Publications

20 Jan 2015
First Look

First Look: January 20

when the costs of financing a reorganization are greater than financing costs to a potential acquirer. Consistent with a senior creditor liquidation bias, the greater use of secured debt leads to more sales... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

10 Mar 2009
First Look

First Look: March 10, 2009

previously lived outside India rely significantly more on diaspora networks for business leads and financing. This is especially true for entrepreneurs who are based outside software hubs—where getting leads to new businesses and accessing View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

April 2012
Case

Man Group (A)

By: Robert C. Pozen and Thomas M. Clay

The Man Group was a huge and successful UK-based hedge fund and fund of funds manager. Through acquisitions, the company had consciously diversified its portfolio of investment products. In 2007 Man had to decide whether or not to spin off its brokerage business. Man... View Details

Keywords: Asset Management; Investment Funds; Financial Crisis; Decisions; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Diversification; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Strategy; Financial Services Industry; United Kingdom; Europe

February 2008 (Revised May 2008)
Case

Tad O'Malley: The Investment Conundrum

By: Felda Hardymon, Josh Lerner and Ann Leamon

Tad O'Malley has just started as an associate with Empire Investment Group. He must evaluate three investment opportunities facing the big leveraged buyout firm. All are global, but each pertains to different offices and each deal has different strengths and... View Details

Keywords: Leveraged Buyouts; Decision Choices and Conditions; Private Equity; Investment; Strength and Weakness; Negotiation Deal; Personal Development and Career

25 Sep 2012
First Look

First Look: September 25

innovation-driven economy. In Producing Prosperity, Harvard Business School professors Gary Pisano and Willy Shih show the disastrous consequences of years of poor sourcing decisions and underinvestment in manufacturing capabilities. They... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

January 2024
Supplement

Frank Cornelissen: The Great Sulfite Debate (B)

By: Tiona Zuzul and Susan Pinckney

In 2018, artisanal Italian vineyard Frank Cornelissen was one of the world’s leading natural wine vineyards. Its founder, Frank Cornelissen, faced weather related conditions that forced him to have to decide between staying true to the tenets of the natural wine... View Details

August 2023 (Revised January 2024)
Supplement

Arla Foods: Data-Driven Decarbonization (B)

By: Michael Parzen, Michael W. Toffel, Susan Pinckney and Amram Migdal

The case describes Arla’s history, in particular its climate change mitigation efforts, and how it implemented a price incentive system to motivate individual farms to implement scope 1 greenhouse gas emissions mitigation measures and receive a higher milk price. The... View Details

April 2021
Article

Utilizing Time-driven Activity-based Costing to Determine Open Radical Cystectomy and Ileal Conduit Surgical Episode Cost Drivers

By: Janet Baack Kukreja, Mohamed A. Seif, Marissa W. Merry, James R. Incalcaterra, Ashish M. Kamat, Colin P. Dinney, Jay B. Shah, Thomas W. Feeley and Neema Navai

Objectives
Patients undergoing radical cystectomy represent a particularly resource-intensive patient population. Time-driven activity based costing (TDABC) assigns time to events and then costs are based on the people involved in providing care for specific... View Details

Keywords: Time-Driven Activity-Based Costing; Value-based Healthcare; Health Care and Treatment; Cost; Cost vs Benefits; Analysis

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March 2022 (Revised January 2023)
Case

Clara Wu Tsai and Brooklyn Loan Innovation

By: Archie L. Jones, Jeffrey J. Bussgang and Henry McGee

Philanthropist Clara Wu Tsai is committed to racial equity and investing in Brooklyn-based minority business owners. In the wake of the George Floyd murder, she decides to create a new initiative called the Social Justice Fund and commit an initial $50 million over 10... View Details

Keywords: Minority-owned Businesses; Racial Equity; Entrepreneurship; Race; Values and Beliefs; Small Business; Partners and Partnerships; Social Issues; Investment; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Decision Making; Brooklyn

