Publications

15 May 2020
Research & Ideas

Find Your Pragmatic Path through Radical Uncertainty

the future. Process planning and scenario planning make more sense than fixed projections because they focus on answerable questions. What is required to remain solvent per month? What startup costs will be required to return to “normal?”... View Details

Keywords: by Howard Stevenson, Eugene B. Kogan, and Shirley Spence

07 Dec 2015
Research & Ideas

The Rise of Personalized Entrepreneurial Finance and Other VC Trends

what venture capital might look like in the future, we asked Josh Lerner, the Jacob H. Schiff Professor of Investment Banking and head of the Entrepreneurial Management unit at Harvard Business School, what trends he’s paying close... View Details

Keywords: Re: Josh Lerner; Financial Services; Banking

1999
Other Unpublished Work

Ownership and Control in Entrepreneurial Firms: An Examination of Convertible Securities in Venture Capital Investment

By: Paul A. Gompers

Keywords: Business Startups; Ownership; Management; Debt Securities; Venture Capital

02 Jan 2018
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, January 3, 2018

December 4, 2017 Harvard Business Review How a Fast-Growing Startup Built Its Sales Team for Long-Term Success By: Cespedes, Frank V., and David Mattson Abstract—It’s common for leaders of sales teams to focus almost exclusively on... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

January 2008
Article

Entrepreneurship and Urban Success: Toward a Policy Consensus

By: Zoltan J. Acs, Edward L. Glaeser, Robert E. Litan, Lee Fleming, Stephan J. Goetz, William R. Kerr, Steven Klepper, Stuart S. Rosenthal, Olav Sorenson and William C. Strange

Like all politics, all entrepreneurship is local. Individuals launch firms and, if successful, expand their enterprises to other locations. But new firms must start somewhere, even if their businesses are conducted largely or exclusively on the Internet. Likewise,... View Details

Keywords: Business Headquarters; Business Startups; Development Economics; Economy; Entrepreneurship; Policy; Taxation; Growth and Development Strategy; Product Development; Business Processes; Expansion; Internet

Read Now

January 2006 (Revised May 2006)
Case

Akin Ongor's Journey

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter

A retired bank CEO, one of Turkey's most admired leaders, wants to start a leadership institute to develop emerging leaders in the eastern Mediterranean region. Describes his biography and values, the models he established for excellent financial performance and... View Details

Keywords: Leadership Development; Values and Beliefs; Partners and Partnerships; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Business Startups; Environmental Sustainability; Retirement; Education Industry; Turkey; United States

March 2008 (Revised June 2008)
Case

Sirtris Pharmaceuticals: Living Healthier, Longer

Describes a set of key strategic decisions facing the scientific founder and CEO of a promising, early stage bio-pharmaceuticals company. Should the company establish a proposed alliance with a pharmaceutical firm? Should it create a nutraceuticals business in parallel... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Decision Choices and Conditions; Entrepreneurship; Growth and Development Strategy; Risk Management; Brands and Branding; Pharmaceutical Industry

October 2014
Teaching Note

MuMaté

By: Thomas Eisenmann

This teaching note is designed for use with "MuMaté: Funding Growth," "MuMaté (B-1): Confidential for Maxwell," "MuMaté (B-2): Confidential for Cantor," HBS Nos. 814-063, 813-149, 813-150, to help faculty deepen student comprehension of business issues and energize... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Growth Management; Negotiation; Expansion; Valuation; Entrepreneurship; Organizational Culture; Business Startups; Food and Beverage Industry

21 Jan 2009
First Look

First Look: January 21, 2009

William R. Kerr Publication:Journal of Economics and Management Strategy (forthcoming) Abstract Why are some places more entrepreneurial than others? We use Census Bureau data to study local determinants of manufacturing View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

01 Jul 2019
Research & Ideas

The Airbnb Lesson for Startups? Success Takes More Than Technology

They haven't encroached much on each other's territory. Part of the reason is that it's very expensive to go beyond their markets. If you’re an airline, you’re buying airplanes. Building and owning hotels is expensive. If you’re Boston Duck Tours, View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost; Travel; Tourism

January 2000 (Revised June 2000)
Case

Alloy.com: Marketing to Generation Y

By: John A. Deighton and Gil McWilliams

A profitable dot com company? Alloy.com retails clothing to teens by catalog. Alloy uses a Web site to convert prospects and build community. The result is a business with the economics of a direct marketer and the market capitalization of an Internet start-up. The... View Details

Keywords: Marketing Strategy; Internet and the Web; Business and Community Relations; Partners and Partnerships; Customer Relationship Management; Decision Choices and Conditions; Business Startups; Information Technology Industry; Consumer Products Industry

April 1995 (Revised June 1996)
Background Note

Note on Building the Self-Sustaining Firm

Describes the strategic and organizational challenges of turning a fledgling enterprise into a self-sustaining business. In contrast to traditional life-cycle models, the note argues that businesses evolve in idiosyncratic ways. Therefore the leaders of young... View Details

Keywords: Business Growth and Maturation; Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Growth and Development Strategy