Publications

July 2022 (Revised January 2023)
Case

Vicky Tsai and Tatcha: Confronting Stereotypes

By: Geoffrey Jones and Veronica Tong

Teaching Plan for HBS Case No. 323-007. This case examines the career of Vicky Tsai, the creator of San Francisco-based TATCHA, a Japanese-themed luxury beauty brand launched in 2009. It explores how Tsai developed the concept, assembled management, and successfully... View Details

Keywords: Cosmetics Industry; Japan; Startup; Marketing; Entrepreneurship; Growth and Development; Product Development; Product Marketing; Acquisition; Identity; Brands and Branding; Ethnicity; Gender; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; United States

February 2019 (Revised January 2020)
Case

Pierre Foods Acquisition of Advance Foods (A)

By: Guhan Subramanian and Mike Harmon

This case (A), and its related cases (B-E), establish a setting to discuss an M&A transaction and some of the key legal contracts that are associated with it. In 2010, private equity backed food manufacturer Pierre Foods is contemplating the acquisition of a key... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Contracts; Agreements and Arrangements; Negotiation; Complexity

Career Coach

Gail Chang

Gail wants to help students who are interested in the following industries: investment banking, private equity, insurance, corporate finance, risk management and pricing. Prior to her MBA, Gail worked in the corporate finance division of... View Details

Robert S. Huckman

Robert Huckman is the Albert J. Weatherhead III Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, the Howard Cox Faculty Chair of the HBS Healthcare Initiative, and the Senior Associate Dean for External... View Details

Keywords: biotechnology; health care; manufacturing; pharmaceuticals

20 Mar 2008
Working Paper Summaries

Sell Side School Ties

Keywords: by Lauren H. Cohen, Andrea Frazzini & Christopher J. Malloy; Financial Services

December 2003
Case

Sale of Hephaestus, Inc. to Vulcan Ventures, Inc.

Henry Hephaestus founded Hephaestus, Inc. in 1895. Its first product was a tapered roller bearing for use with horse-drawn wagons and carriages. It reduced friction on the axle and reduced the force necessary to move a heavy load, thereby enabling one horse to do the... View Details

Keywords: Business Exit or Shutdown; Entrepreneurship; Family Ownership; Manufacturing Industry

The revocation of the Royal African Company's monopoly in 1698 inaugurated a transformation of the transatlantic slave trade. While the RAC’s exit from the slave trade has received scholarly attention, little is known about the company’s response to the loss of its... View Details

Robert F. White

Bob White is a Senior Lecturer in the Entrepreneurial Management Unit at the Harvard Business School where he teaches courses in the MBA program (Required and Elective curricula) and the Executive Education program. Courses taught include Entrepreneurial... View Details

May 1996 (Revised July 1998)
Case

Enron Development Corporation: The Dabhol Power Project in Maharashtra, India (A)

By: V. Kasturi Rangan, Krishna G. Palepu, Ahu Bhasin, Mihir A. Desai and Sarayu Srinivasan

A large, lucrative power plant is negotiated for construction/operation by an American power company in India's evolving privatized power sector. The process of incorporating the project is captured in this case. The American company will own and operate the plant in... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Forecasting and Prediction; Private Sector; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Emerging Markets; Market Entry and Exit; Agreements and Arrangements; Private Ownership; Projects; Energy Industry; India; United States

March 1986 (Revised December 1986)
Case

British Telecommunications, PLC

Presents a description of international equity markets, including comparisons of the U.S., Japanese, and British markets and recent trends toward deregulation of these markets. The decision focus of the case is on the initial public offerings of British... View Details

Keywords: International Finance; Initial Public Offering; Capital Markets; Canada; London; Tokyo

August 2016
Simulation

BDP Pharmaceuticals

By: Kevin Schulman, Emma Rasiel and Suresh Balu

Susan Durham has just been hired as the Chief Financial Officer of Blue Devil Pharmaceuticals (BDP). Her charge is to understand the optimal pathway for the development of a novel molecule, BDP-1, to understand the cost of drug development, the market opportunity, and... View Details

Keywords: Finance; Entrepreneurship

July 2016
Case

Blue D Pharmaceuticals

By: Kevin Schulman, Emma Rasiel and Suresh Balu

Susan Durham has just been hired as the Chief Financial Officer of Blue Devil Pharmaceuticals (BDP). Her charge is to understand the optimal pathway for the development of a novel molecule, BDP-1, to understand the cost of drug development, the market opportunity, and... View Details

Keywords: Finance; Entrepreneurship

August 2018 (Revised September 2018)
Case

National Storage Affiliates: The REIT IPO Decision

By: Charles F. Wu, Max de la Bruyére and Gregory D. Himmel

In 2015, two years after founding National Storage Affiliates (NSA), Arlen Nordhagen and Tamara Fischer had an important decision to make. Should they proceed with NSA’s IPO? Although they had targeted to receive $15–17 a share, it was now apparent that the figure was... View Details

Keywords: Initial Public Offering; Problems and Challenges; Decision Making; Real Estate Industry

October 2002 (Revised April 2005)
Case

Jinwoong: Financing an Entrepreneurial Firm in the Wake of the Korean Financial Crisis

Describes T.P. Lee, the founder and CEO of Jinwoong, a 19-year-old entrepreneurial company in Korea that has grown to become the world's largest manufacturer of camping tents. Labeled by Fortune as one of the most promising entrepreneurs in Asia in 1993, Lee faces some... View Details

Keywords: Emerging Markets; Entrepreneurship; Financing and Loans; Financial Crisis; Manufacturing Industry; Consumer Products Industry; South Korea

June 2018
Case

Burton Sensors, Inc.

By: William E. Fruhan and Wei Wang

Burton Sensors presents a realistic situation where a small, rapidly growing, and profitable temperature sensor original equipment manufacturer (OEM) reaches its debt capacity and seeks equity financing to sustain high growth. The president of the company must decide... View Details

Keywords: Financing and Loans; Acquisition; Investment; Financial Strategy; Decision Choices and Conditions

February 2016 (Revised February 2017)
Case

Alvogen

By: Daniel Isenberg and William Kerr

Alvogen is a young Icelandic generic pharmaceutical company, whose CEO believes that his global strategy will give them an edge in this competitive industry.
Robert Wessman, Alvogen’s CEO, was also previously the CEO of Actavis, another Icelandic generics... View Details

Keywords: Pharmaceutical Companies; Generic Drugs; Entrepreneurship; Globalization; Risk and Uncertainty; Pharmaceutical Industry; Iceland

November 2009
Case

The HLB Turnaround

By: Lynda M. Applegate, Bhaskar Chakravorti and Laura Winig

Ford Pearson has recently taken over as CEO of HLB, a Chicago-based product design and development firm (and once one of the largest in the business), to help turn it around after a series of crises that had seriously threatened its survival. Pearson has personally... View Details

Keywords: Business Organization; Business or Company Management; Private Equity; Restructuring; Product Design; Corporate Finance

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