Publications

2024
Working Paper

Immigrant Entrepreneurship: New Estimates and a Research Agenda

By: Saheel Chodavadia, Sari Pekkala Kerr, William R. Kerr and Louis Maiden

Immigrants contribute disproportionately to entrepreneurship in many countries, accounting for a quarter of new employer businesses in the US. We review recent research on the measurement of immigrant entrepreneurship, the traits of immigrant founders, their economic... View Details

Keywords: Immigrant Employment; Immigration; Entrepreneurship; Demographics; Innovation and Invention

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March 1999 (Revised March 2004)
Case

Georgian Glass and Mineral Water

Georgian Glass and Mineral Water (GGMW), was created in 1995 by a Georgian entrepreneur and Western investors in Georgia (former Soviet Union) to bottle and market the famous mineral water from the Borjomi valley. At the height of the Soviet Union's power, Borjomi was... View Details

Keywords: Privatization; Emerging Markets; Financing and Loans; Distribution Industry; Food and Beverage Industry

February 2016 (Revised May 2016)
Case

Dinr: My First Start-up (A)

By: Shikhar Ghosh and Kristina Maslauskaite

In May 2012, a young employee at Google's London office, Markus Berger, was thinking whether he should quit his job and go after his dream of becoming an entrepreneur. Berger's idea was to create Dinr, a company that would offer an upscale food ingredient delivery... View Details

Keywords: Exit Strategy; Startup; Start-up; Business Exit or Shutdown; Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Food

November 2014
Case

Taryn Rose Launches Dresr: Street Marketing a Luxury Brand

By: Lena G. Goldberg, Marcel Saucet and Christine Snively

Serial entrepreneur and shoe designer Taryn Rose, M.D., prepared to launch a new e-commerce platform, Dresr, which would connect shoppers with tastemakers online. Dresr would bring the service element found in brick and mortar luxury stores into the online shopping... View Details

Keywords: E-commerce; Online Platforms; Online Marketing; Footwear; Legal Aspects Of Business; Street Marketing; Entrepreneurship; Internet and the Web; Luxury; Marketing Strategy; Digital Platforms; Legal Liability; Fashion Industry; Technology Industry

April 1990 (Revised December 1995)
Case

SouthPark IV

By: William J. Poorvu

A young entrepreneur examines an 80,000 square foot office/warehouse building as a potential acquisition. The building is currently fully leased but all four leases will expire shortly. Due to changing market conditions, the protagonist has to look at current market... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Valuation; Property; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Leasing; Cash Flow; Real Estate Industry

May 2007 (Revised April 2020)
Case

Ernesto Tornquist: Making a Fortune on the Pampas

By: Geoffrey Jones and Andrea Lluch

Examines the career of Ernesto Tornquist, a cosmopolitan financier considered to be the most significant entrepreneur in Argentina at the end of the 19th century. Tornquist created a diversified business group, linked to the political elite, which integrated Argentina... View Details

Keywords: Business History; Development Economics; Partners and Partnerships; Personal Development and Career; Entrepreneurship; Financing and Loans; Trade; Globalized Markets and Industries; Economy; Performance; Argentina

06 Feb 2018
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas: February 6, 2018

a for-profit incubator, PY Ventures, to provide North Korean entrepreneurs with customized mentorship and access to foreign capital. What role did See play in North Korea, and how should he evaluate the... View Details

17 Jan 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research: January 17

forthcoming Handbook of International Trade and Transportation Transportation Cost and the Geography of Foreign Investment By: Alfaro, Laura, and Maggie Chen Abstract—Falling transportation costs and rapid technological progress in recent... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

07 Aug 2007
First Look

First Look: August 7, 2007

community and local entrepreneurs in India's software industry. We find that entrepreneurs located outside software hubs—in cities where monitoring and information flow on... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

Louis E. Caldera

Louis Caldera is a Senior Lecturer of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. He teaches Leadership and Corporate Accountability, a required first-year course in the MBA program. He has previously taught law school courses on corporate... View Details

