Publications

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July 1990 (Revised October 1992)
Case

Consolidated Equipment Co.

By: Samuel L. Hayes III

A mature company seeks to rejuvenate itself with internal R&D and external acquisitions. It has developed a DCK model for analyzing the value of a proposed acquisition. A rewritten version of an earlier case by J.K. Butters. View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Valuation; Business Growth and Maturation; Research and Development; Acquisition; Capital Budgeting

January 2022
Supplement

Kornit Digital: The Amazon Warrants (C)

By: Benjamin C. Esty, E. Scott Mayfield and Daniel Fisher

As of 12/31/21, Amazon held $22 billion of equity and warrants in related companies. In fact, it often requests a free grant of warrants when it enters into a new commercial agreement with a supplier. Over the past 20 years, Amazon has gotten warrants almost 20... View Details

Keywords: Valuation; Value Creation; Consumer Behavior; Negotiation; Distribution; Ownership; Partners and Partnerships; Business Strategy; Equity; Distribution Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; United States

2014
Working Paper

Private Equity's Diversification Illusion: Economic Comovement and Fair Value Reporting

By: Kyle Travis Welch

This study examines how accounting has informed private equity diversification claims and demand for private equity investments. Despite research showing private equity lacks portfolio diversification benefits, those marketing private equity assets continue to... View Details

SSRN

November 2010
Teaching Note

Mellon Financial and The Bank of New York (TN)

By: Ryan D. Taliaferro and Carliss Y. Baldwin

Teaching Note for 208129. View Details

Keywords: Valuation; Business and Shareholder Relations; Mergers and Acquisitions; Banks and Banking; Equity; Business Earnings; Banking Industry; New York (state, US)

March 2022 (Revised April 2022)
Case

MTN: Unlocking Value While Driving Socioeconomic Progress

By: Benjamin C. Esty, Pippa Tubman Armerding and Dilyana Karadzhova Botha

On March 10, 2021, Ralph Mupita the new CEO of MTN Group, Africa's largest telecommunications company, presented the group’s 2020 annual results and unveiled a new strategy to “drive growth and unlock value.” Despite MTN’s leadership in most of its markets, the... View Details

Keywords: Decision Making; Goals and Objectives; Valuation; Emerging Markets; Business Strategy; Financial Management; Information Technology; Corporate Finance; Telecommunications Industry; Africa; South Africa; Ghana; Nigeria

August 2016 (Revised February 2017)
Case

Songy 2011: Restructuring to Survive (or, Surviving to Restructure?)

By: Charles F. Wu

In 2011, Songy Partners, an Atlanta-based real estate developer, was facing three distressed investments within their portfolio each with distinct sets of challenges. Having weathered a myriad of issues during the global financial crisis that included operational... View Details

Keywords: Real Estate; Distressed Debt; Global Financial Crisis; Foreclosure; Partnership; Partners and Partnerships; Valuation; Global Range; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Property; Financial Crisis; Real Estate Industry; Atlanta

December 2006 (Revised May 2008)
Case

Lion Capital and the Blackstone Group: The Orangina Deal

By: G. Felda Hardymon, Josh Lerner and Ann Leamon

The managing partners of two private equity firms are hoping to forestall a third bidding round for a target company, the European beverage division of Cadbury Schweppes. As they wait to meet with the CEO, they revisit their assumptions on the deal and review the... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Private Equity; Negotiation Deal; Negotiation Process; Partners and Partnerships; Valuation; Europe

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

01 Oct 1999
News

New Chairman Updates Development in MBA Program

there new trends in our students' career choices? There is a surge of interest in high technology, small companies, and more entrepreneurial kinds of jobs. I think that reflects the economic realities of the times; market valuations are... View Details

December 2010 (Revised January 2013)
Case

Triple Point Technology

By: Richard S. Ruback and Royce Yudkoff

The founding CEO of Triple Point Technology, Peter Armstrong, was considering the sale of the company. The company specialized in providing its clients with software used for transaction processing and risk management in various commodity markets. Triple Point... View Details

Keywords: Business Exit or Shutdown; Private Equity; Financial Management; Negotiation Offer; Sales; Valuation

June 2007 (Revised January 2009)
Case

Nextel Partners: Put Option

By: Timothy A. Luehrman and Douglas Scott

Nextel Partners' shareholders have voted to exercise a put option that will require the company's largest shareholder, Sprint Nextel Corp., to purchase all the shares it does not already own. However, the put option does not stipulate a price to be paid, but rather a... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Stock Options; Price; Public Ownership; Valuation

January 2000 (Revised May 2007)
Case

Dressen

By: Thomas R. Piper and Jeremy Cott

Divisional management must decide whether to support a leveraged buyout by a private equity group and, if so, what percent of ownership should go to the various partners involved. The appropriateness of the financing structure and the value of the equity depend on the... View Details

Keywords: Leveraged Buyouts; Capital Structure; Valuation; Ownership Stake; Forecasting and Prediction

10 Nov 2009
First Look

First Look: Nov. 10

DeckingerHarvard Business School Case 110-035 This case illustrates a comprehensive valuation of a firm specializing in the "speed dating" niche of the dating/entertainment industry. The founders of HurryDate, a small, privately... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

09 Sep 2008
First Look

First Look: September 9, 2008

dialogue with Michel about selling the company or expanding their relationship. Michel wondered if the time was right to sell or if he should grow Affinity Labs further with the hope of creating a company that could command the high View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

15 Dec 2024
News

After Ozempic

meanwhile, climbed from $16.2 billion to $33 billion in that same period, riding the GLP-1 wave. Novo Nordisk’s valuation has shot up to almost $600 billion, which is more than the entire Danish GDP. And the top of the curve is still out... View Details

Keywords: Jen McFarland Flint; Illustrations by Pete Ryan; Ambulatory Health Care Services; Health, Social Assistance

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

December 1999
Case

Brierley Investments Limited

By: Paul M. Healy

Brierley's is an investment company that has performed poorly in the New Zealand market. Management has prepared a report of the intrinsic value of the company's investments. View Details

Keywords: Valuation; Corporate Disclosure; Financial Strategy; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Performance Evaluation; Investment; Business Strategy; Financial Services Industry; New Zealand