Publications
Publications
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(2,355)
- Faculty Publications (621)
- November 2022
- Case
Ajax Health: A New Model for Medical Technology Innovation
By: Regina E. Herzlinger and Ben Creo
This case teaches key success factors for both startup and established MedTech firms. It examines how to structure a firm to maximize innovation and financial returns with organizational structures that better align the incentives for the different skill sets... View Details
- 2022
- Article
The Effects of Public and Private Equity Markets on Firm Behavior
By: Shai Bernstein
In this article, I review the theoretical and empirical literature on the effects of public and private equity markets on firm behavior, emphasizing the consequences that emerge from disclosure requirements, ownership concentration, and degree of firm standardization.... View Details
- September 2022 (Revised June 2025)
- Case
York Capital CLOs and WorldStrides International
By: Victoria Ivashina and William Vrattos
The case follows the debt restructuring of WorldStrides International, a travel program provider in the education market, after the onset of COVID-19. The pandemic severely impacted the travel industry, creating challenges for many companies like WorldStrides, which... View Details
- September 2022 (Revised April 2023)
- Case
Cesaro e Associati
By: Christina R. Wing and Amram Migdal
This case describes the leadership succession planning process at Cesaro e Associati (Studio Cesaro), founded in 1986 by Franco Cesaro in the northeastern Italian state of Veneto. In 2022, Franco was contemplating retirement and passing leadership of his firm, which... View Details
Keywords: Business Growth and Maturation; Business Model; Family Business; For-Profit Firms; Restructuring; Small Business; Change; Change Management; Competency and Skills; Experience and Expertise; Talent and Talent Management; Entrepreneurship; Governance; Leadership; Leading Change; Management; Management Succession; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Ownership; Family Ownership; Private Ownership; Personal Development and Career; Relationships; Family and Family Relationships; Consulting Industry; Europe; Italy
- 2024
- Working Paper
Private Equity Fund Valuation Management during Fundraising
By: Brian K. Baik
I investigate whether and how private equity fund managers (GPs) inflate their interim fund valuations (net asset values or NAVs) during fundraising periods. Specifically, I study the extent to which the GPs inflate NAVs by managing valuation assumptions (e.g.,... View Details
- July 2022 (Revised October 2024)
- Case
3G Capital
By: Jo Tango and Alys Ferragamo
In June 2022, 3G Capital Co-Managing Partners Alex Behring and Daniel Schwartz were in a partners’ meeting. On the agenda were three potential investments. Code named “Alpha,” “Bravo,” and “Charlie” (real target companies that have been disguised), they were the... View Details
- 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
- July 2022
- Article
Private Equity and COVID-19
By: Paul A. Gompers, Steven N. Kaplan and Vladimir Mukharlyamov
We survey more than 200 private equity (PE) managers from firms with $1.9 trillion of assets under management (AUM) about their portfolio performance, decisionmaking and activities during the Covid-19 pandemic. Given that PE managers have significant incentives to... View Details
- June 2022 (Revised November 2023)
- Case
Individual FoodService, Kelso, and Ken Sweder
By: Jo Tango and Alys Ferragamo
When and how much risk to take? In October 2020, Ken Sweder, CEO of Individual FoodService (“IFS”), contemplated this question as he evaluated a proposal to acquire Brady Industries, a distributor of janitorial and sanitation products. Sweder and his private equity... View Details
- June 2022
- Case
PFA Pensions: The Climate Plus Product
By: Daniel Green, Victoria Ivashina and Alys Ferragamo
The case explores whether alternative investments play a unique role in achieving low carbon dioxide emissions at the portfolio level. This case is set in April of 2020 and follows Kasper Ahrndt Lorenzen, Chief Investment Officer, and Peter Tind Larsen, Head of... View Details
- May 2022
- Case
Grupo Big Exit: Options for Advent and Walmart
By: Victoria Ivashina, Ruth Costas and Pedro Levindo
