Publications

22 Sep 2014
News

Online Banks Fill Funding Needs for Small Business

February 2010
Case

Shurgard Self-Storage: Expansion to Europe (Abridged)

By: Richard G. Hamermesh

Shurgard, a U.S.-based firm that rents storage facilities to consumers and small businesses, is considering financing options for rapid expansion of its European operations. Five years after entering Europe, Shurgard Europe has opened 17 facilities in Belgium, France,... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Business Growth and Maturation; Multinational Firms and Management; Logistics; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Trade; Equity; Corporate Finance; United States; Europe

2004
Book

Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital

By: Amar Bhidé

Academics and practitioners readily admit the importance of entrepreneurs for the wealth of nations. However, the relationship between the economic and social environment, entrepreneurship and value creation is not yet well understood. Moreover, at the micro-level, the... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneur; Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Corporate Finance

February 2000 (Revised April 2005)
Case

Gray Security: Building a South African Services Firm

Describes Gray Security Services, an entrepreneurial South African firm that has recently gone through a financial restructuring with the help of Brait Capital Partners, a private equity firm. Gray provides complete security services to companies in South Africa, other... View Details

Keywords: Initial Public Offering; Entrepreneurship; Equity; Growth and Development Strategy; Service Industry; South Africa

Professor WILLIAM E. FRUHAN, JR. is George E. Bates Professor, Emeritus at the Harvard Business School. He received his BS degree from Yale University, and his MBA and DBA degrees from Harvard University. He has served as Senior Associate Dean and Director of... View Details

Keywords: aircraft; airline; chemical; electronics; grocery; medical supplies; oil ＆ gas; pharmaceuticals; retailing; steel

06 Oct 2015
First Look

October 6, 2015

paper: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=49779 Home Equity Finance and Entrepreneurial Performance—Evidence from a Mortgage Reform By: Jensen, Thais Laerkholm, Søren Leth-Petersen, and Ramana... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

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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MBA Class of 1960 Professor of Management, Paul W. Marshall, is affiliated with the Entrepreneurial Management Unit and teaches The Entrepreneurial Manager in the Turnaround Environment. This Elective Curriculum course focuses on the role of... View Details

Keywords: aerospace; banking; brokerage; computer; consulting; defense; management consulting; manufacturing; metals; professional services; retail financial services; retailing; steel

February 2023
Teaching Note

Colette Phillips and GetKonnected: Creating Inclusive Ecosystems

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and Ai-Ling Jamila Malone

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 323-035. View Details

May 2020 (Revised July 2020)
Case

Justice-as-a-Service at RightNow

By: Shikhar Ghosh and Amir Reza Rezvani

The case examines the focus of an early stage company, and how an unexpected external incidence can threaten or void the business model. It encompasses issues such as minimal viable product, defining and pivoting a business model, organizational requirements for a... View Details

Keywords: Legacy Business; Teams; Startup; Business Models; Pivot; Entrepreneurship; Law; Venture Capital; Business Startups; Business Model; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Strategy; Legal Services Industry; Germany

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

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

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

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

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

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

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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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