Publications

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April 2012
Case

Man Group (A)

By: Robert C. Pozen and Thomas M. Clay

The Man Group was a huge and successful UK-based hedge fund and fund of funds manager. Through acquisitions, the company had consciously diversified its portfolio of investment products. In 2007 Man had to decide whether or not to spin off its brokerage business. Man... View Details

Keywords: Asset Management; Investment Funds; Financial Crisis; Decisions; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Diversification; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Strategy; Financial Services Industry; United Kingdom; Europe

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December 2024
Case

Enerjisa Üretim: The Digital Era of Electricity Generation

By: Prithwiraj Choudhury and Sadika El Hariri

Launched in 2017, Enerjisa Üretim was one of Türkiye’s largest private sector electricity companies. In its early days, the company faced some financial and operational troubles. When İhsan Erbil Bayçöl, the current CEO of Enerjisa Üretim, joined the business in 2018,... View Details

Keywords: Private Sector; Performance Improvement; Renewable Energy; Growth and Development Strategy; Business Units; Partners and Partnerships; Leadership; Energy Industry; Utilities Industry; Turkey

February 2010
Case

Shurgard Self-Storage: Expansion to Europe (Abridged)

By: Richard G. Hamermesh

Shurgard, a U.S.-based firm that rents storage facilities to consumers and small businesses, is considering financing options for rapid expansion of its European operations. Five years after entering Europe, Shurgard Europe has opened 17 facilities in Belgium, France,... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Business Growth and Maturation; Multinational Firms and Management; Logistics; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Trade; Equity; Corporate Finance; United States; Europe

29 Feb 2024
HBS Case

Beyond Goals: David Beckham's Playbook for Mobilizing Star Talent

despite the investments of Beckham and others, remained relatively small, dwarfed by homegrown sports like football and baseball. Beckham has committed to building US soccer as part of his legacy, the case says, and brands started... View Details

Keywords: by Avery Forman; Sports

October 2008 (Revised March 2010)
Case

PlanetTran

By: Lauren H. Cohen and Christopher J. Malloy

PlanetTran is an environmentally-friendly car service that utilizes a fleet of hybrid cars in providing livery service to corporations and individuals. The founder, Seth Riney, is evaluating outside funding options in order to expand the company, and has met several... View Details

Keywords: Business Growth and Maturation; Venture Capital; Investment; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Expansion; Value

July 2010 (Revised March 2012)
Case

China 'Unbalanced'

By: Diego A. Comin and Richard H.K. Vietor

In 2010, Wen Jiabao looked back at the financial crisis with some satisfaction. Using aggressive fiscal and monetary policy, China had weathered the crisis successfully, growing 8.7% annually in 2010. Most of the unemployed workers had returned to work, often... View Details

Keywords: Economic Growth; Financial Crisis; Trade; Currency Exchange Rate; Investment; Local Range; Growth and Development Strategy; Demand and Consumers; China

27 Apr 2009
Research & Ideas

Building Businesses in Turbulent Times

decade, money from around the world has poured into the United States. Despite massive investments, when adjusted for inflation, U.S. GDP grew slowly, with much of the growth from professional and business services—including real estate,... View Details

Keywords: by Staff

Web

Strategy Explained - Institute For Strategy And Competitiveness

fundamental goal of a company is superior long-term return on invested capital (ROIC) . Only if you achieve strong ROIC are you creating true economic value, which says that you can produce a product f or a price that’s greater than the... View Details

March 2018
Article

Global Business over Time

By: Geoffrey Jones

This article explores how business enterprises have been powerful actors in the spread of global capitalism between 1840 and the present day. It also shows how global firms, emerging out of industrialized Western economies, created and co-created markets and ecosystems... View Details

Keywords: Global; Multinational; Business History; Globalization; Globalized Firms and Management; Globalized Markets and Industries; Economic Systems

2011
Chapter

Innovations in Governance

By: Raymond Fisman and Eric Werker

In this paper we explore the innovations in governance that have promoted investment and growth. Some policymakers have tinkered with their country's institutions, some have undertaken wholesale changes, while others have attempted to influence the rules in other... View Details

Keywords: Economic Growth; Investment; Governance; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Policy; Government and Politics; Innovation and Invention

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Read Now

January 2008 (Revised October 2015)
Case

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited: A Global Company's China Strategy

By: William C. Kirby, Michael Shih-Ta Chen and Keith Wong

After fifty-five years in the semiconductor industry, Morris Chang, founder and Chairman of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), was seeing a change. After four decades of regular double-digit growth the industry was still growing-but now at a much slower... View Details

Keywords: Investment; Globalized Firms and Management; Market Entry and Exit; Business and Government Relations; Expansion; Semiconductor Industry; Shanghai; Taiwan

15 Nov 2016
First Look

November 15, 2016

hiring (in this study, by the head office of a U.S. retail chain) or decentralized hiring (by store managers) leads to higher quality employee-company matches. While centralized hiring can ensure that enough resources are invested in... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

July 2020
Case

Driving Transformation at the Majid Al Futtaim Group

By: Suraj Srinivasan and Esel Çekin

The case opens with Alain Bejjani, CEO of Majid Al Futtaim (MAF) Holding, anticipating on the Group’s next phase in the multi-year transformation journey and reflecting on the initiatives he implemented to create the Group’s growth-oriented culture. Founded in 1995,... View Details

Keywords: Transformation; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Growth and Development Strategy; Retail Industry; United Arab Emirates; Middle East; Dubai

April 1997
Background Note

Note on Value Drivers

By: Benjamin C. Esty

Presents a framework for analyzing strategic decisions. Takes as given the practice of value-based management whereby managers use value as a primary criterion when making financial, strategic, or investment decisions. Through a simple valuation model, it shows how... View Details

Keywords: Decisions; Equity; Financial Strategy; Investment; Profit; Framework; Growth Management; Value Creation

Career Coach

Meredith Hamilton

Meredith [she/her] has served as a mentor and coach to innumerable mid-career staff as well as several CEOs in the social sector. She is committed to creating a safe space for students and alumni to explore questions of professional identity and career progression... View Details

Keywords: Impact Investing; Impact Investing; Impact Investing; Impact Investing; Impact Investing; Impact Investing; Impact Investing

19 Jan 2016
First Look

January 19, 2016

forthcoming Cambridge, MA: MIT Press Revolutionizing Innovation: Users, Communities, and Open Innovation By: Harhoff, Dietmar, and Karim R. Lakhani, eds. Abstract—The last two decades have witnessed an extraordinary growth of new models... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

02 Jul 2009
Working Paper Summaries

Technology Innovation and Diffusion as Sources of Output and Asset Price Fluctuations

Keywords: by Diego A. Comin, Mark Gertler & Ana Maria Santacreu; Technology

May 2022
Case

Rawbank's Illico Cash: Can 'Fast Money' Overcome Cash Dependency in the DRC?

By: Lauren Cohen and Grace Headinger

Thomas de Dreux-Brézé, the Head of Strategy and Project Management at Rawbank Congo in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), was perplexed as he reviewed annual adoption rates for the bank’s launch of Illico Cash 2.0. As the bank’s mobile money app, Illico Cash... View Details