Publications
Publications
Show Results For
- All HBS Web
(1,338)
- Faculty Publications (185)
- Article
The Cost of Capital for Alternative Investments
By: Jakub W. Jurek and Erik Stafford
Traditional risk factor models indicate that hedge funds capture pre-fee alphas of 6% to 10% per annum over the period from 1996 to 2012. At the same time, the hedge fund return series is not reliably distinguishable from the returns of mechanical S&P 500 put-writing... View Details
- Article
The Payoff of Pay-for-Success
By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Lisa Chase
Pay-for-success contracts also known as social impact bonds, have been widely touted as a clever way to fill the funding gap plaguing social programs by attracting a tranche of the trillions of dollars in private return-seeking capital. This article takes an in-depth... View Details
- August 2015
- Article
Dollar Funding and the Lending Behavior of Global Banks
By: Victoria Ivashina, David S. Scharfstein and Jeremy C. Stein
A large share of dollar-denominated lending is done by non-U.S. banks, particularly European banks. We present a model in which such banks cut dollar lending more than euro lending in response to a shock to their credit quality. Because these banks rely on wholesale... View Details
- July 2015
- Case
Uncharted Play (A)
By: Shikhar Ghosh and Ali Huberlie
The case recounts the process of launching an early stage venture, from idea conception through initial efforts to validate the concept, followed by product launch, and fund raising. It emphasizes the Customer Value Proposition of the business model, and asks – Who is... View Details
- April 2015
- Teaching Plan
Codecademy: Monetizing a Movement?
By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang and Lisa Mazzanti
This is a Teaching Plan for the case on Codecademy, an open-platform, online community for learning computer programming, launched in 2011. By 2014, the company had raised a total of $12.5 million in funding and was, on many fronts, an overwhelming success. However,... View Details
- April 2015 (Revised May 2018)
- Case
NXTP Labs: An Innovative Accelerator Model
By: Josh Lerner, Maria Fernanda Miguel and Laura Urdapilleta
This case follows a unique accelerator fund in Latin America, facing challenges on how to keep growing, including development of venture capital fund and leveraging of entrepreneur ecosystem. View Details
- February 2015 (Revised June 2016)
- Case
AltSchool: School Reimagined
By: John J-H Kim, Kyla Wilkes and Christine S. An
Max Ventilla and his team launches in 2013 AltSchool, a new network of tech-savvy independent K-8 "micro-schools." AltSchool is born out of Ventilla's frustration with the education options available for his young daughter. During his search, Ventilla comes to the... View Details
Keywords: Education Technology; School Models; Product Development; Entrepreneurship; Talent Development And Retention; Social Impact Investment; Information Technology; Business Model; Education; Business Startups; Customization and Personalization; Growth and Development Strategy; Education Industry; United States
- February 2015
- Case
Longbow Capital Partners
By: Malcolm Baker, Samuel G. Hanson and James Weber
Longbow Capital Partners is a value-oriented long/short hedge fund focused on stocks in the energy sector. In January 2011, Longbow had invested in NiSource, a Fortune 500 company that owns a diverse portfolio of regulated energy businesses. In late 2014, Longbow was... View Details
- January 2015 (Revised April 2015)
- Case
Zeal: Launching Personalized and Social Learning
By: John J-H Kim and Christine S. An
Set in 2014, this case follows John Danner and his team at Zeal as they consider their product development strategy. In February 2013, serial entrepreneurs John Danner and Sanjay Noronha co-found Zeal, an education technology start up providing a web-based, mobile... View Details
- January 2015 (Revised October 2018)
- Case
Dogs of the Dow
By: Malcolm Baker, Samuel G. Hanson and James Weber
This case describes the Dogs of the Dow investment strategy, value investing, and using dividend yields as a means to determine intrinsic value. It also describes exchange traded notes and a particular exchange traded note, known as the Dogs of the Dow, which tracks... View Details
Keywords: Dow Jones; Dow Jones Industrial Average; Exchange Traded Note; Exchange Traded Fund; Value Investing; Benjamin Graham; Investment Strategy; Dividend Yield; Intrinsic Value; Dividend Discount Model; Michael O'Higgins; Financial Instruments; Investment; Strategy; Financial Services Industry; United States
- January 2015 (Revised March 2017)
- Case
New Urban Mechanics
By: Mitchell Weiss
Funding to scale Citizens Connect, Boston's 311 app, is both a blessing and a burden and tests two public entrepreneurs. In 2012, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts provides Boston's Mayor's Office of New Urban Mechanics with a grant to scale Citizens Connect across the... View Details
Keywords: Public Entrepreneurship; Civic Technology; Government Innovation; Civic Innovation; Cities; New Urban Mechanics; Thomas. M. Menino; Chris Osgood; Nigel Jacob; Connected Bits; SeeClickFix; Ben Berkowitz; Eric Carlson; Dave Mitchell; Government Technology; Open Innovation; Open Source Software; Citizens Connect; Commonwealth Connect; Entrepreneurship; Innovation and Invention; Innovation Leadership; Innovation and Management; Open Source Distribution; Public Administration Industry; Information Technology Industry; Boston
- December 2014 (Revised November 2023)
- Case
Codecademy: Monetizing a Movement?
