Publications

September 2021 (Revised October 2021)
Case

Tesla's Uncertain Fate as EV Race Accelerates

By: David Collis and Haisley Wert

By September 2021, Tesla had a staggering market cap of $755 billion. As the leader of the automobile industry, Tesla’s worth surpassed that of the six largest runner-ups combined, including Toyota, Volkswagen, BYD, Daimler, Great Wall Motors, and General Motors. As... View Details

Keywords: Electric Vehicles; Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Valuation; Competitive Advantage; Value Creation; Auto Industry

June 2018
Teaching Note

The Transformation of Microsoft

By: C. Fritz Foley and F. Katelynn Boland

Teaching Note for HBS No. 218-048. In early 2015, Amy Hood, CFO of Microsoft, and the rest of the senior leadership team faced a set of fundamental choices. The firm had opportunities to serve customers in ways that would be associated with higher growth but lower... View Details

Keywords: Growth; Corporate Finance; Valuation; Growth Management; Communication Strategy; Transformation; Information Technology Industry; Computer Industry; United States

March 2016
Case

Preparing a Concession Bid at TAV Airports Holding

By: C. Fritz Foley and Çiğdem Çelik

In 2013, TAV Airports Holding prepared a bid for the concession to build and operate the third Istanbul airport. This process involved input from various parts of the firm with operating and financial expertise. Burcu Geriş, the CFO of TAV Airports Holding, and her... View Details

Keywords: Project Finance; Infrastructure Development; Equity Cash Flows; Capital Budgeting; Valuation; Financial Management; Financing and Loans; Turkey

January 1993 (Revised May 2004)
Case

Laurinburg Precision Engineering

By: William J. Bruns Jr.

A small manufacturer needs additional financing for expansion and production improvements. A bond issue would provide needed funds, and a zero-coupon bond would delay payments until funds provided by operations were available. Present value tables are included. View Details

Keywords: Valuation; Bonds; Financing and Loans; Interest Rates; Manufacturing Industry

February 2010
Supplement

Valuing Visa? Priceless (CW)

By: Peter Tufano

Students must determine whether or not Visa, which had an IPO one month prior, is a good investment. The case provides an overview of multisided platform businesses and the payments industry in general. Visa's business model and economics are reviewed. View Details

Keywords: Credit Cards; Initial Public Offering; Valuation; Multi-Sided Platforms; Microeconomics

May 2000 (Revised August 2000)
Case

Service and Value in e-Commerce

This collection of readings illustrates the importance of service and logistics in e-commerce, focusing on e-Toys' disastrous 1999 holiday season. View Details

Keywords: Valuation; Internet and the Web; Service Operations; Logistics; Consumer Products Industry; Retail Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry

01 Oct 2008
Research & Ideas

How Much Time Should CEOs Devote to Customers?

And future growth prospects are baked into stock market valuations of companies. Yet an increasingly high percentage of Fortune 500 CEOs have not come up the ranks through marketing or sales. At the same time, in many companies, the chief... View Details

Keywords: by John Quelch

21 Jan 2021
Blog Post

How I Used the HBS Community to Hone My Professional Goals

who also had a passion for health care. I learned from my internship that I wanted to solve for “function.” I had to determine the new skills and day-to-day job I wanted. I ultimately decided that it was important for me to gain deal/transaction experience and View Details

08 Apr 2021
Blog Post

HBS Entrepreneurship Immersion - Four Highlights

to start immediately? What’s the bottleneck? Independent Studies: I had the opportunity to work with Professor Jeff Bussgang diving into YCombinator - we work with hundreds of YC companies at Pilot! Finance: At a successful startup, the cost of capital greatly... View Details

05 Aug 2014
First Look

First Look: August 5

with opportunities to discuss shareholder activism, the interaction between a company growth strategy and business model and its valuation, discounted cash-flow valuation analysis, multiples valuation, transaction-based valuation, and... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

January 1998 (Revised June 1999)
Case

Chemdex.com

By: William A. Sahlman, Michael J. Roberts and Laurence E. Katz

An Internet start-up company is developing an online marketplace for specialty chemicals and reagents. David Perry has been named a runner-up in the 1st annual HBS Business Plan contest and now faces seed-stage financing questions--how much money to raise, at what... View Details

Keywords: Valuation; Internet and the Web; Chemicals; Business Startups; Capital; Chemical Industry

June 2001
Case

ESL Golf (B)

By: Carliss Y. Baldwin and Christopher R Gordon

Supplements the (A) case. View Details

Keywords: Leveraged Buyouts; Auctions; Bids and Bidding; Private Equity; Valuation

January 2024
Case

BWX Technologies

By: Suraj Srinivasan, Yuan Zou and Aldo Sesia

Rex Geveden and Robb LeMasters, CEO and CFO of BWX Technologies, Inc. (BWXT), were concerned that investors and analysts did not fully appreciate the company's transformation from a nuclear reactor provider to the US Navy and Canadian utilities to a multi-product line... View Details

Keywords: Transformation; Communication Intention and Meaning; Business and Shareholder Relations; Valuation; Diversification; United States; Canada

14 Nov 2007
First Look

First Look: November 14, 2007

on the Market's Valuation of R&D Capital Author:Michael D. Kimbrough Periodical:The Accounting Review 82, no. 5 (October 2007): 1195-1225 Abstract Statement of Financial Accounting Standards 141 (SFAS No. 141)'s requirement that an... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

February 1996 (Revised September 1996)
Case

Chrysler Takeover Attempt, The

By: Richard S. Ruback and William DeWitt

On April 12, 1995, Kirk Kerkorian made an unsolicited offer to buy the outstanding shares of Chrysler Corp. This case analyzes the proposed deal and addresses the key contextual elements contributing to the takeover attempt. View Details

Keywords: Valuation; Negotiation Deal; Negotiation Offer; Acquisition; Financial Strategy; Manufacturing Industry; Auto Industry; United States

March 2021 (Revised August 2021)
Case

Apax Partners and Duck Creek Technologies

By: Josh Lerner, Terrence Shu and Alys Ferragamo

This case follows Jason Wright and Umang Kajaria at Apax Partners as they consider an investment in Duck Creek Technologies, a technology provider for property & casualty insurance companies. The deal required a complex carve-out from Accenture, Duck Creek’s parent... View Details

Keywords: Carve-out; Private Equity; Insurance; Investment; Operations; Valuation; Financial Strategy; New York (city, NY)

September 2000 (Revised May 2003)
Case

Radio One, Inc.

By: Richard S. Ruback and Pauline M Fischer

Radio One (NYSE: ROIA and RIOAK), the largest radio group targeting African-Americans in the country, had the opportunity to acquire 12 urban stations in the top 50 markets from Clear Channel Communications, Inc. (NYSE: CCU) in the winter of 2000. The stations were... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation; Valuation; Race; Mergers and Acquisitions; Financial Strategy; Media and Broadcasting Industry; Indiana; United States; North Carolina

02 Dec 2002
What Do You Think?

How Will We Respond to the “Moment of Truth” in Option Plans?

long as stock options are so directly linked to company valuation alone (i.e. uni-dimensional) the system might be open to inevitable abuse." Some might argue that these well-intended suggestions either ignore or reduce the value of... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

May 2002 (Revised May 2003)
Exercise

Endeca Negotiation, The: Charlie Yie

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

Students play the role of Charlie Yie, a venture capitalist considering an investment in a venture-backed enterprise software company. In the challenging financing climate of the Fall of 2001, he is trying to decide what terms to offer the company as an outside... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation Process; Negotiation Offer; Management Teams; Venture Capital; Valuation; Software; Information Technology Industry; Web Services Industry