Publications

February 2019 (Revised February 2020)
Case

Koita Foods

By: Lynda M. Applegate, Elie Ofek and Michael Norris

In 2018, Mustafa Koita, Founder and CEO of Dubai-based organic milk company Koita has to decide whether or not to pursue an investment from a potential competitor who is coming into his local market. View Details

Keywords: Organic Milk; Mom Blog; Entrepreneurship; Cash Flow; Food; Growth Management; Investment; Social Marketing; Ownership Stake; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; United Arab Emirates; Dubai

Video

Runa Khan

Runa Khan, Founder and Executive Director of Friendship, an NGO supporting some of the poorest regions in Bangladesh, outlines her development of Friendship International as a means to increase funding and improve talent acquisition. View Details

12 Mar 2020
Video

Ian Fuhr

Ian Fuhr, founder of Sorbet, the largest chain of beauty salons in South Africa, discusses how he saw an opportunity in an industry in which he had no experience, but rather fresh eyes.

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01 Nov 2019
Video

Jaithirth Rao

Jerry Rao, serial entrepreneur and founder of the India-based Value and Budget Housing Corporation, describes the burgeoning of "entrepreneurial spirits" as regulations and policies governing industry were liberalized in the 1990s. View Details

September 2023 (Revised July 2024)
Case

Honest Jobs: A Path to Redemption

By: Paul A. Gompers and Jeffrey Barkas

Founded by a formerly incarcerated job seeker, Honest Jobs' mission is to be the hub where people with criminal records come to build careers and employers come to find great talent. Honest Jobs faced early challenges as a two-sided platform for justice-involved job... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Venture Capital; Recruitment; Entrepreneurial Finance; Selection and Staffing; Digital Platforms; Job Search; Mission and Purpose; Expansion; Employment Industry; United States; Colorado; Ohio; Texas

4 PM – 5 PM EDT, 07 Apr 2021
Virtual Programming

Sports As A Classroom: Lessons in Leadership, Diversity, Inclusion & Impact from Women in Sports

Join us for a virtual panel discussion with some of Harvards sports leaders as they share lessons about the importance of diversity, the impact of inclusion, and their journey to successful leaders. Panelists: Tari Cash, Founder & CEO at City Swing Golf, Harvard... View Details

October 2024
Article

Founder-CEO Compensation and Selection into Venture Capital-Backed Entrepreneurship

By: Michael Ewens, Ramana Nanda and Christopher Stanton

We show theoretically that a critical determinant of the attractiveness of VC-backed entrepreneurship for high-earning potential founders is the expected time to develop a startup’s initial product. This is because founder-CEOs’ cash compensation increases... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Executive Compensation

15 Jan 2020
Video

Suresh Krishna

Suresh Krishna, founder of the largest manufacturer of industrial fasteners for the auto industry in India, explains his “dharma of business”: to lift as many people out of poverty as he can while also running... View Details

January 2017 (Revised March 2017)
Case

SIN Capital and the Fullerton Health IPO

By: Josh Lerner and Ann Leamon

In early 2016, David Sin, founder of the Singapore-based private equity group SIN Capital and chairman of its primary holding, Fullerton Health, was deeply involved in preparations for taking Fullerton public on the Singapore stock exchange. Three years after SIN... View Details

Keywords: Healthcare; Asia; IPO; Financing; Singapore; Growth; Health Care and Treatment; Private Equity; Initial Public Offering; Financing and Loans; Strategy; Value Creation; Growth and Development Strategy; Health Industry; Singapore

2015
Working Paper

What Do Private Equity Firms Say They Do?

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

We survey 79 private equity investors with combined assets under management (AUM) of over $750 billion about their practices in firm valuation, capital structure, governance, and value creation. Investors rely primarily on internal rate of return (IRR) and multiples to... View Details

Keywords: Governance; Value Creation; Private Equity; Capital Structure; Valuation; Management Practices and Processes

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April 1985 (Revised November 1987)
Case

Sun Hydraulics Corp. (A)

Involves the design and creation of a company with no formally-defined hierarchy. Describes the steps the founder takes to avoid the organizational politics he perceives as crushing the human contributions they were designed to harness. View Details

Keywords: Organizational Design; Organizational Structure; Engineering; Business Startups; Technology Industry

20 Nov 2019
Video

Zia Mody

Zia Mody, founder of AZB & Partners, a leading corporate law firm in India, describes her policy of providing mentorship and advice to women through marriage and motherhood in order to retain them as... View Details

14 Feb 2020
Video

Hamdi Akın

Hamdi Akın, founder of Akfen Holding, an infrastructure investment firm in Turkey, relates the creation of the airport management company, TAV, and its growth from a local concern to a global one.

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Video

Melek El Nimer

Melek El Nimer, founder of the Social Support Society and Unite Lebanon Youth Project in Lebanon, describes the state of Palestinian refugee camps when she first started visiting them in the 1980's. View Details

November 2014 (Revised January 2017)
Case

Micromax: Scaling the Largest Indian Mobile Handset Company

By: Ranjay Gulati, Rachna Tahilyani and Alicia DeSantola

It is January 2014 and Rahul Sharma, cofounder of Micromax Informatics (Micromax), the largest Indian mobile handset company, is preparing for an emergency conference call with his private equity investors. In the last six years, Micromax had grown its annual product... View Details

Keywords: Mobile; Scaling; Indian Software Development; Consumer Behavior; Management Turnover; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Management; E-commerce; Technology Industry; Telecommunications Industry; India

January 2004 (Revised April 2004)
Case

Excel Academy Charter Middle School, The

This case is set in the summer of 2002 in a recently approved charter middle school in Boston. The school's founders face a choice of compensation plans as they finalize the initial teaching team in the school. In particular, the founders are actively considering two... View Details

Keywords: Teaching; Performance; Compensation and Benefits; Boston

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November 1991 (Revised July 1995)
Case

Body Shop International

By: Christopher A. Bartlett

Describes the start-up and rapid growth of a company whose founder holds strong, non-traditional beliefs about the role of the corporation and its responsibility to society. After profiling Anita Roddick as a person, the case describes the anti-mainstream approach she... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Business Growth and Maturation; Leadership Style; Management Succession; Management Teams; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Values and Beliefs; Global Strategy; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry