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Measuring Investment Center Performance
Finance and investing Magazine ArticleA spate of articles and books about return on investment has appeared during the past two or three years. Improving company earnings in relation to the capital used to generate those earnings has become a matter of great concern to many top financial and general managers. Their concern is not surprising. About three years ago, […] -
Collaborating with Congregations: Opportunities for Financial Services in the Inner City
Economics Magazine ArticleBy pooling the resources of the poor and by sharing information, religious and financial institutions can work together to change inner-city economies. -
How Businesses Have Successfully Pivoted During the Pandemic
Strategy & Execution Digital ArticleA look at what's worked and why. -
How Private Equity Firms Infuse a Positive Attitude
Private equity Digital ArticleTimes change and markets transform themselves overnight. The half-life of common wisdom is shorter than ever. But top private equity firms have distilled a set of institutional habits that boost the likelihood of their success. What’s critical to this success? Attitude. PE leaders take pains to foster a “results-oriented mind-set”. In short, that means creating […] -
My First, Failed Foray into Venture Investing
Venture capital Digital ArticleI love hearing about other people’s dreams. “Dreams,” as in: “this is what I always wanted to do with my life.” Tell me about your dream, and like Pavlov’s dogs, I begin to salivate. I almost can’t help it — encouraging people and their dreams makes me happy, and I am good at it. In […] -
Making the Business Case for Your Marketing Budget
Sales & Marketing Digital ArticleHow CMOs can move beyond short-term metrics and convince their colleagues that long-term growth requires patience. -
Groupon Doomed by Too Much of a Good Thing
Venture capital Digital Article“Alright, you caught us. We’re actually not making any money. In fact, we are really losing a lot of money.” This is the essence of Groupon’s declaration last week that it will remove the controversial accounting metric called Adjusted Consolidated Segment Operating Income (ACSOI) from its financial statements. ACSOI essentially measures Groupon’s profits before subtracting […] -
The Ways Americans Pay for Things Are Woefully Out of Date
National competitiveness Digital ArticleAnd PayPal, Square, and other services don’t go far enough. -
Get Your Budget Ready for the Upturn
Leadership & Managing People Digital ArticleEight ways to re-position for growth as the economy improves. -
Bringing the Environment Down to Earth
Finance and investing Magazine ArticleManagers should make environmental investments for the same reason they make other investments: because they expect them to deliver positive returns or to reduce risks. -
The Role of Private Equity in Driving Up Health Care Prices
Competitive strategy Digital ArticleIt prioritizes short-term profits over patients’ health. -
Before You Sign That Lease...
Technology & Operations Magazine ArticleAn office lease can create financial difficulty if a tenant ignores provisions that landlords can use to gain extra income. The author points out some... -
Must Finance and Strategy Clash?
Finance and investing Magazine ArticleMarketers and finance people seldom see eye to eye. The makers say, “This product will open up a whole new market segment.” Finance people respond, “It’s a bad investment. The IRR is only 8%.” Why are they so often in opposition? The financial criteria used to decide if a project will be profitable are entirely […] -
Stock or Cash?: The Trade-Offs for Buyers and Sellers in Mergers and Acquisitions
Accounting Magazine ArticleCompanies are increasingly paying for acquisitions with stock rather than cash. But both they and the companies they acquire need to understand just how big a difference that decision can make to the value shareholders will get from a deal. -
Why Innovation Labs Fail, and How to Ensure Yours Doesn’t
Incubators Digital ArticleSetting up a research hub is easy. Setting it up to succeed is harder. -
Bootstrap Finance: The Art of Start-ups
Entrepreneurial financing Magazine ArticleEntrepreneurship is more celebrated, studied, and desirable than ever. Business school students flock to courses on entrepreneurship. Managers, fearful of losing their step on the corporate ladder, yearn to step off on their own. Policymakers pin their hopes for job creation and economic growth on start-ups rather than on the once-preeminent corporate giants. Belief in […] -
The One Thing VCs Could Do Immediately to Increase Returns
Consumer behavior Digital ArticleHow investors can start seeing more opportunities. -
Can We Simplify Financial Regulation?
