Publications

03 May 2016
Working Paper Summaries

Pay Now or Pay Later? The Economics within the Private Equity Partnership

Keywords: by Victoria Ivashina and Josh Lerner; Banking; Financial Services

01 Jun 2000
News

VC Luminary John Doerr: Education Reform Critical to Success of New Economy

helping public schools improve their curricula and their methods of working with disadvantaged children. Doerr is cofounder of the New Schools Venture Fund (NSVF), a venture... View Details

December 2017 (Revised April 2018)
Case

Area One Farms

By: Forest Reinhardt, Jose B. Alvarez and Annelena Lobb

In 2017, Joelle Faulkner, CEO of Area One Farms, a Canadian private-equity fund focused on investing in the best Canadian farms and helping them expand, considered the merits and disadvantages of expanding her business to the U.S. While the markets shared some... View Details

Keywords: Expansion; Decision Choices and Conditions; Private Equity; Canada; United States

2023
Working Paper

The Market for CEOs: Evidence from Private Equity

By: Paul A. Gompers, Steven N. Kaplan and Vladimir Mukharlyamov

Most research on the CEO labor market studies public company CEOs while largely ignoring CEOs in private equity (PE) funded companies. We fill this gap by studying the market for CEOs among U.S. companies purchased by PE firms in large leveraged buyout transactions.... View Details

Keywords: CEOs; Jobs and Positions; Ownership; Recruitment

April 2007 (Revised June 2007)
Case

Aid, Debt Relief, and Trade: An Agenda for Fighting World Poverty (A)

By: Laura Alfaro, Eric D. Werker and Renee Kim

At the 2005 Group of Eight summit, world leaders agreed to relieve the world's poorest countries' debt burdens and double aid to Africa by 2010. The announcement raised questions whether debt relief would really help the poor. By examining past aid trends and policies... View Details

Keywords: Developing Countries and Economies; Borrowing and Debt; Capital; International Relations; Nonprofit Organizations; Poverty; Welfare; Africa

April 2001 (Revised July 2001)
Case

Verge Software (A)

By: Dorothy A. Leonard and Elizabeth Kind

Scott Rozic, CEO of start-up Verge Software, has just told his board that he is taking the company in a totally new direction, moving from enterprise knowledge management software to Internet direct marketing. This case covers the start-up of the business, and Rozic's... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Investment; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Business or Company Management; Business Strategy; Technological Innovation; Applications and Software; Management Teams; Governing and Advisory Boards; Business Startups; Decision Choices and Conditions; Product Development; Information Technology Industry; United States

March 2019 (Revised June 2021)
Case

HelloSelf: Foundation

By: John R. Wells and Benjamin Weinstock

On January 6, 2019, HelloSelf, a London-based “BrainTech” company, founded a year earlier by Charles Wells, soft launched. The proposition was simply to help its members “Be your Best Self.” The company provided its registered members with access to a clinical... View Details

05 Mar 2013
First Look

First Look: March 5

NorrisHarvard Business School Case 113-035 In October 2011, noted hedge fund manager David Einhorn of Greenlight Capital delivered a presentation at an investors' conference... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

November 1994
Case

Spectrum Equity Investors, L.P.

Brion Applegate and Bill Collatos had already started a fund-raising campaign for their new venture-capital fund when the principals of a prestigious Wall Street investment bank asked them to become the two senior partners of an in-house $150 million fund. The case... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Personal Development and Career; Entrepreneurship

February 2013 (Revised February 2013)
Case

King Abdullah Economic City in 2009: Population Drivers and Cash Flow

By: John D. Macomber

CEO of high profile new economic city in Saudi Arabia must decide how to allocate limited investment funds across projects under duress. Issues include understanding core economic drivers, planning infrastructure investment and return, attracting multinationals, energy... View Details

Keywords: Urban Development; Infrastructure; Real Estate Industry; Saudi Arabia

08 Jul 2014
News

Seeking "big solutions" to increase the value of nature for business and society

Carter Roberts (MBA 1988) is leading the World Wildlife Fund to "connect the dots" between business and societal goals to increase our perception of the value of the natural... View Details

15 May 2012
First Look

First Look: May 15

PublicationsThe Two Facets of Collaboration: Cooperation and Coordination in Strategic Alliances Authors:Ranjay Gulati, Franz Wohlgezogen, and Pavel Zhelyazkov Publication:The Academy of Management Annals... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

June 2011 (Revised June 2012)
Case

Sephora Direct: Investing in Social Media, Video, and Mobile

By: Elie Ofek and Alison Berkley Wagonfeld

Julie Bornstein, senior vice president of Sephora Direct, is seeking to double her budget for social media and other digital marketing initiatives for 2011. A number of digital efforts implemented in the past two years seem to be bearing fruit and there is a desire to... View Details

Keywords: History; Leadership; Marketing Strategy; Marketing; Emerging Markets; Investment Return; Investment Funds; Budgets and Budgeting

August 1992 (Revised June 1993)
Case

Compania de Telefonos de Chile

By: W. Carl Kester, Enrique Ostale and Charles McHugh La Follette

The newly privatized Chilean telephone company, Compania de Telefonos de Chile (CTC) must raise substantial new funds externally in order to finance its expansion program. This task is complicated by Chile's small, illiquid capital markets and the skeptical view of... View Details

Keywords: Capital Markets; Financing and Loans; Managerial Roles; Privatization; Expansion; Telecommunications Industry; South America; Chile

March 2005 (Revised July 2006)
Case

Celtel International B.V.: June 2004 (A)

By: G. Felda Hardymon and Ann Leamon

Depicts the options facing Mohammed Ibrahim, founder and chairman of Celtel International, the largest pan African wireless telecommunications provider, as he tries to position his company for further growth. Should the firm, which has reached $1 billion in revenues in... View Details

Keywords: Business Growth and Maturation; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Growth and Development Strategy; Telecommunications Industry; Africa

01 Mar 2014
News

Social Enterprise Initiative Marks 20th Anniversary

Web

Chinese Competition and Emerging Technologies - A Chronicle of the China Trade

Other factors hastened Heard & Co.’s decline, including the misappropriation of funds by the house’s agent Everett & Co. The firm also found it difficult to recover from its extravagant ways. “The prosperity... View Details

October 2005
Case

Tad Piper and Piper Jaffray

By: William W. George and Andrew N. McLean

In 2005, Tad Piper reflects on the successful spin-off from US Bancorp of Piper Jaffray, the investment bank founded by his grandfather. Profiles the development of Piper Jaffray from a Midwestern brokerage house to a national, diversified financial services firm. In... View Details

Keywords: Crisis Management; Leadership Style; Management Style; Leadership; Growth and Development Strategy; Financial Services Industry

2013
Case

Advanced Leadership Pathways: David Weinstein and Write the World

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter, Juliane Calingo Schwetz and Patricia Bissett Higgins

David Weinstein, a lawyer and former Chief Administrative Officer of mutual fund giant Fidelity Investments, launched Write the World, a proprietary online platform that included a writing curriculum, essay prompts in distinct subject matter, and access to expert... View Details

Keywords: Writing; Online Platform; Social Entrepreneurship; Education; Internet and the Web; Competency and Skills; Change Management; Leadership