The BlackRock Solutions case examines the different functions and economics of a global asset manager's value chain, with particular emphasis on the "money management" and the "investment systems platform" businesses. Students analyze why BlackRock decided to unbundle its Aladdin investment platform and if the firm should consider expanding the platform in the future. Students also explore the resulting "dual-mission" challenges of servicing both internal and external Aladdin clients during a period of rapid growth within BlackRock and significant change in the global financial landscape.

Kishore Karunakaran, President and COO of FFCM, faces a variety of challenges in launching an innovative investment management business in the rapidly evolving ETF space.

This Note provides an overview of the structure and function of the Banking industry, with a primary focus on the U.S. It was designed to support the HBS MBA course "Managing the Financial Firm."

This Note provides an overview of the structure and function of the Insurance industry, with a primary focus on the U.S. It was designed to support the HBS MBA course "Managing the Financial Firm."

This Note provides an overview of the structure and function of the Asset Management industry, with a primary focus on the U.S. It was designed to support the HBS MBA course "Managing the Financial Firm."

The managing directors of Berkshire Partners, a mid-sized private equity firm, address strategic and organizational challenges in response to turbulent market conditions, rapid firm growth, and the transition of leadership from its founding partners to the next generations. To address some of these dynamics, and to protect Berkshire's corporate advantage, the managing directors established three executive oversight committees, developed new specialized corporate functions, and incubated an internal hedge fund group. Students are given the opportunity to assess Berkshire's recent changes in corporate strategy and organizational design and to formulate recommendations going forward.

This case examines Millennium's strategic and organizational responses to the rapid evolution of the biopharmaceutical industry. In the early 2000s, as Millennium's competitive advantage in early-stage research slipped away and its losses mounted, founder and CEO Mark Levin moved the firm downstream away from research and towards drug development and commercialization, while narrowing horizontal breadth from over a dozen therapeutic classes to just three. In 2005, Levin hired Deborah Dunsire from Novartis as CEO to lead Millennium's continuing transformation. Students are asked to put themselves in the shoes of incoming CEO Dunsire and to provide organizational recommendations to execute the new strategy.

This case examines Millennium's strategic and organizational responses to the rapid evolution of the biopharmaceutical industry. In the early 2000s, as Millennium's competitive advantage in early-stage research slipped away and its losses mounted, founder CEO Mark Levin moved the firm downstream away from research and towards drug development and commercialization, while narrowing horizontal breadth from over a dozen therapeutic classes to just three. In 2005, Levin hired Deborah Dunsire from Novartis as CEO to lead Millennium's continuing transformation. Students are asked to put themselves in the shoes of incoming CEO Dunsire and to provide organizational recommendations to execute the new strategy.

This note was created to supplement classroom discussion in the EC course "Managing the Financial Firm" and provides background for exploring issues general managers in financial firms face in considering appropriate capital levels.