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• Case | HBS Case Collection | August 2019 (Revised November 2019)

  Transforming Hindustan Unilever

  Krishna G. Palepu and Rachna Tahilyani

  In October 2013, when Mehta had taken over the reins of Unilever’s business in India and the larger South Asia region, HUL had been going through a difficult time. Caught in the midst of a weakening economy, falling consumer spending and increasing competition, growth at the firm had slowed. HUL was underperforming not only the market index but also the FMCG index. At the same time, HUL was struggling with many internal woes, ranging from slow market responsiveness to a higher cost structure. The next quarter had not brought any relief. With the external situation worsening, Mehta wondered what changes he needed to make to ensure consistent, competitive and profitable growth at HUL. The case is accompanied by a video in which the CEO outlines his thinking, and the choices he made. The video can be used in class as the class discussion unfolds to bring closure to the discussion, and to brief the class on what actions were taken.

  Keywords: Change Management; Transformation; Leading Change; Performance Improvement; Consumer Products Industry; India;

  Citation:

  Palepu, Krishna G., and Rachna Tahilyani. "Transforming Hindustan Unilever." Harvard Business School Case 120-022, August 2019. (Revised November 2019.)  View Details

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• Case | HBS Case Collection | October 2019 (Revised October 2019)

  NewView Capital and Venture Capital Secondaries

  Shai Benjamin Bernstein, Ramana Nanda and Allison Ciechanover

  While still a general partner at Silicon Valley-based New Enterprise Associates (NEA), Ravi Viswanathan considered the challenges presented by evolving market dynamics in the venture capital space. Startups were staying private longer, which led to limited partners thirsty for liquidity and venture capital funds managing overloaded portfolios. Viswanathan and the senior leaders of NEA orchestrated the purchase of 31 NEA unrealized portfolio companies by the newly created $1.35 billion NewView Capital spinout that he would head. This secondary transaction provided liquidity to NEA’s limited partners and reallocated NEA partners’ time to shepherd other portfolio companies, while at the same time allowing NewView Capital to reap gains from future exits from a portfolio of diverse, high-quality growth stage technology companies. Now, as he prepares to raise Fund II, Viswanathan acknowledges that the unique circumstances that enabled the launch of Fund I would not be replicable, and he must consider alternative strategies to pursue next. Should he continue to focus on secondary transactions, focus on direct investments, or some combination of the two?

  Keywords: Venture Capital; Capital Markets; Private Equity; Strategy;

  Citation:

  Bernstein, Shai Benjamin, Ramana Nanda, and Allison Ciechanover. "NewView Capital and Venture Capital Secondaries." Harvard Business School Case 820-038, October 2019. (Revised October 2019.)  View Details

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• Exercise | October 2019

  Business Model Exercise: Purpose and Overview

  Shikhar Ghosh and Christopher Payton

  Citation:

  Ghosh, Shikhar, and Christopher Payton. "Business Model Exercise: Purpose and Overview." Harvard Business School Exercise 820-708, October 2019.  View Details

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