-
Don't Integrate Your Acquisitions, Partner with Them
Strategy & Execution Magazine ArticleA takeover usually signals the demise of one of the two corporations involved in the tussle - no prizes for guessing which one. Breaking with this practice,... -
Diversification via Acquisition: Creating Value
Mergers and acquisitions Magazine ArticleDuring the past 25 years an increasing proportion of U.S. companies have seen wisdom in pursuing a strategy of diversification. Between 1950 and 1970, for example, single-business companies comprising the Fortune “500” declined from 30% to 8% of the total. Acquisition has become a standard approach to diversification. In recent years the productivity of capital […] -
Go Downstream: The New Profit Imperative in Manufacturing
Business models Magazine ArticleNow that providing services is more lucrative than making products, the old foundations for success in manufacturing are crumbling. Smart manufacturers are creating new business models to capture profits at the customer’s end of the value chain. -
The Missing Ingredient in Kraft Heinz’s Restructuring
Mergers and acquisitions Digital ArticleAs the company cut costs, its ability to innovate suffered. -
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. -
Is the LinkedIn Acquisition Microsoft's Attempt to Build Its Own Alphabet?
Strategy & Execution Digital ArticleUnderstanding the three types of acquisitions. -
Rethinking Negotiation
Communication Magazine ArticleFor decades, negotiators have been working out agreements by focusing on interests, not positions. But the messy problem of how to share the gains created... -
Should Regulators Block AT&T’s Acquisition of T-Mobile?
Mergers and acquisitions Digital ArticleAT&T’s recently announced acquisition of T-Mobile will invite hellfire from telecom regulators who fantasize over a different market structure, in which 17 mom-and-pop carriers serve the masses with tender love and care. As an economist, and as a customer of AT&T (with my mom, wife, and oldest daughter on my account), I am not so […] -
Discipline and the Dilutive Deal
Finance and investing Magazine ArticleA merger that immediately boosts your earnings per share is better than one that dilutes it, right? Wrong. -
Oil and Wasser (HBR Case Study)
Strategy & Execution Magazine ArticleIt was supposed to be an amicable "merger of equals," an example of European togetherness, a synergistic deal that would create the world's second-largest... -
What Really Works
Leadership & Managing People Magazine ArticleWhen it comes to improving business performance, managers have no shortage of tools and techniques from which to choose. But what really works? What's... -
Change Through Persuasion
Leadership & Managing People Magazine ArticleFaced with the need for a massive change, most managers respond predictably. They revamp the organization's strategy, shift around staff, and root out... -
Yahoo, Tumblr, and the Loyalty Factor
Sales & Marketing Digital ArticleThe acquisition will only work if Yahoo listens more intently to its new users. -
You've Been Reorganized. Now What?
Leadership & Managing People Digital ArticleOne of senior management's favorite pastimes is moving around the boxes - and the people inside them. I'm not suggesting that reorganizations are frivolous... -
The CVS-Aetna Merger Hinges on One Question: What Do Consumers Get Out of It?
Mergers and acquisitions Digital ArticleIt’s a test of what creating value means today. -
Strategic Analysis for More Profitable Acquisitions
Financial analysis Magazine ArticleLess than a decade after the frantic merger activity of the late 1960s, we are again in the midst of a major wave of corporate acquisitions. In contrast to the 1960s, when acquirers were mainly freewheeling conglomerates, the merger movement in the 1970s includes such long-established giants of U.S. industry as General Electric, Gulf Oil, […] -
Get Your Piece of the Merger Dividend
Mergers and acquisitions Digital ArticleEditor’s Note: This blog post is a sneak-peek to the upcoming article, “The Merger Dividend,” by Ron Ashkenas and his colleagues Suzanne Francis and Rick Heinick, which will appear in the July-August issue of HBR. Over the last ten years, I’ve talked with hundreds of managers who have been deeply involved in the post-merger/acquisition integration […] -
What’s Your Real Cost of Capital?
Budgets and budgeting Magazine ArticleThe traditional approach to evaluating capital investments has a fatal flaw. Here’s how to get numbers you can count on. -
The Gentleman's "Three" (Commentary for HBR Case Study)
Leadership & Managing People Magazine ArticleHow do you reduce headcount when almost everyone gets the same scores on performance reviews? HR vice president Nils Ekdahl confronts that question at... -
All the Wrong Moves (HBR Case Study and Commentary)
Organizational Development Magazine ArticleNutrorim's products have been gaining national attention. In particular, sales of the company's organic, performance-enhancing sports supplement powder,...
