Publications

April 2023
Case

Drive Capital: A New Road for Venture

By: Paul A. Gompers and Alicia Dadlani

Founded by two former Sequoia Capital partners, Columbus-Ohio-based Drive Capital’s mission was to build a world-class venture capital firm in the middle of the U.S., an area historically overlooked by VCs. Drive faced early challenges of attracting investors, sourcing... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Investment; Business Strategy; Financial Services Industry; Biotechnology Industry; United States; Ohio

28 Jun 2011
First Look

First Look: June 28

and George Serafeim Publication:Journal of Finance (forthcoming) Abstract In tests of the equity market timing theory of external finance, the prior literature has used overvaluation identifiers such as high market-to-book and high prior... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

05 Oct 2021
Blog Post

First-Gen Voices: Eric Westphal on Tapping into the Global Alumni Network & Making a Difference across Borders

alumni-founded e-commerce startup for his HBS internship. Yet what might seem like a direct entrepreneurial path was anything but. Westphal’s life and career have crossed country lines, cultures, and industries, and continue to lead him... View Details

2021
Working Paper

Renewing Knightian Uncertainty: A Pragmatic Prospectus and Demonstration

By: Amar Bhidé

Frank Knight distinguished between 'uncertainty' and 'risk' to specify the true nature of 'profit’, but his specification never caught on and I do not see realistic possibilities for renewing research in this direction. Using uncertainty to analyze the organization and... View Details

Keywords: Knightian Uncertainty; Risk and Uncertainty; Profit; Theory; Research

SSRN

Read Now

30 Oct 2014
Working Paper Summaries

Housing Collateral, Credit Constraints, and Entrepreneurship-Evidence from a Mortgage Reform

Keywords: by Thais Laerkholm Jensen, Søren Leth-Petersen & Ramana Nanda; Construction; Real Estate; Financial Services

September 2010 (Revised August 2011)
Background Note

Pricing, Profits, and Customer Value

By: Frank V. Cespedes, Benson P. Shapiro and Elliot B. Ross

This note discusses how some firms (start-ups and established companies) maximize customer value and profits via their pricing processes. It is aimed at companies that compete on the basis of performance initiatives rather than absolute cost advantages and low price.... View Details

Keywords: Customer Focus and Relationships; Customer Value and Value Chain; Cost; Price; Profit; Performance Effectiveness; Sales; Competitive Strategy

February 1998 (Revised February 1999)
Case

FreeMarkets OnLine

By: V. Kasturi Rangan

Describes the marketing strategy of an entrepreneurial start-up engaged in electronic purchasing for large manufacturers. By creating an electronic bidding platform, the company has been able to cut down procurement costs by about 15%. The case question concerns how... View Details

Keywords: Cost Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Marketing Strategy; Bids and Bidding; Market Entry and Exit; Digital Platforms; Production; Electronics Industry

Mr. Crane was a member of the Finance Faculty at Harvard Business School for a number of years, working primarily in the field of financial institutions and corporate governance. He taught in the MBA and executive education programs at the School, most recently... View Details

10 Feb 2022
News

A Dirty Secret: Here’s Why Your ESG ETF Likely Owns Stock in Fossil-Fuel Companies

John F. Batter

John Batter is a retired Litigation Partner in the Boston Office of Wilmer Cutler Pickering Hale and Dorr LLP where his practice focussed on on the defense of public and private companies and their directors and management against breach of fiduciary duty claims and... View Details

11 Mar 2018
News

SoftBank Looks to Invade Wall Street’s Turf

January 2016 (Revised November 2019)
Case

Blackstone at Age 30

By: Josh Lerner, John D. Dionne and Amram Migdal

Since its IPO in 2007 and following the global financial crisis, Blackstone largely outpaced its alternative investment firm peers in assets under management, new business launches, profitability, and market capitalization. Under the leadership of Stephen A.... View Details

Keywords: Business Growth and Maturation; Asset Management; Private Equity; Financial Services Industry; New York (city, NY)