Publications

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January 2007 (Revised March 2011)
Case

Yale University Investments Office: August 2006

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: Higher Education; Asset Management; Financial Management; Financial Strategy; Investment Portfolio; Risk Management

19 Jun 2012
News

Keeping Social Media in Their Place

12 Oct 2021
News

AI Can Bring More Equity To The Workplace And Consumer Markets By Implementing These Conditions

When Best Isn't Good Enough, Start Something New

Innovation, in cities and other contexts, often involves adaptation and repurposing, a program scaled to another place or a private sector tool tweaked for public use. But starting from scratch and doing something truly new can sometimes be the key to solving... View Details

December 2014 (Revised February 2017)
Case

Simplot Plant Sciences: Designing a Better Potato

By: Jose B. Alvarez and Mary Shelman

Privately held Simplot has developed a new genetically engineered potato that substantially reduces waste and does not turn brown after cutting. Unlike other GMOs, it does not contain foreign genes. The case describes the company's commercialization plans in light of... View Details

Keywords: GMO; Sustainability; Agribusiness; Biotechnology; Food And Environment; Plant-Based Agribusiness; Food; Disruptive Innovation; Technological Innovation; Marketing; Product Positioning; Genetics; Value Creation; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; United States

June 2007 (Revised January 2008)
Background Note

The U.S. Retirement Savings Market and the Pension Protection Act of 2006

By: Luis M. Viceira and Helen Tung

Provides an overview of the evolution of the private retirement savings market in the U.S. since 1990; the management and administration of defined-contribution (DC) plans; the existing evidence about the investment and savings decisions of participants in DC plans;... View Details

Keywords: Investment; Personal Finance; Saving; Government Legislation; Retirement; Business and Government Relations; Financial Services Industry; United States

22 Dec 2010
News

Carlyle in talks to buy AlpInvest

21 Jan 2021
Video

Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao

Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao, President and CEO of VietJet Air, describes navigating the aviation industry’s regulations including challenges in integrating Vietnam’s legal system and the international legal system, the lack of private aviation business in Vietnam until... View Details

September 2017 (Revised July 2021)
Case

Asset Allocation at the Cook County Pension Fund

By: Emil Siriwardane, Juliane Begenau and Yuval Gonczarowski

Nickol Hackett, chief investment officer of the Cook County Pension Fund, is responsible for investing the fund’s $9 billion worth of assets on behalf of the employees of Cook County, Illinois. Like many other defined-benefit pensions at the time, the Cook County... View Details

Keywords: Asset Management; Investment Funds; Financial Strategy; Decision Choices and Conditions

October 2019
Case

China Merchants Bank: Ushering in the Era of Family Office in China

By: Lauren Cohen, Hao Gao, Billy Chan and Dawn H. Lau

China Merchants Bank, the sixth-largest lender in China, intends to boost its family office business as a result of an increase in the population of ultra-high net worth individuals. Already ranked China’s number-one private bank with AUM exceeding US$300 billion, the... View Details

Keywords: Family Office; Strategy; Banks and Banking; Organizational Design; Competitive Strategy; Banking Industry; China

2011
Working Paper

Do Powerful Politicians Cause Corporate Downsizing?

By: Lauren H. Cohen, Joshua D. Coval and Christopher J. Malloy

This paper employs a new empirical approach for identifying the impact of government spending on the private sector. Our key innovation is to use changes in congressional committee chairmanship as a source of exogenous variation in state-level federal expenditures. In... View Details

Keywords: Economic Growth; Investment; Spending; Government Administration; Employment; Managerial Roles

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April 2005 (Revised January 2007)
Case

Furman Selz LLC (A): A Tale of Two Acquisitions

By: Nancy D. Beaulieu, Boris Groysberg and Kyle Doherty

Profiles a firm that was reacquired by two companies with different degrees of success. Highlights integration challenges present in acquisition deals when the primary assets of the target are human capital. Focuses on Furman Selz's acquisition by Xerox in 1987; its... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Transition; Valuation; Human Capital; Compensation and Benefits; Integration; Organizational Culture; Banking Industry; Financial Services Industry; United States

April 2002
Case

Pallotta TeamWorks

By: Allen S. Grossman and Elizabeth Kind

Pallotta Team Works is a for-profit, privately owned company that produces multiday fundraising events for nonprofit organizations. Dan Pallotta, the 40-year-old CEO, founded the enterprise in 1992. The company has grown rapidly, having raised over $200 million for... View Details

Keywords: For-Profit Firms; Business Model; Nonprofit Organizations; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Social Marketing; Marketing Strategy; Service Industry; Consulting Industry; United States

A Senior Lecturer at the Harvard Business School, Michael co-developed and teaches a second year MBA course, “Challenges and Opportunities in the Restaurant Industry.”

A founder and partner of Positive Strategy LLC, a management/strategy consulting... View Details

February 2016 (Revised February 2017)
Case

Alvogen

By: Daniel Isenberg and William Kerr

Alvogen is a young Icelandic generic pharmaceutical company, whose CEO believes that his global strategy will give them an edge in this competitive industry.
Robert Wessman, Alvogen’s CEO, was also previously the CEO of Actavis, another Icelandic generics... View Details

Keywords: Pharmaceutical Companies; Generic Drugs; Entrepreneurship; Globalization; Risk and Uncertainty; Pharmaceutical Industry; Iceland

September 2013 (Revised January 2016)
Case

The Abraaj Group and the Acibadem Healthcare Investment (A)

By: Paul A. Gompers, Bora Uluduz and Firdevs Abacioglu

This case concerns the proposed buyout of Acibadem, a leading hospital chain in Turkey. Abraaj, a MENA region private equity firm, proposes to make its first investment in Turkey. The case highlights the role of Turkish health care reform in driving the value. The... View Details

Keywords: Healthcare; Leveraged Buyouts; Private Equity; Health Care and Treatment; Europe

December 2014 (Revised October 2015)
Case

Susie Mulder at NIC+ZOE

By: David Fubini, Joshua Margolis and Kerry Herman

Susie Mulder must decide how to lead NIC+ZOE—the women's apparel brand she had recently joined as CEO—from its start-up phase into a disciplined growth phase. With growing revenues, a successful product line, and savvy private equity investors, NIC+ZOE seems perfectly... View Details

Keywords: Clothing; Fashion; Fashion Design; Leadership; Leading Change; Growth and Development Strategy; Private Equity; Decision Making; Apparel and Accessories Industry

October 2019 (Revised January 2020)
Case

NewView Capital and Venture Capital Secondaries

By: Shai Bernstein, Ramana Nanda and Allison Ciechanover

While still a general partner at Silicon Valley–based New Enterprise Associates (NEA), Ravi Viswanathan considered the challenges presented by evolving market dynamics in the venture capital space. Startups were staying private longer, which led to limited partners... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Capital Markets; Private Equity; Strategy

June 2014
Simulation

Balanced Scorecard Simulation

By: V.G. Narayanan

In this multi-player simulation, students experience the benefits and challenges of using a scorecard to implement strategic initiatives and monitor firm performance. Small teams of students work together to choose a strategy for their company, create a strategy map,... View Details