-
Raffles Holdings Limited - Valuation of a Divestiture
Finance & Accounting Case Study11.95View Details In 2005, CapitaLand announced the sale of the hotel business under its subsidiary Raffles Holdings Limited for US$1.45 billion. This included the sale... -
Transforming Tommy Hilfiger (B)
Strategy & Execution Case Study5.00View Details Supplement for Transforming Tommy Hilfiger (A), 714451. -
Bain Capital: Outback Steakhouse
Finance & Accounting Case Study11.95View Details Bain Capital had purchased Outback Steakhouse in 2007 and despite the myriad initiatives to improve operations, the financial collapse in 2008 threatened... -
Deutsche Telekom in 2023: Building the World's Leading Digital Telco
Management Case Study11.95View Details CEO Tim Höttges had successfully led Deutsche Telekom (DT) on an ambitious mission to become Europe's leading telecommunications service provider. All... -
School of Rock: Tuning into Structured Empowerment (A)
Management Case Study11.95View Details In summer 2021, School of Rock was a youth-oriented music education company with 291 franchise- and company-owned schools globally. Before CEO Rob Price's... -
Edyficar and Mibanco: The Emergence of M&A in Microfinance
Finance & Accounting Case Study11.95View Details Mibanco, a microfinance icon, is for sale and Edyficar, owned by BCP, Peru's largest bank, is evaluating its acquisition. Until recently, such a transaction... -
Turkish Economy Bank and Fortis Bank: Managing a Complex Merger
Finance & Accounting Case Study11.95View Details Following the announcement of the merger of the Turkish Economic Bank (TEB) and Fortis Bank AS, Varol Civil, TEB's CEO, is faced with the task of executing... -
Mittal's Pursuit of Arcelor (A)
Finance & Accounting Case Study11.95View Details Lakshmi Mittal, CEO of Mittal Steel, a UK-based company with Indian roots, took advantage of a weakened Arcelor that had successfully won a bidding war... -
Hans Fritz at Novartis Thailand (A): The First Month
Leadership & Managing People Case Study11.95View Details Dr. Hans Fritz is 37 years old when he arrives in Bangkok on March 1, 1998 to assume his position as general manager of Novartis Thailand. Novartis is... -
Textile Corp. Building
Finance & Accounting Case Study11.95View Details Describes the potential acquisition of a downtown office building in Boston through a sealed bid auction. The prospective buyer analyzes in detail all... -
HUL's Acquisition of GSK Consumer Healthcare: A Hefty Rise in Intangible Assets
Management Case Study11.95View Details In January 2019, the Competition Commission of India approved a significant merger in India's fast-moving consumer goods industry. The merger between... -
Doug Cook: Acquiring a Business (A)
Innovation & Entrepreneurship Case Study11.95View Details Doug Cook, an MBA graduate, was wrestling with one of the most important career decisions of his life: Which one of three seemingly promising businesses... -
Canadian Pacific's Bid for Norfolk Southern
Finance & Accounting Case Study11.95View Details In December 2015, Canadian Pacific Railroad (CPR) has just made its third bid to acquire Norfolk Southern Corporation (NSC), one of the largest railroads... -
Calyx Capital Partners
Innovation & Entrepreneurship Case Study11.95View Details This case describes the formation of Trista Engel and Jessica Markowitz's search fund. It begins by describing their process for deciding if they should... -
The Carlyle Group: Carving Out Atotech
Leadership & Managing People Case Study11.95View Details On January 31, 2017, The Carlyle Group ("Carlyle") closed its $3.2 billion acquisition of Atotech, an international Specialty Chemicals and Equipment... -
Nestle-Rowntree (A)
Strategy & Execution Case Study11.95View Details Nestle SA is the world's largest food company; its acquisition of RowntreePlc in 1988 was, at 2.5 billion British pounds, the largest ever foreign takeover... -
HOYA Corporation (A)
Finance & Accounting Case Study11.95View Details In 2007, HOYA of Japan must decide whether to change its friendly exchange offer for Pentax into a hostile cash tender offer. A surprising sequence of... -
Anheuser-Busch Versus SABMiller: Bidding War in China's Beer Industry
Strategy & Execution Case Study11.95View Details An unprecedented bidding war for the Chinese fourth-largest beer maker, Haerbin Brewery, broke out between the world top two breweries--Anheuser-Busch... -
Options for growth: The case of Haier (A)
Strategy & Execution Case Study11.95View Details The cases focus on how Zhang Ruimin, CEO of the Qingdao refrigerator factory, managed to turn around a nearly bankrupt factory which produced bad quality... -
Sun Microsystems
Finance & Accounting Case Study11.95View Details This case is written from the perspective of a member of Oracle's valuation team during Oracle's bid to acquire Sun Microsystems in 2009. Sun was an industry...
-
Diversification via Acquisition: Creating Value
Mergers and acquisitions Magazine ArticleDuring the past 25 years an increasing proportion of U.S. companies have seen wisdom in pursuing a strategy of diversification. Between 1950 and 1970, for example, single-business companies comprising the Fortune “500” declined from 30% to 8% of the total. Acquisition has become a standard approach to diversification. In recent years the productivity of capital […] -
Bluntly Media: A Private Company Valuation
Finance & Accounting Case Study11.95View Details In August 2013, an intern at Slatestone Group, an Arizona-based boutique investment bank, was working on a targeted sell-side deal. Paterson Publishing,... -
The Age of Customer Capitalism
Leadership & Managing People Magazine ArticleModern capitalism can be broken down into two major eras. The first, managerial capitalism, began in 1932 and was defined by the then radical notion that... -
Go Downstream: The New Profit Imperative in Manufacturing
Business models Magazine ArticleNow that providing services is more lucrative than making products, the old foundations for success in manufacturing are crumbling. Smart manufacturers are creating new business models to capture profits at the customer’s end of the value chain. -
Brannigan Foods: Strategic Marketing Planning
Sales & Marketing Case Study8.95View Details The soup division at Brannigan Foods contributes over 40% of the firm's revenue. The general manager is concerned that the soup industry is declining... -
Preparing Your Startup for the Next M&A Wave
Strategy & Execution Digital ArticleAsk yourself these three questions before buyers come knocking. -
The Missing Ingredient in Kraft Heinz’s Restructuring
Mergers and acquisitions Digital ArticleAs the company cut costs, its ability to innovate suffered. -
Finberg: Corporate Venture Capital in Türkiye
Management Case Study11.95View Details In December 2021, Murat Ozyegin, Chairman of Fiba Holding, along with Omer Mert and İhsan Elgin, engaged in discussions about the future of United Payment,... -
Making the Deal Real: How GE Capital Integrates Acquisitions
Finance & Accounting Magazine ArticleThousands of companies every year acquire other companies, or are acquired themselves. This event is usually painful and messy--and statistics show, it...