Publications

September 2024
Case

Comun: Partners in Peril

By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang and Alexis Lefort

In spring 2023, Abiel Gutierrez and Andres Santos, co-founders of Comun, faced a critical decision at their fintech startup serving Latino immigrants. Having launched their product the previous year, they experienced rapid growth but encountered rising fraud and... View Details

Keywords: Fintech; Business Development; Venture Capital; Business Startups; Partners and Partnerships; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Financial Services Industry; Banking Industry; Latin America; United States

April 2002 (Revised February 2003)
Background Note

An Economic Framework for Assessing Development Impact

By: Benjamin C. Esty, Frank J. Lysy and Carrie Ferman

Discusses the differences between private and social returns and describes an economic framework for assessing a project's social return [known as the economic rate of return (ERR)]. The framework begins by analyzing the impact of a new project on private financiers... View Details

Keywords: Cost vs Benefits; Microeconomics; Investment Return; Framework; Projects; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Valuation

June 2021
Supplement

Reversing Course on a Reverse E-Auction (C)

By: Kym Lew Nelson, James K. Sebenius and Alex Green

Global consumer products powerhouse LSP has found enormous savings in a trial run of a new competitive bidding tool for their procurement organization known as a reverse e-auction. But when Jen Baldwin is asked to achieve the same savings from her suppliers for a... View Details

Keywords: Reverse E-auctions; Bids and Bidding; Auctions; Complexity; Cost vs Benefits

31 May 2016
HBS Case

Who Owns Space?

Development program (CCDev), where it would partner with private New Space companies to share the cost burden of near-Earth activities like supplying the International Space Station. NASA has always had... View Details

Keywords: Re: Matthew C. Weinzierl; Aerospace

29 Jul 2008
First Look

First Look: July 29, 2008

2007, Google responded by organizing the OpenSocial Initiative. OpenSocial provided an application programming interface (API) that was adapted by many of Facebook's social networking rivals, including MySpace and LinkedIn. Relying on a... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

01 Dec 2011
News

Harvard to Restart Allston Development

University’s executive vice president, outlined a two-part plan for proceeding. Phase one includes construction of a 500,000- to 700,000-square-foot health and life science center. Funding for the project will be part View Details

Keywords: Allston; Construction of Buildings; Construction of Buildings; Construction of Buildings; Construction of Buildings

01 Jun 2012
News

They Call Him Mr. China

being channeled to private companies, reminding Perkowski of Wall Street’s go-go years in the 1980s. “Today, there are over a thousand private equity firms in China. And the number of IPOs has tripled since... View Details

Keywords: Roger Thompson; Management of Companies and Enterprises; Management of Companies and Enterprises; Management of Companies and Enterprises; Management of Companies and Enterprises; Management of Companies and Enterprises

August 1999 (Revised May 2001)
Case

Catanese and Vulcan (A)

By: V.G. Narayanan and Sanjay Pothen

A small CPA firm puts in a new performance measurement system, and profits increase by 350% in less than a year. This case illustrates the reasons for improved profitability as well as the sustainability of levels of growth, the opportunities, and the threats that... View Details

Keywords: Cost Accounting; Performance Evaluation; SWOT Analysis; Profit

November 2007 (Revised February 2011)
Case

The Ice King

By: Tom Nicholas and Sandra Nicholas

Provides an opportunity to examine the risk-reward tradeoff and the travails of entrepreneurial venturing in the nascent U.S. economy. Traces the origins and development of Frederic Tudor's Ice Company, a business which developed during the 19th century to hack chunks... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Cost vs Benefits; Entrepreneurship; Globalization; Business History; Operations; Risk and Uncertainty; United States

March 2005 (Revised February 2006)
Case

Advising on Currency Risk at ICICI Bank

In March 2003, a client approached the Markets Advisory Group at ICICI Bank, India's second largest bank, about a hedging transaction. The hedge involved multiple interest rates and currencies. Shilpa Kumar, head of the Markets Advisory Group, has to put together a... View Details

Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Currency Exchange Rate; Capital Markets; Investment Funds; Banks and Banking; Banking Industry; Financial Services Industry; India

September 2020
Case

Disrupting Justice at RightNow: Rich or King

By: Shikhar Ghosh and Amir Reza Rezvani

The case examines issues such as cascading problems within the organization, changing founder roles, founder success criteria, as well as company exit consideration. In 2017, Dr. Torben Antretter, a former competitive tennis player and academic researcher, founded... View Details

Keywords: Exit; Startup; Financing; Founders; Entrepreneurship; Law; Venture Capital; Success; Financing and Loans; Business Growth and Maturation; Strategy; Legal Services Industry; Germany

18 Feb 2021
Blog Post

SIPs in 2021

escalating real estate costs of her hometown and company hub of Austin, Texas, and how developing the first FDA-approved at-home COVID-19 test was not a pivot but a natural... View Details

June 2022
Teaching Plan

GreenLight Fund

By: Brian Trelstad and Mel Martin

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 320-053. As Tara Noland, the Executive Director (ED) of GreenLight Cincinnati, reflected on her first few years on the job. Noland had delivered on what she had been hired to do in the city: work with leading philanthropists and nonprofit... View Details

Keywords: Philanthropy; Venture Philanthropy; Replication; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Venture Capital; Social Issues; Decision Making; Cincinnati

May 2015 (Revised March 2016)
Supplement

Thomas Cook Group on the Brink (C): Transformation Year 2 Results

By: Benjamin C. Esty

Analyzes the results of the Thomas Cook turnaround plan after the second year under Harriet Green's leadership (November 2014). View Details

Keywords: Turnaround; Corporate Restructuring; Female Ceo; Transformation; Change Management; Communication Strategy; Cost Management; Financial Liquidity; Financial Management; Management Succession; Leading Change; Crisis Management; Value Creation; Leadership; Travel Industry; United Kingdom

April 2004
Case

Case Vignette: The Salesman Saga

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

A venture capitalist faces a situation in which a struggling portfolio company has found a promising vice president of sales through a recruitment agency. The candidate would be an excellent fit for another one of the investor's companies--one that is doing much... View Details

Keywords: Salesforce Management; Corporate Governance; Venture Capital; Ethics; Recruitment

02 Jun 2010
First Look

First Look: June 2

Ert, and Alvin E. Roth Publication:Special Issue on Predicting Behavior in Games. Games 1, no. 2 (2010) An abstract is unavailable at this time. Read the paper: http://www.mdpi.com/2073-4336/1/2/117/ The Counterfeit Self: The Deceptive View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

13 Apr 2010
First Look

First Look: April 13

Publication:Manufacturing and Service Operations Management (forthcoming) Abstract We empirically document factors that influence how local operating managers use discretion to balance the tradeoff between service capacity costs and... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

07 Nov 2006
First Look

First Look: November 7, 2006

Ruhr [The Future of the Past: German Capitalism from the Viewpoint of the Rhine and Ruhr] Author:Jeffrey Fear Publication:In Uberschreitungen. Das Wechselspiel von Wirtschaft... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

June 1990 (Revised January 1993)
Case

Dynatronics, Inc. (Abridged)

By: Thomas R. Piper

Provides an opportunity to evaluate an investment in a new product line in strategic, competitive, organizational, and economic terms. The economic analysis involves an estimation of the relevant cash flows and discounting them at an appropriate hurdle rate. View Details

Keywords: Product; Forecasting and Prediction; Investment; Capital Budgeting