacific's Bid for Norfolk Southern Spreadsheet Supplement

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Scott Mayfield

In December 2015, Canadian Pacific Railroad (CPR) has just made its third bid to acquire Norfolk Southern Corporation (NSC), one of the largest railroads in the United States. Having rejected the prior offers, NSC’s CEO James Squires and the NSC board must now value... View Details

Keywords: Capital Structure; Cash Flow; Cost of Capital; Financial Strategy; Investment Activism; Bids and Bidding; Negotiation Offer; Corporate Strategy; Rail Transportation; Mergers and Acquisitions; Transformation; United States; Canada

December 2005 (Revised November 2006)
Case

Corning, 2002

By: Malcolm P. Baker and James Quinn

Corning, with large investments in fiber optic technology, was hit particularly hard by the collapse of the telecommunications industry in 2001. With over $4 billion in debt, the firm's survival appears to rest on raising additional equity capital. The protagonist is... View Details

Keywords: Financial Strategy; Financial Condition; Financial Instruments; Valuation; Capital; Public Equity; Stock Shares; Business or Company Management; Strategy; Manufacturing Industry; Industrial Products Industry

24 Jun 2014
First Look

First Look: June 24

argue that this rule is feasible despite the limited powers of central authorities. We also offer a framework for reasoning about future prices of IP addresses and then explore the role of rentals in sharing information about the value of... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

02 Aug 2018
Blog Post

Venturing into VC

I’ve spent my summer as an MBA Associate at Victress Capital, an early-stage venture capital (VC) firm focused on achieving outsized returns through investing in diverse teams. I originally met our firm’s two General Partners (GPs), Lori... View Details

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Faculty & Research

builds directly on scientific output. In this paper, we analyze U.S. patents to investigate how firms generate value by building on prior art “closer” to science. We show that patent value is decreasing in... View Details

15 Jan 2008
First Look

First Look: January 15, 2008

Course MaterialsPerforming Industry Research to Inform Investment Decisions Harvard Business School Note 207-069 Conducting thorough research about an industry is often an important component of investment... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

June 1995
Case

Banc One Corporation (A)

As Banc One's use of derivatives had proliferated, investors and analysts had expressed increasing concern about the size of derivative portfolios, the potential sensitivity of their value to interest rate swings, and the lack of standardized reporting on their use.... View Details

Keywords: Credit Derivatives and Swaps; Investment Banking; Financial Reporting; Annual Reports; Banking Industry

31 Aug 2009
Research & Ideas

Why Competition May Not Improve Credit Rating Agencies

regulation has aimed to increase competition among raters ever since the Enron debacle. "As researchers we feared that increased competition may have detrimental effects in this setting." In our e-mail Q&A, Becker discusses the View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Financial Services

14 Apr 2021
Research & Ideas

The High Cost of the Slow COVID Vaccine Rollout

reduced vaccine costs. But again, in the case of COVID-19, the value of these investments would have far outstripped the potential costs. Time to invest in horseshoe crab... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Health

June 2013 (Revised November 2016)
Case

Goldfinger: Charles W. Engelhard Jr. and Apartheid-era South Africa

By: Geoffrey Jones and Elliot R. Benton

This case considers the strategies of Charles W. Engelhard, an American mining magnate who made large investments in apartheid-era South Africa. Engelhard was widely believed to have been the model for the James Bond villan Auric Goldfinger. During the 1950s and 1960s... View Details

Keywords: Political Economy; Business History; FDI; Corporate Social Responsibility And Impact; South Africa; Mining; Ethics; Globalization; Government and Politics; History; Mining Industry; Africa; South Africa

March 2024 (Revised April 2024)
Case

Angel City Football Club: Scoring a New Model

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport, Jennifer Fonstad and Nicole Tempest Keller

In January 2024, Kara Nortman, Julie Uhrman, and Natalie Portman, the founders of Angel City Football Club (ACFC) were developing the club’s first three-year strategic plan. Founded in 2020, ACFC had a star-studded investor group, including Portman and celebrities such... View Details

Keywords: Sports; Entertainment; Entrepreneurship; Brands and Branding; Venture Capital; Business Model; Corporate Strategy; Digital Marketing; Sports Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; United States; California; Los Angeles

January 1985
Case

Business Research Corp. (A)

By: William A. Sahlman

Contains a description of a decision confronting an entrepreneur: which of two investment proposals should he accept to fund the creation and marketing of a database that comprises the full text of research reports produced by Wall Street investment banking firms? The... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Cost vs Benefits; Valuation; Investment Banking; Negotiation Participants; Negotiation Deal; Financing and Loans; Financial Strategy; Corporate Finance; Service Industry

March 2015
Article

Inside the “Black Box” of Sell-Side Financial Analysts

By: Lawrence D. Brown, Andrew C. Call, Michael B. Clement and Nathan Y. Sharp

Our objective is to penetrate the “black box” of sell-side financial analysts by providing new insights into the inputs analysts use and the incentives they face. We survey 365 analysts and conduct 18 follow-up interviews covering a wide range of topics, including the... View Details

Keywords: Knowledge Use and Leverage; Investment; Analysis; Forecasting and Prediction; Stocks; Financial Services Industry