Publications

September 2021
Case

Vignettes on Professional Service Firm Governance

By: David G. Fubini, Suraj Srinivasan and Li-Kuan Ni

The two vignettes within “Vignettes on Professional Service Firm Governance” (HBS No. 122-024) present various issues relating to governance in professional service firms (“PSFs”). In the first, the Managing Director of a U.S. consulting firm contemplates whether to... View Details

July 1999 (Revised January 2004)
Case

Chrysler and BMW: Tritec Engine Joint Venture

By: H. Kent Bowen and Courtney Purrington

A gifted project leader lacks significant new product development experience. The case highlights the issues and procedures related to defining the project strategy: organizing senior management approvals and support for creating a "heavyweight" team; aligning the... View Details

Keywords: Product Development; Joint Ventures; Projects; Business Strategy; Management Teams; Groups and Teams; Machinery and Machining; Design; Business Processes; Product Design; Product; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Auto Industry

05 Feb 2019
First Look

New Research and Ideas, February 5, 2019

integrating employers would provide a much-needed revenue stream, at the same time Appin and Sunbulli worry that doing so could destroy the user experience. Is formalizing employer relationships antithetical to the safe space they have... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

05 Dec 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, December 5, 2017

Price, Local Value Creation, Global Standard of Excellence, Dedicated Service Relationship and the Expert Knowledge designs. Students are asked to analyze the configurations used in each of these examples and then to apply the analyses to... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

08 Dec 2015
First Look

December 8, 2015

market power. This reflected a business system in which a close relationship between finance and industry was discouraged, but where there were few restrictions on the transfer of corporate ownership. Yet large diversified business groups... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

24 Jun 2014
First Look

First Look: June 24

credit and documentary collection terms. Transactions are more likely to occur on cash in advance or letter of credit terms when the importer is located in a country with weak contractual enforcement. As an importer develops a View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

02 Mar 2010
First Look

First Look: March 2

secret of its desire to retain a piece of the firm, at the very least, and some measure of control. The case explores the steps taken by the private equity investors to restructure the firm, and the relationship the partners forged with... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

04 Sep 2007
Research & Ideas

Jumpstarting Innovation: Using Disruption to Your Advantage

disruptive opportunities are identified, tightly aligned organizations, business models, and industry relationships make it tough to respond quickly and effectively. As a result, executives in established firms often frame disruption as a... View Details

Keywords: by Lynda M. Applegate

January 1997 (Revised November 1997)
Case

Fojtasek Companies and Heritage Partners, The: March 1995

By: Samuel L. Hayes III and Josh Lerner

The Fojtasek Companies, a family business, faces several financing choices to address generational succession issues. Several buyouts have expressed interest in acquiring the firm outright; an investment bank has proposed a leveraged recapitalization; and a private... View Details

Keywords: Family Ownership; Financing and Loans; Private Equity; Mergers and Acquisitions; Investment Banking; Partners and Partnerships; Management Succession; Capital Structure; Financial Strategy

March 2011
Supplement

H Partners and Six Flags (B)

By: Robin Greenwood and Michael Gorzynski

Rehan Jaffer, the founder of hedge fund H Partners, is considering what to do with his investment in Six Flags. H Partners had invested a significant amount of the firm's capital in the senior bonds of U.S.-based Six Flags, following that company's bankruptcy filing. View Details

Keywords: Equity; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Business and Shareholder Relations; Price; Acquisition; Decisions; Borrowing and Debt; Investment Funds; Opportunities; Bonds; Investment Activism; Financial Services Industry; United States

March 1987 (Revised July 1996)
Case

Kansas City Zephyrs Baseball Club, Inc.

By: Kenneth A. Merchant, Krishna G. Palepu and Joseph P. Mulloy

Describes a dispute between the owners of the major league baseball teams and the players' union about the profitability of the baseball teams. The issue is important because of the ongoing collective bargaining negotiations. A consultant is brought in to decide... View Details

Keywords: State Ownership; Compensation and Benefits; Entrepreneurship; For-Profit Firms; Accounting; Activity Based Costing and Management; Resource Allocation; Cost Accounting; Cost Management; Labor and Management Relations; Financial Management; Sports; Sports Industry; Kansas

16 Jul 2013
First Look

First Look: July 16

its importance. 3) Being close to people who were ambivalent about a change was always beneficial. In the end, fence-sitters were reluctant to disappoint a friend. But close relationships with resisters were a double-edged sword: such... View Details

Keywords: Anna Secino

30 May 2005
Research & Ideas

Germany’s Pioneering Corporate Managers

Siemens, the Deutsche Bank, Dresdner, Bosch, BASF, and so on, all managed to somehow reconstruct and reinvent themselves after these upheavals. So I intended to write a long-term study about a company or factory with a focus on its View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

November 2024
Case

Demond Martin and WellWithAll

By: Hise Gibson, Archie L. Jones and Ai-Ling Jamila Malone

This case study chronicles the transformative entrepreneurial path of Demond Martin, co-founder and CEO of WellWithAll, a health and wellness startup. Motivated by a pivotal life experience and deep concern for racial health inequities, Martin transitions from a... View Details

July 2016
Supplement

Mahindra Tool: Project Economics

By: Joseph B. Fuller and Christopher Payton

The case describes Mahindra Lifespace Developers’ (MLDL), a unit of Indian conglomerate Mahindra and Mahindra, foray into the affordable housing segment. MLDL sees a huge opportunity in selling apartments to the burgeoning population of urban workers, which is badly... View Details

Keywords: Business Conglomerates; Business Startups; Development Economics; Developing Countries and Economies; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Social Entrepreneurship; Housing; Emerging Markets; Business and Government Relations; Human Needs; Social Issues; Urban Development; Real Estate Industry; India