Publications

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Teaching Interest

Demystifying the Family Enterprise

By: Christina R. Wing

This course is primarily designed for students who are pursuing a career in family run businesses, family owned businesses, investment roles in family offices, or students that might invest in or wholly purchase a family owned business through a private equity firm,... View Details

George Serafeim

George Serafeim is the Charles M. Williams Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, where he co-leads the Climate and Sustainability Impact Lab within the Digital, Data, and Design Institute. He teaches the MBA course “Risks, Opportunities,... View Details

Keywords: asset management; insurance industry; automobiles; industrial goods; fashion; food; green technology

April 2023
Supplement

Fresh Food Generation

By: Brian Trelstad

Instructors should consider the timing of making videos available to students, as they may reveal key case details.

This case highlights one of five BIPOC entrepreneuers in the Boston area as part of the HBS Impact Investment Fund. In fall 2021, a team of... View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development Strategy; Entrepreneurship; Race; Food and Beverage Industry

March 2014 (Revised September 2015)
Case

ACA and the Union Bank Acquisition

By: Josh Lerner and Nathaniel Burbank

Okey Enelamah is the CEO of the African Capital Alliance (ACA), a private equity firm based in Nigeria. ACA has spent more than a year arranging a $500 million consortium bid to acquire and recapitalize Union Bank, Nigeria's sixth largest bank. Several weeks before the... View Details

Keywords: Nigeria; African Capital Alliance; Africa; Bank Capital; ACA; Union Bank; Development Finance Institutions; Capital Alliance Private Equity; Private Equity; Central Banking; Banking Industry; Financial Services Industry; Nigeria; Africa

April 2010 (Revised May 2017)
Case

Tremblant Capital Group

By: Robin Greenwood

Brett Barakett, CEO and founder of Tremblant Capital Group, a New York–based hedge fund, must decide what to do with his fund's position in Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, which has dropped in value by more than 40% in recent months. Tremblant is a hedge fund that... View Details

Keywords: Business Earnings; Behavioral Finance; Stocks; Investment Funds; Consumer Behavior; Competitive Advantage; Financial Services Industry; New York (city, NY)

October 2016
Case

The Quiet Ascension of LA Fitness

By: John R. Wells and Gabriel Ellsworth

In 2016, LA Fitness was the largest chain of non-franchised fitness clubs in North America, operating 676 clubs, serving 4.9 million members, and generating revenues of over $1.9 billion. Founded by Chinyol Yi, Louis Welch, and Paul Norris in 1984, the privately held... View Details

Keywords: LA Fitness; Health Clubs; Fitness; Gyms; Chain; Exercise; Personal Training; Retention; Bally Total Fitness; 24 Hour Fitness; Planet Fitness; Buildings and Facilities; Acquisition; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Model; For-Profit Firms; Customers; Customer Focus and Relationships; Customer Satisfaction; Demographics; Age; Gender; Income; Residency; Borrowing and Debt; Capital; Capital Structure; Cash; Cash Flow; Cost; Private Equity; Financial Condition; Financial Liquidity; Financing and Loans; Investment Return; Price; Profit; Revenue; Geographic Location; Geographic Scope; Multinational Firms and Management; Business History; Employees; Recruitment; Selection and Staffing; Human Capital; Contracts; Business or Company Management; Goals and Objectives; Growth and Development Strategy; Market Entry and Exit; Operations; Service Operations; Leasing; Private Ownership; Problems and Challenges; Sales; Salesforce Management; Situation or Environment; Opportunities; Sports; Strategy; Business Strategy; Competition; Competitive Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Corporate Strategy; Expansion; Segmentation; Information Technology; Mobile Technology; Technology Platform; Health Industry; United States; California; Los Angeles

January 2019 (Revised March 2020)
Case

Blackstone Alternative Asset Management in 2018

By: Emil Siriwardane, Luis M. Viceira and Shawn O'Brien

In early 2018, Blackstone announced that John McCormick would succeed Tom Hill as President and Chief Executive Officer of Blackstone Alternative Asset Management (BAAM), the largest fund-of-hedge funds in the world by a sizeable margin. As new CEO, McCormick must... View Details

Keywords: Asset Management; Expansion; Strategy; Decision Choices and Conditions; Financial Services Industry

24 Apr 2013
News

Windfall or bust? Crowdfunding may not turn out to be boon that many small businesses expect

April 2011 (Revised June 2014)
Case

Securities Lending After the Financial Crisis

By: Robert C. Pozen and Gayle Hameister

In April 2009, Wendy Jefferson had just returned to her office following a whirlwind day of meetings with her newest client, Star Advisor. Jefferson, a financial services consultant, was eager to dig into the information provided to her and her team about the Star... View Details

Keywords: Business Earnings; Debt Securities; Financing and Loans; Investment Funds; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Information

05 Jun 2012
First Look

First Look: June 5

environment of scientific and industrial expansion. Venture funding occurred more widely in the United States than it ever had done before. While the roots of the American venture capital industry are long-standing and multifaceted, they... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

January 2007 (Revised October 2007)
Case

The Omidyar-Tufts Microfinance Fund: Striving to Reshape the Social Enterprise Capital Markets

By: Michael Chu and Jean Hazell

Seeking to impact global poverty and philanthropy, eBay founder Pierre Omidyar donates $100 million to Tufts University for a trust restricted to investment in microfinance. Explores the origins of the initiative, the perspectives and objectives of the various parties... View Details

Keywords: Capital Markets; Microfinance; Investment Funds; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Emerging Markets; Social Enterprise; Financial Services Industry

December 2017 (Revised April 2018)
Case

Area One Farms

By: Forest Reinhardt, Jose B. Alvarez and Annelena Lobb

In 2017, Joelle Faulkner, CEO of Area One Farms, a Canadian private-equity fund focused on investing in the best Canadian farms and helping them expand, considered the merits and disadvantages of expanding her business to the U.S. While the markets shared some... View Details

Keywords: Expansion; Decision Choices and Conditions; Private Equity; Canada; United States