Internet Securities, Inc.: Path to Sustainability

Lynda M. Applegate; William R. Kerr; Ryan  Johnson

Case | HBS Case Collection | April 2011 (Revised June 2011)

Internet Securities, Inc.: Path to Sustainability

by Lynda M. Applegate, William R. Kerr and Ryan Johnson

Abstract

Founded in 1994 when the Internet was still a "toy for techies," the case is set in 1998 when Internet IPOs were red-hot. Internet Securities provides hard-to-find financial, business, economic, and political information on emerging markets. Information from over 600 information suppliers in more than 25 emerging markets (e.g., China, Russia, Poland, Venezuela, Argentina, Chile, Turkey) is provided to over 650 institutional clients, including J.P. Morgan, Deutsche Morgan Grenfell, KPMG, and ING Barings. After ruling out seeking another round of VC financing, the cash-strapped founder of this Internet information service provider must decide whether to IPO or accept an offer to be acquired by Euromoney, a global publishing and information content provider that is eager to launch an Internet information service. The case contains a term sheet that can be reviewed to support analysis and decision making.

Keywords: Acquisition; Business Model; Business Startups; Decision Choices and Conditions; Venture Capital; Cash Flow; Initial Public Offering; Data and Data Sets; Growth and Development Strategy; Valuation;

Format: Print

32 pages

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Citation:

Applegate, Lynda M., William R. Kerr, and Ryan Johnson. "Internet Securities, Inc.: Path to Sustainability." Harvard Business School Case 811-098, April 2011. (Revised June 2011.)

Case | HBS Case Collection | September 2017 (Revised January 2019)

FJ Management Inc.

Lynda M. Applegate and Matthew G. Preble

In late 2015, Crystal Call Maggelet, president and CEO of FJ Management, is working with her investment committee to help set the company’s strategic direction. Maggelet, daughter of the company’s founder, has led FJ Management since 2009 when she stepped in as CEO following an unexpected bankruptcy. At that time, FJ Management was known as Flying J. Flying J owned and operated hundreds of truck stops—which it called Travel Plazas—nationwide and was a growing multi-billion dollar business, but broader problems in the oil and credit markets in late 2008 forced it to declare Chapter 11 bankruptcy. Maggelet, who had been serving on Flying J’s board, became its new CEO and was able to successfully manage competing stakeholder demands, keep the business running, and ultimately paid back every dollar it owed to its creditors by selling the company’s core assets—its travel plazas—to its main competitor in 2010. Since that time, the company had returned to a healthy financial position, diversified its holdings, and made investments in diverse industries to determine how to grow the company, since renamed FJ Management. In 2015, Maggelet now wants to set a clear path forward for the company.

Keywords: turnaround; family business; transformation; Volatility; change management; entrepreneurship; ethics; moral sensibility; Values and Beliefs; Cash flow; insolvency and bankruptcy; financial liquidity; financial management; governance; corporate governance; governance controls; company history; leadership; leading change; crisis management; negotiation; Organizational Change and Adaptation; family ownership; business and stakeholder relations; Business Strategy; Family Business; Transformation; Volatility; Change Management; Entrepreneurship; Ethics; Moral Sensibility; Values and Beliefs; Cash Flow; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Financial Liquidity; Financial Management; Governance; Corporate Governance; Governance Controls; Leadership; Leading Change; Crisis Management; Negotiation; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Family Ownership; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Business Strategy; Energy Industry; Travel Industry; Retail Industry; Service Industry; Utah;

Citation:

Applegate, Lynda M., and Matthew G. Preble. "FJ Management Inc." Harvard Business School Case 818-028, September 2017. (Revised January 2019.) View Details

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Networking and the giving and receiving of advice outside of one’s own firm are important features of entrepreneurship and innovation. We study how immigrants and natives utilize the potential networking opportunities provided by CIC, formerly known as the Cambridge Innovation Center. CIC is widely considered the center of the Boston entrepreneurial ecosystem. We surveyed 1,334 people working at CIC in three locations spread across the Boston area and CIC’s first expansion facility in St. Louis, Missouri. Survey responses show that immigrants value networking capabilities in CIC more than natives, and the networks developed by immigrants at CIC tend to be larger. Immigrants report substantially greater rates of giving and receiving advice than natives for six surveyed factors: business operations, venture financing, technology, suppliers, people to recruit, and customers. The structure and composition of CIC floors has only a modest influence on these immigrant versus native differences.

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Internet Securities, Inc.: Path to Sustainability

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