Publications

2015
Working Paper

The Impact of Funds: An Evaluation of CDC 2004-12

By: Josh Lerner, Ann Leamon, Steve Dew and Dong Ik Lee

CDC was founded in 1948 as part of the U.K. government's efforts to develop the economic resources of Britain's remaining colonies. Since then, CDC has pursued a series of strategies to "do good without losing money," as its original mission was phrased. Its approach... View Details

Keywords: Investment Funds; Great Britain

January 2021
Case

Saham Group: It's In the Genes

By: Christina R. Wing and Gamze Yucaoglu

The case opens in August 2020 as Moulay Mhamed Elalamy (Mhamed), CEO of the Saham Group (the Group), a pan-African investment company that operates a variety of businesses out of Morocco, contemplates the Group’s identity, its investment strategy, and how to navigate... View Details

Keywords: Family and Family Relationships; Family Business; For-Profit Firms; Transformation; Transition; Emerging Markets; Change Management; Private Equity; Investment; Strategy; Insurance Industry; Real Estate Industry; Education Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Morocco; Africa

May 2025
Teaching Note

From oneworld to a New World? LATAM’s High-Stakes Alliance Dilemma

By: Juan Alcacer and Valentina Tarzijan

As global alliances evolve and regulatory barriers mount, LATAM Airlines must reassess the strategic logic of partnerships. In 2019, Delta Air Lines proposed a $1.9 billion investment and deeper cooperation via a Joint Business Agreement, prompting LATAM to evaluate... View Details

Keywords: Latin America; North America

Article

What Do State-Owned Development Banks Do? Evidence from BNDES, 2002–09

By: Sergio G. Lazzarini, Aldo Musacchio, Rodrigo Bandeira-de-Mello and Rosilene Marcon

Defendants of state-owned development banks emphasize their role in reducing capital constraints and fostering productive investment; detractors point out that they may benefit politically connected capitalists or bail out inefficient firms. We study the effect of... View Details

Keywords: State Capitalism; Development Banks; Industrial Policy; Banking Industry; Brazil

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Emil Siriwardane is an associate professor of business administration in the Finance Unit.

Professor Siriwardane’s research studies the ways in which financial intermediaries influence capital markets, how perceptions of risk impact business cycles,... View Details

February 2011 (Revised January 2017)
Case

Countrywide plc

By: Stuart C. Gilson and Sarah L. Abbott

One of the world's leading investors in distressed companies, Oaktree Capital Management, is contemplating a "loan to own" investment in the debt of Countrywide plc, a financially troubled residential real estate agent based in the U.K. Only sixteen months earlier,... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Restructuring; Financial Crisis; Capital Structure; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Financial Management; Investment; Real Estate Industry; United Kingdom

November 2006 (Revised October 2007)
Case

Artisan Entertainment Inc.

Geoff Rehnert and Marc Wolpow have left Bain Capital to launch Audax Group. As part of their separation, they have been granted 90-day options to purchase Bain Capital's stake in a number of portfolio companies at Fair Market Value. As they conside whether to exercise... View Details

Keywords: Leveraged Buyouts; Private Equity; Financing and Loans; Investment Funds

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January 2020
Article

How Do Venture Capitalists Make Decisions?

By: Paul A. Gompers, William Gornall, Steven N. Kaplan and Ilya A. Strebulaev

We survey 885 institutional venture capitalists (VCs) at 681 firms to learn how they make decisions across eight areas: deal sourcing, investment selection, valuation, deal structure, post-investment value-added, exits, internal firm organization, and relationships... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Value Creation; Capital Structure; Entrepreneurship; Decision Making

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08 Nov 2011
First Look

First Look: Nov. 8

just after the SEC's announcement. Our results are consistent with the view that financial markets placed a positive value on shareholder access, as implemented in the SEC's August 2010 rule. Download the paper: http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/11-052.pdf Private View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

March 2020
Case

Cafe Kenya

By: Lynda M. Applegate and James T. Kindley

This case describes Café Kenya (CK), a Kenyan-based chain of casual quick-food restaurants. The chain was started in 2011 in Nairobi by Nekesa Kuria. Kuria started Café Kenya and grew it by reinvesting profits into company stores and through franchising. She also... View Details

Keywords: Restaurants; Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Growth and Development Strategy; Kenya

