In the venture capital (VC) industry, firms often co-invest with other peers in syndicated deals. This process is a form of investment alliance that generates networks of VC firms and start-up companies. Despite the prominent role played by syndicates, our understanding of the circumstances under which syndicates can improve a venture's performance remains limited. This book intends to fill this gap and explore the performance dynamics surrounding networks in the ventureÂcapital industry. It also introduces interested readers to network studies and methods. Chapter 1 investigates the effect of the portfolio companies' network on the performance of the start-up. It distinguishes between connections in the same or different industries, it examines how different ties lead the focal investee company to better performance, namely, the achievement of an IPO or an M&A event. This chapter contributes to the VC literature by showing that other network attributes beyond network centrality should be considered for explaining the performance benefits of certain networks.
In the venture capital (VC) industry, firms often co-invest with other peers in syndicated deals. This process is a form of investment alliance that generates networks of VC firms and start-up companies. Despite the prominent role played by syndicates, our understanding of the circumstances under which syndicates can improve a venture's performance remains limited. This book intends to fill this gap and explore the performance dynamics surrounding networks in the ventureÂcapital industry. It also introduces interested readers to network studies and methods. Chapter 2 studies the impact of the focal VC firms' network structure on the performance of the VC investor. Different syndicates lead to different network structures that, in turn, offer different performance benefits to the focal investor.
In the venture capital (VC) industry, firms often co-invest with other peers in syndicated deals. This process is a form of investment alliance that generates networks of VC firms and start-up companies. Despite the prominent role played by syndicates, our understanding of the circumstances under which syndicates can improve a venture's performance remains limited. This book intends to fill this gap and explore the performance dynamics surrounding networks in the ventureÂcapital industry. It also introduces interested readers to network studies and methods. Chapter 3 examines the impact of investment syndicates' composition on the performance of the syndicates. It provides a holistic picture of conditions under which syndicates are advantageous to the focal actor.
In the venture capital (VC) industry, firms often co-invest with other peers in syndicated deals. This process is a form of investment alliance that generates networks of VC firms and start-up companies. Despite the prominent role played by syndicates, our understanding of the circumstances under which syndicates can improve a venture's performance remains limited. This book intends to fill this gap and explore the performance dynamics surrounding networks in the ventureÂcapital industry. It also introduces interested readers to network studies and methods. The Conclusion summarizes the remainder of the book. It highlights contributions to the alliance, entrepreneurship, and network literatures, and it offers guidance to practitioners. In particular, it suggests that firms should choose partners carefully because these partners influence network structures and the investment alliances established. From the start-up's perspective, although VC is an important source of financing, VC-backed start-ups often fail or lack the traction necessary to achieve an exit. Start-ups should thus approach prospective investors considering not only their capital, status, and potential to add value but also considering the network that these investors can offer.
The June 2017 news that e-commerce giant Amazon was paying $13.7 billion for organic supermarket chain Whole Foods precipitated a broad sell-off in the shares of grocery retailers and suppliers. Behind the precipitous declines lay recognition that Amazon's bold move into brick and mortar assets offered transformational opportunities. Amazon could gain expertise in perishable product sales and procurement, plus access to 30 million well-off shoppers and 463 grocery stores in key U.S. markets. Whole Foods could absorb Amazon's technology and process expertise to modernize and reduce its operating costs, which were among the highest in the industry. For grocery retailers and suppliers, the deal portended increased competitive pressures in a saturated market. As 2018 dawned, all parties were assessing the deal's implications. Had the stock market overreacted to news of the deal? Why was Amazon buying Whole Foods? What were the long-term implications of the deal for the food value chain?
