Publications

25 Feb 2020
News

Profits and Purpose

Professor George Serafeim (left) and Professor Rebecca Henderson (right); image by John Ritter CEOs are increasingly being asked to take the lead on some of the most vexing problems of our time, from climate change and data privacy to issues of income or gender... View Details

Keywords: Jen McFarland Flint

20 Aug 2020
Blog Post

“Business as Usual, In a Different Way” – Creating an Impactful Remote Internship at Actis

For Nikki Mason, Rachael Henley, and their team at Actis, it was never a matter of if they should continue their Global Summer Associate Programme in 2020, but how they would do it well. The Actis Internship Program Actis is a global emerging markets private View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital / Private Equity; Venture Capital / Private Equity

November 1998 (Revised April 1999)
Case

Wireless Telecom Negotiation

By: Jay O. Light

A venture capital/private equity fund is preparing to negotiate with the two parties in a prospective PCS joint venture: the entrepreneur and AT&T Wireless. The negotiation will decide how equity and control are shared in the venture. View Details

Keywords: Joint Ventures; Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Private Equity; Governance Controls; Negotiation Deal; Wireless Technology; Telecommunications Industry

March 2018 (Revised December 2019)
Case

Edward Lewis: Essence Magazine

By: Steven Rogers and Jacqueline Adams

Essence, the first magazine aimed at African-American women, was created by four, young, Black entrepreneurs in the aftermath of massive racial and political upheaval in the United States in 1968. The venture was a financial, branding and cultural success. By 2005, the... View Details

April 2005 (Revised August 2011)
Case

Berkshire Partners: Bidding for Carter's

By: Malcolm P. Baker and James Quinn

A five-member team from Berkshire Partners must recommend a final bid and financial structure for a leveraged buyout of William Carter Co., a leading producer of children's apparel. Investorcorp, a global investment group, has put the company up for auction. Goldman... View Details

Keywords: Leveraged Buyouts; Capital Structure; Private Equity; Financing and Loans; Auctions; Bids and Bidding; Valuation; Apparel and Accessories Industry

June 1973 (Revised July 1982)
Case

Textron, Inc.

By: Norman A. Berg

Covers the historical development, current business, management philosophies, corporate strategy, and the nature and role of the corporate headquarters in managing the highly diversified operations. Based on Textron, Inc. (A). View Details

Keywords: History; Management Style; Business or Company Management; Corporate Strategy; Business Headquarters; Operations

March 2009 (Revised December 2009)
Case

Relational Investors and Home Depot (A)

By: Jay W. Lorsch and Kaitlyn Simpson

In 2006, amidst shareholder upset over CEO Robert Nardelli's compensation and Home Depot's declining stock price, Relational Investors decided to further investigate the situation. As experts in turning around underperforming and undervalued companies, Relational's... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Financial Management; Investment; Corporate Governance; Governing and Advisory Boards; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Ownership Stake; Business and Shareholder Relations; Corporate Strategy

February 2000 (Revised March 2000)
Case

Pet Doctors: 1999

By: Paul A. Gompers and David James Alexander Grant

Describes the decisions confronting David Hodges and Garret Turley about whether to grow their chain of veterinary clinics in the United Kingdom. Turley and Hodges must decide whether to attempt to speed up their acquisition pace and raise venture capital. View Details

Keywords: Decisions; Venture Capital; Expansion; Acquisition; Service Industry; United Kingdom

Research Summary

Women Entrepreneurs

By: Myra M. Hart

Professor Hart is currently conducting research on women entrepreneurs pursuing high growth strategies. Hart is a member of the Diana Research Group, a team of five professors who have collaborated in an on-going investigation of the unique oppportunities and obstacles... View Details

April 2023 (Revised January 2024)
Background Note

Note on Healthcare in Ghana

By: Regina E. Herzlinger and Ben Creo

This note provides an overview of the healthcare system in Ghana. It discusses the public and private sector as well as traditional medical practice. It also discusses the country’s pharmaceutical industry. It is recommended as a companion to Professor Regina... View Details

Keywords: Africa; Pharmaceutical Companies; Pharmacy Benefit Manager; Health Care; Health Care Costs; Health Care Delivery; Health Care Entrepreneurship; Telehealth; Health Equity; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Health Care and Treatment; Business and Government Relations; Health Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry; Ghana

March 2011 (Revised October 2011)
Case

If We Ran the World

By: Hanna Halaburda, Radka Dohnalova and Aldo Sesia

Cindy Gallop launched IfWeRanTheWorld (IWRTW) in February 2010, as what the tech world called minimum viable product, in order to real-world test Gallop's "business of the future" concept while development was ongoing. IWRTW was conceived to bring together human good... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Outcome or Result; Growth and Development Strategy; Decision Choices and Conditions; Network Effects

March 2012
Article

How to Make Finance Work

By: Robin Greenwood and David S. Scharfstein

Once a sleepy old boys' club, the U.S. financial sector is now a dynamic and growing business that attracts the best and the brightest. It is tempting to declare the industry a roaring success. But its purpose is to serve the needs of U.S. households and firms, and by... View Details

Keywords: Business Ventures; Value; Competitive Advantage; Investment; Performance Evaluation; Household; Financial Crisis; Finance; Financial Services Industry; United States

Find at Harvard

December 2010
Article

Management and the Financial Crisis (We Have Met the Enemy and He Is Us...)

By: William A. Sahlman

The financial crisis of 2008-2009 has revealed that our broad model of corporate governance is broken, independent of the shortcomings in the regulatory system. Managers and boards of directors in scores of systemically important firms failed to protect employees,... View Details

Keywords: Risk Management; Human Capital; Ethics; Policy; Corporate Governance; Financial Crisis; Finance; Business and Shareholder Relations

Find at Harvard

15 Jul 2014
First Look

First Look: July 15

tied to their competitors via shared intermediary organizations. To test our theory, we examine every relationship between entrepreneurial firms and their venture capital investors in the minimally invasive... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

November 1993 (Revised October 1995)
Case

Erik Peterson (A)

By: John J. Gabarro

Describes the problems facing a recent MBA graduate in his job as general manager of a mobile cellular company owned by a parent corporation. Raises issues of corporate divisional relationships and the difficulties facing an inexperienced manager who seems to be... View Details

Keywords: Business Subsidiaries; Managerial Roles; Organizational Design; Problems and Challenges; Relationships; Mobile Technology

Samuel L. Hayes holds the Jacob H. Schiff Chair in Investment Banking Emeritus, at the Harvard Business School. He has taught at the School since 1970, prior to which he was a tenured member of the faculty of the Columbia University Graduate School of Business. He... View Details

March 1993 (Revised March 1994)
Case

Sierra On-Line, Inc. (A)

Sierra On-Line, a fast growing software developer, is criticized by a Forbes journalist for excessively capitalizing software development costs. In contrast to most other software developers that typically capitalize about 20% of R&D costs, Sierra capitalizes 80%.... View Details

Keywords: Applications and Software; Financial Statements; Corporate Finance; Information Technology Industry