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A Day in the Life of a Centure Capitalist
Strebulaev, I; Gouw-Ranzetta, T; Hoyt, DCase SGSB-E444-EEntrepreneurshipThis note describes the tasks that fill the working day of a venture capitalist. Those functions involved in investing (deal sourcing, due diligence, and related tasks) often receive the most attention from students. However, interviews with experienced venture capitalists found that as much or more time is spent working with existing portfolio companies. This note provides insight into each aspect of a venture capitalist’s job: making investm...Starting at €8.20
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Evaluating Venture Capital Term Sheets
Strebulaev, I; Gouw-Ranzetta, T; Hoyt, DCase SGSB-E460-EEntrepreneurshipWhen entrepreneurs are successful in convincing venture capital firms that they are an attractive potential investment, they are presented with offers detailing many terms of the investment agreement. These are described in term sheets. Sorting through the myriad terms can be a daunting proposition for an entrepreneur. Yet, it is important for entrepreneurs to understand the terms of a proposed financing. These determine the payout the entrep...Starting at €8.20
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Pax Ellevate Global Women’s Leadership Fund: Investing Like a Feminist in the #MeToo Era
David T.A. Wesley; Alexandra RothCase IVEY-9B19C013-ELeadership and People ManagementThe senior vice-president for sustainable investing at the U.S.-based Pax World Funds, a leader in socially responsible investing, needed to identify and invest in companies for the company's Pax Ellevate Global Women's Leadership Fund, an investment fund that promoted labour rights through gender equality. The fund had more than US$200 million in assets under management, a 25 per cent one-year rate of return, and a three-year annual rate of retu...Starting at €8.20
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Innovation at Caterpillar: The D7E Tractor
Carroll, G; Hoyt, DCase SGSB-SM223-EStrategyIn 2009, Caterpillar shipped its first D7E tractor, an “electric drive” machine in which electric motors moved the tracks and blade, using electricity from a generator powered by a diesel engine. In an industry where new products provided performance gains of just a few percent, the D7E moved 10 percent more material per hour, using 10-30 percent less fuel that its predecessor. It was also easier to operate, had 40 percent fewer moving parts, a...Starting at €8.20
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Masschallenge, Inc.: Launching a Non-profit Business Accelerator (A)
Gordon K. Adomdza; David T.A. WesleyCase IVEY-9B13M013-EEntrepreneurship, StrategyMassChallenge Inc. is a large non-profit startup accelerator that connects new ventures with other stakeholders within an established business ecosystem. For this new company to engage stakeholders in the numbers envisaged and create a crowd-sourced deal management system, the founders need to develop a model that brings in as many quality or attractive startups as possible. Instead of taking equity in participating ventures as traditional accele...Starting at €8.20
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Launch of the Ford Fiesta Diesel: The World's Most Efficient Car
Francis Spital; David T.A. WesleyCase IVEY-9B10M040-EStrategyThe case describes the challenges faced by Ford and other automobile manufacturers in an era of declining oil reserves and volatile fuel prices. The Ford diesel decision seems to reflect classic thinking constrained by mental models that were developed in a different world. Diesels constitute over 50 per cent of automobile sales in Europe, because fuel is extremely expensive there. If fuel gets extremely expensive in the United States, one would ...Starting at €8.20
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Power Gig: The Rise (and Fall) of Music Games
David T.A. WesleyCase IVEY-9B13A011-EMarketingThe chairman and chief executive officer of a manufacturer of entry-level musical instruments decides to take advantage of the popularity of music video games by creating a gaming division. After spending $30 million on product development, the company launches its first music video game just as the market for this subgenre has fallen into a steep decline. The case discusses the specific attributes of this music video game that may have doomed it...Starting at €8.20
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Hips Feel Good - Dove's Campaign for Real Beauty (Spanish version)
Thomas Gey; Nick Nugent; David T.A. WesleyCase IVEY-9B07AS010Marketing, StrategyDove is one of Unilever's better-known personal care brands. It has significant top-of-mind awareness among women in many countries. In an attempt to increase sales volume by 80 per cent, Unilever re-launched Dove in 2004. The campaign asks the question What is real beauty? and attempts to redefine it in ways that challenge commonly portrayed stereotypes. This case examines the re-launch of Dove, Unilever's well-known international personal care ...Starting at €8.20
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Launch of the Sony PlayStation 3
Gloria Barczak; David T.A. WesleyCase IVEY-9B07A014-EMarketing, StrategyThe PlayStation 3 (PS3) was the successor of the acclaimed PlayStation 2 (PS2), recognized as the world's best-selling video game console with more than 100 million units sold. The unprecedented display of enthusiasm for the PS3 suggested that Sony had another winner on its hands. The company projected sales of six million PS3 consoles worldwide between November 2006 and March 2007, a level that the PS2 took almost a year to reach. Sony's initial...Starting at €8.20
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Stonestreet Farms: Making a Business in the "Sport of Kings"
FosterG; Hoyt, DCase SGSB-SPM50-ECorporate Governance, StrategyBy the early 21st century, the economics of thoroughbred horse racing in the United States was backwards – owners invested about four times as much money into the sport than the total amount of purse money available. Owners raced their horses as early as possible, and for as short a time as possible to prove that they were valuable for breeding—then sold them to breeding operations. The industry relied heavily on new entrants who had money from...Starting at €8.20