Publications

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September 1986 (Revised February 1991)
Case

Graves Industries, Inc. (C): Consumer Hardware Division

Describes events occurring over a three-year period in a division of Graves Industries. The division is being squeezed for profit, and managers in the division get involved in some fraudulent financial reporting schemes involving revenues and capitalization of... View Details

Keywords: Earnings Management; Crime and Corruption; Ethics; Financial Reporting

E. Scott Mayfield

Scott Mayfield is a Senior Lecturer of Business Administration in the Finance Unit at the Harvard Business School. Prior rejoining the faculty in 2011, Professor Mayfield was an assistant professor and member of the Finance Unit at HBS from 1997 to... View Details

September 2011
Case

AXA Private Equity: The Diana Investment

By: Michael J. Roberts and William A. Sahlman

The case focuses on an investment made by AXA Private Equity, a French manufacturer of food ingredients. The investment is made at the height of the financial markets, and financed with significant debt. Soon thereafter, the financial crisis impacted the company's... View Details

Keywords: Private Equity; Ethics; Investment; Financial Crisis

October 1981 (Revised August 2010)
Case

Quabbin Cablevision Company

By: Henry B. Reiling

Several entrepreneurs are considering the purchase of an existing cable TV business with the financial assistance of several investors. They must decide whether to establish the company as a partnership or a corporation, and how to capitalize the company for an optimal... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Organization; Television Entertainment; Entrepreneurship; Capital Structure; Taxation; Telecommunications Industry; Massachusetts

June 2007 (Revised March 2008)
Case

Zoots - Financing Growth (A)

By: Michael J. Roberts, William A. Sahlman and Todd Krasnow

Traces the genesis and founding of Zoots, the largest chain of dry cleaning establishments in the U.S. Founded by some of the founders of the very successful Staples chain, the company raises a very large amount of capital without fully proving its business model, and... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Decision Choices and Conditions; Venture Capital; Financial Strategy; Investment Return; Growth and Development Strategy; Valuation; United States

Research Summary

Entrepreneurial Finance

By: William A. Sahlman

William A. Sahlman is examining the investment and financing decisions made at all stages in the development of entrepreneurial ventures. Related lines of inquiry concern the role of financial institutions in providing risk capital, and the role of government policy in... View Details

February 2011 (Revised January 2017)
Case

Countrywide plc

By: Stuart C. Gilson and Sarah L. Abbott

One of the world's leading investors in distressed companies, Oaktree Capital Management, is contemplating a "loan to own" investment in the debt of Countrywide plc, a financially troubled residential real estate agent based in the U.K. Only sixteen months earlier,... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Restructuring; Financial Crisis; Capital Structure; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Financial Management; Investment; Real Estate Industry; United Kingdom

January 2013
Case

Omidyar Network: Pioneering Impact Investment

By: Michael Chu and Lauren Barley

Omidyar Network, having deployed to date over $500 million in ways ranging from donations to commercial equity capital, must decide whether to back Anudip, an Indian organization dedicated to providing the rural unemployed and marginalized with livelihoods linked to... View Details

Keywords: Social Enterprise; Social Entrepreneurship; Investment; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; India

November 2012 (Revised November 2013)
Case

Generator Hostels: The Way Out

By: Nicolas P. Retsinas and Lisa Strope

Josh Wyatt, Director of Patron Capital Partners, needs to make an exit decision for a successful investment in Generator Hostels. After five years of explosive growth and in the middle of a financial crisis, Wyatt needs to evaluate Patron's alternatives: IPO the... View Details

Keywords: Hotel; Real Estate; Finance; Property; Accommodations Industry; European Union

04 Dec 2014
News

Can we manage?

June 2016
Supplement

Supply Chain Finance at Procter & Gamble Spreadsheet Supplement

By: Benjamin C. Esty, Scott Mayfield and David Lane

In April 2013, Procter & Gamble (P&G), the world’s largest consumer packaged goods (CPG) company, announced that it would extend its payment terms to suppliers by 30 days. At the same time, P&G announced a new supply chain financing (SCF) program giving suppliers the... View Details

October 2023
Case

Leading Transformation at IHCL

By: Krishna G. Palepu, V.G. Narayanan and Malini Sen

In November 2017, Puneet Chhatwal, took charge as MD and CEO of IHCL, popularly referred to as the Taj Hotels. Despite being India’s largest hospitality company by market capitalization and respected for its values and service, IHCL had made losses for the last seven... View Details

Keywords: Turn Around Management; Hospitality Industry; Brand Management; Financial Strategy; Business Model; Restructuring; Asset Management; Leadership Style; Crisis Management; Brands and Branding; Product Positioning; Segmentation; Asia; India

08 Dec 2011
Working Paper Summaries

Are There Too Many Safe Securities? Securitization and the Incentives for Information Production

Keywords: by Samuel G. Hanson & Adi Sunderam; Financial Services

January 2010 (Revised April 2010)
Case

Greenbriar Growth Partners and Microsurgery Devices

Greenbriar Growth Partners (GGP), a venture capital (VC) firm, has been an investor in Microsurgery Devices (MSD) for four-plus years and has come into conflict with the company's founder. Should the Board's nominating committee re-nominate the VC investor, and should... View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Venture Capital; Private Equity; Initial Public Offering; Governing and Advisory Boards; Conflict of Interests; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; United States