Publications

October 2006 (Revised August 2007)
Case

Warner Music Group

TH Lee, a leading private equity firm, needs to decide whether to commit to the acquisition of AOL Time Warner's music group, and whether to commit the entire amount needed, $1.4 billion. The music industry has suffered greatly in recent years, largely as a result of... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Decision Choices and Conditions; Music Entertainment; Private Equity; Investment; Music Industry

December 2005 (Revised April 2007)
Case

The Pilgrim Assurance Building

By: Robin Greenwood, David S. Scharfstein and Arthur I Segel

A local real estate developer has to decide how much to bid for a Boston office building in 2005. View Details

Keywords: Buildings and Facilities; Decisions; Investment; Bids and Bidding; Real Estate Industry; Boston

October 1986 (Revised August 2015)
Case

Advanced Medical Technology Corporation

By: Thomas R. Piper and Steven Rogers

A loan officer must decide whether to lend $8 million to a rapidly growing high technology company. The company has had a series of relationships with three other banks. Reports from loan officers at these banks are mixed and raise questions as to the ease with which a... View Details

Keywords: Decision Making; Commercial Banking; Financing and Loans; Financial Condition; Technology Industry

November 2004 (Revised March 2007)
Case

10 Uncommon Values®: Optimizing the Stock-Selection Process

By: Paul M. Healy and Boris Groysberg

In 2003, Steve Hash, research director at Lehman Brothers, prepared to initiate the firm's "Ten Uncommon Values" stock-picking process for the year. An investment committee had to pick the 10 best stocks from about 100 stock ideas presented by the firm's analysts. The... View Details

Keywords: Stocks; Investment; Financial Strategy; Decision Making; Groups and Teams; Financial Services Industry; United States

May 1984 (Revised August 1987)
Case

Raymond Mushroom Corp.

By: Benson P. Shapiro

In April 1984 Deborah Raymond, president of Raymond Mushrooms was deciding whether or not to raise prices on Raymond canned mushrooms in conjunction with an advertising promotional program to build consumer preference. View Details

Keywords: Product Positioning; Advertising; Decisions; Price; Management Teams; Food and Beverage Industry

September 2009 (Revised September 2010)
Case

Avid Radiopharmaceuticals and Lighthouse Capital Partners

By: Matthew Rhodes-Kropf and Ann Leamon

In fall 2008, a venture lender must decide whether to make a loan to Avid, a small but promising venture-backed life sciences firm. In reviewing her proposal, Cristy Barnes considers the company's characteristics and how they differ from a typical investment. At the... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Decision Choices and Conditions; Financial Crisis; Venture Capital; Private Equity; Financing and Loans; Investment; Financial Services Industry; Health Industry

September 2006 (Revised April 2008)
Case

The Howland Long-Term Opportunity Fund

By: Andre F. Perold and David S. Scharfstein

Melissa Howland, founder of an investment firm, must choose between two competing investments, which differ in size, maturity, and rate of return. View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Financial Instruments; Investment Return; Investment Funds; Value

June 2020
Case

gWorks

By: Richard S. Ruback and Royce Yudkoff

In January of 2019, Joe Heieck (HBS '14), CEO of gWorks, was deciding whether to proceed with his acquisition of Data Tech, that was a business roughly the same size of gWorks. gWorks, which provided geospatial software to small city and rural county governments, was... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Decision Making; Entrepreneurship; Finance

January 1982
Case

New York Telephone Co.: The 1975 Revenue Forecast

By: Arthur Schleifer Jr.

Keywords: Forecasting and Prediction; Revenue; Telecommunications Industry

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Forthcoming
Article

Reflexivity in Credit Markets

By: Robin Greenwood, Samuel G. Hanson and Lawrence J. Jin

Reflexivity is the idea that investors' biased beliefs affect market outcomes and that market outcomes in turn affect investors’ future biases. We develop a dynamic behavioral model of the credit cycle featuring this two-way feedback loop. Investors form beliefs about... View Details

Keywords: Reflexivity; Attitudes; Financial Markets; Forecasting and Prediction; Investment; Credit

Read Now

01 Jun 2006
News

Jay Light Named New HBS Dean

initiatives. He also was chair of the Finance unit (1986–88) and senior associate dean, director of Faculty Planning (1988–94). He took a leave of absence in 1977–79 to serve as director of investment and financial policies for the Ford... View Details

Keywords: Business Schools & Computer & Management Training; Educational Services

September 1996 (Revised November 1996)
Case

World Bank (A): Under Siege

By: George C. Lodge and Carin-Isabel Knoop

Describes the issues that James Wolfensohn faces when he takes over the World Bank as president in June 1995. Presents several lines of criticism of the bank's strategy, structure, and relevance. View Details

Keywords: Financial Institutions; International Finance; Organizational Structure; Leading Change; Situation or Environment; Decision Choices and Conditions; Strategy; Management Teams; Value; Banking Industry

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07 Jun 2019
Working Paper Summaries

Reflexivity in Credit Markets

Keywords: by Robin Greenwood, Samuel G. Hanson, and Lawrence J. Jin

November 2018 (Revised June 2022)
Teaching Note

AirFox (A): Embracing the Blockchain and an ICO

By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang and Nathaniel Schwalb

Teaching Note for HBS No. 818-097. In summer 2017, Victor Santos, CEO of AirFox, considered whether to pivot his startup towards a new product built with blockchain—a quickly growing technology at the time. AirFox was an early stage startup that sold... View Details

Keywords: Blockchain; Cryptocurrency; Initial Coin Offering; ICO; Business Startups; Finance; Currency; Strategy; Decision Making; United States

May 2018 (Revised January 2019)
Case

AirFox (A): Embracing the Blockchain and an ICO

By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang, Edward B. Berk and Nate Schwalb

In summer 2017, Victor Santos, CEO of AirFox, considered whether to pivot his startup towards a new product built with blockchain—a quickly growing technology at the time. AirFox was an early stage startup that sold Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) to small telecom... View Details

Keywords: Blockchain; Cryptocurrency; Initial Coin Offering; ICO; Business Startups; Finance; Currency; Strategy; Decision Making; United States

01 Apr 2019
What Do You Think?

Does Our Bias Against Federal Deficits Need Rethinking?

US attempting to manipulate currency/money to its advantage, as MMT would suggest.” DanWChicago added: I would say that the proper place to find “MMT” is directly under the back end of a bull. It is a sop for leaders who don’t want to make hard View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

Profile

Max Wibaux

firefighting while managing two or three challenges simultaneously. This was attractive to me!" Yet the concentration on marketing left Max with gaps in some of the fundamentals of business such as finance and entrepreneurship. In... View Details

Keywords: CPG

March 2022
Case

Auto Mag (Abridged)

By: David E. Bell

A young HBS graduate purchases a publisher of specialty magazines that advertises second hand cars, boats, trucks, etc. The magazines carry photographs and a brief description of each article for sale. The company faces the problem of deciding on how many magazines to... View Details

Keywords: Distribution; Cost Management; Decision Choices and Conditions; Forecasting and Prediction

January 2019 (Revised March 2020)
Case

Blackstone Alternative Asset Management in 2018

By: Emil Siriwardane, Luis M. Viceira and Shawn O'Brien

In early 2018, Blackstone announced that John McCormick would succeed Tom Hill as President and Chief Executive Officer of Blackstone Alternative Asset Management (BAAM), the largest fund-of-hedge funds in the world by a sizeable margin. As new CEO, McCormick must... View Details

Keywords: Asset Management; Expansion; Strategy; Decision Choices and Conditions; Financial Services Industry