Finance and investing Digital ArticleThere’s a common saying that you never pay attention to your electricity provider unless the lights don’t come on. Well, it’s the same thing with the various regulatory systems throughout the world. For the most part, they tend to be invisible, unless there’s a problem. Unfortunately, over the past year the financial regulatory system has […] -
VC Larry Cheng on What Makes a Great Entrepreneur
Entrepreneurship Digital ArticleI recently sat down with Larry Cheng, a partner at Fidelity Ventures. He writes one of my favorite VC blogs, Thinking about Thinking, named after a course that both of us had the chance to take many years back at Harvard College. As part of my ongoing interview series investigating what lies at the center […] -
New Framework for Corporate Debt Policy
Accounting Magazine ArticleFew, if any, articles on finance that have appeared in HBR have enjoyed the influence of the 1962 article reprinted here as a “Classic.” Gordon Donaldson’s analysis of how many companies haphazardly established their debt capacity, and his careful explanation of what he considered a better way, seemed to strike a chord among corporate administrative […]
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APLO: Optimal Supply of Street Lights
Leadership & Managing People Case Study11.95View Details APLO was a reputable supplier of LED lighting systems for diverse countries from Taiwan to the United Kingdom. In 2015, APLO signed a contract to supply... -
Ratios Tell a Story-2019
Finance & Accounting Case Study11.95View Details This short case challenges students to review an array of corporate financial metrics and to match them to one of 13 listed industries. As such, students... -
Just Dial Limited
Strategy & Execution Case Study11.95View Details The caselet on Just Dial elucidates the business model of a matching platform, one that matches the users on one side (consumers) with those on the other... -
The Credit Suisse/Gerson Lehrman Group Alliance
Leadership & Managing People Case Study11.95View Details The equity research department of Credit Suisse and the expert network firm of Gerson Lehrman Group, historically competitors, have established a strategic... -
Softbank Vision Fund: Changing Dynamics of Venture Capital
Management Case Study11.95View Details The SoftBank Vision Fund case examines the history and evolution of late-stage venture investing and explores SoftBank's evolving investment strategy.... -
Descriptive Statistics in Microsoft Excel
Technology & Operations Case Study8.95View Details The purpose of this note is to illustrate the use of Microsoft Excel functions for generating descriptive statistics for continuous data. These functions... -
Beck Taxi
Sales & Marketing Case Study11.95View Details Beck Taxi is Toronto's leading cab brokerage. In May 2009, the company's chief executive officer (CEO) is wondering whether the company could change the... -
Cash in or Stay: A Franchisee's Dilemma
Innovation & Entrepreneurship Case Study11.95View Details This case exposes students to franchising and the pros and cons of becoming a franchisee entrepreneur. The context of the case is a franchise in the casual... -
Shady Trail
Innovation & Entrepreneurship Case Study11.95View Details Holt Lunsford was intrigued by the packet of papers that lay in front of him. The papers comprised a brochure that Lonestar Bank had put together in an... -
Microsoft/Intuit
Finance & Accounting Case Study11.95View Details Microsoft Corp. proposes to acquire Intuit Corp. Examines the strategic fit and the price proposed to complete the transaction. -
Diversity in Accounting Principles: A Problem, a Strategic Imperative, or a Strategic Opportunity?