By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang and Lisa C. Mazzanti
Codecademy, an open-platform, online community for learning computer programming, launched in 2011. By 2014, the company had raised a total of $12.5 million in funding and was, on many fronts, an overwhelming success. However, there were still no revenues. The founders... View Details
Keywords: Entrepreneurial Management; Startup Management; Technology; Computer Programming; Coding; Online Education; Monetization; Online Communities; Marketplaces; Internet and the Web; Education; Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Growth and Development Strategy; Technology Industry; Education Industry
- November 2014
- Case
BRAC in 2014
By: Tarun Khanna, Rachna Tahilyani, Reeti Roy and Aldo Sesia
In the early 1970s BRAC was a startup nongovernmental organization (NGO) working in Bangladesh. By 2014, it was the world's largest NGO. It had a strong presence in Bangladesh and had begun to deliver social development programs in nine other countries. Its founder and... View Details
- September 2014 (Revised May 2017)
- Case
Fresno's Social Impact Bond for Asthma
By: John A. Quelch and Margaret L. Rodriguez
In 2014, Social Impact Bonds (SIBs) were quickly gaining popularity as an investment vehicle which joined together private investors and nonprofits to tackle social issues. Although numerous SIB projects and proposals had cropped up across the U.S. following the launch... View Details
- 2014
- Other Teaching and Training Material
Entrepreneurship Reading: Financing Entrepreneurial Ventures
By: William R. Kerr, Ramana Nanda and James McQuade
"Financing Entrepreneurial Ventures" introduces students to the key issues involved in the financing of entrepreneurial enterprises. The Reading begins by examining how business models shape external financing requirements. It then contrasts the choice to bootstrap... View Details
- July 2014 (Revised December 2016)
- Case
EcoMotors International
By: John D. Macomber and Hermes Alvarez
Eco-Motors, funded in part by Khosla Ventures, has to decide how to go to market with a new technology for internal combustion engines for automotive and industrial use. The OPOC engine has opposed pistons and is a two-stroke engine, as compared to a more traditional... View Details
- June 2014 (Revised January 2017)
- Case
Focus Financial Partners and the U.S. RIA Industry in 2014
By: Luis Viceira and Emily A. Chien
In the Spring of 2014, Rudy Adolf, CEO and founder of Focus Financial, and the two other co-founders of the firm are considering alternative growth strategies to solidify Focus Financial's position as a leading aggregator of independent wealth management firms in the... View Details
- February 2014 (Revised May 2014)
- Background Note
Finding the Money: An Overview of Infrastructure Finance Challenges and Opportunities
By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Daniel Fox
This overview describes how the United States funds and finances infrastructure investment to maintain its economic competitiveness. It considers the roles of taxpayers, users, government allocators and lenders, and private investors in the infrastructure funding... View Details
- January 2014
- Case
Steven Carpenter at Cake Financial (Abridged)
Steven Carpenter reflects on the successes and failures of his recent venture, Cake Financial. Carpenter had just sold the four-year-old startup and was at work on a new business plan. But first, he wanted to understand why Cake Financial, a service that allowed users... View Details
- January 2014 (Revised October 2014)
- Case
Andreessen Horowitz
By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Liz Kind
Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), a venture capital firm launched in 2009, has quickly broken into the VC industry's top ranks, in terms of its ability to invest in Silicon Valley's most promising startups. The case recounts the firm's history; describes its co-founders'... View Details