August 2007 (Revised May 2008)
Case

Rebuilding the New Orleans Public Schools: Turning the Tide? (Abridged)

After Hurricane Katrina, the New Orleans Public School System is faced with rebuilding from the ground up. The challenge is enormous, as is the opportunity to remake the lowest-performing public school system in Louisiana and one of the lowest-performing in the nation.... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Transformation; Entrepreneurship; Business and Community Relations; Business and Government Relations; Natural Disasters; Conflict and Resolution; Education Industry; New Orleans

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Myra Hart's research focus is high potential entrepreneurship. She has taught MBA and executive programs, co-chaired the entrepreneurship unit, and led several HBS initiatives. As a founding memberView Details

Keywords: consumer products; e-commerce industry; education industry; real estate; retailing

March 2023 (Revised June 2023)
Case

Metaverse Wars

By: Andy Wu, David B. Yoffie and Matt Higgins

In 2023, the term metaverse — a combination of “meta” and “universe” — had become a catch-all for a diverse set of expectations about online virtual worlds and the future of the internet. To some, the metaverse conjured images of a massive participatory videogame... View Details

Keywords: Metaverse; Technology; Virtual Reality; Facebook; Social Media; Technological Innovation; Internet and the Web; Technology Adoption

September 2008 (Revised August 2010)
Case

Boston Teacher Residency: Developing a Strategy for Long-term Impact

By: Stacey M. Childress, Geoff Eckman Marietta and Sara Suchman

In June 2008, Jesse Solomon, the founding director of the Boston Teacher Residency (BTR), faced an important decision about the organization's strategic direction. Since its founding in 2003, 125 of its graduates had joined the Boston Public Schools (BPS) and BTR had... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Teaching; Entrepreneurship; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Performance Improvement; Business Strategy; Education Industry; Boston

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December 2005 (Revised May 2007)
Case

Cynthia Fisher and the Rearing of ViaCell

By: Robert F. Higgins, Richard G. Hamermesh and Ingrid Vargas

Describes the start up of Viacord, a Boston-based medical services firm founded by Cynthia Fisher (HBS MBA) in 1993. Told from Fisher's perspective, the entrepreneur details the conceptualization and launch of the business and the many obstacles and expenses faced in... View Details

Keywords: Managerial Roles; Business Growth and Maturation; Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Service Industry; Health Industry; Boston

February 2005 (Revised April 2011)
Case

Haier's U.S. Refrigerator Strategy

By: Pankaj Ghemawat, Thomas M. Hout and Jordan I. Siegel

Haier, the first Chinese consumer durable brand in the United States, succeeded in the compact refrigerator, freezer, and air conditioner markets and then built a U.S. factory to enter the full-size market. Issues include the value of a local entrepreneur to the Asian... View Details

Keywords: Factories, Labs, and Plants; Global Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; Brands and Branding; Market Entry and Exit; Competitive Strategy; Consumer Products Industry; China; United States

Reza Satchu is a Senior Lecturer in the Entrepreneurship Management Unit at the Harvard Business School where he teaches The Entrepreneurial Manager and The Founder Mindset. He is also the Founder, Managing Partner and majority shareholder of Alignvest Management... View Details

2023
Working Paper

Fencing Off Silicon Valley: Cross-Border Venture Capital and Technology Spillovers

By: Ufuk Akcigit, Sina T. Ates, Josh Lerner, Richard Townsend and Yulia Zhestkova

The treatment of foreign investors is a contentious topic in U.S. entrepreneurship policy. We model a setting where foreign corporate investments in Silicon Valley may allow U.S. entrepreneurs to pursue technologies that they could not otherwise, but may also lead to... View Details

Keywords: Innovation; Corporate Venture Capital; Knowledge Spillovers; Innovation and Invention; Foreign Direct Investment; Venture Capital; Entrepreneurship; Policy; United States