Publications

20 Sep 2011
First Look

First Look: September 20

extend over an institutional abyss between the jurisdiction, and therefore protection, of the states involved. Intergovernmental organizations (IGOs), whose members are states, represent an important attempt to span this abyss. IGOs are... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

15 Feb 2012
Op-Ed

Occupy Wall Street Protestors Have a Point

the world about the problems they thought might constitute material threats to the sustainability of market capitalism. As part of Harvard Business School's centennial celebration a few years ago, we convened groups of business leaders in Europe, Asia, Latin America,... View Details

Keywords: by Joseph L. Bower, Herman B. Leonard & Lynn S. Paine

December 2024
Case

Core Innovation Capital: Investing in Fintech for Good

By: Ray Kluender, Natalia Rigol, Benjamin Roth and Nicole Tempest Keller

In 2017, Arjan Schütte, founder of Core Innovation Capital, faced a decision on whether to invest in Hugo Insurance, an auto insurance startup. Core, an early-stage social impact VC firm, focused on “fintech for good,” by investing in financial services for low- to... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Social Entrepreneurship; Insurance; Measurement and Metrics; Financial Services Industry; Technology Industry; Insurance Industry; United States

08 Nov 2016
First Look

November 8, 2016

worked well only at the early phase of modern economic growth and would not necessarily become an obstacle for dynamic development as the economies mature. Our research shows that while political institutions and capital markets have... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

06 Mar 2012
First Look

First Look: March 6

U.S. corporations, which enjoy ready access to the deepest capital markets in the world. Venture capital, for example, and the public equity markets that support it, has channeled money to innovative ideas that have transformed industries... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

02 Feb 2010
First Look

First Look: Feb. 2

shocks to borrowers' collateral, which affect firms' ability to raise capital if agency and information problems are significant (Ben S. Bernanke and Mark Gertler, 1989). Or it can stem from shocks to bank capital, which affects the... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

08 May 2006
Lessons from the Classroom

Writing the Case for Public School Reform

The state of public education in the United States is a perennial hot-button topic, with rhetoric often outpacing any real sense of progress. The Public Education Leadership Project (PELP), a 2003 joint... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Education

14 Jun 2004
Research & Ideas

The Big Money for Big Projects

debt, which means the loan repayments must come from project cash flows only. In municipally financed or public financed projects, a government entity is the borrower or the debt is backed by a government guarantee. In the case of the Big Dig, the View Details

Keywords: by Ann Cullen; Financial Services

01 Nov 2016
First Look

First Look - November 1, 2016

it comes not from mimicking competitors' best practices, but from seeing functional connections—choices that are part of a connected whole. Publisher's link: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=51850 October 11, 2016 Proceedings of the National Academy of... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

February 2014 (Revised March 2022)
Case

School Specialty, Inc.

By: Stuart C. Gilson and Kristin Mugford

Set in 2013, School Specialty was a financially troubled supplier of educational products to primary and secondary schools in the United States. The company planned to file Chapter 11 in order to address its excessive debt load, but needed to arrange... View Details

Keywords: School Specialty; Bankruptcy; Section 363; Financing; Chapter 11; Capital Structure; Financing and Loans; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Distribution Industry; Education Industry; United States

30 Jan 2017
Research & Ideas

Vanguard, Trian And The Problem With 'Passive' Index Funds

corporate governance. “When you think of the factors that have made capitalism such a successful model for economic growth, the separation between management and ownership, with the ability to disperse ownership and risk over many... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Financial Services

19 Sep 2011
Research & Ideas

Doomsday Coming for Catastrophic Risk Insurers?

he's seen improvements in the way reinsurers distribute risk over the last two decades, he still questions whether reinsurers in their current form can survive a major catastrophic event. "Reinsurers assume the risk of, and hold the View Details

Keywords: by Maggie Starvish; Financial Services

May 2013
Supplement

AME Learning Inc.

This is the Spreadsheet Supplement for HBS Case #810065 (AME Learning). Includes Exhibit 1, Exhibit 2, Exhibit 8, and Exhibit 9. View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurial Management; Entrepreneurs; Angels; Angel Investors; Growth Planning And Management; Growth Strategy; Family Businesses; Family-owned Business; Careers; Venture Capital; Entrepreneurship; Personal Development and Career; Family and Family Relationships; Family Business; Canada; United States

October 2017 (Revised April 2024)
Case

Snap Inc. Goes Public (A)

By: Lynn Sharp Paine and Will Hurwitz

Snap Inc.’s chairman must decide how to address investor concerns about the company’s unprecedented plans to issue only non-voting shares in its upcoming IPO. The case is set in early 2017 following the public availability of Snap’s IPO filing with the U.S. Securities... View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Capital Structure; Corporate Accountability; Governing and Advisory Boards; Corporate Governance; Going Public; Business and Shareholder Relations; Leadership; Management; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Venture Capital; Technology Industry; Telecommunications Industry; Information Technology Industry; United States; California

18 Feb 2002
Research & Ideas

Wrap-up: Software, Telecom, and Recovery

According to experts at the conference session titled "From Bubble to Recession: The Current State of the Venture Capital Industry," none of the answers are simple, but a sense of perspective... View Details

Keywords: by Wendy Guild & Martha Lagace; Financial Services; Technology; Communications; Telecommunications

2020
Working Paper

Immigration Policy Levers for U.S. Innovation and Startups

By: William R. Kerr and Sari Pekkala Kerr

Immigrants account for about a quarter of U.S. invention and entrepreneurship despite a policy environment that is not well suited for these purposes. This chapter reviews the U.S. immigration policy environment that governs how skilled migrants move to America for... View Details

Keywords: Invention; Innovation; Startups; High-tech; Immigration; Entrepreneurship; Innovation and Invention; Business Startups; Venture Capital; United States

SSRN

Read Now

January 2022
Case

Dating Ring

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Lindsay N. Hyde

In 2015, the co-founders of Dating Ring, an online dating startup that relied on human matchmakers to arrange dates between its members, were deciding whether to either shut down the service or instead manage Dating Ring as a "lifestyle company," ramping down growth... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Failure; Business Exit or Shutdown; Internet and the Web; Venture Capital; Service Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; United States

September 2024
Case

Comun: Partners in Peril

By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang and Alexis Lefort

In spring 2023, Abiel Gutierrez and Andres Santos, co-founders of Comun, faced a critical decision at their fintech startup serving Latino immigrants. Having launched their product the previous year, they experienced rapid growth but encountered rising fraud and... View Details

Keywords: Fintech; Business Development; Venture Capital; Business Startups; Partners and Partnerships; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Financial Services Industry; Banking Industry; Latin America; United States