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How to Compete for Talent like a Private Equity Firm
Private equity Digital ArticleIf you want to be successful, you have to harness the talent. The top private equity firms have a genius for hiring superior talent. All organizations need great people, but PE measures talent with one test only: performance. It’s not that private equity firms are heartless. Rather, their three- to five-year time horizon doesn’t allow […] -
A New Approach to Innovation Investment
Innovation Digital ArticleOver the years, we’ve seen a lot of potentially valuable innovations flop because the companies sponsoring them were using the fundamentally wrong logic in managing them. For instance, as Clayton Christensen recently described in the Harvard Business Review, they insist on valuing projects in terms of Net Present Value. A different approach, we’ve argued, is […] -
Are You Paying Too Much for That Acquisition?
Mergers and acquisitions Magazine ArticleThe key is knowing what your top price is—and having the discipline to stick to it. -
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, […] -
Why Western Digital Firms Have Failed in China
Strategy & Execution ResearchA comprehensive five-year study reveals a set of common mistakes. -
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. -
Gathering Green Data: Tools and Tips
Costing Digital ArticleIn my last post, I talked about the ways you can use green data — footprinting information on your products and services up and down the value chain — to create enormous value for your company. As they say, you can’t manage what you don’t measure. And those with the best information can cut costs, […] -
Corporate Governance Should Combine the Best of Private Equity and Family Firms
Finance & Accounting Digital ArticleA hybrid model can balance the short term with long-term continuity. -
Why Do Employees Resist Change?
Leadership & Managing People Magazine ArticleDespite the best efforts of senior executives, major change initiatives often fail. Those failures have at least one common root: Executives and employees... -
More and More Companies Want a Piece of the Next Snapchat
Venture capital Digital ArticleResearch suggests they’re likely to be disappointed. -
We Recorded VCs' Conversations and Analyzed How Differently They Talk About Female Entrepreneurs
Leadership & Managing People Digital ArticleFindings from a language analysis study in Sweden. -
Selection Bias and the Perils of Benchmarking
Analytics and data science Magazine ArticleImpressive studies show that following best practices, focusing on the core, and building a strong culture are among the secrets of business success. But beware: These and other received ideas may also be the secrets of failure. -
The Investor Revolution
Finance and investing Magazine ArticleShareholders are getting serious about sustainability. -
Meet the New Banker, Same as the Old Banker?
Finance and investing Digital ArticleCitigroup’s appointment of Lloyd TSB’s Terri Dial to head its consumer banking operations is being heralded as part of “widespread changes” being implemented by CEO Vakrim Pandit. To this, I say: “Really?” Dial’s entire professional career has been in retail banking. How much of a change does she really represent? The banking industry is moribund. […] -
The Overvaluation Trap
Organizational Development Magazine ArticleIn 2007, Chuck Prince, then the CEO of Citigroup, made a notorious comment about the subprime mortgage market: "As long as the music's playing, you've... -
The Scary Truth About Corporate Survival
Organizational Development Magazine ArticleNew research shows that companies really are failing faster than they used to: In particular, digital companies are far more vulnerable to quick imitation... -
Capital Disadvantage: America’s Failing Capital Investment System
Costing Magazine ArticleTo compete effectively in international markets, a nation’s businesses must continuously innovate and upgrade their competitive advantages. Innovation and upgrading come from sustained investment in physical as well as intangible assets—things like employee skills and supplier relationships. Today the changing nature of competition and the increasing pressure of globalization make investment the most critical determinant […] -
Reckoning with the Pension Fund Revolution
Finance & Accounting Magazine ArticleThe 20 largest U.S. pension funds hold 10% of the equity capital of the largest U.S. companies, and, in total, pension funds have assets worth $2.5 trillion.... -
Stock Market Signals to Managers
Finance and investing Magazine ArticleA company’s stock price is the clearest measure of market expectations about its performance. Yet in a 1984 Louis Harris poll of top executives from more than 600 companies, fewer than one-third thought the market fairly valued their company’s stock. Tellingly, only 2% thought their stock was overvalued, while a dramatic 60% said the market […] -
Are Buybacks Really Shortchanging Investment?
