Publications

November 2021 (Revised February 2022)
Case

Advent International and Walmart Brazil's Deal

By: Victoria Ivashina, Ruth Costas and Pedro Levindo

Advent International, one of the world’s leading private equity firms, must decide whether to acquire Walmart’s subsidiary in Brazil or not. Although Walmart Brazil is losing cash at a rapid pace, Advent thinks it has a solid plan to recover the company’s finances.... View Details

Keywords: Private Equity; Acquisition; Decision Making; Risk Management; Retail Industry; Brazil

31 Mar 2008
HBS Case

JetBlue’s Valentine’s Day Crisis

of February 13, independent of this event. Do they think the elements of the structure and systems within the JetBlue operation are internally consistent with one another and externally consistent with the organization's overall business... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Air Transportation

July 2006 (Revised October 2006)
Case

Lenovo: Building A Global Brand

By: John A. Quelch and Carin-Isabel Knoop

Announced in December 2004, the $1.75 billion acquisition of IBM's PC division by Lenovo, China's largest PC maker, made headlines around the world. A relative upstart in the business, Lenovo acquired the division of IBM that invented the PC in 1981. While Lenovo was... View Details

Keywords: Marketing Strategy; Multinational Firms and Management; Information Infrastructure; Global Strategy; Acquisition; Brands and Branding; Manufacturing Industry; Computer Industry; China

June 2003 (Revised September 2003)
Background Note

Acquisitions & Alliances: Introduction to the Course

By: Carliss Y. Baldwin

Helps students understand the multiple forms M&A deals can take, while framing the underlying dimensions that managers must consider when designing or assessing a given deal. Begins by introducing students to the ways in which M&A activity creates value, proceeds by... View Details

Keywords: Alliances; Mergers and Acquisitions

June 1987 (Revised September 1997)
Case

Mebel, Doran & Co.

By: Samuel L. Hayes III

Puts the student in the position of a senior official of a major New York investment bank who discovers that information has leaked to the market on a confidential takeover plan that was being developed by a corporate client. The official has to decide how to deal with... View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Decision Choices and Conditions; Investment Banking; Mergers and Acquisitions; Crisis Management; Banking Industry; Financial Services Industry

Find at Harvard

July 2005 (Revised September 2020)
Case

The U.S. Current Account Deficit

By: Laura Alfaro, Rafael Di Tella, Ingrid Vogel, Renee Kim, Sarah Jeong, Matthew Johnson and Jonathan Schlefer

Investors and policymakers throughout the world were confronted with the risk of painful economic consequences arising from the large U.S. current account deficit. In 2007, the U.S. current account deficit was $731 billion, equivalent to 5.3% of GDP. The implications... View Details

Keywords: World Economy; Macroeconomics; Borrowing and Debt; Currency; Foreign Direct Investment; Business and Government Relations; United States

October 2024 (Revised January 2025)
Case

MDH Partners: Evolving a Family Legacy

By: Christina R. Wing and Sarah Mehta

This case is about succession planning for MDH Partners, an Atlanta-based industrial real estate investment firm founded in 2005. When Jeffrey Small, Jr. cofounded MDH Partners, he named the company in honor of his grandfather, Mark Durward (MD) Hodges, an early... View Details

Keywords: Buildings and Facilities; Business Ventures; Ownership; Business Exit or Shutdown; Family Business; Management Succession; Personal Development and Career; Financial Services Industry; Real Estate Industry; United States; Georgia (state, US); Atlanta

05 Jul 2023
HBS Case

What Kind of Leader Are You? How Three Action Orientations Can Help You Meet the Moment

Because change is the only constant, leadership is never one-size-fits-all. Different challenges require different leadership styles. A recent note from Harvard Business School suggests that an organization’s success rides on the ability... View Details

Keywords: by Ben Rand

02 Aug 2022
Research & Ideas

6 Strategies for Building Socially Responsible—and Profitable—Companies

A dozen years ago, Harvard Business School Professor George Serafeim wondered why some companies operated with an eye toward the greater good, while most did not. Back then, he always got the same response: Corporate leaders thought social and environmental practices... View Details

Keywords: by Lane Lambert

25 Apr 2018
Blog Post

Policy, Practice, Leadership & Impact: Making a Difference with the HBS/HKS Joint Degree

methods with an emphasis on policy and practice. When combined with Harvard Business School’s Masters in Business Administration (MBA), students will demonstrate exceptional aptitude in the areas of policy... View Details

Keywords: Nonprofit / Government

July 2002 (Revised July 2008)
Case

Value Retail

By: Arthur I Segel and Ani M Vartanian

Scott Malkin, CEO of Value Retail, a developer and operator of European outlet villages serving luxury brands, is planning on developing a 18,503 m2 open-air outlet village to be built 98 kilometers south of Milan on land he was about to acquire for 7.26 million lira.... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Investment; Risk and Uncertainty; Expansion; Retail Industry; Milan

Myra Hart's research focus is high potential entrepreneurship. She has taught MBA and executive programs, co-chaired the entrepreneurship unit, and led several HBS initiatives. As a founding memberView Details

Keywords: consumer products; e-commerce industry; education industry; real estate; retailing

January 2009 (Revised December 2009)
Supplement

Playing with Fire at Sittercity (B)

By: Noam T. Wasserman and Rachel Gordon

To help her finance her aggressive expansion plans, Genevieve Thiers plans to raise venture capital for the first time. She has spent the last six long years building Sittercity into the nation's leading babysitting web service, larger than all of its competitors... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Problems and Challenges; Risk Management; Agreements and Arrangements; Service Operations; Family and Family Relationships; Competition; Expansion; Internet

25 Oct 2018
News

The Rise And Fall Of A Household Name

June 2009
Case

Executive Remuneration at Royal Dutch Shell (A)

By: Jay W. Lorsch and Kaitlyn Simpson

The remuneration committee at Shell decided to exercise their discretionary power to award five top executives a bonus for 2008, even though they had not met the necessary performance measures under the compensation plan. Proxy advisors RiskMetrics and the British... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Governance; Governance Controls; Executive Compensation; Performance Evaluation; Business and Shareholder Relations; Energy Industry

November 1991 (Revised September 1993)
Case

Oak Industries Inc.

By: William A. Sahlman and Burton C. Hurlock

Describes Bill Antle's proposed restructuring plans for Oak Industries, a company composed of nine divisions which seem to be experiencing operating difficulties. During the last ten years the company has been involved in a number of acquisitions and divestitures, as... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Business or Company Management; Operations; SWOT Analysis; Organizational Structure; Restructuring; Financial Management; Acquisition; Financial Markets