Publications

September 2020 (Revised January 2021)
Case

Catalys Pacific

By: Joshua Lev Krieger

In 2019, BT Slingsby founds Catalys Pacific, the first biotech “venture creation” fund in Tokyo. After convincing some of the biggest Japanese pharmaceutical firms to invest, BT hopes the fund can make a big splash and transform biotechnology innovation in Japan. After... View Details

Keywords: Pharmaceutical Companies; Biotech; Health Care; Entrepreneur; Innovation; International Business; Entrepreneurial Finance; Entrepreneurship; Finance; Innovation Strategy; Venture Capital; Strategy; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Pharmaceutical Industry; Biotechnology Industry; Tokyo

13 Jan 2003
Research & Ideas

Making Biotech Work as a Business

and the organizational structures which have emerged." His suggestion for companies going forward: Think twice about the strategies and assumptions that are driving your industry. Universities, venture capitalists, public investors... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Biotechnology; Health; Technology

07 Dec 2009
Research & Ideas

Government’s Positive Role in Kick-Starting Entrepreneurship

struggled to realize good returns from investments since the year 2000. Many traditional investors are questioning whether they should continue to provide capital to these funds. But given the important role that venture capital has had... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Technology

April 2016 (Revised February 2017)
Supplement

Eastman Kodak Company: Restructuring a Melting Ice Cube

By: Stuart C. Gilson, John D. Dionne and Sarah L. Abbott

In May 2013, senior managers of GSO Capital Partners, an $80 billion credit-oriented investment firm owned by The Blackstone Group, are considering what to do next with their investment in the senior secured debt of Eastman Kodak Company. Once a great company and an... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Financial Strategy; Investment; United States

18 Aug 2008
Research & Ideas

How Disruptive Innovation Changes Education

solutions to educational gaming to online learning courses for computers in classrooms. This interest and activity should allow us to make great progress in the years ahead. We also recommend investing in technological platforms that will... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Education

August 2019 (Revised March 2023)
Case

Rand Fishkin at Moz (A)

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann

In 2016, senior management at Moz, a venture capital–backed startup providing software tools for digital marketing professionals, must decide how to address a looming cash flow crisis precipitated by failed efforts to broaden its product line. Seattle-based Moz had... View Details

Keywords: Startups; Scaling; Entrepreneurship; Failure; Business Startups; Diversification; Growth Management; Technology Industry

09 Jan 2006
Research & Ideas

What Really Drives Your Strategy?

"While companies might have an intended strategy, the strategy that actually emerges can be very different," says HBS professor Clark G. Gilbert. It is a topic that Gilbert and professor Joseph L. Bower have explored at length... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

February 2005 (Revised July 2005)
Case

Aluminium Bahrain (Alba): The Pot Line 5 Expansion Project

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Aldo Sesia

In September 2002, Aluminium Bahrain (Alba) needed to decide how to finance its proposed $1.7 billion pot line. The company's financial adviser, Taylor De-Jongh (TDJ), had recommended Alba employ a multisourced financing strategy using as many as five sources of debt... View Details

Keywords: Project Finance; Emerging Markets; Financing and Loans; Investment; Capital; Financial Strategy; Manufacturing Industry; Bahrain

Program

Disruptive Innovation

works and determine when to invest in core versus disruptive business models. As you gain insight into the ways that evolving industries, technologies, and competitive forces can affect your business, you will be better prepared to... View Details

17 Sep 2001
Research & Ideas

Is There Help for the Big Ticket Buyer?

As a professor of decision making and negotiation, I often receive unsolicited phone calls from relatives, friends, and acquaintances seeking my advice on consumer matters such as negotiating for a house, bidding on eBay, and investing in... View Details

Keywords: by Max H. Bazerman

18 Apr 2022
HBS Case

Dick’s Sporting Goods Followed Its Conscience on Guns—and It Paid Off

difficult decision. These lessons include getting top executives on board with a change, analyzing the financial impact, and developing a communications strategy aimed at explaining the firm’s actions to customers, employees, suppliers,... View Details

Keywords: by Jay Fitzgerald

09 Oct 2017
Research & Ideas

Fearing Fox News, Democratic-leaning Companies Delayed Negative Announcements

studies drivers of regulatory behavior as well as the resulting decision-making process of managers within regulated organizations. In the paper The Effects of Media Slant on Firm Behavior, forthcoming in the Journal of Financial Economics, Heese and coauthor Vishal P.... View Details

Keywords: by Jen Deaderick; Media & Broadcasting

September 2012 (Revised September 2015)
Case

Doing Business in India

By: Andy Zelleke, Felix Oberholzer-Gee and Saloni Chaturvedi

The case is set in August 2012—a time when India was undergoing policy stasis as several key reforms were stalled and the government faced allegations of misallocation of coal production licenses. The first part of the case provides a brief background on India's... View Details

Keywords: Emerging Market Finance; Emergent Countries; Business History; Economic History; Fieldwork; Emerging Markets; Business Ventures; Strategy

Research Summary

How can General Managers Contribute to IT Success?

US companies are currently spending approximately 5% of their revenue on information technology (IT) each year. Over half of this investment goes to IT intended to change business processes, either within a single enterprise or across several. Hovewer, 30-75% of... View Details

2023
Working Paper

Trusting Talent: Cross-Country Differences in Hiring

By: Letian Zhang and Shinan Wang

This article argues that a society’s social trust influences employers’ hiring strategies. In selecting workers, employers could either focus on applicants’ potential and select on foundational skills (e.g., social skills, math skills) or focus on their readiness and... View Details

Keywords: Selection and Staffing; Trust; Competency and Skills; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; European Union

Read Now

TeachingInterests

Venture Capital and Private Equity (MBA)

By: Archie L. Jones

The growth of private equity internationally has been dramatic, to the point that the asset class has been both lauded as the savior and vilified as the cause of our current economic malaise. Over the past two decades, private equity- ranging from venture... View Details

October 1998 (Revised May 2001)
Case

Preview Travel (A)

By: William A. Sahlman, Nicole Tempest, Daniel H Case III and Robert Keller

Preview Travel was a leader in the online travel industry, having generated $80 million in bookings in 1997 and growing at a 34% compound annual growth rate per quarter. This case describes the evolution of Preview Travel's business plan and financing strategy and... View Details

Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Business Model; Initial Public Offering; Valuation; Internet and the Web; Business Plan; Capital; Financial Strategy; Travel Industry; United States

07 Apr 2003
What Do You Think?

Should Global Business Initiatives Be Devalued?

firms with global interests—one that centers around the impact that these phenomena may have on such things as the potential benefits and costs of doing business abroad? Specifically, will questions increasingly be asked about whether View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

2005
Other Unpublished Work

Corporate Financing Decisions When Investors Take the Path of Least Resistance

By: Malcolm Baker, Joshua Coval and Jeremy Stein

We explore the consequences for corporate financial policy that arise when investors exhibit inertial behavior. One implication of investor inertia is that, all else equal, a firm pursuing a strategy of equity-financed growth will prefer a stock-for-stock merger to... View Details

Keywords: Decisions; Behavior; Stocks; Mergers and Acquisitions; Policy; Investment; Financial Institutions; Equity; Corporate Finance