Tuck Private Equity Club
Private equity can run the gamut from being very operationally focused to requiring very
strong financial engineering skills. Tuck's general management curriculum allows
students to take classes that will address the skills necessary to succeed on any point on the spectrum of private equity.
Classes generally taken by students who are interested in mid-to-late stage private equity include:
Corporate Restructuring, Corporate Valuations, Managing Mergers & Acquisitions, and Private Equity Finance, to name a few.
Classes generally taken by students who are interested in venture capital include:
Advanced Entrepreneurship, Emerging Technologies, Strategic Innovation Management, and Marketing New Products.
Advanced Entrepreneurship
Business and Development Innovation
Business Law
Corporate Governance
Corporate Restructuring
Corporate Valuation
Designing Organizations: The Implications of Structures, Control Systems, and Rewards
Emerging Technologies
Entrepreneurship in the Social Sector
Field Studies in Private Equity
Financial Statement Interpretation and Analysis
Investments
Management of Service Operations
Managing Mergers and Acquisitions
Marketing New Products
Negotiation
Private Equity Finance
Real Estate
Strategic Innovation Management
Strategic Responses to Market Failure
Supply Chain Management and Information Technology
Tools for Improving Manufacturing
Top Management Teams
This course breaks down the process of starting and scaling an enterprise from an idea and business plan into a company. The focus of the course is on execution: turning a business plan into a high-growth company. The course covers (1) capturing value from a winning idea, (2) building a team of employees, partners, and investors, (3) managing growth from zero to 50 employees, 50 to 150, and beyond, and (4) achieving excellence in product development, marketing, sales, and customer service without exceeding your limited budget. The course makes use of case studies and invited entrepreneurs in a workshop environment. Students are expected to enter the class with an approved business plan in hand that they can work on executing during the term. A focal point of the course is a competitive start-up presentation event in front of venture capital and angel investors at the conclusion of the term.
The course description will be added at a later date.
The objective of this course is to provide you with practical knowledge of legal issues and principles that often arise in the business environment in an effort to help you become more informed, sensitive and effective business leaders. Managers are too often ill-equipped to identify legal difficulties before they arise and to effectively strategize to avoid problems from occurring or at least, spiraling out of control. Any business may be subject to legal concerns of all sorts ranging from employment law issues, contract disputes, regulatory compliance, environmental investigations, negligence claims, purported violations of fiduciary duties and securities fraud, to name a few. Litigation is an inevitable cost of doing business, although it is controllable. Acquiring hands-on legal knowledge before you enter the work environment will prove to be invaluable in your role as business managers. Having the ability to spot potential legal problems and minimize their risk to your business will enhance your credibility and increase your effectiveness as managers.
This course debates governance practices during the company's startup phase, the IPO stage, the public company stage, and various periods of corporate crises. At each stage, we first consider structural problems facing the company in terms of agency conflicts, protection of shareholder/creditor rights, and director liability. We then discuss potential remedies through an analysis of board structure, executive compensation, corporate charter design, and capital structure. Students are also given a perspective on how and why corporate governance practices differ across countries as a function of each country's legal system and distribution of equity ownership.
This course provides an understanding of a variety of financial restructuring techniques. The objectives are to understand how different restructuring approaches can increase firm value, to recognize characteristics of firms that are potential candidates for various restructurings, and to build a framework for analyzing corporate restructuring transactions, primarily through corporate valuation techniques. Students get a basic understanding of corporate governance, including managerial incentives and agency problems. Topics include divestitures, spinoffs, equity carveouts, tracking stock, rollups, leveraged recapitalizations, leveraged buyouts, private workouts, prepackaged bankruptcy filings, vulture funds, and restructuring of bankrupt firms.
Students will have an opportunity to estimate cash flows and discount rates in order to establish values for projects and firms. In addition to traditional discounted cash flow (DCF) analysis, the course explores alternative valuation methods, such as real option valuation and comparable company analysis. The contribution of corporate financial decisions regarding capital structure, cash distribution policies, and performance evaluation schemes to value creation and destruction are also investigated. The course will use a mixture of lectures, cases, projects, and guest speakers. Prerequisite: Corporate Finance or its equivalent.
This course covers (1) designing basic operating structures; (2) designing complex operating structures appropriate for conditions of high complexity, uncertainty, and interdependence; and (3) managing the implementation of strategic change. The purposes of the course are to develop an integrated approach to organization design and to help students think logically and clearly about problems of organization and strategic change. The course uses lectures, cases, and an organization design simulation that involves role-playing.
The course description will be added at a later date
The course description will be added at a later date
Professors Colin Blaydon and Phil Ferneau
This
course provides hands-on experience working with Private Equity Practitioners
and growth ventures so students can learn to plan, manage, and invest
in the contexts in which these ventures operate. Graduates lacking such
experience are at a disadvantage in getting jobs with private equity firms
and are less prepared to succeed when presented with private equity or
growth venture opportunities. Unlike independent studies, in which student
teams report only to their faculty sponsors, this course requires teams
to present their work to their classmates so all may learn from each other.
More specific learning objectives will depend on each project's topic.
View
Course Syllabus »
This course develops the necessary concepts and skills to interpret and analyze financial statements in a variety of settings, including credit decisions, prediction of financial distress, industry competitive analysis, and valuation. The course is designed primarily for students who will be intensive users of financial statements as part of their professional responsibilities. Students taking this course are advised to take Advanced Financial Accounting. Students taking Financial Reporting and Statement Analysis may not take this course.
