Publications

February 2008 (Revised October 2010)
Case

Mellon Financial and The Bank of New York

By: Carliss Y. Baldwin and Ryan Taliaferro

Bob Kelly, the new CEO of Mellon Financial, is considering the terms of a proposed "merger of equals" with The Bank of New York, just before the final Board meeting to approve the deal. The combination offers a great strategic fit, and the expected synergies are large.... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Equity; Banks and Banking; Business and Shareholder Relations; Valuation; Banking Industry; Pittsburgh

March 1998
Case

Bumper Acquisition (A1), A: Confidential Information for Thermo-Impact, Inc.

By: James K. Sebenius and David T. Kotchen

Located in Mundelein, IL, Thermo-Impact, Inc. is a rapidly growing, private firm that manufactures automotive bumpers. In 1995, a number of large automotive supply companies and a private equity investment firm offer to buy Thermo-Impact. The cases in this series focus... View Details

Keywords: Private Equity; Valuation; Negotiation Participants; Decision Making; Negotiation Process; Entrepreneurship; Negotiation Offer; Acquisition; Manufacturing Industry; Auto Industry; Illinois

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January 2025
Case

Apax Partners: Deciding Whether to Bid for Trader Corp.

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Edward A. Meyer

Apax Partners’ investment committee was schedule to meet on March 21, 2011, to decide whether to invest in Trader Corporation, a Canadian classified advertising business for used automobiles with both print (magazines) and digital (website) distribution. What made this... View Details

25 Nov 2014
First Look

First Look: November 25

Lee, Ma, and Wang (2014) perform best, followed by peers with the highest overlap in analyst coverage, in explaining cross-sectional variations in base firms' out-of-sample (a) stock returns, (b) valuation multiples, (c) growth rates, (d)... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

26 Feb 2013
First Look

First Look: Feb. 26

Development and became the first institutional real estate investor in Colombia. Purchase this case:http://hbr.org/search/212050-PDF-ENG OpCo / PropCo Valuation Retsinas, Nicolas P., Lisa Strope, and John C. HettingerHarvard Business... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

15 Nov 2010
Lessons from the Classroom

Connecting Goals and Go-To-Market Initiatives

valuations and growth options. A key to meeting growth potential is eliminating the gulf between big-picture strategy and day-to-day field execution. It's often the most difficult part of implementation because you're dealing with a... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Retail

18 Jun 2007
Op-Ed

Leveling the Executive Options Playing Field

disclosure and changing their valuations of firms accordingly. 4. There exists considerable variation internationally on the tax treatment of stock options. In particular, some countries, such as Canada, do not allow any tax deduction for... View Details

Keywords: by Mihir Desai

October 2015
Teaching Note

Molycorp: Financing the Production of Rare Earth Minerals (A)

By: Benjamin C. Esty and E. Scott Mayfield

Molycorp, the western hemisphere's only producer of rare earth minerals, was in the middle of a $1 billion capital expenditure project in its effort to become a vertically integrated supplier of rare earth minerals, oxides, and metals. Yet it had just reported lower... View Details

March 2017
Case

SKS Microfinance (Abridged)

By: Shawn Cole and Theresa Chen

Vikram Akula, CEO of SKS Microfinance, seeks a venture capital investment to fund his firm. SKS, one of the largest and fastest growing microfinance institutions in India, is a profitable, for-profit institution with a social mission. In what is one of the first... View Details

Keywords: For-Profit Firms; Venture Capital; Microfinance; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Valuation; Financial Services Industry; India

Fourth Quarter 2007
Article

Contingent Claims Approach to Measuring and Managing Sovereign Credit Risk

By: Dale . F. Gray, Robert C. Merton and Zvi Bodie

This paper proposes a new approach to measure, analyze, and manage sovereign risk based on the theory and practice of modern contingent claims analysis (CCA). The paper provides a new framework for adapting the CCA model to the sovereign balance sheet in a way that can... View Details

Keywords: Credit; Investment; Sovereign Finance; Risk Management; Emerging Markets; Market Transactions; Mathematical Methods; Valuation

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19 May 2014
Research & Ideas

Why Companies Should Compete for Your Privacy

valuations, those less willing to pay to avoid disclosure. Microsoft attracts high-valuation consumers. Which of these two strategies yields highest profits depends on how consumer valuations compare to disclosure revenues, that is, on... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Consumer Products

11 Aug 2009
First Look

First Look: August 11, 2009

Value: An Examination of Equity Betas and Bid-Ask Spreads Authors:Edward J. Riedl and George Serafeim Abstract Finance theory suggests that information risk—that is, the uncertainty regarding valuation parameters for an underlying... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

15 Apr 2008
First Look

First Look: April 15, 2008

business environment or used along with any individual case. Purchase this note: http://www.hbsp.harvard.edu/b01/en/common/item_detail.jhtml?id=308063 Corrections Corp. of America Harvard Business School Case 107-071 This case illustrates a comprehensive View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

20 Sep 2011
First Look

First Look: September 20

Publication:Journal of Consumer Psychology (forthcoming) Abstract In four studies in which consumers assembled IKEA boxes, folded origami, and built sets of Legos, we demonstrate and investigate boundary conditions for the IKEA effect-the increase in View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

09 Mar 2010
First Look

First Look: March 9

Journal (forthcoming) Abstract Stable category meanings act as institutions that facilitate market exchange by providing bases for comparison and valuation. Yet little is known about meaning construction in new categories or how meaning translates into View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

08 Oct 2013
First Look

First Look: October 8

to the average advertiser. Download working paper: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/download.aspx?name=11-124.pdf Expected Returns Dynamics Implied by Firm Fundamentals By: Lyle, Matthew R., and Charles C.Y. Wang Abstract—We provide a tractable stock View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

04 May 2009
Research & Ideas

What’s Next for the Big Financial Brands

credibility you place in the bank's valuation of its assets). Why then has there not been a run on the bank? Being too big to fail is hardly a solid basis on which to build brand equity. The true answer to the question is that retail... View Details

Keywords: by John Quelch; Banking; Financial Services

June 2007
Exercise

EZAmuse Negotiation Background (A)

By: G. Felda Hardymon and Ann Leamon

This is the background to an exercise in negotiation. A promising venture-capital-backed company, EZAmuse Communications, is raising a B round. Its existing backer, Reality Venture Partners, would like it to raise enough for six or nine months, when it will have... View Details

Keywords: Borrowing and Debt; Negotiation Deal; Valuation; Leadership Style; Venture Capital; Partners and Partnerships; Product; Germany

August 2003 (Revised December 2004)
Case

Peninsula Community Foundation

By: James E. Austin, Jane Wei-Skillern and Alison Berkley Wagonfeld

After leading the Peninsula Community Foundation (PCF) through a period of tremendous growth, its president, Sterling Speirn, is facing the prospect of a decline in the foundation's asset base for the first time in the foundation's history. In addition, the fact that... View Details

Keywords: Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Product Positioning; Planning; Alliances; Opportunities; Nonprofit Organizations; Valuation; Financial Services Industry