Publications

March 2000
Case

Aspect Medical Systems

By: Richard M.J. Bohmer and Naomi Atkins

Entrepreneur Nassib Chamoun has created an innovative anesthesiology device that monitors patients' consciousness levels during surgery. This case tracks how Chamoun and his executive team built the infrastructure of the company and actively managed the adoption... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Entrepreneurship; Independent Innovation and Invention; Infrastructure; Product Design; Product Development; Problems and Challenges; Adoption; Competitive Strategy; Technology Industry

21 Nov 2023
Research & Ideas

Employee Negativity Is Like Wildfire. Manage It Before It Spreads.

negative emotions at the collective level is often amplified, which may have adverse effects,” Goldenberg says. “In many cases, it can lead to suboptimal decisions, to irrational choices or, for example in the case of anxiety, to not... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz

January 2021 (Revised March 2021)
Supplement

Juno (C): Leveraging Student Power

By: Joshua Schwartzstein, Kathleen L. McGinn and Amy Klopfenstein

In May 2020, Juno co-founders Chris Abkarians and Nikhil Agarwal decided to hold the annual auction for their student loan assistance startup. Five lenders submitted bids, and the co-founders ultimately opted to select Eager Bank as their partner for the 2020-2021... View Details

October 2023
Case

Shredder Setups or Straightlining into Risk?: Investing in What You Love

By: Lauren Cohen and Grace Headinger

Bob Hall, President of Green Gables Partners, evaluated whether to angel invest into an up-and-coming ski brand. As the son-in-law of the founder of Vera Bradley and having retired from a lengthy career on Wall Street, Hall was well-versed in both direct investing and... View Details

Keywords: Family Office; Angel Investors; Direct Investment; Family Business; Business Growth and Maturation; Small Business; Financial Strategy; Personal Finance; Investment Portfolio; Private Equity; Decision Choices and Conditions; Risk and Uncertainty; Consumer Products Industry; Montana; United States

March 2003 (Revised January 2008)
Case

Northrop versus TRW

By: Carliss Y. Baldwin and James Quinn

TRW, a leading supplier of advanced technology products for the auto, defense, and aerospace markets, receives an unexpected stock-for-stock offer from defense company Northrop Grumman Corp. The $11.4 billion aggregate offer, which represents a 22% premium over the... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Decision Choices and Conditions; Governing and Advisory Boards; Laws and Statutes; Negotiation Tactics; Valuation; Aerospace Industry; Auto Industry; Ohio

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Web

Marketing - Faculty & Research

customer-centric organization a firm attempts to sustain value over time. Our faculty addresses a broad array of topics in all of these areas. Our work attempts to get a better understanding of how consumers use information and make 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

06 Feb 2007
First Look

First Look: February 6, 2007

Russia, and China, Western leaders appreciate aspects of these perils, but they are crafting unduly soft policies to deal with the challenges. The authors believe that "globalists"' notwithstanding, such views are myopic in an... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

14 Sep 2010
First Look

First Look: September 14, 2010

David LaneHarvard Business School Case 809-165 In spring 2009, Chrysler entered a prepackaged bankruptcy and exited 40 days later in a deal with Fiat, the U.S. Treasury, and the UAW that kept the automaker alive. Looking forward, what was... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

February 2009 (Revised February 2011)
Case

"Lather, Rinse, Repeat": FeedBurner's Serial Founding Team

By: Noam T. Wasserman and Eric Olson

"Is this the right time or is it still too early?" Dick Costolo wondered as he reflected on the latest acquisition offer. He had been building FeedBurner with his three co-founders for almost four years and was staring at the details of an acquisition offer from... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Exit or Shutdown; Decision Choices and Conditions; Entrepreneurship; Negotiation Offer; Groups and Teams

03 Jan 2017
First Look

January 3, 2017

a simple model of populism as the rejection of “disloyal” leaders. We show that adding the assumption that people are worse off when they experience low income as a result of leader betrayal (than when it is the result of bad luck) to a simple voter View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

15 May 2007
First Look

First Look: May 15, 2007

economic models predict that they do not systematically differ. With online grocery data, we show that people are decreasingly impatient the further in the future their choices will take effect. In general, as the delay between order... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

Web

Finance Curriculum - Faculty & Research

of material: Advanced valuation—valuation of levered firms and projects. Advanced valuations—options as a metaphor for flexibility. Financial choices of firms—financing, distributing funds to shareholders, managing risk. Integrated... View Details

27 Feb 2007
First Look

First Look: February 27, 2007

Man, and operates ships that travel around the world. In analyzing the choices he faces, students must consider how the initial capitalization of Navigator contributed to its financial distress, evaluate several restructuring plans from a... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

05 Aug 2008
First Look

First Look: August 5, 2008

public companies to become targets for private equity-backed, take-private transactions. We consider the characteristics of 483 private equity-backed deals in the 2000-2007 period relative to public companies and find that, in addition to... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

April 2006 (Revised April 2007)
Case

Endeca Technologies: New Growth Opportunities

By: Paul A. Gompers and Kristin Perry

Steve Papa, CEO of Endeca Technologies, must decide whether to expand into a new market with a new application of his company's technology. Endeca has experienced significant success with its information access software in the online retail industry, and in September... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Market Entry and Exit; Production; Organizational Structure; Partners and Partnerships; Opportunities; Expansion; Internet and the Web; Applications and Software; Information Technology Industry

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25 Sep 2007
First Look

First Look: September 25, 2007

and over 20 million individual transactions, I examine consumption patterns for obscure and hit products. Specifically, I study whether the interest in popular "hit" and unpopular "niche" titles is equally distributed among the customer base,... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

24 Jul 2007
First Look

First Look: July 24, 2007

like to raise a larger amount now to avoid raising a C round (and preserve his own position). The keenest interest has come from a German firm that tends to do larger later-stage deals and would happily fund the company's entire needs. In... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

May 2009 (Revised June 2011)
Case

Going to the Oracle: Goldman Sachs, September 2008

By: Clayton S. Rose and David Lane

On September 23, 2008, in the midst of an historic crisis in the U.S. financial markets, Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway invested $5 billion in Goldman Sachs. Goldman CEO, Lloyd Blankfein, said: "We are pleased that given our longstanding relationship, Warren... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Financial Crisis; Capital Structure; Financial Liquidity; Financial Markets; Investment; Performance Capacity; Financial Services Industry; United States