This case explores the strategy of OCP Group, the 95%-state-owned Moroccan firm charged with managing the North African country's vast reserves of phosphate. Phosphate was one of the most vital macronutrients for plant health, along with nitrogen and potassium, and Morocco had about 75% of known worldwide reserves. In 2017, under the leadership of Dr. Mostafa Terrab, OCP was halfway through a $20 billion industrial transformation program aimed at increasing its industrial capacity, improving cost efficiencies, and boosting long-term competitiveness. The program involved moving OCP beyond mining and exporting raw phosphate rock-its traditional focus, which it performed at a relatively low cost-towards greater production of phosphoric acid and finished fertilizer products. In the next phase of the program, OCP planned to ramp up its focus on fertilizer production, especially for markets in Africa, where fertilizer historically was underutilized. Terrab and his team saw an opportunity to nurture and meet fertilizer demand by creating products tailored to the needs of African farmers. This case provides background on Morocco, the fertilizer industry, and OCP Group's past, current, and envisioned strategy and operations. With this context, students are invited to consider how aggressively OCP Group should pursue downstream integration (and specifically its Africa strategy), as well as how OCP can best leverage its competitive advantages and utilize Morocco's phosphate reserves to its-and Morocco's-benefit.
A Somali fisherman stands on a beach in early 2011, considering his options: should he embark in his tiny fishing vessel, or join a nearby pirate crew? His war-ravaged country, entering its twentieth year of civil war, was in the midst of a famine that had claimed hundreds of thousands of lives, and piracy had recently become the country's greatest claim to fame, securing ransoms to the tune of millions of US dollars in one of the poorest corners of the global economy. Why had piracy become such an attractive option for Somalis? Why did some even consider it "just," and how could maritime trade be made safer again?
A Somali fisherman stands on a beach in early 2011, considering his options: should he embark in his tiny fishing vessel, or join a nearby pirate crew? His war-ravaged country, entering its twentieth year of civil war, was in the midst of a famine that had claimed hundreds of thousands of lives, and piracy had recently become the country's greatest claim to fame, securing ransoms to the tune of millions of US dollars in one of the poorest corners of the global economy. Why had piracy become such an attractive option for Somalis? Why did some even consider it "just," and how could maritime trade be made safer again?
On the evening of 3 August 1914, British Foreign Secretary Lord Edward Grey contemplated whether to advice King and Parliament to declare war on Germany in the wake of the country's invasion of Belgium, or to stay out of what quickly was becoming a world war triggered by a royal assassination in Sarajevo. Over the past century, the said world had become woven together in ways never before seen, and a truly global economy had emerged that many believed forever would banished the possibility of war altogether. But could trade really assure perpetual peace, and what ultimately mattered most; interest, or principles? The case considers the lessons to be had from the rise and fall of the last great period of globalization.
In this case, students step into the shoes of a brand manager at UK-based online peer-to-peer lending company Zopa as she decides whether or not to recommend that the company undertake a brand redesign. Students are provided a brand design worksheet to help them understand the component parts of brand strategy and brand design and to help structure their assessment of Zopa's current brand. They are then challenged to consider if, to what extent, and how Zopa's brand design should change as a function of the company's brand strategy. Finally, they will learn a set of best practices, or guidelines, for approaching brand redesigns.
In 2016, the German utility RWE undertook a carve-out in which substantial parts of the company's assets and liabilities were offered to the general public as part of an IPO. The case describes the developments in the German energy landscape that led RWE to this unusual move. The case also examines how investors responded to this carve-out in terms of the valuations attached to RWE and the new subsidiary.
On January 16, 2015, the director of the public affairs division of Uni-President Enterprises Corp. (Uni-President) reflected on growing safety concerns in the food industry. At the time, organizations operated in an uncertain environment, marked by varied suppliers of raw materials, changing government policies and regulations, and shifting consumption choices. As business environments grew ever more uncertain, the likelihood of a product crisis increased. The food industry was especially vulnerable, and large food manufacturers confronted difficult situations in which their hard-won reputations could be destroyed by a single crisis. Even with its strong track record and reputation, Uni-President could not have avoided the consequences of a 2014 food scandal. Although Uni-President had survived the recent spate of food safety crises, more would be likely to come. Was Uni-President’s crisis management approach sufficient, appropriate, and effective? What should Uni-President do going forward?
On January 16, 2015, the director of the public affairs division of Uni-President Enterprises Corp. (Uni-President) reflected on growing safety concerns in the food industry. At the time, organizations operated in an uncertain environment, marked by varied suppliers of raw materials, changing government policies and regulations, and shifting consumption choices. As business environments grew ever more uncertain, the likelihood of a product crisis increased. The food industry was especially vulnerable, and large food manufacturers confronted difficult situations in which their hard-won reputations could be destroyed by a single crisis. Even with its strong track record and reputation, Uni-President could not have avoided the consequences of a 2014 food scandal. Although Uni-President had survived the recent spate of food safety crises, more would be likely to come. Was Uni-President's crisis management approach sufficient, appropriate, and effective? What should Uni-President do going forward?