This course examines financial theory and empirical evidence that is useful when making investment decisions. The topics covered include portfolio theory, equilibrium models of security prices (including the capital asset pricing model and the arbitrage pricing theory), the empirical behavior of security prices, market efficiency, performance evaluation, venture capital, and behavioral finance. The course (1) provides an understanding of the equilibrium pricing relationships in asset markets, as these relationships form the foundation for financial decision making and management; (2) develops a specific set of analytical tools that can be used to solve investment problems; (3) improves students understanding of financial institutions and markets; and (4) helps students develop a way of thinking about and framing investment decisions.
This course develops a business process view of service delivery and focuses on the analysis and design of processes to achieve organizational goals. The notion of services is broadly construed to include both pure services, such as banking and health care, and the service components of manufacturing, such as after-sales support and product design. Course content will include a mix of case discussions and lectures.
This course examines how mergers and acquisitions can be used as a strategic tool by managers. Recent corporate history has seen an unprecedented period of diversification, with general managers seeking to redefine the scope of their firms. How general managers go about this challenge of defining the nature of the corporate entity and the special role of mergers and acquisitions in this process is of central importance to understanding what corporate strategy is all about.
New product development is a major strategic activity for most firms. Success in new products becomes vital as product life-cycles shorten and competitive activity leads to record numbers of product introductions. This course is intended to provide students with the ability to manage new product development through participating in a real development project for a client firm. In addition, we will be exploring marketing research methods, current critical topics in new products, and organizational issues through readings, case discussions, and project assignments.
This minicourse is designed for students who seek to learn how to become effective negotiators in managerial settings. The course is largely experiential, which means that students learn the theory, concepts, and models underlying good practice inductively they learn by doing and then reflecting on their effectiveness. As a result, perfect attendance, promptness, and adequate preparation are course requirements. Simulated negotiations span the range of situations managers will encounter.
Professors Colin Blaydon and Fred Wainwright
The objectives of the Private Equity Finance course are to: Provide an understanding of the role of private equity in the economy, the structure of the industry, its participants and the forces that shape its development; Develop analytical and deal structuring techniques used in private equity;Offer opportunities to interact with private equity professionals and learn about their issues and challenges. Private equity investing can involve unique risks including reduced information, lack of liquidity, minimal regulatory protection and unproven companies. Accordingly, successful private equity investing requires different institutions, skills and strategies than public equity investing.The course is recommended for students interested in private equity investing, investment banking, investment management or entrepreneurial management. The course conceptually covers everything from the seed funding for a start-up venture to the acquisition or buyout of a mature business.
The real estate industry is a highly visible and substantial part of the U.S. economy. It is an important element in most successful businesses. Through an analysis of different projects, this course builds an analytical framework that integrates strategy, marketing, and financial analysis. The course also focuses on deal structuring, risk management, and current trends. Cases are used for most classes and some classes involve outside visitors. This is a general management course that also reflects the entrepreneurial nature of this industry.
This course provides a strategic framework for managing innovation in business. The emphasis is on conceptual models that clarify the interactions between patterns of technological and market change, competition, and internal firm capabilities. The analytical tools in this course are critical for development of an innovation strategy. They can provide the basis for insightful strategic thinking when deciding which technologies to invest in, and how to use and develop capabilities to exploit innovative activities for competitive advantage. As part of the course, students have the opportunity to follow a company or industry of interest. The course is appropriate for 1) anyone interested in managing a business with significant technology content or where innovation is a necessity for competition, 2) those interested in new business ventures and consulting, and 3) investment analysts, brand managers, and operations managers dealing with issues regarding innovation.
Market failure limits the welfare of nations, but it can be an opportunity for firms to increase their profits. This class explores some of the strategies that firms can use to profit from market failure. We will explore both unilateral and collective strategies and identify when each can be used. The class emphasizes asymmetric information and property rights problems. We will consider how firms can credibly communicate information, and how they can resolve common property issues. We will explore cases where these actions provided sustained advantage and investigate the implication of these examples for corporate and national development. Because market failure is traditionally the provenance of governments and institutions, we will consider the history and function of some examples. We will investigate how for-profit firms acted to change or augment them.
This course focuses on managing material and information outside the factory walls, including aspects of product design and configuration, forecasting, inventory planning for both material and finished goods, global sourcing decisions, distribution system design, channel management, logistics, and facility location. We will explore marketing distribution strategies, including order fulfillment for e-retailers and the impact of electronic commerce on both distribution and back-end supply chain processes.
This minicourse examines the use of manufacturing and operations as competitive weapons. In this class, we formulate a framework for developing and implementing a manufacturing strategy. The main goal is to provide students with simple, powerful approaches for improving operations, particularly at smaller companies. The objectives are to equip future general managers, consultants, and manufacturing managers with the perspectives and skills to effectively use manufacturing as a competitive weapon; to develop a framework for the strategic management of manufacturing; and to develop facility with simple technical tools and frameworks which apply directly to operational decisions and can be useful in adding value to manufacturing firms.
This minicourse examines the effects of senior executives on company strategy, performance, and vitality. How can we better understand, predict, and improve organizational outcomes by paying greater attention to top management capabilities and behaviors? Course topics include: executive selection and succession, executive compensation, top management team composition and dynamics, and board-management relations. Though the course is relevant for students who wish to strengthen their managerial talents, it is not a skills-based leadership course; rather, it is intended to improve the student s ability to diagnose, critically evaluate, and enhance executive capabilities in a firm.