Publications

August 2001 (Revised October 2001)
Case

Shinsei Bank (A)

By: Michael Y. Yoshino and Perry Fagan

In a deal marking the first acquisition of a domestic Japanese financial institution by foreigners, a consortium of Western investors purchased the assets of the Long Term Credit Bank (LTCB) of Japan in March 2000. The new management renames the bank Shinsei Bank,... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Assets; Banks and Banking; Investment; Business or Company Management; Managerial Roles; Organizational Structure; Failure; Adaptation; Banking Industry; Japan

November 1998 (Revised December 1998)
Case

Jeanne Lewis at Staples, Inc. (A)

By: Linda A. Hill and Kristin Doughty

Jeanne Lewis, after six years with Staples, Inc., is promoted to senior vice president of marketing. She is to work for fifteen months alongside her predecessor, a legacy in the organization, "learning the ropes" before he moves on. This case is set nine months after... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Management Style; Change Management; Marketing Strategy; Management Succession; Competitive Advantage; Problems and Challenges; Management Teams; Retail Industry; United States

September 2022
Background Note

On CUE: The Quest for Optimal Customer Unit Economics

By: Elie Ofek, Barak Libai and Eitan Muller

Startups are often evaluated by how well they perform on unit economics, defined as the ratio of a customer’s lifetime value (LTV) to acquisition costs (CAC). A common target for unit economics, advocated by many VCs and analysts, is 3:1 (i.e., LTV/CAC=3). While there... View Details

Keywords: Unit Economics; Business Startups; Performance Evaluation; Customer Value and Value Chain; Customer Relationship Management; Analysis

November 2001 (Revised December 2002)
Case

Tracking Stocks at Genzyme (A)

By: Malcolm S. Salter

Genzyme, a tracking stock pioneer, has used its innovative capital structure as a way to frame and grow its R&D-intensive business. Facing the question of how best to integrate a new acquisition into its tracking stock structure, Genzyme's top management is forced to... View Details

Keywords: Integration; Value Creation; Motivation and Incentives; Conflict of Interests; Stocks; Capital Structure; Research and Development; Corporate Governance; Biotechnology Industry

Find at Harvard

July 2002 (Revised December 2002)
Case

Mercer Management Consulting (A)

By: Thomas J. DeLong and Michael Echenberg

Insurance giant Marsh & McLennan acquires management consulting firms Temple, Barker & Sloane (TBS) in 1987 and Strategic Planning Associates (SPA) in 1990 and sets out to merge the two. The merger proceeds slowly and painfully. Following the February 1990 merger,... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Model; Decision Making; Organizational Culture; Personal Development and Career; Horizontal Integration; Consulting Industry

July 2007 (Revised May 2008)
Case

Central Bank: The ChexSystemsSM QualiFile® Decision

By: Dennis Campbell, Francisco de Asis Martinez-Jerez, Peter Tufano and Emily McClintock

The "Central Bank" series analyzes the use of information and product design for managing the counterparty risk of newly acquired customers. Central Bank, a mid-sized regional U.S. bank, was attempting to grow its customer base by increasing the number of new checking... View Details

Keywords: Central Banking; Knowledge Management; Customer Satisfaction; Risk Management; Risk and Uncertainty; Decision Making; Banking Industry; United States

16 Jun 2021
News

Lina Khan, Big Tech Skeptic, Named FTC Chair Mere Hours after Confirmation

March 2018
Teaching Note

Augmedix

By: Frank V. Cespedes

Teaching Note for HBS No. 817-048. Augmedix provides a service that live-streams video of patient appointments to a remote scribe, freeing up significant physician time from electronic medical record data-entry tasks. The venture is confronting decisions in areas such... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Sales; Management; Marketing Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; Technology Adoption; Customers; Segmentation; Health Industry; Technology Industry; United States

Person Page

Press / Media

By: Gary P. Pisano

Thought Leader: Gary Pisano

by Amy Bernstein, strategy+business, Summer 2007

A leading student of the biotech business describes the problems holding the industry back, and how it can overcome... View Details

