Publications

Keywords: Private Equity

March 2022
Case

Shanghai Pudong Science and Technology Investment Co., Ltd.: December 2014

By: Josh Lerner, Luyang Zhang, Xinlai Tong and Yue Kong

In early December 2014, the senior team of Pudong Science and Technology Investment (hereafter, Pudong S&T) gathered in the offices of their chairman, Dr. Xudong Zhu. Before completing its cross-border acquisition of Montage Technology, Pudong S&T—wholly owned by the... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Ownership Stake; Risk Management; Ownership Type; China

February 2022
Teaching Note

Altoona State Investment Board & Bain Capital Fund XI

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 218-022. View Details

2022
Book

The Role of Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Economic Growth

By: Michael J. Andrews, Aaron Chatterji, Josh Lerner and Scott Stern

We live in an era in which innovation and entrepreneurship seem ubiquitous, particularly in regions like Silicon Valley, Boston, and the Research Triangle Park. But many metrics of economic growth, such as productivity growth and business dynamism, have been at best... View Details

Keywords: Productivity Growth; Production Technologies; Innovation and Invention; Entrepreneurship; Economic Growth; Competition; Organizational Design; Economic Slowdown and Stagnation

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January 2022 (Revised July 2022)
Case

Hollie Haynes: An Unanticipated Crossroads

By: Josh Lerner, John D. Dionne and Abdul Al-Asaad

Keywords: Private Equity

January 2022
Article

Investing Outside the Box: Evidence from Alternative Vehicles in Private Equity

By: Josh Lerner, Jason Mao, Antoinette Schoar and Nan R. Zhang

This paper uses previously unexplored custodial data to examine the use of alternative investment vehicles in private equity (PE) over four decades. We document a steep increase in the capital directed to alternative vehicles, with these vehicles approaching a 40%... View Details

Keywords: Alternative Investment Vehicles; Investment Funds; Private Equity; Venture Capital; Performance

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October 2021
Teaching Note

Apax Partners and Duck Creek Technologies

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 221-075. View Details

Keywords: Private Equity

September 2021
Teaching Note

The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments): April 2021

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 821-125. View Details

Keywords: Pension Funds; Investment Strategy; Capital Markets

September 2021
Teaching Note

CPE and SUS Environmental: You've Got to Know When to Hold 'Em (A) and (B)

Keywords: Venture Capital; Private Equity

Fall 2021
Article

When to Go and How to Go? Founder and Leader Transitions in Private Equity Firms

By: Josh Lerner and Diana Noble

Leadership transition in private equity firms is an understudied field, despite the important, albeit controversial, role such firms play in developed economies. We analyzed 260 firms in an empirical study, supplemented by qualitative interviews with a small sample of... View Details

Keywords: Leadership Transition; Private Equity; Leadership; Management Succession; Analysis

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August 2021
Teaching Note

DigiPlex: Ante-Up or Cash Out

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 821-080. View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Private Equity

August 2021
Teaching Note

Yale University Investments Office: November 2020

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 821-074. View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Private Equity; University Endowment; Asset Allocation; Connecticut

August 2021 (Revised August 2021)
Supplement

CPE and SUS Environmental: You’ve Got to Know When to Hold ‘Em (B)

By: Josh Lerner and Franko Jira

June 2021
Case

The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPP Investments): April 2021

By: Josh Lerner, Reza Satchu and Alys Ferragamo

The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) is one of the largest pools of investment capital in the world and follows a rigorous “Total Portfolio Framework” in its approach to investment management. In April of 2021, John Graham was just two months into his role... View Details

Keywords: Pension Funds; Investment Strategy; Capital Markets; Financial Strategy; Investment; Asset Management; Financial Institutions; Private Equity; Growth and Development Strategy; Investment Portfolio; Assets; Financial Markets; Financial Services Industry; Canada

2021
Working Paper

Studying the U.S.-Based Portfolio Companies of U.S. Impact Investors

By: M. Diane Burton, Gurveen Chadha, Shawn A. Cole, Abhishek Dev, Christina Jarymowycz, Leslie Jeng, Laura Kelley, Josh Lerner, Jaime R. Diaz Palacios, Yue (Cynthia) Xu and T. Robert Zochowski

Recent years have seen a dramatic increase in the reliance on market-based solutions to social and environmental problems around the world (Barman 2016; Horvath and Powell 2020). The growth of impact investing is a vivid example of this trend and, although there have... View Details

Keywords: Impact Investing; Impact Portfolio Companies; Investment; Social Issues; Environmental Sustainability; Investment Portfolio; Business Ventures; Analytics and Data Science; Performance; United States

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May 2021 (Revised September 2021)
Case

CPE and SUS Environmental: You've Got to Know When to Hold 'Em (A)

By: Josh Lerner and Franko Jira

In July 2016, Di Yang and Grace Guo of the leading Chinese private equity group CPE faced a dilemma—a happy dilemma, but a challenge nonetheless. CPE’s investment in the waste-to-energy firm SUS Environment had proved to be exceedingly successful. This success had... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Private Equity; Financial Liquidity; Investment Return; Growth and Development

May 2021
Article

Mutual Funds as Venture Capitalists? Evidence from Unicorns

By: Josh Lerner, Sergey Chernenko and Yao Zeng

The past decade saw the rise of both “founder-friendly” venture financings and non-traditional investors, frequently with liquidity constraints. Using detailed contract data, we study open-end mutual funds investing in private venture-backed firms. We posit an... View Details

Keywords: Investment Funds; Investment; Business Startups; Venture Capital; Private Equity; Governance

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2021
Working Paper

The Dance Between Government and Private Investors: Public Entrepreneurial Finance around the Globe

By: Jessica Bai, Shai Bernstein, Abhishek Dev and Josh Lerner

This paper examines the interaction between governments and private capital investors when financing early-stage ventures. We first provide a simple conceptual framework to explore when collaboration between governments and private investors is likely to emerge. Using... View Details

Keywords: Public Entrepreneurship; Subsidy; Industrial Policy; Entrepreneurship; Public Sector; Financing and Loans; Venture Capital; Global Range

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March 2021 (Revised August 2021)
Case

DigiPlex: Ante-Up or Cash Out

By: Josh Lerner and James Mason

In November 2020, the co-founders of DigiPlex study the future growth trajectory of their Nordic data center venture. A critical question was on the agenda: was now finally the right time to sell DigiPlex? Originally a $2.75 million investment in one small data center... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Growth and Development; Decision Making

March 2021
Case

Yale Investments Office: November 2020

By: Josh Lerner, Jo Tango and Alys Ferragamo

David Swensen and the Investments Office staff must decide whether to continue to allocate the bulk of the university's endowment to illiquid investments—hedge funds, private equity, venture capital, real estate, natural resources—given the impact of the COVID-19... View Details

Keywords: University Endowment; Asset Allocation; Real Estate; Equities; Fixed Income; COVID-19; Asset Management; Private Equity; Venture Capital; Natural Resources; Resource Allocation; Investment; Investment Portfolio; Health Pandemics; Financial Crisis; Financial Services Industry; Real Estate Industry; Energy Industry; Connecticut