Publications

December 2001
Case

Natural Pork Production

By: Ray A. Goldberg and James M Beagle

An entrepreneurial hog farmer's creative use of contracts and capital structure drives very successful growth and returns in a depressed commodity industry. View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Capital Structure; Futures and Commodity Futures; Credit Derivatives and Swaps; Goods and Commodities; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Contracts; Success; Consumer Products Industry

Article

How Venture Capitalists Make Decisions

By: Paul A. Gompers, Will Gornall, Steven Kaplan and Ilya Strebulaev

For decades now, venture capitalists have played a crucial role in the economy by financing high-growth start-ups. While the companies they’ve backed—Amazon, Apple, Facebook, Google, and more—are constantly in the headlines, very little is known about what VCs actually... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Investment; Decision Making

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May 2009 (Revised January 2011)
Case

HubSpot: Inbound Marketing and Web 2.0

By: Thomas J. Steenburgh, Jill Avery and Naseem Ashraf Dahod

This case introduces the concept of inbound marketing, pulling customer prospects toward a business through the use of Web 2.0 tools and applications like blogging, search engine optimization, and social media. Students follow the growth of HubSpot, an entrepreneurial... View Details

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Entrepreneurship; Price; Growth and Development Strategy; Marketing Communications; Social and Collaborative Networks; Segmentation; Web

23 May 2019
Book

These Entrepreneurs Take a Pragmatic Approach to Solving Social Problems

In 1908, Harvard Business School’s first dean, Edwin Francis Gay, welcomed the School’s inaugural class of 59 students by saying that HBS was challenged with encouraging its students to have the “intellectual respect for business as a profession, with the social... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Green Technology

March 2008 (Revised January 2010)
Background Note

Note on Accountability in the U.S. Health Care System

By: Regina E. Herzlinger and Michael Millenson

This note explains how health care providers, health insurers, and consumers are held accountable for their performance and the entrepreneurial opportunities thus created. View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Ethics; Insurance; Corporate Accountability; Health Care and Treatment; Demand and Consumers; Health Industry; United States

October 2005 (Revised July 2009)
Case

MD Beauty, Inc.

By: William A. Sahlman and Elizabeth Kind

Describes some of the issues confronting the entrepreneurial team responsible for creating a highly successful natural beauty and skin care company. They are considering selling all or some portion of the company's stock. View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Stocks; Financial Strategy; Management Teams; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry

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February 1998 (Revised January 1999)
Case

Digital Everywhere, Inc.

By: Paul A. Gompers

Presents a valuation problem in a fictitious firm, Digital Everywhere. Students have the opportunity to compare various discounted cash flow valuation models in an entrepreneurial firm. View Details

Keywords: Cash Flow; Valuation; Entrepreneurship

Research Summary

Current research

Professor Pomeranz's research is situated at the intersection of development economics and public finance. Her current work focuses in particular on corporate taxation and public procurement, the two key ways in which government finance affects firms and entrepreneurs.... View Details

26 Feb 2013
First Look

First Look: Feb. 26

case:http://hbr.org/search/113076-PDF-ENG Xylem: Let's Solve Water Henderson, Rebecca M., and James WeberHarvard Business School Case 313-082 No abstract available. Purchase this case:http://hbr.org/search/313082-PDF-ENG Entrepreneurial... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

2009
Working Paper

Clusters of Entrepreneurship

By: Edward L. Glaeser, William R. Kerr and Giacomo A.M. Ponzetto

Employment growth is strongly predicted by smaller average establishment size, both across cities and across industries within cities, but there is little consensus on why this relationship exists. Traditional economic explanations emphasize factors that reduce entry... View Details

Keywords: Economic Growth; Entrepreneurship; Cost; Employment; Market Entry and Exit

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Teaching Interest

Grand Challenges for Entrepreneurs

By: Tarun Khanna

Grand Challenges for Entrepreneurs (GCE) is designed for students who are interested in entrepreneurial approaches to the biggest challenges of our time. Grand Challenges are near-intractable, global problems that offer the tantalizing... View Details

November 2005
Background Note

Deal Structure and Deal Terms

By: Michael J. Roberts and Howard H. Stevenson

Describes the general principles of crafting financial deals around the provision of capital to entrepreneurial ventures. Discusses in more detail some of the specific aspects of venture capital term sheets. View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Governance Compliance; Negotiation Deal

January 2010
Article

Clusters of Entrepreneurship

By: Edward L. Glaeser, William R. Kerr and Giacomo A.M. Ponzetto

Employment growth is strongly predicted by smaller average establishment size, both across cities and across industries within cities, but there is little consensus on why this relationship exists. Traditional economic explanations emphasize factors that reduce entry... View Details

Keywords: Economic Growth; Entrepreneurship; Cost; Employment; Market Entry and Exit

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Teaching Interest

Investing: Risk, Return and Impact (MBA)

By: Shawn A. Cole

This is an investing/finance course, designed to build on skills introduced in the RC finance course, but with an emphasis on how and whether investors should incorporate what have traditionally been considered “non-financial” criteria in their decisions: for... View Details

February 1989
Background Note

Note on Attracting Stakeholders

By: Amar Bhide and Howard H. Stevenson

Acquiring resources--or to put it more broadly, attracting stakeholders--is a basic entrepreneurial task. While every enterprise needs employees, customers, suppliers, and financiers who are willing to risk their time and money, attracting these "stakeholders" to an... View Details

Keywords: Business Ventures; Customers; Entrepreneurship; Investment; Human Resources; Organizational Design; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Risk and Uncertainty

27 Jan 2010
Working Paper Summaries

Labor Regulations and European Private Equity

Keywords: by Ant Bozkaya & William R. Kerr

05 Jul 2006
Working Paper Summaries

Bankers, Industrialists, and Their Cliques: Elite Networks in Mexico and Brazil During Early Industrialization

Keywords: by Aldo Musacchio & Ian Read; Banking

March 2009
Case

Incept LLC and Confluent Surgical (A)

By: Bhaskar Chakravorti, Toby E. Stuart and James Weber

A venture capitalist must decide whether to invest in a medical technology company that licenses intellectual property from a privately held IP holding company based on a platform technology. Entrepreneurs Amar Sawhney and Fred Khosravi founded Incept LLC to... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Entrepreneurship; Intellectual Property; Rights; Agreements and Arrangements; Partners and Partnerships; Trust; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

August 1996 (Revised December 1999)
Case

J Boats, Inc.

By: Robert L. Simons

During the 20-year evolution of a family-owned, entrepreneurial sailboat company, two founders leverage their design and marketing skills to build one of the most recognized brands in the recreational boating industry. The founder then considers management succession... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Entrepreneurship; Family Business; Risk Management; Financial Management; Leveraged Buyouts; Brands and Branding; Competitive Strategy; Capital Markets; Valuation; Shipping Industry; Transportation Industry