Publications

01 Sep 2008
News

Building a Better MBA

need to think critically about what you are doing every 100 years or so, whether you need to or not,” Dean Jay Light wryly observed in opening remarks to an unprecedented campus gathering last March of business school deans, corporate... View Details

Keywords: Roger Thompson; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services

14 May 2013
First Look

First Look: May 14

Rhodes-Kropf, and Soojin Yim Abstract—We study how corporate governance affects firm value through the decision of whether to fire or retain the CEO. We present a model in which weak governance-which prevents shareholders from controlling... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

23 Dec 2008
First Look

First Look: December 23, 2008

http://harvardbusinessonline.hbsp.harvard.edu/ b01/en/common/item_detail.jhtml?id=509024 Breaking through Action Plan Harvard Business School Exercise 409-059 The "Breaking Through Action Plan" is a developmental tool based on the book, Breaking Through: The... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

07 May 2009
Working Paper Summaries

Broadening Focus: Spillovers and the Benefits of Specialization in the Hospital Industry

Keywords: by Jonathan R. Clark & Robert S. Huckman; Health

June 1986 (Revised May 1989)
Case

Biltwell Shears, Inc.

By: Thomas R. Piper

A senior loan officer is reviewing the recent performance of a company that has failed to repay its loan as scheduled. The failure results from a cyclical downturn in sales, coupled with a lag in cutting back production. Inventory risk is minimal. This case is an... View Details

Keywords: Financial Condition; Financing and Loans; Corporate Finance; Manufacturing Industry

October 2019 (Revised June 2020)
Case

Pantheon Ventures in 2019

By: Victoria Ivashina and Tonia Labruyere

The case discusses the strategy of Pantheon, a UK-based fund of funds investing in private equity. Client demands and preferences had changed in the aftermath of the 2008 global financial crisis and Pantheon had to adapt its business model to accommodate requests for... View Details

Keywords: Financial Management; Private Equity; Corporate Strategy; Financial Services Industry; United Kingdom

January 2018
Case

Blue Harbour's Activism at Babcock & Wilcox

By: Suraj Srinivasan and Quinn Pitcher

The case describes Blue Harbour Group's investment in Babcock & Wilcox and its transformation into BWX Technologies. In 2004, activist hedge fund Blue Harbour Group invested in Babcock & Wilcox, an energy and construction company. Blue Harbour developed an investment... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Governance; Investment Activism; Leading Change; Energy Industry; Construction Industry; United States

1991
Book

Strategy: Seeking and Securing Competitive Advantage

By: C. A. Montgomery and M. E. Porter

Keywords: Strategic Planning; Competitive Advantage; Corporate Strategy

April 2004
Case

Marks & Spencer: The Phoenix Rises - A Multimedia Case Study

By: Joseph L. Bower

Enables students to interactively research the steps Marks & Spencer's top executives took to restore prosperity and explore in depth the major issues remaining. The perspective is that of Luc Vandevelde, who arrived at the venerable U.K. retailer in 2001, and that of... View Details

Keywords: Brands and Branding; Corporate Strategy; Management Teams; Retail Industry; United Kingdom

March 2002 (Revised July 2004)
Case

Price of Light, The: Privatization, Regulation and Valuation in Brazil

Asks students to produce a valuation for Rio Light, a Brazilian power company that is state owned and to be sold in March 1996. If successful, the privatization would bring in over $2 billion to the Brazilian treasury. But success was far from assured. Members of the... View Details

Keywords: Valuation; Energy Generation; Privatization; Corporate Governance; Energy Industry; Brazil

2009
Chapter

The Role of Resources in Institutional Entrepreneurship: Insights for an Approach to Strategic Management That Combines Agency and Institution

By: Julie Battilana and Bernard Leca

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Resource Allocation; Corporate Strategy; Management Style

March 1994 (Revised April 1995)
Case

EnClean: Malcolm Waddell's Story (A)

By: David J. Collis

Describes, in the words of its cofounder, the history of EnClean, an industrial and environmental services company, from its origins in 1984. The company grew rapidly and diversified into new businesses and new geographies both through acquisition and internally. It... View Details

Keywords: Diversification; Expansion; Restructuring; Corporate Strategy

2006
Chapter

Governance Information in Knowledge-Based Companies

By: Jay W. Lorsch

Keywords: Corporate Governance; Knowledge Management; Information Management; Information Industry

December 1986 (Revised April 1987)
Case

Motorola's Japan Strategy

By: David B. Yoffie and John J. Coleman

Keywords: Globalized Firms and Management; Corporate Strategy; Trade; Technology Industry; Communications Industry; Japan

Keywords: Diversified

09 Aug 2016
Working Paper Summaries

Shareholder Activism on Sustainability Issues

Keywords: by Jody Grewal, George Serafeim, and Aaron Yoon

April 1999 (Revised September 2001)
Case

Penelope's Personal Pocket Phones

By: Paul A. Gompers

Provides students with an opportunity to use simple real options analysis to value a startup. Penelope Phillips is deciding whether to start a company to make wireless phones. Students get experience using traditional discounted cash flow valuation and a real options... View Details

Keywords: Valuation; Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Capital Budgeting; Corporate Finance; Manufacturing Industry; Electronics Industry