October 2019 (Revised December 2019)
Case

BC Partners: Acuris

By: Victoria Ivashina and Terrence Shu

This case follows Nikos Stathopoulos, Managing Partner of BC Partners, as he and his team evaluate the potential sale of one of BC Partners’ portfolio companies, Acuris. Acuris was a global financial intelligence, news, and data company that had been acquired by BC... View Details

Keywords: Fund Management; Fund Raising; Leveraged Buyout; Buyout; Portfolio Management; Operations Improvement; Exit; Exit Strategy; Valuation Ratios; Finance; Private Equity; Leveraged Buyouts; Operations; Performance Improvement; Acquisition; Valuation

August 2011 (Revised November 2018)
Case

Lind Equipment

By: Richard S. Ruback and Royce Yudkoff

Lind Equipment failed to meet its loan covenants with its senior bank lender in the summer of 2008, just six months after it was acquired. While the senior bank debt comprised only 6% of the capital used in the acquisition and was fully secured, it exercised its right... View Details

Keywords: Financial Condition; Borrowing and Debt; Capital; Revenue; Financing and Loans; Financial Strategy; Financial Management; Acquisition; Financial Crisis; Currency Exchange Rate; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Manufacturing Industry; Industrial Products Industry

2005
Other Unpublished Work

Corporate Financing Decisions When Investors Take the Path of Least Resistance

By: Malcolm Baker, Joshua Coval and Jeremy Stein

We explore the consequences for corporate financial policy that arise when investors exhibit inertial behavior. One implication of investor inertia is that, all else equal, a firm pursuing a strategy of equity-financed growth will prefer a stock-for-stock merger to... View Details

Keywords: Decisions; Behavior; Stocks; Mergers and Acquisitions; Policy; Investment; Financial Institutions; Equity; Corporate Finance

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May 2006 (Revised July 2007)
Case

Creating Meaning for the Customer: The Case of GMACI

Excellence in exploiting customer information and leveraging its affiliation to the GM group are among the strategic options that GMAC Insurance CEO Gary Kusumi is considering. GMAC Insurance, the wholly-owned auto insurance subsidiary of General Motors, formed through... View Details

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Decision Choices and Conditions; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Strategy; Auto Industry; Insurance Industry

March 2012
Case

Schuberg Philis

By: Thomas J. DeLong and Daniela Beyersdorfer

The Dutch professional service firm Schuberg Philis has within a few years grown into a well-known player in the Dutch IT outsourcing market and regularly wins high customer- satisfaction marks. The growing workload and 100% promise to customers have increased the... View Details

Keywords: Growth Management; Organizational Culture; Management Style; Alignment; Information Technology Industry; Netherlands

2006
Article

The Long-Term Value of M&A Activity to Enhance Learning Organizations

Viewing the automobile industry as being made up of independent learning-organisations may reveal some tie-ups that can generate value not easily revealed by traditional financial metrics. The key question to be answered when considering M&A activity between automakers... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Processes; Manufacturing Industry; Auto Industry

January 2025
Case

Redwood & Strong: The Value of a Consulting Engagement

By: David G. Fubini and Patrick Sanguineti

The board of Redwood & Strong LLP (R&S), the American branch of a large global law firm, is meeting to review the findings of a recent strategic initiative designed to identify potential merger candidates. The request for the engagement originated from Daniel Crawford,... View Details

Keywords: Client Service; Professional Service Firm; Professional Services; Consulting; Mergers and Acquisitions; Governing and Advisory Boards; Reports; Strategic Planning; Value; Consulting Industry; Legal Services Industry; United States

April 1992 (Revised April 1996)
Case

Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, Inc.

By: Hugo Uyterhoeven

The board and management of General Cinema has to determine whether the acquisition of Harcourt Brace Jovanovich (HBJ), thereby entering the publishing business, makes strategic sense. The case describes HBJ's involvement in several segments of the publishing industry:... View Details

Keywords: Competition; Boundaries; Supply and Industry; Segmentation; Publishing Industry