Publications

Career Coach

Simi Oyesanya

Simi most recently worked in Tech Growth Equity at General Atlantic where she was a Senior Associate. Prior to that she worked in Venture Capital and was an Associate at McKinsey. In her first year she recruited for internships in... View Details

Teaching Interest

Short Intensive Program (SIP): Agile at Scale: From OKR's and Agile to Execution Excellence

What do you want to get out of your remaining time at HBS, your career and life-plan to make an impact, starting from Day 1 post-HBS? By developing tools to drive your personal success and strategy at HBS, in this interactive immersion, we will dive into how the... View Details

December 2014 (Revised April 2018)
Case

Dalian Wanda Group: The AMC Entertainment Acquisition (A)

By: Willy Shih

When Dalian Wanda Group of China announced its plan to acquire the AMC Entertainment theatrical exhibition chain in the United States, many people in the U.S. were mystified. Unlike China where theatrical exhibition was experiencing rapid growth, the U.S. market was... View Details

Keywords: Dalian Wanda Group; AMC Entertainment; Wang Jianlin; Theater Entertainment; Film Entertainment; Acquisition; Mergers and Acquisitions; Foreign Direct Investment; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Growth and Development Strategy; Business Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Expansion; Motion Pictures and Video Industry; China; United States

20 Oct 2015
HBS Seminar

Elizabeth Pontikes, University of Chicago Booth School of Business

03 Oct 2006
First Look

First Look: October 3, 2006

ABC provides a simpler and more powerful method. Purchase this note: http://www.hbsp.harvard.edu/b01/en/common/item_detail.jhtml?id=106068 Dana Hall: Funding a Mission (A) Harvard Business School Case 306-090 Dana Hall is a private... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

Teaching Interest

Public Entrepreneurship

By: Mitchell B. Weiss

Public entrepreneurship is designed for future private entrepreneurs and public leaders who want to build new ventures operating in or selling into traditionally public domains.

The last few years have seen a wave of new public entrepreneurs start companies... View Details

Keywords: Public Entrepreneurship

September 2021
Case

Vignettes on Professional Service Firm Governance

By: David G. Fubini, Suraj Srinivasan and Li-Kuan Ni

The two vignettes within “Vignettes on Professional Service Firm Governance” (HBS No. 122-024) present various issues relating to governance in professional service firms (“PSFs”). In the first, the Managing Director of a U.S. consulting firm contemplates whether to... View Details

28 Jul 2020
News

Racism and Digital Design: How Online Platforms Can Thwart Discrimination

November 1996
Case

Del Webb Corporation (C), The

By: Jay W. Lorsch and Samanta Graff

Dion and the other Del Webb directors were open to having Industrial Equity Pacific (IEP) and Webcott Holdings representation on the board. The IEP representative was perceived as reserved and lacking in sophistication. Cotter of Webcott, however, struck the directors... View Details

Keywords: Crisis Management; Management Succession; Strategic Planning; Governing and Advisory Boards; Horizontal Integration; Conflict Management

November 2004 (Revised September 2019)
Background Note

The U.S. Health Club Industry in 2004

By: John R. Wells, Gabriel Ellsworth and Benjamin Weinstock

In 2004, the $16.8 billion U.S. health club industry continued its strong record of growth. There were almost 27,000 health clubs in the United States, up from 6,700 two decades earlier, and these clubs claimed 41 million members, over 14% of the U.S. population.... View Details