December 2024
Case

Tencent Games

By: Rebecca Karp, Billy Chan and Nancy Hua Dai

For years, Tencent Games, a division of China’s largest internet company, had taken the lion’s share of revenue in the global gaming market with blockbuster titles such as “League of Legends” and “PUBG: Battlegrounds.” These games defined the game genres that they... View Details

Keywords: Decisions; Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Innovation and Management; Innovation Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; Product Development; Organizational Culture; Business Strategy; Investment; Competitive Strategy; Video Game Industry; Europe; China

06 Apr 2016
Research & Ideas

Should Entrepreneurs Pitch Products or Ideas for Products?

School’s Hong Luo, an assistant professor in the Strategy Unit, studies entrepreneurship in Hollywood. Like other entrepreneurs, screenwriters struggle with the decision of how to advance their product. Should they pitch just a story line... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Motion Pictures & Video; Entertainment & Recreation; Banking

28 Oct 2008
First Look

First Look: October 28, 2008

off if platforms were compatible, the quest for market dominance by competing platform providers prevents them from agreeing to a common standard. Download the paper: http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/09-058.pdf The Economics of Structured View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

07 Feb 2011
Lessons from the Classroom

Creating the Founders’ Dilemmas Course

market opportunity or of a critical personal relationship," Wasserman says. In this section of the course, students study cases that deal with both early- and late-career founders. First they consider the case of HBS student Humphrey Chen (MBA '96), who struggles... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Education

17 Jul 2012
First Look

First Look: July 17

shareholders as a category are not well positioned to guide corporate decisions or to discipline management. They also discuss problems in two other roles shareholders play with respect to corporations, as a source of funds and as... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

30 Jun 2015
First Look

First Look: June 30, 2015

Robert T. Thakor Abstract—Financial institutions have both investors and customers. Investors, such as those who invest in stocks and bonds or private/public-sector guarantors of institutions, expect an appropriate risk-adjusted return in exchange for the View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

December 2012
Article

Evidence on the Use of Unverifiable Estimates in Required Goodwill Impairment

By: Karthik Ramanna and Ross L. Watts

SFAS 142 requires managers to estimate the current fair value of goodwill to determine goodwill write-offs. In promulgating the standard, the FASB predicted managers will, on average, use the fair value estimates to convey private information on future cash flows. The... View Details

Keywords: Goodwill Impairment; Fair-value Accounting; FASB; SFAS 142; Fair Value Accounting; Standards; Cash Flow; Agency Theory; Motivation and Incentives; Forecasting and Prediction; Goodwill Accounting

SSRN

30 Jan 2018
First Look

January 30, 2018

developed economies and then turns to developing countries, covering the following topics: farmers' adoption of AI, how AI affects their decision to invest in risky assets, and the extent to which AI helps farmers smooth income and... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

April 2006 (Revised March 2007)
Case

Drexel Burnham Lambert (A): "The Smartest People on Wall Street Can be Had"

By: Boris Groysberg, Anahita Hashemi and Brendan Reed

In February 1990, Drexel Burnham Lambert declared bankruptcy amid a slew of scandals. Equities chief Arthur Kirsch hoped to keep his high-performing 600-person team intact. Could he find a company that would take on such a massive group hire? Competitors were already... View Details

Keywords: Decision Making; Decision Choices and Conditions; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Selection and Staffing; Leadership; Negotiation; Groups and Teams; Power and Influence; Society

January 2003 (Revised June 2003)
Case

Adams Capital Management: March 2002

By: G. Felda Hardymon, Josh Lerner and Ann Leamon

In March 2002, the five partners of Adams Capital Management (ACM), a venture capital firm investing in information technology telecommunications with $700 million under management, gathered to discuss whether they should change their strategy in view of the prolonged... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Economic Slowdown and Stagnation; Venture Capital; Investment Portfolio; Business or Company Management; Partners and Partnerships; Business Strategy; Financial Services Industry