Publications

February 2005 (Revised March 2005)
Case

The P&G Acquisition of Gillette

By: Jay W. Lorsch and Ashley Robertson

Raises issues about the role of boards of directors in compensating CEOs and, specifically, the rewards granted to CEOs for arranging a change-of-control for their companies. View Details

Keywords: Governing and Advisory Boards; Acquisition; Corporate Governance; Consumer Products Industry; United States

March 2006
Case

EMC Corporation: Proposed Acquisition of VMware

By: Constance E. Bagley, Carin-Isabel Knoop and Chris Lombardi

Involves the decision by the CEO of EMC Corp. whether to acquire VMware, a small software firm in California that makes virtualization software. Among the factors to be considered are a pending patent case involving WMare and Microsoft and integration challenges... View Details

Keywords: Patents; Decision Choices and Conditions; Lawsuits and Litigation; Applications and Software; Acquisition; Information Technology Industry; California

May 2025 (Revised June 2025)
Case

First Citizens' Acquisition of SVB

By: Samuel Antill, Marco Sammon and Erik Stafford

April 2009
Case

GSK's Acquisition of Sirtris: Independence or Integration?

By: Toby E. Stuart and James Weber

An executive from pharmaceutical company GSK must choose how much to integrate a recently acquired biotechnology firm, Sirtris. Moncef Slaoui, GSK's global head of R&D, championed the acquisition of Sirtris to gain access to its potentially revolutionary science.... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Resource Allocation; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Organizational Structure; Research and Development; Science-Based Business; Integration

January 2014 (Revised May 2014)
Case

Tech Mahindra and the Acquisition of Satyam Computers (A)

By: Srikant M. Datar, Anjali Raina and Namrata Arora

Set in 2008, the case details Tech Mahindra, an information technology (IT) company within the Mahindra Group, an Indian multi-industry company with a diverse stable of businesses including automotives, farm equipment, and financial services, and its decision to... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Corporate Governance; Computer Industry; India

April 2025 (Revised May 2025)
Background Note

Customer Acquisition and the Cash Flow Trap

By: E. Ofek, Barak Libai and Eitan Muller

Startups as well as existing firms recognize the need to invest in order to acquire customers for their new ventures. And as each customer is expected at some point to have generated sufficient gross margins to cover their CAC, management expects that, soon enough, the... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Customers; Forecasting and Prediction; Cash Flow; Business or Company Management

April 2013
Teaching Note

Bluefin Labs: The Acquisition by Twitter

By: John Deighton and Leora Kornfeld

What is the value of Bluefin Labs's social listening data to Twitter? Acquired by Twitter in 2013, Bluefin had built a system that gathered millions of online comments in an effort to develop new metrics for TV programs and brand advertising. With data from Twitter and... View Details

Keywords: Knowledge Use and Leverage; Knowledge Acquisition; Marketing; Television Entertainment; Mobile Technology

Article

State Activism and the Hidden Incentives Behind Bank Acquisitions

By: Christopher Marquis, Doug Guthrie and Juan Almandoz

A number of studies have shown that, as a result of the ambiguity of U.S. legal mandates, organizations have considerable latitude in how they comply with regulations. In this paper, we address how the different agendas of the federal and state governments increase... View Details

Keywords: Organizations; Opportunities; Government Legislation; Acquisition; Forecasting and Prediction; Banks and Banking; Motivation and Incentives; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Management Practices and Processes; Research; United States

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July 2008
Article

The Long-Missing Essential Ingredient in Acquisition Reform

By: J. Ronald Fox and Edward Hirsch (Defense Acquisition Univ.)

Keywords: Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms

January 2, 2020
Article

Changes in Quality of Care After Hospital Mergers and Acquisitions

By: Nancy Dean Beaulieu, Leemore S. Dafny, B. E. Landon, Jesse Dalton, Ifedayo Kuye and J. Michael McWilliams

Background: The hospital industry has consolidated substantially during the past two decades and at an accelerated pace since 2010. Multiple studies have shown that hospital mergers have led to higher prices for commercially insured patients, but research about effects... View Details

Keywords: Hospitals; Mergers and Acquisitions; Health Care and Treatment; Quality

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January 2023
Teaching Note

The Shuanghui-Smithfield Acquisition (A) and (B)

By: Dante Roscini

Teaching Note for HBS Case Nos. 720-042 and 720-043. View Details

April 2002
Article

Limited Arbitrage in Mergers and Acquisitions

By: Malcolm Baker and Serkan Savasoglu

A diversified portfolio of risk arbitrage positions produces an abnormal return of 0.6-0.9% per month over the period from 1981 to 1996. We trace these profits to practical limits on risk arbitrage. In our model of risk arbitrage, arbitrageurs' risk-bearing capacity... View Details

Keywords: Arbitrage; Market Efficiency; Mergers and Acquisitions; Profit; Risk and Uncertainty; Corporate Strategy; Capital; Banking Industry

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September 2002 (Revised August 2014)
Case

Cardinal Health (A): The Medicine Shoppe Acquisition

By: Regina E. Herzlinger, Miguel Abecasis and Brenda Cheng

Robert Walter, the founder and CEO of Cardinal Health, a pharmaceutical distributor, is contemplating the purchase of Medicine Shoppe, a chain of apothecaries. The purchase might be construed as competition against his own drugstore customers. But one of its many... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Distribution Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry; Retail Industry

1989
Chapter

Obstacles to Improving the Defense Acquisition Process

By: J. Ronald Fox

Keywords: National Security; Contracts; Acquisition; Performance Improvement

May 2006 (Revised February 2009)
Teaching Note

Publicis Groupe: Leading Creative Acquisitions (TN)

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and Ryan Raffaelli

February 2008 (Revised November 2010)
Background Note

Accounting for Business Combinations: Acquisition Method

By: David F. Hawkins and F. Asis Martinez Jerez

A technical note reviewing business combinations and Goodwill accounting under the Statement of Financial Accounting Standards, No. 141R. View Details

Keywords: Goodwill Accounting; Mergers and Acquisitions; Standards

October 2012
Case

GSK's Acquisition of Sirtris: Independence or Integration? (Abridged)

By: Toby Stuart and James Weber

An executive from pharmaceutical company GSK must choose how much to integrate a recently acquired biotechnology firm, Sirtris. Moncef Slaoui, GSK's global head of R&D, championed the acquisition of Sirtris to gain access to its potentially revolutionary science.... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Resource Allocation; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Organizational Structure; Research and Development; Science-Based Business; Integration

March 2001 (Revised July 2004)
Case

Adecco SA's Acquisition of Olsten Corp

In the summer of 1999, Adecco SA, one of the world's leading staffing companies, was in the midst of attempting to acquire the staffing operations of Olsten Corp., a U.S. firm. This case analyzes the economics of the staffing industry, basic valuation, cross-border... View Details

Keywords: Financial Condition; Acquisition; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Service Industry; United States