Finance & Accounting Case Study6.95View Details Provides an introduction to the diversity of generally accepted accounting principles. An example shows how financial reports in one firm could differ... -
Katja's Danish Bread: Exercises in Price, Demand, Cost, and Capacity
Sales & Marketing Case Study8.95View Details Through this series of increasingly more sophisticated exercises authored by Aradhna Krishna, students gain a deep understanding of the strong connection... -
Controlling Acid Rain, 1986
Finance & Accounting Case Study11.95View Details This case is designed to support a discussion of how to apply an economic evaluation of the appropriate level of control of an externality to a real problem... -
Handspring and Palm, Inc: A Corporate Drama in Five Acts
Finance & Accounting Case Study11.95View Details Follows Jeff Hawkins, Donna Dubinsky, and, later, Ed Colligan from the founding of Palm, Inc., through the founding of Handspring, to the point that Handspring... -
Business Process Reengineering: IT-Enabled Radical Change
Technology & Operations Case Study8.95View Details Provides a conceptual framework for understanding business process redesign and change management. -
Studio Realty
Technology & Operations Case Study11.95View Details Studio Realty created an "electronic open house" technology, by which home buyers sitting in a comfortable setting, could tour a home, viewing its rooms,... -
Hewlett-Packard's Santa Rosa Systems Division (A2): Response to the Employee Task Force
Organizational Development Case Study5.00View Details Supplements the (A) case. -
Fenchel Lampshade Co.
Finance & Accounting Case Study11.95View Details Describes the proposed purchase of a lampshade manufacturer by Steven and Michele Rogers, recent graduates of the Harvard Business School. Focuses on... -
Acquisition of Consolidated Rail Corp. (B)
Finance & Accounting Case Study5.00View Details Eight days after CSX announced it was going to buy Consolidated Rail (Conrail) for $88.65 per share, Norfolk Southern made a hostile $100 per share bid... -
The Procter and Gamble Company: Investment in Crest Whitestrips Advanced Seal
Finance & Accounting Case Study11.95View Details A financial analyst for Procter and Gamble must report on the prospects and implications of a new teeth-whitening product. Beyond a realistic profit-and-loss...
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Measuring Investment Center Performance
Finance and investing Magazine ArticleA spate of articles and books about return on investment has appeared during the past two or three years. Improving company earnings in relation to the capital used to generate those earnings has become a matter of great concern to many top financial and general managers. Their concern is not surprising. About three years ago, […] -
Collaborating with Congregations: Opportunities for Financial Services in the Inner City
Economics Magazine ArticleBy pooling the resources of the poor and by sharing information, religious and financial institutions can work together to change inner-city economies. -
How Businesses Have Successfully Pivoted During the Pandemic
Strategy & Execution Digital ArticleA look at what's worked and why. -
APLO: Optimal Supply of Street Lights
Leadership & Managing People Case Study11.95View Details APLO was a reputable supplier of LED lighting systems for diverse countries from Taiwan to the United Kingdom. In 2015, APLO signed a contract to supply... -
How Private Equity Firms Infuse a Positive Attitude
Private equity Digital ArticleTimes change and markets transform themselves overnight. The half-life of common wisdom is shorter than ever. But top private equity firms have distilled a set of institutional habits that boost the likelihood of their success. What’s critical to this success? Attitude. PE leaders take pains to foster a “results-oriented mind-set”. In short, that means creating […] -
My First, Failed Foray into Venture Investing
Venture capital Digital ArticleI love hearing about other people’s dreams. “Dreams,” as in: “this is what I always wanted to do with my life.” Tell me about your dream, and like Pavlov’s dogs, I begin to salivate. I almost can’t help it — encouraging people and their dreams makes me happy, and I am good at it. In […] -
Making the Business Case for Your Marketing Budget
Sales & Marketing Digital ArticleHow CMOs can move beyond short-term metrics and convince their colleagues that long-term growth requires patience. -
Groupon Doomed by Too Much of a Good Thing
Venture capital Digital Article“Alright, you caught us. We’re actually not making any money. In fact, we are really losing a lot of money.” This is the essence of Groupon’s declaration last week that it will remove the controversial accounting metric called Adjusted Consolidated Segment Operating Income (ACSOI) from its financial statements. ACSOI essentially measures Groupon’s profits before subtracting […] -
The Ways Americans Pay for Things Are Woefully Out of Date
National competitiveness Digital ArticleAnd PayPal, Square, and other services don’t go far enough. -
Wall Street from Buttonwood to Bernie Madoff
Economics AudioNancy Koehn, Harvard Business School historian and editor of “The Story of American Business.”