Keywords: Health Clubs; Fitness; Gyms; Chain; Weight Loss; Obesity; Exercise; Personal Training; Bally Total Fitness; 24 Hour Fitness; YMCA; Gold's Gym; Curves; Franchise; Franchising; Subscription; Promotional Sales; Promotions; Fixed Costs; Body; Accrual Accounting; Revenue Recognition; Buildings and Facilities; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Model; For-Profit Firms; Trends; Customers; Demographics; Age; Income; Private Equity; Financing and Loans; Profit; Revenue; Geographic Scope; Multinational Firms and Management; Health; Nutrition; Business History; Employees; Retention; Human Capital; Working Conditions; Contracts; Business or Company Management; Goals and Objectives; Growth and Development Strategy; Markets; Demand and Consumers; Supply and Industry; Industry Growth; Industry Structures; Operations; Service Operations; Franchise Ownership; Private Ownership; Public Ownership; Problems and Challenges; Sales; Salesforce Management; Situation or Environment; Opportunities; Nonprofit Organizations; Welfare; Sports; Strategy; Business Strategy; Competition; Competitive Strategy; Consolidation; Corporate Strategy; Customization and Personalization; Expansion; Segmentation; Hardware; Health Industry; United States

March 2020 (Revised May 2020)
Case

Generation Investment Management

By: Vikram S. Gandhi and Sarah Mehta

By January 2020, sustainable investment firm Generation Investment Management (Generation), founded in London in 2004, had grown from a shared vision among seven founders to a 90-person firm managing $27 billion in public and private equity. Throughout its history,... 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

June 2001
Case

ESL Golf (A)

By: Carliss Y. Baldwin and Christopher R Gordon

Todd Peterson and his colleagues have spent five weeks analyzing CMP Capital Partners' potential leveraged buyout of ESL Golf. They are about to present their analysis and bid proposal to the investment committee, consisting of all CMP partners, which must approve any... View Details

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

June 2014 (Revised May 2017)
Case

Southeastern Asset Management Challenges Buyout at Dell

By: Paul Healy, Suraj Srinivasan and Aldo Sesia

In late 2012, Michael Dell wants to take Dell Inc., the company he founded, private. Mr. Dell believes that the successful company's transformation from a personal computer (PC) manufacturer to an enterprise solutions and services provider (ESS) is dependent on going... View Details

September 1991 (Revised February 1993)
Case

Burroughs Wellcome and AZT (A)

By: Willis M. Emmons III

Burroughs Wellcome Co., developer of AZT, the first drug approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the treatment of Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome (AIDS), finds itself under siege in September 1989 by AIDS activists and various segments of the U.S.... View Details

Keywords: Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Ethics; Business and Government Relations; Communication Strategy; Health Care and Treatment; Monopoly; Intellectual Property; Research and Development; Price; Pharmaceutical Industry; London

February 2013 (Revised February 2013)
Case

Wayne Ferrari: iAutomation at a Crossroads

By: Jim Sharpe and Michael Norris

Wayne Ferrari has bridged the gap between being an independent entrepreneur and a "professional manager." After selling his business to a Private Equity (PE) firm, Ferrari takes on the role of CEO and with their support implements a roll-up strategy to attain growth... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurial Management; Entrepreneurial Organizations; Leveraged Buyouts; Roll-up; Career Planning; Acquisitions; Pricing; Pricing Policies; Pricing Strategy; Pricing Structure; Acquisition; Entrepreneurship; Private Equity; Distribution; Integration; System; Electronics Industry; Distribution Industry; United States

February 2005
Article

Can Foreign Firms Bond Themselves Effectively by Renting U.S. Securities Laws?

By: Jordan I. Siegel

The study tests the functional convergence hypothesis, which states that foreign firms can leapfrog their countries' weak legal institutions by listing equities in New York and agreeing to follow U.S. securities law. Evidence shows that the SEC and minority... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Governance; Cross-listing; Reputation; Bonding; Business Ventures; Laws and Statutes; Financial Instruments; United States; Mexico

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2025
Working Paper

Why Companies Thrive Or Die: Ownership and the Path to Perpetuation

By: Josh Baron

Why do some companies continue to thrive for decades and others die after an initial run of success? Much like an airplane accident, company failure is generally the consequence of cascading effects that combine together to overwhelm a previously effective strategy.... View Details

Keywords: Ownership Type; Outcome or Result