Publications

November 2022 (Revised October 2024)
Case

'A Marshall Plan for Africa': James Mwangi and Equity Group Holdings

By: Caroline M. Elkins, Debora L. Spar, Zeke Gillman and Julia M. Comeau

Financial Inclusion. Dignity. Trust. These were the core principles driving James Mwangi’s transformation of Equity Building Society, insolvent in 1991, into what is, today, Equity Group Holdings, East and Central Africa’s largest retail banking institution. Raised in... View Details

Keywords: Income Inequality; Micro Finance; Microcredit; Microfinance; Banks and Banking; Equality and Inequality; Mission and Purpose; Business Model; Social Entrepreneurship; Banking Industry; Financial Services Industry; Africa; Kenya

July 2023
Article

Takahashi-Alexander Revisited: Modeling Private Equity Portfolio Outcomes Using Historical Simulations

By: Dawson Beutler, Alex Billias, Sam Holt, Josh Lerner and TzuHwan Seet

In 2001, Dean Takahashi and Seth Alexander of the Yale University Investments Office developed a deterministic model for estimating future cash flows and valuations for the Yale endowment’s private equity portfolio. Their model, which is simple and intuitive, is still... View Details

Keywords: Forecasting and Prediction; Investment Portfolio; Analytics and Data Science

December 1994 (Revised September 2012)
Background Note

Note on Valuing Equity Cash Flows

By: Timothy A. Luehrman

A technical note for advanced students on the topic of valuing highly-levered equity. Introduces the "equity cash flow" valuation methodology, shows how to use it, discusses the sources and signs of its built-in biases, and provides some guidance about when to use it. View Details

Keywords: Cash Flow; Equity; Valuation

10 Aug 2020
Blog Post

HBS Summer Fellows Focus on Racial Equity and Justice

The HBS Social Enterprise Initiative aims to educate, support, and inspire leaders to tackle society’s toughest challenges and make a difference in the world. We are committed to the fight for racial justice and to promoting diversity and View Details

April 2011
Article

Private Equity and Long-Run Investment: The Case of Innovation

By: Josh Lerner, Morten Sorensen and Per Stromberg

A long-standing controversy is whether LBOs relieve managers from short-term pressures of dispersed shareholders, or whether LBO funds themselves are driven by short-term profit motives and sacrifice long-term growth to boost short-term performance. We investigate 495... View Details

Keywords: Patents; Private Equity; Leveraged Buyouts; Investment; Innovation and Invention

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Fall 2007
Article

A Comprehensive Look at the Private Equity Industry in Mexico (1990–2006)

By: Roberto Charvel

This article is one of the few historical numerical reviews of a private equity industry in an emerging market. View Details

Keywords: Emerging Market; Latin America; Mexico; Economic Sectors; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Capital Markets; Private Equity; Financial Services Industry; Latin America; North and Central America

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2014
Other Unpublished Work

Government-held Equity in Foreign Investment Projects: Good for Host Countries?

By: Louis T. Wells

Host governments have often sought some equity in mining and other foreign investment projects, but as shareholders they have rarely gained what they anticipated. Only in special cases might the benefits to governments outweigh the risks and often unanticipated costs... View Details

Keywords: Foreign Direct Investment; Equity; Business and Government Relations

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23 Sep 2020
News

HBS Action Plan for Racial Equity

This week, Dean Nohria shared the School’s Action Plan for Racial Equity in a letter to the HBS community. “The horrifying murder of George Floyd, and an all too long history of similar injustices, has spurred our collective awakening to... View Details

June 2009
Teaching Note

Negotiating Equity Splits at UpDown (TN)

By: Noam T. Wasserman and Deepak Malhotra

Teaching Note for [809020]. View Details

Keywords: Equity; Agreements and Arrangements; Investment; Groups and Teams; Entrepreneurship; Contracts; Ownership Stake

2023
Working Paper

The Market for CEOs: Evidence from Private Equity

By: Paul A. Gompers, Steven N. Kaplan and Vladimir Mukharlyamov

Most research on the CEO labor market studies public company CEOs while largely ignoring CEOs in private equity (PE) funded companies. We fill this gap by studying the market for CEOs among U.S. companies purchased by PE firms in large leveraged buyout transactions.... View Details

Keywords: CEOs; Jobs and Positions; Ownership; Recruitment

2004
Class Lecture

Boom and Bust in Private Equity

By: Josh Lerner

Keywords: Private Equity

2024
Working Paper

Does the Case for Private Equity Still Hold?

By: Nori Gerardo Lietz and Philipp Chvanov

Private Equity (“PE”) received a 10-fold increase in capital flows since the Great Financial Crisis (“GFC”) Investors sought higher nominal returns relative to those they could obtain in the public capital markets. This paper questions the fundamental assumptions... View Details

Keywords: Private Equity; Investment Return; Investment Portfolio; Financial Markets

SSRN

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10 Dec 2014
News

Lessons for Private Equity Learned From the Last Merger Frenzy

Web

Faculty & Research - Race, Gender & Equity

Faculty & Research Catalyzing & Translating Research Research Our faculty pursue cutting-edge research in a wide range of fields, creating knowledge that helps leaders drive change in their organizations and the world. Life & Leadership After HBS Life & Leadership... View Details

July 2001 (Revised January 2007)
Case

Lehman Brothers (C): Decline of the Equity Research Department

By: Ashish Nanda and Boris Groysberg

This case tracks the rapid decline of Lehman Brothers' equity research department from August 1992, when, beset by declining ranking, low morale, and high turnover, firm management decides to clean house and reinvest in building the department. View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Business or Company Management; Leadership; Human Resources; Financial Services Industry