Publications

Find at Harvard

2023
Working Paper

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

SSRN

Read Now

03 May 2016
Working Paper Summaries

Pay Now or Pay Later? The Economics within the Private Equity Partnership

Keywords: by Victoria Ivashina and Josh Lerner; Banking; Financial Services

March 1993 (Revised April 1998)
Case

Viscotech, Inc.

Focuses on the efforts of a small company to raise funds in a variety of ways. In the course of its efforts to raise equity capital, the company commits a number of SEC violations. The case includes an example of both a poor, aggressive offering circular and a tightly... View Details

Keywords: Capital; Equity; Financing and Loans; Lawfulness

August 1986 (Revised September 2004)
Case

Hanson Ski Products

By: William J. Bruns Jr. and Julie H. Hertenstein

At the end of the budget cycle, the manager must test whether plans are feasible given financing arrangements and constraints. Cash needs are great due to seasonality. Needed loans must be calculated at five separate dates, and financial position projected. This is a... View Details

Keywords: Budgets and Budgeting; Capital Budgeting; Cash Flow; Financial Strategy; Activity Based Costing and Management; Financing and Loans; Managerial Roles; Credit; Insurance

November 1988 (Revised November 1996)
Case

Roy Rogers Restaurants

By: William J. Bruns Jr.

Roy Rogers Restaurants is a subsidiary of Marriott Corp. which sells franchises to own and operate standardized fast food restaurants. Many franchise owners operate more than one restaurant. One of these, presently operating 16 restaurants and committed to develop 30... View Details

Keywords: Franchise Ownership; Business Model; Cost Management; Quality; Transformation; Food and Beverage Industry

March 1986 (Revised May 1996)
Background Note

Introduction to Options

Designed to help students develop an understanding of option contracts and markets. View Details

Keywords: Contracts; Capital Markets

24 Sep 2019
Research & Ideas

Do National Security Secrets Hold Back National Innovation?

of intellectual property theft by foreign competitors grows and secrecy becomes a more attractive strategy for firms to protect and capitalize on their innovations, this question is becoming increasingly... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz

August 1974 (Revised November 1974)
Case

Reynolds Construction Company

By: Paul W. Marshall

Deals with the use of critical path method for the construction of remote control building, which is part of a water purification system. Discusses the necessity of determining the shortest possible time in which a job could be done without spending more money. Case... View Details

Keywords: Buildings and Facilities; Construction; Cost Management; Time Management; Wastes and Waste Processing; System; Construction Industry

September 2011 (Revised January 2012)
Case

Telemonitoring at Visiting Nurse Health System

By: F. Warren McFarlan, Mark Keil and Mala Kaul

The Telemonitoring at Visiting Nurse Health System case presents one home healthcare organization's efforts to use telemonitoring to improve the quality of care provided to at-risk patients who were discharged from hospitals and needed home care. After two years of... View Details

Keywords: Capital Budgeting; Cost vs Benefits; Risk Management; Technology Adoption; Technological Innovation; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Competitive Strategy; Health Industry; Technology Industry

April 1992
Supplement

Prelude Corp.: Afterthoughts

By: Norman A. Berg

Commentary by an executive familiar with the industry on what went wrong at Prelude and what the difficulties are in creating economies of scale in the lobster fishing industry. View Details

Keywords: Management; Problems and Challenges; Cost Management; Food and Beverage Industry

November 1999
Background Note

Recognizing Revenues and Expenses: Realized and Earned

By: Robert S. Kaplan

Describes a key concept in financial accounting: choosing an appropriate revenue recognition point. The accrual process requires revenue recognition and expense matching for reporting on the value creation process of companies. Describes the two key criteria for... View Details

Keywords: Accounting Audits; Accrual Accounting; Cost Accounting; Budgets and Budgeting; Revenue; Profit; Cost Management; Value Creation; Competitive Strategy; Financial Statements; Accounting Industry

24 Apr 2014
News

Corporate venture funds invested wisely can propel a company forward

In researching R&D funding at large corporations, Josh Lerner (PhD/PMD 62, 1991), the Jacob H. Schiff Professor of Investment Banking, noted a recent trend toward decentralizing research functions and slashing research budgets. The... View Details

30 Jan 2019
What Do You Think?

Who Will Measure up to These Two Remarkable Leaders?

of the future coming? What do you think? Original Column The decade of the 1980s saw widespread subscription to the notion that there were two “generic competitive strategies” aimed at achieving industrywide... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Air Transportation; Financial Services

2017
Working Paper

Investment Timing with Costly Search for Financing

By: Samuel Antill

I develop a dynamic model of investment timing in which firms must first choose when to search for external financing. Search is costly and the arrival of investors is uncertain, leading to delay in financing and investment. Depending on parameters, my model can... View Details

Keywords: Real Options; Search And Bargaining; Time-varying Financial Conditions; Investment; Venture Capital; Mathematical Methods

SSRN

January 2014
Technical Note

A Note on Funding Digital Innovation Startups

By: Karim Lakhani, Michael Norris and Andrew Otazo

This note provides information on the state of startup financing in Silicon Valley in 2013. It details different avenues startups have to raise funding, including venture capital, corporate venture capital, angel investors, incubators, and crowdfunding. View Details

Keywords: Startup; Innovation ＆ Entrepreneurship; Angel Investors; Accelerator; Crowdfunding; Silicon Valley; Venture Capital; Entrepreneurship; California

10 May 2017
Research & Ideas

Amazon Web Services Changed the Way VCs Fund Startups

out if this new strategy has paid off for investors and their portfolio companies. Nanda and colleagues present their findings in a paper scheduled to appear in a forthcoming issue of the Journal of... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Banking; Financial Services; Information Technology

28 May 2008
First Look

First Look: May 28, 2008

Case 508-074 The largest retailer of diesel fuel in the U.S., Flying J, is rethinking its growth strategy as the economy goes into a recession. Its major customer base, owner-operated truck drivers, are facing increasing View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

August 2000 (Revised February 2001)
Background Note

Expense Recognition

By: Paul M. Healy and Preeti Choudhary

Recording expenses is not often clear-cut and can require considerable management judgment. This case discusses expense recognition in straightforward situations and then considers expense transactions that may be more complex to record. It uses examples that include... View Details

Keywords: Accounting; Cost; Financial Statements