Publications

May 2015
Case

Transforming Alkermes into a Global Biopharmaceutical Company

By: C. Fritz Foley and Nicholas Haas

In the summer of 2011, Jim Frates, CFO of Alkermes faced choices about how to finance the acquisition of Dublin, Ireland-based Elan Drug Technologies (EDT)—a deal that was expected to close in the fall. The case describes the history of Alkermes, provides information... View Details

Keywords: Financing; Debt; Merger; CFO; Financial Management; Biotechnology Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry; United States; Europe

January 2017 (Revised November 2018)
Case

Vox Capital: Pioneering Impact Investing in Brazil

By: Julie Battilana, Marissa Kimsey, Falko Paetzold and Priscilla Zogbi

Vox Capital was the first certified impact investing fund in Brazil. Founded in 2009, it provides early-stage capital for companies offering innovative and scalable solutions to enhance the lives of low-income Brazilians, while aiming to simultaneously generate... View Details

Keywords: Impact Investing; Social Performance Measurement; Social Entrepreneurship; Investment Funds; Social Enterprise; Brazil

June 2022 (Revised October 2022)
Case

Can Goodr Fight Food Insecurity at Scale?

By: Daniel Isenberg and William R. Kerr

Jasmine Crowe founded Goodr to redirect food waste to people in need. Now a profitable enterprise, she’s searching for Series A funding and encountering pushback. Scaling and contract concerns are also at the forefront of her mind, but so are her values. Feeding... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Investor Demand; Food; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Values and Beliefs; Social Issues; Race; Opportunities; Contracts; Mission and Purpose; Financing and Loans

01 Mar 2018
News

Making Sense of the Modern Startup

matter who funds it? How does it evolve logically over time? What insights could you derive from studying that particular set of circumstances, where there’s lots of... View Details

Keywords: Jeffrey L. Cruikshank (PMD 51, 1986)

15 Sep 2015
News

Easing the Costs of Saving a Child

Little Feet in 2008. Intended to be a family’s last step in its adoption journey, Pathways, funded by Taylor and a group of donors, is essentially a private, interest-free, nonprofit bank providing loans... View Details

Keywords: Jill Radsken

18 Oct 2004
Research & Ideas

The Bias of Wall Street Analysts

was recouped through a schedule of commission rates on stock transactions by the firm's clients. These commissions were regulated by the exchanges along with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The result was high commission rates and... View Details

Keywords: by Ann Cullen; Financial Services

10 May 2004
Research & Ideas

Rethink the Value of Joint Ventures

capital structure for their subsidiaries around the world and allocate internal funds among them. As a consequence, analyzing their choices provides a clean test of what matters for capital structure... View Details

Keywords: by Cynthia Churchwell

19 Apr 2017
News

Chicago Becomes a Hub of Startup Action

city’s South Side through 1871, BLUE1647 (a technology skills center), and a $30 million startup fund for neighborhood businesses, among other efforts. “I have one goal,” he said. “If a child walking out of... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna; Emmanuel

Web

My Summer of Joy with the National Parks Service - Recruiting

internship was very structured, provided high-impact work, gave a lot of insight into the federal government, and qualified for the additional funding support from the Social Enterprise Fellows program .... View Details

23 Nov 1999
Research & Ideas

The Future of the Venture Capital Cycle

Over the past two decades, there has been a tremendous boom in the venture capital industry. The pool of U.S. venture capital funds has grown from less than $1 billion in 1976 (Charles River Associates 1976)... View Details

Keywords: by Paul A. Gompers & Josh Lerner; Financial Services

11 May 2021
Blog Post

IPO or M&A? How Venture Capital Shapes a Startup's Future

Entrepreneurs rarely consider who will ultimately own their startups—and what that means for founders—when they court venture capitalists. New research suggests they should. A startup funded by VCs who tend to work with the same group... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital / Private Equity

July 2015
Exercise

An Activist Approach: Confidential Role Assignment for Remingtons Housewares

By: Guhan Subramanian and Kait Szydlowski

A three party, multiple-issue negotiation exercise dealing with a potential merger between two leading department stores, called for by an activist investor hedge fund in a letter to both companies. Company management will now attempt to navigate next moves, which are... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation; Activist Investors; Takeover Defense; Negotiation Types; Mergers and Acquisitions; Corporate Governance; Investment Activism; Retail Industry

July 2015
Exercise

An Activist Approach: Confidential Role Assignment for Fultons Department Stores

By: Guhan Subramanian and Kait Szydlowski

A three party, multiple-issue negotiation exercise dealing with a potential merger between two leading department stores, called for by an activist investor hedge fund in a letter to both companies. Company management will now attempt to navigate next moves, which are... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation; Activist Investors; Takeover Defense; Negotiation Types; Mergers and Acquisitions; Corporate Governance; Investment Activism; Retail Industry

July 2015
Exercise

An Activist Approach: Castle Rock-Fultons-Remingtons

By: Guhan Subramanian and Kait Szydlowski

A three party, multiple-issue negotiation exercise dealing with a potential merger between two leading department stores, called for by an activist investor hedge fund in a letter to both companies. Company management will now attempt to navigate next moves, which are... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation; Activist Investors; Takeover Defense; Negotiation Types; Mergers and Acquisitions; Corporate Governance; Investment Activism; Retail Industry

16 May 2012
Research & Ideas

Can Decades of Military Overspending be Fixed?

wings on them." Forty percent or more of the funds for DoD aircraft are spent on electronics equipment. It has not been uncommon for weapon programs to take ten or more years to design, develop,... View Details

Keywords: by J. Ronald Fox; Service

02 Oct 2000
Research & Ideas

Networked Incubators: Hothouses of the New Economy

the United States in 1999 versus $7 billion in 1997, according to the National Venture Capital Association—has attracted thousands of business plans. This sheer volume of funds... View Details

Keywords: by Morten T. Hansen, Henry W. Chesbrough, Nitin Nohria & Donald N. Sull

March 2010
Supplement

Whose Money Is It Anyway? (C)

By: V.G. Narayanan, Richard G. Hamermesh and Rachel Gordon

The case describes how the Brigham and Women's Physicians Organization and its corporate parent resolved the issue of how the disputed funds would be distributed and used. View Details

Keywords: Corporate Governance; Business Subsidiaries; Organizational Design; Conflict and Resolution; Resource Allocation; Health Industry