Business Start-ups - Publications - Faculty & Research

24 May 2011
First Look

First Look: May 24

and field hospitals). In 13 years it developed from a start-up garage business into a successful firm of global reach and reputation. In 2010 its founder and CEO Philippe Prévost must decide the product and... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

25 Mar 2001
Research & Ideas

Who Wants to Be an Entrepreneur? [Part II]

Professor William A. Sahlman calls "the problem of simultaneity." If, as the business school defines it, entrepreneurship is the pursuit of a business opportunity requiring resources beyond one's... View Details

Keywords: by John S. Rosenberg

17 Jun 2002
Research & Ideas

Entrepreneurship in Asia and Foreign Direct Investment

Barron's Business Terms, FDI is "investment in a country by foreign citizens, often involving majority stock ownership of an enterprise." Huang is looking deeper into how and why FDI played quite different roles in these four... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

29 Nov 2006
Research & Ideas

Rich or Royal: What Do Founders Want?

What motivates entrepreneurs? Money? Control? In truth, some entrepreneurs are expecting to get rich. Others want to grow and control a new venture. But most would probably answer: "both." The problem, as Harvard Business School... View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert; Financial Services

21 Nov 2005
Research & Ideas

The Geography of Corporate Giving

level provides important lessons for executives, policymakers, and the groups who benefit. But such knowledge also suggests more work to be done in order to learn how global business trends, such as industry consolidation and... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

06 Nov 2000
Research & Ideas

The Determinants of Corporate Venture Capital Success

parent's strategic focus." The Xerox Corporation originated as a photography-paper business called the Haloid Company. 3 The Haloid Company's entrance into what would later become its principal business... View Details

Keywords: by Paul Gompers & Josh Lerner

02 Jan 2012
Research & Ideas

Most Popular Articles of 2011

Published: January 10, 2011 For retailers offering deals through the wildly popular online start-up Groupon, does the one-day publicity compensate for the deep hit to profit margins? A new working paper, "To Groupon or Not to... View Details

Keywords: by Staff

18 Feb 2013
Research & Ideas

Breaking Through a Growth Stall

where a company seems weighted down by the bounds of its original start-up business model, a lack of experience by its founder(s), and an accelerating, expense-fueled burn rate through working capital and... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

02 Feb 2009
Research & Ideas

The Success of Persistent Entrepreneurs

When it comes to entrepreneurship, nothing says success like a track record of previous wins. Entrepreneurs with a history of success are much more likely to succeed in new ventures than first-timers or those who failed previously, new research from Harvard View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert

14 Nov 2005
Research & Ideas

How Can Start Ups Grow?

intangible resources may be best acquired by following a road of conformity in how your company is organized and presented to the outside world. In start-ups in established industries, conventional business... View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert; Advertising

17 Jun 2002
Research & Ideas

A Litmus Test for Entrepreneurs

Kuemmerle, who has studied more than fifty start-ups in twenty countries, says entrepreneurs today should take a litmus test of five questions (See sidebar). In this excerpt from Harvard Business Review,... View Details

Keywords: by Walter Kuemmerle

16 Apr 2001
Research & Ideas

Angels Face the Innovator’s Dilemma

Great Firms to Fail, Christensen said he believes exciting opportunities await those who come up with ideas for other forms of high-tech start-up financing. When mainstream venture companies become huge financial institutions, he... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Financial Services

05 May 2010
What Do You Think?

Is Denial Endemic to Management?

And yet when poor results from the measures are presented to management, they can be ignored or, worse yet, denied, as happened so often in the days leading up to the recent Great Recession. It's denial that's the concern of Richard Tedlow in his new book, Denial: Why... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett

08 Jan 2001
What Do You Think?

Have We Extended the Boundaries of the Firm Too Far?

with the action. Where both are high, he suggests "insourcing." Where both are low, outsourcing is the answer. Where ability is high and strategic risk low, an effort to establish a separate business opportunity (by "spin... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

14 Jul 2008
Research & Ideas

HBS Cases: Reforming New Orleans Schools After Katrina

school system—and to take action to improve it. There has been much work to do, as Harvard Business School's Stacey Childress details in two case studies. According to Childress, "The New Orleans public school district was already in... View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert; Education

07 Dec 2009
Research & Ideas

Government’s Positive Role in Kick-Starting Entrepreneurship

a business in which there are increasing returns. To put the point another way, it is far easier to found a start-up if there are 10 other entrepreneurs nearby. In many respects, founders and venture... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Technology

20 Apr 2010
First Look

First Look: April 20

customers be convinced to add their own sweat and labor to the manufacturing process? The case is written from the perspective of a start-up company seeking funding while trying to implement a novel business... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

22 Apr 2015
Op-Ed

Reforming Greece: Myths and Truths

firms-partly thanks to changes in labor regulations that made labor markets more flexible. Reforms were also effective at cutting red tape that prevented entrepreneurs from starting businesses. The number of days to start a business... View Details

Keywords: by George Serafeim

05 Nov 2001
Research & Ideas

Venture Capital Goes Boom—or Bust?

Ninety percent of new entrepreneurial businesses that don't attract venture capital fail within three years. A software engineer at the government contractor EG&G, Don Brooks had been working on computer systems for the Idaho National... View Details

Keywords: by Paul A. Gompers & Josh Lerner

19 Nov 2012
Research & Ideas

LEED-ing by Example

Unit at Harvard Business School. "For example, procurement policies could serve a demonstration role that would stimulate private demand by making people more aware of green buildings. They might also cover the View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Construction; Real Estate; Energy; Utilities

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