Publications
Publications
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- All HBS Web
(758)
- Faculty Publications (264)
- January 2013
- Teaching Note
INNOVA-MEX's Bid for ENKONTROL (TN)
By: William R. Kerr and Ramana Nanda
In their second year, two Mexican HBS MBAs joined forces to start a search fund based in Mexico City. They had raised money to acquire an existing private company in Mexico with an initial enterprise value between $5 million and $15 million. Just seven months after... View Details
- December 2012
- Supplement
Home Essentials: Building a Global Service Business with Local Operations (CW)
By: Lynda M. Applegate and William R. Kerr
- December 2012
- Case
Blink Booking
By: William R. Kerr, Magnus Thor Torfason and Alexis Brownell
Rebeca Minguela hopes to create an arbitrage platform, similar to Rocket Internet, that can bring start-up ideas and opportunities to Spain. However, Blink Booking, her first venture and proof of concept, is rocked by a co-founder's breach of confidence and departure.... View Details
- September 2012 (Revised February 2013)
- Case
micro Home Solutions: A Social Housing Initiative in India
By: William R. Kerr and Alexis Brownell
mHS is a social enterprise for the provision of affordable housing in India. After India's microfinance industry collapses, mHS needs to reposition itself for continued operations and long-term growth. View Details
Keywords: India; Loans; Development; Micro Finance; Entrepreneurship; Housing; Social Enterprise; Poverty; India
- September 2012 (Revised September 2016)
- Background Note
Convertible Notes in Seed Financings
This note introduces convertible notes in angel financing. It begins by delineating the differences between a priced and non-priced round. It then describes a specific example of a convertible note, with attention paid to technical details regarding valuation caps. View Details
- 2015
- Working Paper
Entrepreneurship and Urban Growth: An Empirical Assessment with Historical Mines
By: Edward L. Glaeser, Sari Pekkala Kerr and William R. Kerr
We study entrepreneurship and growth through the lens of U.S. cities. Initial entrepreneurship correlates strongly with urban employment growth, but endogeneity bedevils interpretation. Chinitz (1961) hypothesized that coal mines near cities led to specialization in... View Details
- June 2012 (Revised March 2015)
- Teaching Note
PunchTab, Inc.
By: Ramana Nanda and William R. Kerr
A Teaching Note for the PunchTab case, which discusses how high-tech startups structure seed financing, merits of angels vs. super angels vs. VCs, and related topics (e.g., convertible notes, priced versus non-priced financing rounds, entrepreneurial finance networks). View Details
- June 2012 (Revised June 2012)
- Case
PunchTab, Inc. Investor Presentation Deck
By: William R. Kerr and Ramana Nanda
This case examines the PowerPoint presentation that Ranjith Kumaran, founder of the start-up PunchTab, Inc., is using for his investment pitches to venture capital firms. Students can discuss the materials that Kumaran has included, his presentation style, and what... View Details
- 2012
- Working Paper
Is India's Manufacturing Sector Moving Away from Cities?
By: Ejaz Ghani, Arti Grover Goswami and William R. Kerr
This paper investigates the urbanization of the Indian manufacturing sector by combining enterprise data from formal and informal sectors. We find that plants in the formal sector are moving away from urban and into rural locations, while the informal sector is moving... View Details
- December 2011 (Revised May 2014)
- Case
ReSource Pro
By: Lynda M. Applegate, William R. Kerr, Elisabeth Koll and David Lane
Matt Bruno, founder and general manager of ReSource Pro, left his job working for a New York City-based insurance program shortly after the World Trade Center bombing and arrived in China. Initially he planned to teach English, but soon the entrepreneurial spirit of... View Details
- November 2011 (Revised February 2012)
- Background Note
Location Choice for New Ventures: Choices within Cities
By: William R. Kerr and Alexis Brownell
- October 2011 (Revised August 2012)
- Case
INNOVA-MEX's Bid for ENKONTROL
By: Ramana Nanda, William R. Kerr and Carin-Isabel Knoop
In their second year, two Mexican HBS MBAs joined forces to start a search fund based in Mexico City. They had raised money to acquire an existing private company in Mexico with an initial enterprise value between $5 million and $15 million. Just seven months after... View Details
- October 2011 (Revised August 2017)
- Case
PunchTab, Inc.
By: Ramana Nanda, William R. Kerr and Lauren Barley
PunchTab was a Silicon Valley startup, founded in 2011, that was developing an Internet-based turnkey customer loyalty program for website owners, mobile applications developers, and brands. Founder/CEO Ranjith Kumaran must make strategic decisions about how to fund... View Details
- 2011
- Working Paper
Spatial Determinants of Entrepreneurship in India
By: Ejaz Ghani, William R. Kerr and Stephen O'Connell
We analyze the spatial determinants of entrepreneurship in India in the manufacturing and services sectors. Among general district traits, quality of physical infrastructure and workforce education are the strongest predictors of entry, with labor laws and household... View Details
- 2013
- Working Paper
The Dynamics of Firm Lobbying
By: William R. Kerr, William F. Lincoln and Prachi Mishra
We study the determinants of the dynamics of firm lobbying behavior using a panel data set covering 1998–2006. Our data exhibit three striking facts: (i) few firms lobby, (ii) lobbying status is strongly associated with firm size, and (iii) lobbying status is highly... View Details
- June 2011
- Teaching Note
Internet Securities, Inc.: Path to Sustainability (TN)
By: William R. Kerr
Teaching Note for 811098. View Details
- June 2011 (Revised January 2013)
- Case
Home Essentials: Building a Global Service Business with Local Operations
By: Lynda M. Applegate, William R. Kerr and David Lane
Chris Exline founded Home Essentials, a furniture rental business targeted toward expatriates, in Singapore but rapidly moved the base of operations to Hong Kong. The company was highly successful in Singapore and Hong Kong and then pursued rapid global expansion.... View Details
- May 2011 (Revised March 2013)
- Background Note
Location Choice for New Ventures: Cities
By: William R. Kerr and Ramana Nanda
Location choice is a critical decision for entrepreneurs. This note explores how entrepreneurs should think about different city options through a systematic framework that encompasses professional and personal issues. We use the intellectual frameworks of the cluster... View Details
- April 2011 (Revised June 2011)
- Case
Internet Securities, Inc.: Path to Sustainability
By: Lynda M. Applegate, William R. Kerr and Ryan Johnson
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... View Details