In 2016, the deputy general manager of operations at DVMS Power Electronics Private Limited (DVMS) in Gujarat, India, was faced with a problem at the company's transformer plant. In recent years, amidst growing demand, the company had experienced low manufacturing capacity and was often unable to fill customer orders. Various stakeholders expressed their concerns about failing service levels. The deputy general manager was considering additional capacity as an option, but simply adding such capacity might negatively affect DVMS' cost structure. He needed to consider the various short- and long-term options that would best benefit the company. He assigned the company's summer intern the task of collecting the required data regarding the manufacturing of transformers at DVMS: the specified number of machines and workers, the processing time, and the monthly demand data for transformers. He needed to prepare a report that identified weak areas and suggested possible ways to expand capacity.
In 2016, MGM Resorts International announced it would break with the long-standing tradition of providing free parking on the Las Vegas Strip. Other Las Vegas resort companies, including Caesars Entertainment and Wynn Resorts, soon followed suit. Las Vegas Sands Corp. owned the Venetian Resort Hotel Casino, the Palazzo, and the Sands Expo and Convention Center, and had no plans to charge for parking. As more hotels and casinos chose to implement paid parking on the Las Vegas Strip, the president and chief operating officer of Las Vegas Sands Corp. properties faced a decision: should the Las Vegas Sands Corp. properties continue to offer free self-parking and use it as a differentiating marketing tactic, or should it follow the trend of its competitors and generate additional income by introducing parking fee?
A budget is a tool that allows an organization to put its strategy into financial terms. It can be described as the financial plan for the organization. The organization as a whole will prepare a profit plan, and it will also be concerned with investment in assets needed to achieve that plan and with cash flow being sufficient to support that plan. So it will typically have a profit plan, a capital budget, and a cash budget, which together will eventually result in a set of forecasted financial statements-an income statement, a balance sheet, and a statement of cash flow. This note focuses on the organization's profit plan.
This note serves as an overview of the Entrepreneurial Management Unit's required curriculum course, "The Entrepreneurial Manager (TEM)." General management has been a core educational organizing framework at the Harvard Business School since its inception. Today TEM provides a powerful context in which to learn about general management. TEM seeks to build the knowledge, skills, tools, frameworks, and attitudes required to succeed as a manager. These tools and frameworks are built upon the foundation of other RC courses at HBS, including TOM, LEAD, LCA, FRC, MKTG, STRAT, and FIN. With an aim to "educate leaders who make a difference in the world," TEM integrates the lessons of your RC year into an overall framework to help general managers at all types of organizations (e.g., small companies, large companies, non-profits, and public servants) become more effective at enhancing the value of those organizations.
On the evening of 3 August 1914, British Foreign Secretary Lord Edward Grey contemplated whether to advice King and Parliament to declare war on Germany in the wake of the country's invasion of Belgium, or to stay out of what quickly was becoming a world war triggered by a royal assassination in Sarajevo. Over the past century, the said world had become woven together in ways never before seen, and a truly global economy had emerged that many believed forever would banished the possibility of war altogether. But could trade really assure perpetual peace, and what ultimately mattered most; interest, or principles? The case considers the lessons to be had from the rise and fall of the last great period of globalization.
Molino Cañuelas was a vertically integrated food company with a management system that allowed it to innovate and grow systematically. With sales of $2 billion in 2016, the firm not only produced flour, vegetable oil and packaged food products; it also owned a port terminal, a packaging plant and an Agribusiness Services Division to support over 8,000 agricultural producers. CEO and Chairman Aldo Navilli, who had run the company since 1986 and had developed its management system, wanted to ensure that as the company grew and expanded, it would maintain its culture and working style. The company was exporting to 32 countries and had manufacturing plants in Brazil and Uruguay. As it continued its international expansion, should it follow the same vertical integration strategy in other countries or should it develop its retail business through partnerships or alliances?