Publications

November 2016 (Revised February 2017)
Case

Square, Inc. IPO

By: Ramana Nanda, Robert White and Lauren G. Pickle

In November 2015, Square, Inc. launched its initial public offering (IPO). The IPO had an offering price of $9 per share, lower than the $11 to $13 estimate that had been outlined in the preliminary prospectus and 42% below the $15.50 share price in its most recent... View Details

Keywords: Business Finance; Initial Public Offering; Equity; Capital Markets; Public Equity; Stocks; Venture Capital; Financial Services Industry; United States

Malcolm Baker is the Robert G. Kirby Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School, where he teaches the required course in finance and a short immersive program on investing in life sciences.

His research is in 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); private equity (LBO funds); private equity (LBO funds)

21 Apr 2011
Research & Ideas

Searching for Better Practices in Social Investing

In order to garner the capital necessary to foot the bill for social change, nonprofits need to think less about traditional grants and more in terms of innovation--and so do the organizations that fund them. This was a key message from... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Financial Services

September 2003 (Revised March 2004)
Case

Yale University Investments Office: June 2003

By: Josh Lerner

The Yale Investments Office must decide whether to continue to allocate the bulk of the university's endowment to illiquid investments--hedge funds, private equity, real estate, and so forth. Considers the risks and benefits of a different asset allocation strategy.... View Details

Keywords: Leveraged Buyouts; Assets; Venture Capital; Private Equity; Investment Funds; Resource Allocation; Partners and Partnerships; Risk and Uncertainty; Strategy; Education Industry

January 2008
Case

Parks Capital - Investment in US Retail, Inc.

Parks Capital acquired a Children's Apparel Manufacturer , American Child Clothing Manufacturers, Inc. (ACCM), in 2001. Two years later ACCM's largest retail customer, U.S. Retail, Inc., decided to evaluate strategic alternatives due to financial difficulties. Parks... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Customer Value and Value Chain; Private Equity; Vertical Integration; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Retail Industry; United States

Find at Harvard

06 Jul 2020
Blog Post

A Letter from the Women in Investing Club

we hosted a career trek to New York City, with a dual-track program visiting private equity firms and hedge funds. 3. Equity in Diversity As the first club to focus on... View Details

September 2019 (Revised June 2021)
Case

Blenheim Chalcot

By: John R. Wells and Benjamin Weinstock

In April 2019, Manoj Badale and Charles Mindenhall, co-founders of Blenheim Chalcot, were contemplating how they might go about developing their portfolio. Since founding the company as an internet consultancy called netdecisions in 1998, Badale and Mindenhall had... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Entrepreneurship; Business Model; Growth and Development Strategy; United Kingdom; United States; India

March 2011
Supplement

H Partners and Six Flags (B)

By: Robin Greenwood and Michael Gorzynski

Rehan Jaffer, the founder of hedge fund H Partners, is considering what to do with his investment in Six Flags. H Partners had invested a significant amount of the firm's capital in the senior bonds of U.S.-based Six Flags, following that company's bankruptcy filing. View Details

Keywords: Equity; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Business and Shareholder Relations; Price; Acquisition; Decisions; Borrowing and Debt; Investment Funds; Opportunities; Bonds; Investment Activism; Financial Services Industry; United States

2023
Working Paper

LALIGA—From a Soccer Competition Organizer to a Global Player in the Sports and Entertainment Industry

By: Stephen A. Greyser, Kenneth Cortsen and Juan Fuentes Fernández

LALIGA, the first- and second-tier professional soccer league (known as “football” outside of the U.S. and Canada) in Spain, enters its 100th soccer season later this decade. The most popular game in the world (Giulianotti, 2012) has gone through many changes since... View Details

Keywords: Soccer; ＂Sports Organizations,; Business History; Strategy; Brands and Branding; Technology Adoption; Sports Industry

Read Now

January 2008 (Revised September 2009)
Case

Financing American Housing Construction in the Aftermath of War

By: David Moss and Cole Bolton

At the start of WWI, the United States faced a significant housing shortage. Public officials feared the spread of disease—and even communism—in the nation's cramped urban centers where vacancy rates held near zero and families often "doubled up" in single-housing... View Details

Keywords: Central Banking; Bonds; Mortgages; Government Legislation; Business History; Housing; Banking Industry; United States

August 2021
Supplement

Aligning Mission and Margin at Southern Bancorp

By: Brian Trelstad

Video Supplement for HBS Case No. 321-099. In October 2020, after spending almost a decade to turnaround Southern Bancorp, an Arkansan bank founded with the mission to provide financial services to rural, underserved communities, CEO Darrin Williams is wondering how... View Details

Keywords: Racial Wealth Gap; Banks and Banking; Growth and Development; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Mission and Purpose; Going Public; Investment Return; Social Issues; Wealth and Poverty; Banking Industry; Financial Services Industry; United States; Arkansas

Teaching Interest

MBA Elective Curriculum: Investment Strategies

By: Malcolm P. Baker

This is a CORE course for students pursuing careers in finance. Thus, students interested in pursuing careers in mutual funds, hedge funds, pension funds, endowments, wealth management, financial consulting, marketing and client service, sales and trading,... View Details

March 2009 (Revised April 2011)
Course Overview Note

Growing, Financing, and Managing Family and Closely Held Firms: Overview of the Course

By: Belen Villalonga

Most companies around the world are controlled by their founding families, including more than half of all public corporations in the U.S. and Europe and more than two thirds of those in Asia. These companies are the subject of the Financial Management of Family and... View Details

Keywords: Family Business; Financial Management; Corporate Governance; Governing and Advisory Boards; Family Ownership; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Valuation

06 Nov 2017
Research Event

Who is Responsible for the Future of Cities?

The panel was moderated by John Macomber, a senior lecturer at Harvard Business School whose work ponders how public/private partnerships can fuel urban development for the better. As a business person, he spends most of his time with people who agree and assume that... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

June 2010 (Revised November 2013)
Case

Momentive Performance Materials, Inc.

By: Victoria Ivashina and David Scharfstein

After nearly violating its loan covenants in 2009, Momentive Performance Materials, backed by its financial sponsor Apollo Global Management, took a variety of actions to restructure its debt. The restructuring steps included an open market repurchase of publicly held... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Financial Crisis; Borrowing and Debt; Private Equity; Financing and Loans