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- March 2025
- Case
Taylor Guitars: Making Employee Ownership Work The Taylor Way
By: Dennis Campbell, Petros Kusmu and Stacy Straaberg
In 2013, guitar manufacturer Taylor Guitars’ co-founders Bob Taylor and Kurt Listug were considering several exit options including selling to a competitor or to a private equity firm. The co-founders decided, instead, to embark on a seven-year process to transfer 100%... View Details
Keywords: Business Exit or Shutdown; Communication Strategy; Strategy; Announcements; Decisions; Music Entertainment; Values and Beliefs; Borrowing and Debt; Geographic Location; Global Range; Governance; Employee Stock Ownership Plan; Management Style; Organizational Culture; Organizational Structure; Private Ownership; Business Strategy; Management Succession; Manufacturing Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; United States; California; San Diego; Mexico; Netherlands
- February 21, 2025
- Article
How a Company’s Ownership Model Shapes the Mistakes It Makes
By: Josh Baron
Why do some companies continue to thrive for decades and others die after an initial run of success? Like many kinds of accidents, company failure is generally the consequence of cascading effects that combine to overwhelm a previously effective strategy. But the... View Details
- January 2025
- Case
Arsenal Capital Partners' Refinancing of Pinnacle
By: Victoria Ivashina and Srimayi Mylavarapu
Arsenal Capital Partners’ portfolio company, Pinnacle, a leading producer of high-performance adhesive technologies, has experienced rapid growth under Arsenal’s ownership. Over just two years, Pinnacle's EBITDA increased from $13.5 million to $60 million. By mid-2021,... View Details
- June 2024
- Case
Alignvest Student Housing: Keep Building or Time to Sell?
By: Shikhar Ghosh and Patrick Sanguineti
Sanjil Shah, Managing Partner of Alignvest Student Housing REIT (ASH), faces the most significant decision thus far in his career: is it the right time to sell the company? Together with his partner Reza Satchu, Shah had developed ASH into the largest student housing... View Details
- March 2024 (Revised June 2024)
- Case
Kashat: Navigating the Uncertainties of the Egyptian Fintech Market
By: Paul A. Gompers and Ahmed Dahawy
Karim Nour, the founder of Kashat, an Egyptian nano-lending fintech company, is contemplating how to manage the growth of his startup. Over the summer of 2022, Kashat's loan disbursements had grown by nearly 40%, fueled by macroeconomic instability in Egypt. However,... View Details
- March 2024
- Case
Funderbeam: Teaming Up or Going Alone?
By: Paul A. Gompers, Elena Corsi and Orna Dan
Funderbeam, a global platform founded in Estonia to enable start-ups to run private syndications and secondaries while offering liquidity for private equity investors, was at a crossroads. Over its ten-year run, the company had expanded its services and areas of... View Details
Keywords: Decision Making; Business Exit or Shutdown; Transition; Leading Change; Business or Company Management; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Law; Mergers and Acquisitions; Financing and Loans; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Ownership Stake; Expansion; Business Startups; Venture Capital; Financial Services Industry; Estonia; Republic of Ireland; United Kingdom; Singapore
- June 30, 2023
- Article
How to Save a Stumbling Startup
By: Ranjay Gulati
- March 2023
- Case
Interior Collab
By: Lindsay N. Hyde, Thomas R. Eisenmann and Tom Quinn
After venture capital-funded online interior design agency Homepolish collapsed, its former freelance designers met to discuss next steps. The bitter experience led some of them to create a workers’ collaborative called Interior Collab. The founding members needed to... View Details
- January 2023
- Case
Kavnia Coffee
By: Lindsay N. Hyde, Thomas R. Eisenmann, Kumba Sennaar, Sarah Mehta and Jiyoon Han
Case on a coffee hardware startup where a series of experiments and pivots led founder to conclude that the venture was no longer viable. View Details
- October 2022 (Revised January 2023)
- Case
Century Bank: Closing Time?