Financial markets Magazine ArticleWhat the argument against stock repurchases gets wrong
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TPG Rise Climate: Deploying "Climate Capital"
Management Case Study11.95View Details This case is about TPG Rise Climate, a $7.3 billion climate impact fund launched in 2021 by alternative asset manager TPG. Climate investing is a complex,... -
Danfoss RC in China (B): Big Challenges
Global Business Case Study5.00View Details Danfoss is one of Denmark's largest family firms, producing components for a wide range of industrial control activity. Spanning the period 1996-2004,... -
Grupo Pao de Acucar
Finance & Accounting Case Study11.95View Details At the end of 2011, one of the largest food retailers in Brazil, Grupo Pão de Açúcar, or GPA (a subsidiary of Companhia Brasileira De Distribuição, or... -
Elite - The Digital Mattress Company
Finance & Accounting Case Study11.95View Details François Pugliese acquired Elite Beds in Etoy in a small buy-in in 2006 and then proceeded to re-invent completely its business, first by pivoting its... -
Frank Spence
Finance & Accounting Case Study11.95View Details This case features an entrepreneur who must decide whether to sell his small distribution company. The case explores several issues for class discussion:... -
Borealis
Finance & Accounting Case Study11.95View Details When Borealis, a European producer of plastics, used a traditional, time-consuming budgeting process, the budget was quickly out of date in a competitive... -
Note on Ratio Analysis
Finance & Accounting Case Study8.95View Details ... -
Danfoss RC in China: Going Global, Big Challenges, Condensed Version (A) & (B)
Global Business Case Study11.95View Details Danfoss is one of Denmark's largest family firms, producing components for a wide range of industrial control activity. Spanning the period 1996-2004,... -
Dow Chemical's Bid for the Privatization of PBB in Argentina
Finance & Accounting Case Study11.95View Details What price should Dow Chemical bid for PBB, a petrochemical complex that is being privatized by the Argentine government? To answer this question, students... -
Valuing Assets in Financial Markets
Finance & Accounting Case Study11.95View Details This note provides an overview of techniques used to value assets, including multiples, arbitrage pricing, and discounted cash flow. The note emphasizes... -
The Uber Board Deliberates: Is Good Governance Worth the Firing of an Entrepreneurial Founder?
Organizational Development Case Study11.95View Details Uber Technologies, the privately held ride-sharing service and logistics platform, suffered a series of PR crises during 2017. As Uber's legal and PR... -
The Blackstone Group's IPO
Finance & Accounting Case Study11.95View Details Steven Schwarzman, Chairman of the Blackstone Group, has just learned that an investment group associated with the government of China wants to buy the... -
Wendell Weeks at Corning Inc.: Extending a History of Life-Changing Innovations (A)
Organizational Development Case Study11.95View Details This case examines the leadership challenges associated with maintaining a culture of innovation in established organizations. It asks students to step... -
Infosys: Financing an Indian Software Start-Up
Innovation & Entrepreneurship Case Study11.95View Details Describes the financing and growth of Infosys, an Indian software start-up. Infosys defies a number of stereotypes about barriers to entrepreneurship... -
Asia Renal Care
Innovation & Entrepreneurship Case Study11.95View Details Presents a business plan for a start-up company focused on building a network of high-quality dialysis centers in the Asia-Pacific region. Includes a... -
Deals on Wheels Inc., Horizontal and Vertical Analysis Assignment Hints
Leadership & Managing People Case Study5.00View Details Horizontal and vertical analysis assignment hints for case BAB372. -
The Campbell Home (A)
Sales & Marketing Case Study11.95View Details Campbell siblings Thomas and Sally are faced with selling their childhood home. They need to make several difficult consequential decisions, all the while... -
Polaris Battery Labs: Startup Risk Management
Strategy & Execution Case Study11.95View Details Polaris Battery Labs was an Oregon-based startup that provided innovation services to companies in the lithium ion battery industry. Its operating philosophy... -
Analyzing Standard Costs, Technical Note
Finance & Accounting Case Study8.95View Details Explains variance analysis. Concepts of price variance and quantity variance are introduced to analyze prime cost variances. Spending variance and capacity... -
EILEEN FISHER: Repositioning the Brand
Sales & Marketing Case Study11.95View Details Well-established fashion brand Eileen Fisher has traditionally appealed to older women. However, to drive growth, Eileen Fisher's management team wants...
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How to Compete for Talent like a Private Equity Firm
Private equity Digital ArticleIf you want to be successful, you have to harness the talent. The top private equity firms have a genius for hiring superior talent. All organizations need great people, but PE measures talent with one test only: performance. It’s not that private equity firms are heartless. Rather, their three- to five-year time horizon doesn’t allow […] -
A New Approach to Innovation Investment
Innovation Digital ArticleOver the years, we’ve seen a lot of potentially valuable innovations flop because the companies sponsoring them were using the fundamentally wrong logic in managing them. For instance, as Clayton Christensen recently described in the Harvard Business Review, they insist on valuing projects in terms of Net Present Value. A different approach, we’ve argued, is […] -
Are You Paying Too Much for That Acquisition?
Mergers and acquisitions Magazine ArticleThe key is knowing what your top price is—and having the discipline to stick to it. -
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, […] -
Why Western Digital Firms Have Failed in China
Strategy & Execution ResearchA comprehensive five-year study reveals a set of common mistakes. -
TPG Rise Climate: Deploying "Climate Capital"
Management Case Study11.95View Details This case is about TPG Rise Climate, a $7.3 billion climate impact fund launched in 2021 by alternative asset manager TPG. Climate investing is a complex,... -
Danfoss RC in China (B): Big Challenges
Global Business Case Study5.00View Details Danfoss is one of Denmark's largest family firms, producing components for a wide range of industrial control activity. Spanning the period 1996-2004,... -
Grupo Pao de Acucar
Finance & Accounting Case Study11.95View Details At the end of 2011, one of the largest food retailers in Brazil, Grupo Pão de Açúcar, or GPA (a subsidiary of Companhia Brasileira De Distribuição, or... -
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. -
Gathering Green Data: Tools and Tips
Costing Digital ArticleIn my last post, I talked about the ways you can use green data — footprinting information on your products and services up and down the value chain — to create enormous value for your company. As they say, you can’t manage what you don’t measure. And those with the best information can cut costs, […]