Publications

April 2006 (Revised April 2012)
Background Note

The Role of Private Equity Firms in Merger and Acquisition Transactions

By: William E. Fruhan Jr.

Explores the importance of private equity firms in merger and acquisitions activity around the globe. In many countries, these firms now account for one quarter of the total merger and acquisition activity of all firms. The larger private equity firms generate fees for... View Details

Keywords: Leveraged Buyouts; Mergers and Acquisitions; Private Equity; Investment Funds; Value Creation

Karim R. Lakhani is the Dorothy & Michael Hintze Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School. He specializes in technology management, innovation, digital transformation and artificial... View Details

Keywords: biotechnology; communications; computer; health care; high technology; information technology industry; internet; pharmaceuticals; software; video games

21 Aug 2014
News

Asking for Advice Makes You Seem More Competent, Not Less

January 2010 (Revised March 2010)
Compilation

Firm Strategy Vignettes

By: Josh Lerner, G. Felda Hardymon and Ann Leamon

These three vignettes present various issues around the strategy and management of a private equity firm. In one, a senior partner must decide how to manage an over-extended colleague and how to reduce the risk of the firm's portfolio; in the second, a limited partner... View Details

Keywords: Outcome or Result; Business Strategy; Problems and Challenges; Private Equity; Venture Capital; Investment Portfolio; Partners and Partnerships

01 Dec 2003
Research & Ideas

Sometimes Success Begins at Failure

that eventually resulted in a historic windfall for the drug maker soon after it began marketing UK-92,480 under the brand name Viagra. Pfizer was able to develop and launch a wildly successful and profitable new drug because it effectively View Details

Keywords: by Henry Chesbrough; Health; Pharmaceutical

02 Nov 2021
Research & Ideas

Why COVID-19 Probably Killed More People Than We Realize

what we were seeing,” says Ethan Rouen, an assistant professor in the Accounting and Management Unit at Harvard Business School, who conducted the study with HBS Professor George Serafeim and HBS doctoral candidate Botir Kobilov. “This... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

2015
Chapter

Managerial Responsibility and the Purpose of Business: Doing One's Job Well

By: Nien-he Hsieh

Business managers routinely make decisions that significantly affect the lives of others in both positive and negative ways. In the light of these wide-ranging effects, much scholarship has been devoted to specifying the responsibilities of managers of for-profit... View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Goals and Objectives

Find at Harvard

September 2010 (Revised April 2012)
Case

Better World Books

By: Michael I. Norton, Fiona Wilson, Jill Avery and Thomas J. Steenburgh

Better World Books, a young start-up, provides a socially conscious alternative to Amazon, collecting and selling used books to keep them out of the waste stream, while donating a portion of their profits to support global literacy efforts. The case presents an... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; For-Profit Firms; Marketing Strategy; Social Marketing; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Public Opinion; Social Issues; Online Technology; Retail Industry

December 2016
Article

Industry Window Dressing

By: Huaizhi Chen, Lauren Cohen and Dong Lou

We explore a new mechanism by which investors take correlated shortcuts and present evidence that managers undertake actions—in the form of sales management—to take advantage of these shortcuts. Specifically, we exploit a regulatory provision wherein a firm’s primary... View Details

Keywords: Investor Shortcuts; Industry Classification; Opportunistic Managerial Behavior; Discontinuity; Management Practices and Processes; Investment; Sales

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Read Now

11 Oct 2007
Working Paper Summaries

How Firms Respond to Being Rated

Keywords: by Aaron K. Chatterji & Michael W. Toffel

07 Nov 2013
HBS Seminar

Shawn Cole, Harvard Business School

Career Coach

Kristin Brennan

Kristin (Duke ’03) applies her background as a management consultant, nonprofit Chief Talent Officer and negotiation strategist to her work helping students and alumni chart a course for their career and take the practical steps to... View Details

Keywords: Social Enterprise

January 2003 (Revised February 2003)
Case

Office Depot, Inc.: Business Transformation (A)

By: James L. Heskett, Dan Maher, Daniel F. OBrien, Thomas Watson and Jeffrey F. Rayport

The company's management is considering the possibility of launching a rebranding campaign around the promises "What you need. What you need to know." The questions are whether and when to launch the campaign in view of the large number of training efforts and... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Entrepreneurship; Advertising Campaigns; Brands and Branding; Business Strategy; Technology Adoption; Transformation; Market Timing; Growth and Development; Training; Retail Industry

14 Feb 2022
Blog Post

Celebrating Love @ HBS in 2022

Love @ HBS is an annual celebration of the diverse expressions of love that exist on our campus and in the world around us. PRIDE is pleased to present this annual showcase of stories of love from the LGBTQ+ community and our wonderful... View Details

James I. Cash

Professor Cash received a Bachelor of Science degree in Mathematics from Texas Christian University; a Master of Science in Computer Science from Purdue University's Graduate School of Mathematical Sciences; and a Doctor of Philosophy in Management Information... View Details

Keywords: accounting industry; computer; e-commerce industry; financial services; health care; information technology industry; software

Career Coach

Phil Wong

operational foundation for running healthcare practices. Prior to pivoting into healthcare, Phil was a portfolio manager at a fund of hedge funds managing $1Bn+ on behalf of pension plans and insurance... View Details

Keywords: Investment Management; Investment Management; Investment Management; Investment Management; Investment Management; Investment Management; Investment Management; Investment Management; Investment Management; Investment Management; Investment Management; Investment Management; Investment Management; Investment Management

December 2012 (Revised August 2020)
Case

Rodan + Fields Dermatologists

By: Das Narayandas, Michael Roberts and Liz Kind

The case focuses on issues involved in managing the direct multilevel marketing sales consultants who sell R+F skin care products. The company is trying to better manage the inconsistent and highly variable recruitment behavior of the sales force i.e., the degree to... View Details

Keywords: Marketing; Salesforce Management; Recruitment; Compensation and Benefits; Consumer Products Industry; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; California