Strategy

Many corporate executives view private equity as a last resort, as expensive capital that should be tapped only by companies that don't have access to presumably cheaper public equity. The reality of private equity, however, is more complex, and potentially quite rewarding, for both shareholders and management. This paper surveys some of the academic work on the costs and benefits of public vs. private equity, contrasting the private equity investment process with its public counterpart and exploring how such a process may add value.

Traditional product line positioning and pricing models assume that firms have full information about the market demand and consumer preferences. In this paper we consider a setting where the firm has limited market information and tries to select its product positioning and pricing strategy optimally in light of this missing market information. To do this, we use competitive ration and maximum regret criteria, which measure (respectively) the percentage and absolute loss relative to the benchmark case where the firm has full knowledge of customer preferences.

This 2005 roundtable aimed to present corporate managers and academics with a more accurate picture of how influential and sophisticated investors really think and make decisions. Panelists included Andrew Alford of Goldman Sachs Asset Management, Michael Corasaniti of Pequot Capital, Steve Galbraith of Maverick Capital, Mitch Julis of Canyon Capital, Andrew Lacey of Lazard Asset Management, Michael Mauboussin of Legg Mason, Henry McVey of Morgan Stanley, and Stephen Penman of Columbia University. Trevor Harris of Morgan Stanley moderated the discussion.

Design competitions are commissioned for many reasons, almost none of which have to do with design and all of which have to do with political motivations. A political agenda always presides over the important but ancillary search for new design possibilities, innovative solutions, or a compelling architectural or urban vision. Though political agendas vary quite a lot, they are lodged in the fundamental need to create or cultivate a strong constituency and garner the necessary resources to advance a desired project.

In Marketing 101, you'll learn how to: master the basics of great marketing to grow your business; adapt your marketing strategy to difficult economic conditions; understand customers, competitors, and markets; discover your target audiences; position your product or service against the competition; create a great brand from scratch; market residential and commercial properties effectively; and much more.

Since 1980, Michael Porter's classic Competitive Strategy has provided the methodology that most big companies use for strategic analysis. But now, distinguished Columbia Business School professor Bruce Greenwald offers a bold new theory of competition - a theory that is far simpler than Porter's and much easier for strategic planners to apply in the real world. Porter identified a complex five-force model for studying competition in any market.

The aim of strategy is to master a market environment by understanding and anticipating the actions of other economic agents, especially competitors. A firm that has some sort of competitive advantage--privileged access to customers, for instance--will have relatively few competitors to contend with, because potential competitors without an advantage, if they have their wits about them, will stay away. Thus, competitive advantages are actually barriers to entry and vice versa. In markets that are exposed, by contrast, competition is intense.

Prof. Donald E. Sexton, in an exclusive write-up for OER, focuses on how a country brand affects behaviour through perceived value and what factors influence the branding investment process.