Publications

13 Feb 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, February 13, 2018

2018 Pearson Education Horngren's Cost Accounting: A Managerial Emphasis By: Datar, Srikant M., and Madhav Rajan Abstract—Horngren’s Cost Accounting defines the cost accounting market and continues to innovate today by consistently... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

September 2005 (Revised May 2007)
Case

OuterLink Corporation (A)

By: Josh Lerner and Brenda Chia

Zero Stage Capital is addressing a troubled investment in OuterLink Corp., which has a capital deficit of $30 million and was written off by all but one of its investors as a victim of the technology bubble. The venture organization must decide whether to shutter the... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Decisions; Venture Capital; Private Equity; Price Bubble; Investment; Financial Services Industry

2012
Book

The Rate and Direction of Inventive Activity Revisited

By: Josh Lerner and Scott Stern

While the importance of innovation to economic development is widely understood, the conditions conducive to it remain the focus of much attention. This volume offers new theoretical and empirical contributions to fundamental questions relating to the economics of... View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Opportunities; Nonprofit Organizations; Resource Allocation; Economic Growth; Research and Development

12 Apr 2011
First Look

First Look: April 12

Handbook for Banking and Governance, edited by James Barth, Chen Lin, and Clas Wihlborg. Cheltenham, U.K.: Edward Elgar Publishing, forthcoming Abstract In this chapter, we examine the characteristics of acquisition of private firms View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

17 Aug 2010
First Look

First Look: August 17

expenditures, to manage earnings to meet or beat key benchmarks. This paper examines this hypothesis by testing how different types of marketing expenditures are used to boost earnings for a durable commodity consumer product, which can... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

Fall 2021
Article

When to Go and How to Go? Founder and Leader Transitions in Private Equity Firms

By: Josh Lerner and Diana Noble

Leadership transition in private equity firms is an understudied field, despite the important, albeit controversial, role such firms play in developed economies. We analyzed 260 firms in an empirical study, supplemented by qualitative interviews with a small sample of... View Details

Keywords: Leadership Transition; Private Equity; Leadership; Management Succession; Analysis

February 2009 (Revised March 2013)
Case

Messer Griesheim (A)

By: Josh Lerner, Ann-Kristin Achleitner, Eva Lutz and Kerry Herman

In 2001, Allianz Capital Partners and Goldman Sachs acquired a majority stake in Messer Griesheim, a European industrial gas concern held by Hoechst. The dealmakers faced several challenges, including delicate corporate governance issues due to partial family ownership... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Restructuring; Venture Capital; Private Equity; Corporate Governance; Family Ownership; Chemical Industry; Industrial Products Industry; Europe

28 Aug 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, August 28, 2018

https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=54888 Some Facts of High-Tech Patenting By: Webb, Michael, Nick Short, Nicholas Bloom, and Josh Lerner Abstract— : Patenting in software, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence has... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

12 Oct 2011
First Look

First Look: October 12

income between two organizations in similar businesses. It can be measured by the "Four Rs" of referrals and retention of employees, returns to labor, and relationships with customers that foster customer referrals and... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

13 Dec 2016
First Look

December 13, 2016

forthcoming Journal of Investment Consulting Cloaked Trading By: Cohen, Lauren, Dong Lou, and Christopher J. Malloy Abstract—Using a novel, proprietary database of micro-level trading activities by asset managers, we show strong evidence... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

January 2008
Article

Venture Capital Investment Cycles: The Impact of Public Markets

By: Paul Gompers, Anna Kovner, Josh Lerner and David Scharfstein

It is well documented that the venture capital industry is highly volatile and that much of this volatility is associated with shifting valuations and activity in public equity markets. This paper examines how changes in public market signals affected venture capital... View Details

Keywords: Market Cycles; Venture Capital; Investment; Experience and Expertise; Public Equity; Volatility; Financial Services Industry

January 1995 (Revised November 1995)
Case

Candela Laser vs. Cynosure, Inc.

By: Josh Lerner and Benjamin Conway

Summarizes the lawsuit by Candela Laser against its former CEO and founder, who has begun a competing firm. The extent of patent and trade secret protection are crucial issues. View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Patents; Lawsuits and Litigation; Entrepreneurship

October 2012 (Revised August 2014)
Case

The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board: October 2012

By: Josh Lerner, Matthew Rhodes-Kropf and Nathaniel Burbank

The Canada Pension Plan Investment Board (CPPIB) is one of the largest and fastest-growing pools of investment capital in the world and follows an unusually active program of investment management. In October of 2012, Mark Wiseman was just 12 weeks into his role as... View Details

Keywords: Canada; CPPIB; Pensions; Private Equity; Financial Services Industry; Canada

08 Oct 2013
First Look

First Look: October 8

differentiate "quality FDI" in several different ways. First, we look at the possibility that the effects of FDI differ by sector. Second, we differentiate FDI based on objective qualitative industry characteristics including... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

March 2020 (Revised February 2023)
Case

Performance Management at Afreximbank (A)

By: Robert S. Kaplan, Siko Sikochi and Josh Steimle

Based in Cairo, Afreximbank was founded in October 1993 as a specialized continental financial institution designed to address the low level of intra-African trade, the decline in financial flows to Africa, the worsening external debt situation of many African... View Details

Keywords: Performance Management; Balanced Scorecard; Performance Expectations; Performance Evaluation; Performance Improvement; Organizational Culture; Strategy; Banking Industry; Africa; Egypt

January 2022
Article

Investing Outside the Box: Evidence from Alternative Vehicles in Private Equity

By: Josh Lerner, Jason Mao, Antoinette Schoar and Nan R. Zhang

This paper uses previously unexplored custodial data to examine the use of alternative investment vehicles in private equity (PE) over four decades. We document a steep increase in the capital directed to alternative vehicles, with these vehicles approaching a 40%... View Details

Keywords: Alternative Investment Vehicles; Investment Funds; Private Equity; Venture Capital; Performance

January 2010
Article

Buy Local? The Geography of Successful Venture Capital Expansion

By: Henry Chen, Paul A. Gompers, Anna Kovner and Josh Lerner

We document geographic concentration by both venture capital firms and venture capital-financed companies in three metropolitan areas: San Francisco, Boston, and New York. We find that venture capital firms locate in regions with high success rates of venture... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Expansion; Success; Capital; Geographic Location; Business Units; Corporate Accountability; Business Offices; Goals and Objectives; Mission and Purpose; Investment Funds; Corporate Governance; Boston; New York (state, US); San Francisco

April 2017
Article

Private Equity and Industry Performance

By: Shai Bernstein, Josh Lerner, Morten Sorensen and Per Stromberg

The growth of the private equity industry has spurred concerns about its potential impact on the economy more generally. This analysis looks across nations and industries to assess the impact of private equity on industry performance. Industries where PE funds have... View Details

Keywords: Private Equity; Markets; Entrepreneurship; Performance; Economy

February 2009 (Revised March 2013)
Supplement

Messer Griesheim (B)

By: Josh Lerner, Ann-Kristin Achleitner, Eva Lutz and Kerry Herman

In 2001, Allianz Capital Partners and Godlman Sachs acquired a majority stake in Messer Greisheim, a European industrial gas concern held by Hoeschst. The dealmakers faced several challenges, including delicate corporate governance issues due to partial family... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Private Equity; Stock Options; Stock Shares; Corporate Governance; Governance Controls; Family Ownership; Problems and Challenges; Energy Industry; Europe