After conducting an impressive turnaround in Walmart’s subsidiary in Brazil, Private Equity firm Advent International has to decide how to exit this investment: through an IPO or selling the business to Carrefour. View Details
- April 2022
- Teaching Note
Tempur Sealy International (A, B & C)
By: Benjamin C. Esty and Daniel Fisher
Teaching Note for HBS Case Nos. 718-422, 718-423, and 718-424. The cases explore the long-term relationship between Tempur Sealy (TPX, a mattress manufacturer) and Mattress Firm (MFRM, a bedding retailer and TPX's largest customer). For almost 20 years, the firms... View Details
Keywords: Porter's 5 Forces; Bargaining Power; Buyer Power; Customer Power; Supplier Power; Negotiations; Value Capture; Private Equity; Consumer Durables; Consumer Discretionary; Mattresses; B-2-B; Industry Dynamics; Leadership; Compensation; Corporate Strategy; Business Strategy; Value Creation; Competition; Cooperation; Distribution; Negotiation; Industry Structures; Customers; Relationships; Distribution Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Retail Industry; Consumer Products Industry; United States; South Africa
- April 2022 (Revised August 2022)
- Case
Restaurant Brands International: Version 2.0
By: Boris Groysberg and Sarah L. Abbott
In 2010, 3G Capital acquired Burger King, the second largest burger chain globally. 3G expanded Burger King’s operations via acquisitions into a multi-brand business, renamed Restaurant Brands International. The acquisition had been a financial success story for 3G.... View Details
- March 2022
- Teaching Note
Hollie Haynes: An Unanticipated Crossroads
By: Josh Lerner
Keywords: Private Equity
- March 2022 (Revised November 2024)
- Case
Aldrich Capital Partners
By: Jo Tango and Alys Ferragamo
By July 2016, the Aldrich Capital Partners team had spent over two years trying to raise their inaugural growth-equity fund. They had pitched to over 140 investors, but none had committed. Managing Partners Mirza Baig and Raz Zia each had extensive experience in the... View Details
- March 2022
- Case
Metric
By: Christina Wallace, Rebecca Cink and Maria Lappas
Megan Murday, the founder of Metric, an environmental, social, and corporate governance (ESG) analytics startup, must decide which customer segment to target as a beachhead market. She received positive feedback from a Swiss venture capital (VC) firm, indicating their... View Details
- March 2022
- Case
Abu Issa Holding: Navigating the Qatar Blockade
By: Mark Egan and Youssef Abdel Aal
The case follows Ashraf Abu Issa, CEO and chairman of Abu Issa Holding (AIH), as he contemplated the fate of his company’s regional expansion. AIH was a Qatari diversified holding company, whose primary business was luxury retailing and distribution. Abu Issa had set... View Details
- March 2022 (Revised December 2022)
- Case
Perch
By: Jeffrey F. Rayport, Stacy Straaberg and Julia Kelley
In May 2021, Perch CEO Chris Bell needed to decide whether his e-commerce aggregator company, which bought and scaled Amazon Marketplace brands, should acquire up to three acquisition targets. The prospective acquisitions, Web Deals Direct, HomeCo, and Future Brands,... View Details
Keywords: Business Ventures; Acquisition; Business Growth and Maturation; Decision Making; Cost vs Benefits; Decision Choices and Conditions; Decisions; Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Strategy; Business Strategy; Integration; E-commerce; Consumer Products Industry; Retail Industry; Technology Industry; North America; United States; Massachusetts; Boston; California; Asia; Philippines
- February 2022 (Revised March 2022)
- Case
Hertz in Bankruptcy: A Wild Ride in Pandemic Times
Hertz filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in response to asset-backed securities (ABS) obligations and the COVID-19 pandemic. Enthusiastic Robinhood investors and shrewd negotiating tactics helped Hertz stabilize. Roughly nine months into the bankruptcy, Hertz received... View Details
- February 2022 (Revised February 2023)
- Case
TikTok in 2020: Super App or Supernova? (Abridged)
By: Jeffrey F. Rayport, Dan Maher and Dan O'Brien
TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, was launched in 2012 around a simple idea—helping users entertain themselves on their smartphones while on the Beijing Subway. In less than a decade, it had become one of the world’s most valuable private companies, with investors... View Details