Publications

06 Feb 2023
Blog Post

Meet the Black Investment Club

In 2020, Paul Ampofo (MBA 2020) and Brian Sykes (MBA 2020) founded the Black Investment Club at Harvard Business School to address the massive underrepresentation of Black investors in venture capital,... View Details

Keywords: Investment Management / Hedge Fund; Investment Management / Hedge Fund; Investment Management / Hedge Fund

October 2012 (Revised September 2014)
Case

Doing Business in Vietnam

By: Alan MacCormack, Michael Shih-ta Chen and Dawn H. Lau

This case gives an overview of the current business environment in Vietnam as of 2012. The first part of the case introduces the main economic, political and cultural aspects of the country of which anyone who has business interest in the country ought to be aware.... View Details

Keywords: Emerging Market Finance; Emergent Countries; Business History; Economic History; Emerging Markets; Business Ventures; Strategy; Viet Nam

October 2007 (Revised December 2008)
Background Note

Evaluating M&A Deals: How Poison Pills Work

By: Carliss Y. Baldwin

The poison pill defense against hostile takeovers was invented in 1982 by Martin Lipton, of Wachtell, Lipton, Rosen and Katz. Pills are considered the most effective of all the normal defenses against a hostile bidder. Describes the two basic types of poison pills... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation Deal; Mergers and Acquisitions

17 Mar 2022
News

Venture Capital & Angel Investing - What We Know and Still Need to Learn

Keywords: Angel investing

28 Nov 2017
News

Active investing v.2.0

Teaching Interest

MBA Elective Curriculum: Investment Strategies

By: Malcolm P. Baker

This is a CORE course for students pursuing careers in finance. Thus, students interested in pursuing careers in mutual funds, hedge funds, pension funds, endowments, wealth management, financial consulting, marketing and client service, sales and trading,... View Details

September 2018
Supplement

Advent International: Kroton Investment

By: Victoria Ivashina, Priscilla Zogbi and Ruth Kostas

Keywords: Private Equity; Acquisition; IPO; Valuation; Education; Distance Learning; Turnaround; Growth; Exit; PE; Buyer; Middle-class; Low Income; K-12; Entrepreneur; Family Business; University; College; Consolidation; Fragmentation; Penetration; Value; Shares; Control; Negotiation; Equity; Transaction; Board; Majority; Minority; Post-secondary; Leverage; Campus; Deal; Shareholder; Tag Along

January 2013
Case

Omidyar Network: Pioneering Impact Investment

By: Michael Chu and Lauren Barley

Omidyar Network, having deployed to date over $500 million in ways ranging from donations to commercial equity capital, must decide whether to back Anudip, an Indian organization dedicated to providing the rural unemployed and marginalized with livelihoods linked to... View Details

Keywords: Social Enterprise; Social Entrepreneurship; Investment; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; India

February 2006 (Revised October 2006)
Case

The Children's Investment Fund, 2005

By: Randolph B. Cohen and Joshua B. Sandbulte

TCI, The Children's Investment Fund, is a London-based hedge fund. The firm donates a significant fraction of the fees it earns to a charitable foundation. In 2005, TCI took a large stake in Deutsche Borse, the stock exchange in Frankfurt. Its battle with management... View Details

Keywords: Value Creation; Financial Markets; Investment Activism; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Financial Services Industry; London; Germany

August 2012 (Revised July 2017)
Case

Netflix: Valuing a New Business Model

By: Francois Brochet, Suraj Srinivasan and Michael Norris

In autumn 2011, Netflix was working to right the ship after publicly stumbling through a price hike and strategic shift and then retreat. The company was changing its business model to focus on streaming video service rather than the DVDs by mail that had brought the... View Details

Keywords: Performance Measurement; Online Business; Asset Recognition; Accounting; Performance Evaluation; Online Technology; Motion Pictures and Video Industry; United States; Canada; Latin America; West Indies

18 Nov 2013
Video

Investing in Change

Web

Alumni Initiatives in Impact Investing | Social Enterprise | Harvard Business School

Alumni Initiatives in Impact Investing Multiple Alumni Topics Business for Social Impact Impact Investing More Impact Stories A Pathway to Pursue Aspirations Mizuho Kanai 2018... View Details

September 2012 (Revised September 2014)
Case

Doing Business in Malaysia

By: C. Fritz Foley, Michael Shih-Ta Chen and Keith Chi-Ho Wong

This case focuses on the current business environment in Malaysia as of 2012 by introducing the main economic, political and cultural aspects of the country for those interested in doing business there. The advantages and challenges of investing and doing business in... View Details

Keywords: Emerging Market Finance; Emergent Countries; Business History; Economic History; Fieldwork; Emerging Markets; Business Ventures; Strategy; Malaysia

Article

Overcoming the Outcome Bias: Making Intentions Matter

By: Ovul Sezer, Ting Zhang, Francesca Gino and Max Bazerman

People often make the well-documented mistake of paying too much attention to the outcomes of others’ actions while neglecting information about the original intentions leading to those outcomes. In five experiments, we examine interventions aimed at reducing this... View Details

Keywords: Outcome Bias; Intentions; Joint Evaluation; Judgment; Separate Evaluation; Goals and Objectives; Prejudice and Bias; Judgments; Performance Evaluation; Outcome or Result

Find at Harvard

April 2009
Case

Brummer and the bracNet Investment

By: Alnoor Ebrahim, Michael Pirson and Patricia Mangas

bracNet, a for-profit/nonprofit partnership, aims to establish Internet connectivity throughout Bangladesh. Venture capitalist Patrik Brummer invested in a first round of funding to connect major cities. Should he invest again, this time in a rural roll-out, which may... View Details

Keywords: For-Profit Firms; Venture Capital; Investment; Investment Return; Rural Scope; Partners and Partnerships; Nonprofit Organizations; Internet; Telecommunications Industry; Bangladesh

Web

Measuring Success in Impact Investing | Social Enterprise | Harvard Business School

Measuring Success in Impact Investing Multiple Alumni Topics Business for Social Impact Impact Investing More Impact Stories A Pathway to Pursue Aspirations Mizuho Kanai 2018... View Details

30 Nov 2020
Research & Ideas

COVID Not Slowing VC Investment

Business School Working Knowledge. [Image: Hiraman] Related Reading Recessions Push Some Entrepreneurs to Launch Too Soon Why Backstage Capital Invests in ‘Underestimated’ Entrepreneurs Research Paper: Does... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost; Financial Services; Banking

05 Mar 2007
Research & Ideas

Risky Business? Protecting Foreign Investments

Silverthorne: You write that Indonesia's 1980 nationalization of ITT's thirteen-year-old Indostat telecom business "marked the end of an era." What changed? Louis Wells: In the 1980s, a new attitude toward foreign View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Energy; Utilities

February 2011 (Revised June 2011)
Case

Hardina Smythe and the Healthcare Investment Conundrum

By: Matthew Rhodes-Kropf, Ann Leamon and Lisa Strope

Hardina Smythe, a recent MBA graduate, has just joined a top-tier venture capital firm in the difficult environment of late 2010. Her first assignment is to evaluate three different deals and make recommendations to the partners. Each potential investment has strengths... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Asset Management; Private Equity; Entrepreneurship; Investment; Health Care and Treatment; Innovation and Invention; Financial Services Industry