Publications

Gary Pisano is the Harry E. Figgie, Jr. Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School where he has been on the faculty since 1988. From 2018-2023, Pisano was Harvard Business School’s Senior Associate Dean for Faculty Promotion and... View Details

Keywords: biotechnology; electronics; health care; manufacturing; pharmaceuticals

March 2023 (Revised January 2025)
Case

Wilshire Lane Capital

By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang, Lindsay N. Hyde and Stacy Straaberg

In September 2021, Adam Demuyakor (MBA 2017) was faced with decisions about how to launch his venture capital (VC) investment firm. His previous investment activities were a series of angel investments and special purpose vehicles alongside two part-time general... View Details

Keywords: Ownership Stake; Investment Funds; Venture Capital; Business and Shareholder Relations; Real Estate Industry; Technology Industry; Los Angeles; California; United States

2010
Working Paper

International Capital Allocation, Sovereign Borrowing, and Growth

By: Laura Alfaro, Sebnem Kalemli-Ozcan and Vadym Volosovych

The key in the investigation of "where" and "why" capital flows, relative to the neoclassical benchmark, is how we measure these flows. The macro literature has been using three main yardsticks: the current account balance, returns to capital, and the volume of net... View Details

Keywords: Sovereign Finance; Performance Productivity; Capital; Economics

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2012
Chapter

Pursuing Public Value: Frameworks for Strategic Analysis and Action

By: Herman B. Leonard and Mark H. Moore

Features Harvard Kennedy School scholars who focus diverse conceptual lenses on a single high-stakes management task—enhancing port security across the United States. This title considers the challenge of driving change in a complex system involving hundreds of private... View Details

Keywords: Leading Change; National Security; Complexity; Performance Improvement; United States

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September 2018
Case

Clayton, Dubilier & Rice at 40

By: Josh Lerner, Abhijit Tagade and Terrence Shu

In 2018, private equity firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice celebrated its 40th anniversary and its 20th year under the leadership of CEO Don Gogel. In those decades, CD&R showed solid portfolio performance and generated strong returns for its investors - accomplishments... View Details

Keywords: Finance; Succession; Buyout; Leveraged Buyout; Turnaround; Operations; Private Equity; Management Succession; Business Model; Leveraged Buyouts; Trends; Organizational Change and Adaptation

September 2016 (Revised March 2018)
Case

Qalaa Holdings and the Egyptian Refining Company

By: Victoria Ivashina and Marc Homsy

This case follows Qalaa Holdings, a successful Egypt-based private equity firm, and gives insight into the types of investments it pursued, its growth over time, and the limited partner base it had at hand. It also allows students to consider and debate whether the... View Details

Keywords: Africa; Structuring And Financing Large Projects; Private Equity; Infrastructure; Project Finance; Emerging Markets; Financial Services Industry; Egypt; Africa

April 2006 (Revised December 2006)
Case

The Barber of Buenos Aires: Argentina's Debt Renegotiation

By: Noel Maurer and Aldo Musacchio

Tells the story of Argentina's aggressive strategy for renegotiating its sovereign debt from 2003 to 2005. Most creditors accepted the offer to swap their debt for new securities worth 35 cents on the dollar, with no recognition of all past-due interest. Many holdouts,... View Details

Keywords: Private Sector; Borrowing and Debt; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; International Finance; Foreign Direct Investment; Sovereign Finance; Government and Politics; Negotiation Tactics; Outcome or Result; Situation or Environment; Argentina

In January 2012, H-E-B Grocery Co., a private retail chain with stores located in Texas and Mexico, was introducing its Healthy at H-E-B program to its customers. The program, which started with the company's employees a few years earlier, was an effort to... View Details

W. Carl Kester

Carl Kester is a Baker Foundation Professor and the George Fisher Baker Jr. Professor of Business Administration, Emeritus at Harvard Business School. He is a member of the Finance Unit. He served as Deputy Dean for Academic Affairs (2006-2010), Chairman of the... View Details

Keywords: private equity (LBO funds); private equity (LBO funds); private equity (LBO funds); private equity (LBO funds); private equity (LBO funds); private equity (LBO funds); private equity (LBO funds)

2007
Working Paper

Evidence from Goodwill Non-impairments on the Effects of Unverifiable Fair-Value Accounting

By: Karthik Ramanna and Ross L. Watts

SFAS 142 requires firms to use unverifiable fair-value estimates to determine goodwill impairments. Standard setters suggest managers will use the discretion given by such estimates to convey private information on future cash flows, while agency theory predicts... View Details

Keywords: Fair Value Accounting; Goodwill Accounting; Standards; Agency Theory

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August 2006 (Revised May 2016)
Case

Cluster Mobilization in Mitteldeutschland

By: Jeffrey Fear, Christian H.M. Ketels and Claudia Linsenmeier

As part of the privatization in Eastern Germany after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Dow Chemical made a major investment in the Halle-Leipzig region, one of the largest chemical industry sites in Europe. The executive in charge of Dow's operations in the region, Bart... View Details

Keywords: Industry Clusters; Development Economics; Privatization; Chemicals; Foreign Direct Investment; Management Teams; Private Sector; Competitive Strategy; Brands and Branding; Market Participation; Chemical Industry; Germany

Robert Huckman is the Albert J. Weatherhead III Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, the Howard Cox Faculty Chair of the HBS Healthcare Initiative, and the Unit Head for View Details

Keywords: biotechnology; health care; manufacturing; pharmaceuticals

November 1994
Case

VideoGuide, Inc. (A)

By: William A. Sahlman and Jason Green

VideoGuide is emerging from a development stage start-up and requires a significant capital infusion to commercialize its product. Various financing options are considered including going public, venture capital, private placement, or a strategic partner. Given the... View Details

Keywords: Capital Budgeting; Capital; Venture Capital; Financing and Loans; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Initial Public Offering; Markets; Partners and Partnerships; Growth and Development Strategy; Going Public

19 May 2008
Research & Ideas

Connecting School Ties and Stock Recommendations

underemphasized channel through which private information gets revealed in prices. "Identifying the types of information transferred across social networks, and the extent to which social networks are important in other information... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Financial Services

1 PM – 2 PM EST, 03 Feb 2016
Webinars: Trending@HBS

Sustainable Capitalism: An Oxymoron?

In this talk, Professor Henderson will discuss both the risks and the tremendous opportunities inherent in harnessing the power of private enterprise to build a more sustainable world. She will also explore how people can hold the tension between the demands of the... View Details

November 2007
Case

Differences at Work: Emily (A)

By: Sandra J. Sucher and Rachel Gordon

In Differences at Work: Emily (A) HBS Case No. 9-408-014 Emily, a private equity analyst, reads disturbing, sexually focused emails written about her by work colleagues and acquaintances after they all attended a work-related social event. Emily debates what she should... View Details

Keywords: Moral Sensibility; Behavior; Decision Choices and Conditions; Organizational Culture; Problems and Challenges; Gender

October 1995
Case

Robert Mondavi Corporation

By: Ray A. Goldberg and Thomas N. Urban Jr

As the Mondavi Corp. moves from a private to a public company and increases the number of types of wine it sells, how does it position itself in various segments of the market and what brand and distribution system is most important? View Details

Keywords: Globalized Markets and Industries; Brands and Branding; Distribution; Product Positioning; Going Public; Expansion; Change; Food and Beverage Industry