By: Lauren Cohen, Grace Headinger and Bill Kwon
Barry Sloane, second-generation Chairman, President, and CEO of his family’s bank, Century Bank, weighed whether to sell to Eastern Bank. As a small regional bank, Century faced a number of challenging trends, such as digitization and market share decline in the coming... View Details
Keywords: Family Office; Business Exit; Banking; Family; Massachusetts; Boston; United States; Acquisition; Business Exit or Shutdown; Family Business; Family and Family Relationships; Interpersonal Communication; Decision Making; Finance; Banks and Banking; Risk and Uncertainty; Emotions; Banking Industry; Boston; Massachusetts; United States
- January 2022
- Case
Dating Ring
By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Lindsay N. Hyde
In 2015, the co-founders of Dating Ring, an online dating startup that relied on human matchmakers to arrange dates between its members, were deciding whether to either shut down the service or instead manage Dating Ring as a "lifestyle company," ramping down growth... View Details
- July 2020
- Teaching Note
COVID-19: The Global Shutdown
By: Laura Alfaro and Sarah Jeong
In the first months of 2020, a pandemic overwhelmed the world. COVID-19, commonly known as the coronavirus, spread from China and created a severe public health emergency across countries. While an immediate fear of the disease’s impact on human life permeaacted... View Details
- May 2020 (Revised July 2020)
- Case
COVID-19: The Global Shutdown
By: Laura Alfaro and Sarah Jeong
In the first months of 2020, a pandemic overwhelmed the world. COVID-19, commonly known as the coronavirus, spread from China and created a severe public health emergency across countries. While an immediate fear of the disease’s impact on human life permeated society,... View Details
- March 2020
- Supplement
Poppy (B)
By: Thomas R. Eisenmann, Scott Duke Kominers, Jeff Huizinga and Allison Ciechanover
Avni Patel Thompson, founder and CEO of Poppy, an online marketplace for on-demand childcare, revisits the venture's final months, and discusses the steps she took in the wake of the shutdown. This case explores experiments the company conducted to refine its original... View Details
- February 2020
- Supplement
Theranos: Who Has Blood on Their Hands? (B)
By: Nien-he Hsieh, Christina R. Wing and John Masko
This supplemental case tracks the results of the Colman and Taubman-Dye class action suit against Theranos as well as Theranos’ other legal challenges and chronicles the final demise of the company in 2019. View Details
- September 2019 (Revised May 2020)
- Case
Keroche (A): Fighting for Share in the Kenyan Alcoholic Drinks Market
By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Pippa Tubman Armerding
This case discusses the challenges faced by Kenyan alcoholic drinks producer Keroche Industries Limited in 2003, when the Kenyan government accused the company of manufacturing and selling substandard alcoholic drinks, revoked its liquor licenses, and shut down its... View Details
Keywords: Keroche; Alcohol; Wine; Manufacturing; Informal Market; Regulation; Illicit; Illegal; Shutdown; Factory; Low-income Consumers; Multinational; Local; Government; Allegations; Accusations; Negative Press; EABL; Tusker; Beer; SAB; Chang'aa; Naivasha; Rift Valley; East Africa; Lawsuit; Legal Battle; Business Ventures; Business Exit or Shutdown; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Startups; Production; Safety; Quality; Distribution; Small Business; Family Business; Crime and Corruption; Customer Focus and Relationships; Decisions; Income; Demographics; Geographic Scope; Geographic Location; Goods and Commodities; Government Legislation; Growth and Development; Business History; Lawsuits and Litigation; Laws and Statutes; Lawfulness; Goals and Objectives; Consumer Behavior; Market Entry and Exit; Problems and Challenges; Social Issues; Poverty; Strategy; Competition; Entrepreneurship; Manufacturing Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Kenya; Nairobi; Africa
- September 2019
- Supplement
Keroche (B): Considering Entry into the Kenyan Beer Market
By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Pippa Tubman Armerding
This case discusses the situation of the Kenyan alcoholic drinks producer Keroche in July 2004, when co-founder Tabitha Karanja was debating whether to enter the Kenyan beer market. Doing so would mean direct competition with the multinational EABL in an industry and... View Details
Keywords: Keroche; Alcohol; Alcoholic Drinks; Alcoholic Beverages; Beverages; Drinks; Wine Industry; Wine; Fortified Wine; Viena; Beer; Beer Market; Manufacturing; Production Capacity; Capacity; Growth; Regulated; Unregulated; Informal; Informal Market; Regulation; Illicit; Illegal; Substandard; Dangerous; Shutdown; Factory; Safe; Affordable; Low-income Consumers; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Startups; Production; Investment; Safety; Quality; Small Business; Family Business; Crime and Corruption; Customer Focus and Relationships; Decisions; Income; Demographics; Geographic Scope; Geographic Location; Goods and Commodities; Government Legislation; Growth and Development; Business History; Lawsuits and Litigation; Laws and Statutes; Lawfulness; Goals and Objectives; Consumer Behavior; Market Entry and Exit; Problems and Challenges; Social Issues; Poverty; Strategy; Competition; Entrepreneurship; Marketing; Manufacturing Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Kenya; Nairobi; Africa
- September 2019 (Revised May 2020)
- Supplement
Keroche (C): The Excise Tax Increase
By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Pippa Tubman Armerding
This case discusses the Kenyan government’s decision to increase excise taxes on wines in 2007. The tax increase would cause an average increase in price of 367% on Keroche’s fortified wines. Meanwhile, Keroche’s competitor EABL had effectively lobbied the government... View Details
Keywords: Keroche; Alcohol; Alcoholic Drinks; Alcoholic Beverages; Beverages; Drinks; Wine Industry; Wine; Fortified Wine; Business Ventures; Business Exit or Shutdown; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Startups; Small Business; Family Business; Crime and Corruption; Customer Focus and Relationships; Decisions; Income; Demographics; Geographic Scope; Geographic Location; Goods and Commodities; Government Legislation; Growth and Development; Business History; Lawsuits and Litigation; Laws and Statutes; Lawfulness; Goals and Objectives; Consumer Behavior; Market Entry and Exit; Problems and Challenges; Safety; Social Issues; Poverty; Strategy; Competition; Entrepreneurship; Manufacturing Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Kenya; Nairobi; Africa