Publications

November 2019
Supplement

Hapag-Lloyd AG: Complying with IMO 2020

By: Benjamin C. Esty, Mette Fuglsang Hjortshoej and Emer Moloney

A new environmental regulation known as IMO 2020 was creating what one industry analyst called “the biggest shakeup for the oil and shipping industries in decades.” According to the new regulation, all ocean-going ships would have to limit their sulfur emissions by... View Details

Keywords: Valuation; Ship Transportation; Strategic Planning; Game Theory; Pollutants; Supply Chain; Corporate Accountability; Capital Budgeting; Environmental Sustainability; Shipping Industry; Transportation Industry; Germany

March 2014
Case

Managing Change at Axis Bank (A)

By: Paul Healy and Rachna Tahilyani

Axis Bank is India's third largest private sector bank. In April 2009, Shikha Sharma, an outsider, was appointed as its CEO. She took over from a person who had overseen ten years of rapid growth at the bank. The selection of an outsider as the new CEO surprised many... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Transformation; Organizational Culture; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Leadership Style; Leading Change; Valuation; Finance; Banks and Banking; Financial Services Industry; Banking Industry; India

May 2003 (Revised March 2004)
Case

Harlem Children's Zone, The: Driving Performance with Measurement and Evaluation

By: Allen S. Grossman and Daniel F. Curran

Geoffrey Canada, CEO of the Harlem Children's Zone, wanted his organization to grow dramatically to reach thousands of poor and underserved children in Harlem. The agency ran a variety of successful social service programs throughout New York City that were separately... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Goals and Objectives; Measurement and Metrics; Organizational Structure; Performance Evaluation; Strategic Planning; Problems and Challenges; Nonprofit Organizations; Expansion; Valuation

May 1996
Case

First Capital Holdings Corp.

By: Stuart C. Gilson, Harry DeAngelo and Linda DeAngelo

The manager of a money-management firm considers whether to invest in the securities of a large, financially troubled, California-based life insurance holding company that holds 40% of its assets in high-yield junk bonds. Over the past year, the value of its portfolio... View Details

Keywords: Risk Management; Debt Securities; Bonds; Valuation; Investment Return; Fair Value Accounting; Financial Institutions; Insurance Industry

Find at Harvard

January 2021 (Revised June 2021)
Case

Eaton Corporation: Portfolio Transformation and the Cost of Capital (Abridged)

By: Benjamin C. Esty, E. Scott Mayfield and Daniel Fisher

In 2000, Eaton Corporation was a broadly diversified industrial conglomerate. But its strategy was evolving and its focus was narrowing around “power management” and more recently on “intelligent power,” the use of digitally enabled products and services designed to... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Conglomerates; Business Divisions; Cost of Capital; Corporate Finance; Value; Valuation; Industrial Products Industry; United States; Denmark; Republic of Ireland

January 2021 (Revised October 2021)
Case

Ken Talbot—Cautionary Tale in Estate Planning

By: Christina R. Wing and Faith Lyons

In 2010, Ken Talbot, a self-made Australian billionaire, was traveling throughout Africa to bring his innovative coal technology to the continent when he perished in a plane crash. His will was originally created years prior when his estate worth was estimated to be AU... View Details

Keywords: Estate Planning; Entrepreneurship; Assets; Agreements and Arrangements; Lawsuits and Litigation; Valuation; Family and Family Relationships; Conflict Management; Australia; Africa

October 2008 (Revised September 2011)
Supplement

PepsiCo's Bid for Quaker Oats (D)

By: Carliss Y. Baldwin

Describes the final deal struck between PepsiCo and Quaker Oats, including the terms of collared consideration. Summarizes stock price announcement effects. View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Announcements; Stocks; Price; Risk Management; Negotiation Deal; Valuation; Food and Beverage Industry

07 Feb 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research: February 7

Internet/entertainment company Tencent, Supercell has a valuation of $10.2 billion, making it Europe’s first “decacorn” (a start-up with a $10 billion or greater value). Supercell’s success is due in part to its unconventional company... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