2023
Working Paper

Sovereign Default and the Decline in Interest Rates

By: Max Miller, James Paron and Jessica Wachter

Sovereign debt yields have declined dramatically over the last half-century. Standard explanations, including aging populations and increases in asset demand from abroad, encounter difficulties when confronted with the full range of evidence. We propose an explanation... View Details

Keywords: Inflation and Deflation; Interest Rates; Debt Securities

February 2021 (Revised October 2021)
Case

Collab Capital

By: Natalia Rigol, Jeffrey J. Bussgang and Mitchell Weiss

Founded in 2020 by Jewel Burks Solomon and her partners, Barry Givens and Justin Dawkins, Collab Capital was a new investment firm built on two pillars: first, it would identify and support ventures founded by Black entrepreneurs, a group underrepresented in... View Details

Keywords: Black Entrepreneurs; Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Race; Business Startups; Financial Services Industry; Atlanta

2024
Working Paper

How Do Global Portfolio Investors Hedge Currency Risk?

By: Robin Greenwood and Alex Cheema-Fox

We use monthly portfolio data from one of the world’s largest custodian banks, with over $40 trillion assets under custody, to study how global portfolio investors hedge foreign exchange risk in their equity and fixed income portfolios over the past 25 years. The data... View Details

Keywords: Investment Portfolio; Investment Funds; Currency; Risk and Uncertainty

2021
Working Paper

The Dance Between Government and Private Investors: Public Entrepreneurial Finance around the Globe

By: Jessica Bai, Shai Bernstein, Abhishek Dev and Josh Lerner

This paper examines the interaction between governments and private capital investors when financing early-stage ventures. We first provide a simple conceptual framework to explore when collaboration between governments and private investors is likely to emerge. Using... View Details

Keywords: Public Entrepreneurship; Subsidy; Industrial Policy; Entrepreneurship; Public Sector; Financing and Loans; Venture Capital; Global Range

SSRN

2015
Case

Advanced Leadership Pathways: Robert Whelan and the Student Loan Crisis (B)

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter, Grace Sza-Hua Chen and Ai-Ling Jamila Malone

Bob Whelan developed an idea with partners that was a seed before his fellowship year and addressed a significant national challenge - college financing - with a creative concept and experience from his years in investment banking. His nonprofit was called 13th Avenue... View Details

Keywords: Social Enterprise; Higher Education; Financing and Loans; Borrowing and Debt; Leading Change; Education Industry; Financial Services Industry

May 2025
Case

From oneworld to a New World? LATAM’s High-Stakes Alliance Dilemma

By: Juan Alcacer and Valentina Tarzijan

As global alliances evolve and regulatory barriers mount, LATAM Airlines must reassess the strategic logic of partnerships. In 2019, Delta Air Lines proposed a $1.9 billion investment and deeper cooperation via a Joint Business Agreement, prompting LATAM to evaluate... View Details

Keywords: Aviation; Airlines; Transportation; Latin America; North America

May 2019
Background Note

Sources of Capital for Black Entrepreneurs

By: Steven Rogers, Stanley Onuoha and Kayin Barclay

This note was written primarily for black entrepreneurs in order to help them raise capital. The second objective was to recognize the capital providers who are part of the solution to the problem of less than 2% of private equity capital and 1.7% of debt capital in... View Details

Keywords: Black Entrepreneurs; Access To Capital; Capital; Entrepreneurship; Prejudice and Bias

2025
Working Paper

Heterogeneous Beliefs and Stock Market Fluctuations

By: Odhrain McCarthy and Sebastian Hillenbrand

This paper examines the role of heterogeneous investor beliefs in explaining stock market puzzles. Using survey data, we show that individual investors and investment professionals, such as equity analysts and strategists, form distinct beliefs. These groups rely on... View Details

Keywords: Financial Markets; Valuation; Stocks; Asset Pricing; Investment; Behavioral Finance

SSRN

December 2010
Compilation

VCPE Strategy Vignettes II

By: Josh Lerner, G. Felda Hardymon, Matthew Rhodes-Kropf, Ann Leamon and Lisa Strope

These three vignettes present various issues around the strategy and management of venture capital and private equity firms. In one, a senior partner must decide how to manage an over-extended colleague and how to reduce the risk of the firm's portfolio; the second... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Private Equity; Cost vs Benefits; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Investment Portfolio; Ownership; Partners and Partnerships; Risk Management; Stocks; Problems and Challenges; United States