Publications

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November 2009 (Revised October 2010)
Case

AME Learning Inc.

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Ann Leamon

Justin Joffe is about to graduate from HBS in Spring 2009. He must decide whether to join his father's company, Toronto-based AME Learning, as president working alongside his father who will be CEO. AME has been in business for 12 years, mostly as a small consulting... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Family Business; Age; Private Equity; Financing and Loans; Growth and Development Strategy; Family and Family Relationships

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September 2011 (Revised December 2011)
Case

CARD Group: Mutually Reinforcing Institutions

By: Cynthia A. Montgomery, Michael Shih-Ta Chen and Dawn Lau

CARD (Center for Agricultural and Rural Development) is a Philippines-based microfinance organization that began as an NGO and has since expanded into eight related entities providing services to the poor. Under Founding Director Dr. Aristotle Alip's leadership, CARD... View Details

Keywords: Microfinance; Partners and Partnerships; Non-Governmental Organizations; Business Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Financial Services Industry; Philippines

February 2000 (Revised April 2003)
Case

InSite Marketing Technology (A)

By: Lynda M. Applegate, Genevieve J.S. Feraud and Sheila L Marcelo

Introduces students to products and services that improve customers' online shopping experience. Also discusses the challenges of marketing new product concepts and finding funding for start-up ventures. View Details

Keywords: Customer Focus and Relationships; Financing and Loans; Technological Innovation; Business or Company Management; Marketing Strategy; Product Launch; Service Delivery; Competitive Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Service Industry; Web Services Industry

01 Jun 2003
News

Unsung Hero

where, with her banking and diplomatic skills, she became a policy advisor to the State Department’s Counterterrorism Finance and Designation Unit. She trains foreign... View Details

Keywords: Finance

October 2019
Teaching Note

Granite Equity Partners

By: Victoria Ivashina and Terrence Shu

This teaching note accompanies HBS case 219-040, “Granite Equity Partners,” which follows the private equity firm as it evaluates the potential acquisition of Tyrell Corp., a Minnesota-based quality control biomaterials company. Granite Equity’s fund was different from... View Details

Keywords: Private Equity Exit; Investing; Fund Exit; Fund Management; Wealth Management; Liquidity; Buyout; Exit Strategy; Preferred Shares; Convertible Notes; Finance; Private Equity; Investment; Asset Management; Wealth; Management; Financial Liquidity; Minnesota; United States

12 Apr 2023
News

Step Change

working as an economist in the Egyptian Ministry of Finance when the Arab Spring swept through Cairo in 2011. When we met, she was executive director of the Egyptian American Enterprise Fund, a $300 million investment initiative between... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna; entrepreneurship; women; venture capital; Egypt; developing economies; Finance

01 Mar 2003
News

Rating Better

Three finance professors have devised a new mutual fund rating system that appears to do a better job of separating fund managers whose performance reflects genuine ability from those whose results depend on luck alone. The authors of the... View Details

Keywords: Randolph Cohen; Lubos Pastor; Funds, Trusts, and Other Financial Vehicles; Funds, Trusts, and Other Financial Vehicles

01 Aug 2019
News

Investing for Good

“Our mission at Social Finance is to mobilize capital—public capital, private capital—in service of society. The tool that we are most proud of is the social impact bond, which is essentially a public-private partnership that brings... View Details

Keywords: Finance

01 Mar 2023
News

Is AI OK?

to weeding bias out of banking and lending, essentially removing from the picture human beings and their inherently biased decision-making processes. He understood that his father, a Black business owner in... View Details

Keywords: Alexander Gelfand; Funds, Trusts, and Other Financial Vehicles; Funds, Trusts, and Other Financial Vehicles

July 2009 (Revised July 2009)
Case

Blue Ocean or Stormy Waters? Buying Nix Check Cashing

By: Peter Tufano

Kinecta Federal Credit Union has the opportunity to purchase Nix Check Cashing as part of their "blue ocean" strategy to reach the financially underserved and increase credit union membership and deposits. But they face financial as well as reputational risk. Check... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Credit; Financing and Loans; Personal Finance; Strategic Planning; Partners and Partnerships; Reputation; Banking Industry; Financial Services Industry

January 2011 (Revised December 2017)
Case

Tombstones

By: Timothy A. Luehrman and David Lane

This case consists primarily of excerpts from term sheets and prospectuses for six securities offerings made by US companies during 2009-2010, just after the financial crisis and recession of 2008-09. There are three issues of senior unsecured notes, one floating rate... View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Equity; Debt Securities; Bonds; Motivation and Incentives; United States

01 Dec 2001
News

Navigating Success in Volatile Times

presentations, networking, and professional development seminars. Professor Josh Lerner led "Anatomy of a Venture Deal," an incisive discussion about the financing of B2eMarkets, a technology-based sourcing... View Details

Keywords: Mary Ellen Gardner; Finance

20 Apr 2009
Research & Ideas

Misgovernance at the World Bank

According to the study, each developing country on the intergovernmental aid organization's Board of Executive Directors receives a significant boost in loans and grants—effectively a doubling of their... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

February 2018
Case

Wiikano Orchards

By: Benson P. Shapiro and Katherine B. Hartman

Wiikano Orchards, a family-owned business, faces declining demand in a commodity industry. The president is considering rebranding Wiikano's apple juice, increasing its prices and promotions. If this proposal succeeds, wholesalers and retailers would be more likely to... View Details

Keywords: Brands and Branding; Price; Marketing Communications; Product Marketing; Food and Beverage Industry

October 2023 (Revised January 2024)
Case

Ball: EVA Driving the World's Leading Can Manufacturer (A)

By: Jonas Heese and Susan Pinckney

The case describes Ball’s multi decade history of using Economic Value Added to drive decision making and workforce compensation. In 2016, the company acquired Rexam PLC and became the world’s leading metal beverage container company. Consumer demand for varied... View Details

March 2016 (Revised October 2023)
Case

Central European Distribution Corporation: Hostile Takeover, Bankruptcy Makeover

By: Stuart C. Gilson and Sarah L. Abbott

In early 2013, Central European Distribution Corporation (CEDC), a large publicly traded producer and distributer of vodka and spirits in Eastern and Central Europe, has suffered significant declines in its financial performance, is at risk of defaulting on its debt,... View Details

Keywords: Hostile Takeover; Accounting Restatement; Activist Shareholder; Restructuring; Mergers and Acquisitions; Financial Statements; Corporate Governance; Investment Activism; Food and Beverage Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; United States; Russia; Europe

01 Jun 2008
News

The Prophet of Start-Ups

(HBS Press, 2008), by BusinessWeek editor Spencer E. Ante. What follows is an excerpt adapted from the book. Venture capital has existed in one form or another since the earliest days of commercial activity. The Spanish monarchy and... View Details

Keywords: Spencer E. Ante; George Doriot; Charles F. Kettering; Lawrence Lowell; F. Warren Hellman; Finance; Finance; Finance

August 2022
Supplement

Sweet Teez Bakery: Projecting the Dough’s Rise Financial Supplement

By: Emily R. McComb, Mel Martin and Amy Klopfenstein

Abstract: In 2021, the HBS Impact Investment Fund student team met with entrepreneur Teresa Maynard, who had applied for a $25,000 impact investment loan. The students thought the former Harvard Data Scientist’s bakery business, Sweet Teez Bakery, showed promise.... View Details

Keywords: Impact Investment; Entrepreneurship; Social Entrepreneurship; Finance; Investment; Goods and Commodities; Financial Reporting; Small Business; Food and Beverage Industry; Massachusetts; United States