18 Oct 2004
Research & Ideas

The Bias of Wall Street Analysts

specialization and constraints on time. For example, I am currently teaching Business Analysis and Valuation in the Elective Curriculum, and the students are learning how to do their own stock research. If we are successful in class,... View Details

Keywords: by Ann Cullen; Financial Services

10 May 2017
Research & Ideas

Amazon Web Services Changed the Way VCs Fund Startups

don’t work out.” On the positive side, the firms that did succeed substantially increased their valuation after second-round funding, implying that the spray and pray approach has been effective in identifying long-shot companies that... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Banking; Financial Services; Information Technology

08 Dec 2015
Research & Ideas

You Won't Make It If You Fake It

single drops from the finger. Holmes’ rapid rise to fame put her on a fast track to success, with high expectations and intense pressures. Yet she hadn’t had adequate leadership experience leading people through difficult and complex business problems. Holmes created a... View Details

Keywords: by Bill George

21 Feb 2005
Research & Ideas

The VC Quandary: Too Much Money

for any individual companies to succeed, and valuations got pushed up…I wonder if you think that phenomenon has gone away?" Marc A. Friend, a general partner with twenty-year-old Summit Partners, said the reason you see... View Details

Keywords: by Julie Jette; Financial Services

28 Apr 2021
Blog Post

Alumni Spotlight: Cissy Chen (MBA 2019)

environmental concerns (for example, water treatment and usage) that a company needed to pay more attention to. The goal was to work with portfolio companies to improve their ESG ratings. By doing so we believe they could potentially improve View Details

04 Mar 2002
Research & Ideas

Don’t Lose Money With Customers

products and services to each customer over time. Second, they need to be clear about how to sell the same product or service simultaneously to customers that have very different valuations of the firms' offerings. Finally, firms need to... View Details

Keywords: by Peter K. Jacobs

01 Sep 2006
News

Street Singer

financial sponsors to help them think about the right time to take a company public or to raise equity capital, the right valuation for a stock, and which investors to target. I also help the company craft its story for the marketplace,”... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna; Finance

May 1993 (Revised June 2004)
Case

PepsiCo Bottling in Mexico

By: Kenneth A. Froot

This case describes Pepsico's program to restructure its Mexican bottling network. It wants to work with existing bottlers and find an organizational arrangement that will allow the bottlers to grow and change with the Mexican soft drink industry. View Details

Keywords: Bottling; Mergers and Acquisitions; Joint Ventures; Multinational Firms and Management; International Finance; Valuation; Programs; Organizational Design; Food and Beverage Industry; Mexico

January 2019
Case

Arrow Electronics—The Apollo Integration

By: Stephen P. Kaufman

Having already made 10 acquisitions of competitors in the last decade, the CEO and Senior Vice President of Arrow are evaluating the acquisition of another small competitor to boost sales, become #1 in a niche market segment, and achieve economies of scale. They are... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Integration; Valuation; Performance Evaluation; Competitive Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Strategic Planning; Growth and Development Strategy; Electronics Industry; United States

June 2007 (Revised March 2008)
Case

Zoots - Financing Growth (A)

By: Michael J. Roberts, William A. Sahlman and Todd Krasnow

Traces the genesis and founding of Zoots, the largest chain of dry cleaning establishments in the U.S. Founded by some of the founders of the very successful Staples chain, the company raises a very large amount of capital without fully proving its business model, and... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Decision Choices and Conditions; Venture Capital; Financial Strategy; Investment Return; Growth and Development Strategy; Valuation; United States

September 2006
Case

Stedman Place: Buy or Rent?

By: Andre F. Perold and David S. Scharfstein

A couple has to decide whether to continue renting a townhouse or buy the one next door. Allows for a discussion of net present value, internal rate of return, and the costs and benefits of homeownership. View Details

Keywords: Cost vs Benefits; Decisions; Asset Pricing; Investment Return; Housing; Family Ownership; Renting or Rental; Valuation