Publications
Publications
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(1,605)
- Faculty Publications (317)
- February 2002 (Revised April 2002)
- Case
Chengwei Ventures and the hdt* Investment
By: G. Felda Hardymon, Josh Lerner and Ann Leamon
Bo Feng, cofounder and principal in Chengwei Ventures, one of the first sovereign venture capital firms in China, is trying to decide on the proper business model for hdt, the product of a merger between two portfolio companies. This case discusses the best way for the... View Details
- January 2002 (Revised May 2003)
- Case
ProfitLogic
By: Richard G. Hamermesh, Michael J. Roberts and Taslim Pirmohamed
Describes an "application software" company that has been through several evolutions--from consulting firm to applications service provider (ASP). The firm has received significant venture funding to pursue the ASP model but this has not worked, at least at the time... View Details
- November 2001 (Revised October 2006)
- Case
Smartix (A): Dancing with Elephants
By: Donald N. Sull, James K. Sebenius and Noam Wasserman
This case describes issues facing the founder-CEO of a high-tech start-up in Boston, as he negotiates with multiple large potential partners and investors. The negotiations include a potential business partnership with FleetCenter and Madison Square Garden, and a... View Details
- 2001
- Report
An Investigation of Women-Led Firms and Venture Capital Investment
By: Candida G. Brush, Patricia G. Greene, Myra M. Hart, Nancy Carter and Elizabeth Gatewood
- March 2001 (Revised June 2001)
- Case
Identifying and Realizing Investments in Eastern Europe (A)
By: Ray A. Goldberg, Robert E. Kennedy and Laure Mougeot Strook
A Greek milling firm wants to invest in Eastern Europe. The case explores the firm's search strategy and its due diligence process after a potential investment, and considers how the company should structure its bid. A rewritten version of an earlier case. View Details
- February 2001
- Case
Bang Networks, Inc.
By: Paul A. Gompers and Sergio Rattner
Bob Rosin, president and CEO of Bang Networks, must decide how much debt financing to take on. The company is a raw start-up and is considering taking on $10 million in debt. The firm has six offers and needs to identify the best one. View Details
- January 2001 (Revised May 2010)
- Case
BP Amoco (A): Policy Statement on the Use of Project Finance
By: Benjamin C. Esty and Michael Kane
Following the BP/Amoco merger in December 1998, CFO David Watson asked Bill Young to recommend when and under what circumstances the firm should use external project finance instead of internal corporate funds to finance new capital investments. As part of this... View Details
- January 2001
- Case
Valuing Project Achieve
By: Mihir A. Desai and Kathleen Luchs
Project Achieve is a start-up providing information management solutions for schools. Its founders see a need for software both to manage the volumes of information necessary to administer a school and to connect parents, teachers, and students in a more effective way.... View Details
- December 2000
- Case
Stock Options at Virtua.Net
By: Brian J. Hall, Noam T. Wasserman and Carleen Madigan
Describes issues facing three young founders of a high-tech start-up in Silicon Valley, including hiring an experienced CEO and negotiating with a potential VC investor. Focuses on the incentive and compensation aspects of negotiating with job candidates (e.g., what... View Details
- December 2000
- Case
SupplierMarket.com (A)
By: William A. Sahlman and Jared Stone
Describes a decision confronting the cofounders of a B2B Internet firm that focuses on the purchasing process for manufactured direct materials. The company has raised one round of capital from two prominent venture capital firms and must decide if it makes sense to... View Details
- October 2000 (Revised November 2000)
- Case
New Economy Ethics: YouKnowIt.com
By: Joseph L. Badaracco Jr. and Kim Slack
Entrepreneur Janice Schwartz is hoping to grow her start-up company by creating a technical advisory board and compensating members with discounted company stock. Schwartz is considering six candidates that can help her online education company in a variety of ways: as... View Details
- 2000
- Other Unpublished Work
Career Concerns and Staged Investment: Evidence from the Venture Capital Industry
By: Malcolm Baker
I develop a model in which career concerns lead to inefficient reinvestment decisions. Managers have incentives to inflate interim returns by continuing bad projects and delaying write-offs. In the venture capital industry, the syndication of follow-on investments can... View Details
- March 2000 (Revised April 2000)
- Case
Martin Smith: May 2000
By: G. Felda Hardymon and Josh Lerner
A new associate at a venture capital firm must choose which of three potential investments to recommend to the firm's partners. Each potential investment has strengths and drawbacks. View Details
- November 1999
- Case
Interactive Minds (B)
By: Ashish Nanda, Thomas J. DeLong, Christina L. Darwall and Scot H. Landry
Two recent Harvard Business School graduates start a venture capital/consulting firm focused on opportunities related to the Internet. View Details
- 1999
- Other Unpublished Work
Executive Ownership and Control in Newly Public Firms: The Role of Venture Capitalists
By: Malcolm Baker and Paul Gompers
We study the implications of CEO equity ownership for incentives and control in a sample of 1,011 newly public firms. Before an initial public offering, equity investments by venture capitalists reduce CEO ownership by about half, from an average of 35 percent to 19... View Details
- October 1999
- Case
ZEFER: Building a Business at Hyperspeed
In the past 18 months, ZEFER has gone from a several-person Internet consulting firm to a major player in the information-technology services industry. In particular, in the past six months, it has grown from 40 to 400 professionals, has hired a seasoned management... View Details
- June 1999 (Revised March 2001)
- Case
New Business Investment Company: October 1997
By: Josh Lerner, Lee Branstetter and Takeshi Nakabayashi
A quasi-government organization seeks to stimulate entrepreneurship in Japan by making venture capital investments. The organization of the fund, identification of transactions, and oversight of portfolio firms pose considerable challenges. View Details
- January 1999
- Article
An Analysis of Compensation in the U.S. Venture Capital Partnership
By: Paul Gompers and Josh Lerner
- December 1998 (Revised December 1999)
- Case
Morgan Stanley Dean Witter Private Client Services
By: Thomas J. DeLong, David M. Darst, Ann K Rusher and Catherine M. Conneely
The 1997 merger of retail giant Dean Witter and investment bank Morgan Stanley was a year old when Bob Sculthorpe was appointed director of Private Client Services (PCS) at Morgan Stanley Dean Witter (MSDW). The firm was still operating under two separate broker-dealer... View Details
- 1998
- Working Paper
CEO Incentives and Firm Size
By: Brian Hall and George P. Baker
What determines CEO incentives? A confusion exists among both academics and practitioners about how to measure the strength of CEO incentives, and how to reconcile the enormous differences in pay sensitivities between executives in large and small firms. We show that... View Details