Publications
Publications
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- All HBS Web
(1,038)
- Faculty Publications (191)
- October 2003
- Article
The Determinants of Board Structure at the Initial Public Offering
By: Malcolm Baker and Paul Gompers
This paper describes board size and composition and investigates the role of venture capital in a sample of 1,116 firms' initial public offerings. First, firms backed by venture capital have fewer insider and instrumental directors and more independent... View Details
- March 2003 (Revised January 2004)
- Case
CDC Capital Partners: December 2002
By: G. Felda Hardymon, Josh Lerner and Ann Leamon
Paul Fletcher, CEO of CDC Capital Partners, a private equity group investing in the world's poorest countries, is wrestling with questions raised by the imminent reorganization of the firm. Previously an arm of the United Kingdom's international aid agency, CDC is... View Details
- March 2003 (Revised November 2009)
- Case
Hudson Manufacturing Company
By: Paul A. Gompers and Vanessa del Valle Broussard
Concerns the decision by Brett Keith and Owen Colligan to purchase Hudson Manufacturing, a maker of heaters and air filtration units for the military. Keith and Colligan have organized a search fund and identified Hudson as a potential buyout. The decline in the... View Details
- Article
The Role of Lockups in Initial Public Offerings
By: Alon Brav and Paul A. Gompers
In a sample of 2,794 initial public offerings (IPOs), we test three potential explanations for the existence of IPO lockups: lockups serve as (i) a signal of firm quality, (ii) a commitment device to alleviate moral hazard problems, or (iii) a mechanism for... View Details
- February 2003 (Revised October 2003)
- Case
Cable Data Systems
By: Paul W. Marshall and Todd H Thedinga
Describes the operating challenges of Cable Data Systems (CDS), a minority-owned cable installation company with a dual mission of maximizing profits and providing employment opportunities to minorities in urban markets. Following the merger of two cable installation... View Details
- 2003
- Chapter
Equity Financing
By: Paul Gompers and Joshua Lerner
Equity financing for entrepreneurial firms has attracted increasing attention in
both the popular press and academic literature. The dramatic growth in the
venture capital industry in the past two decades has been accompanied by new
academic research that explores... View Details
- October 2002 (Revised February 2011)
- Case
Union Corrugating Company (A)
By: Paul W. Marshall and Julia Stevens
Lauri Union graduates from Harvard Business School and takes over her family's steel-corrugated roofing and siding manufacturing firm, which her mother has most recently run. The industry is mature, entry barriers to competitors are low, and the company is over 50... View Details
- May 2002
- Case
Venture Capital Fund Restructuring Vignettes (Abridged)
By: Paul A. Gompers
This case examines the changes in fund structures proposed by four venture capital firms in 2002: Accel Partners, Battery Ventures, Charles River Ventures, and Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers. The venture capital market has experienced a major downturn, and these... View Details
- April 2002 (Revised May 2003)
- Case
Nghe An Tate & Lyle Sugar Company (Vietnam)
By: Benjamin C. Esty, Frank J. Lysy and Carrie Ferman
In September 1998, Paul Cooper, Tate & Lyle's finance director for international investments, asked the International Finance Corp. (IFC) to consider lending up to $45 million to finance a $90 million sugar mill in northern Vietnam. Ewen Cobban, an IFC agricultural... View Details
- October 2001 (Revised November 2001)
- Case
Provident Life and Accident Insurance: The Acquisition of Paul Revere
By: Mihir A. Desai, Frank Williamson, Mark Veblen and Yuming Zou
Provident Life & Accident Insurance Co. has made an initial bid to acquire a primary competitor, Paul Revere, from conglomerate, Textron. The due diligence process uncovers a significant block of problematic disability insurance policies. Provident is forced to assess... View Details
- September 2001
- Background Note
Financial Reporting Environment, The
Provides a framework for understanding the role of financial reporting and various intermediaries as mechanisms for reducing both adverse selection and moral hazard problems in capital markets. Financial reports reduce adverse selection by providing basic information... View Details
- February 2001 (Revised June 2001)
- Case
ClubTools, Inc.
By: Paul W. Marshall and Kristin Perry
Discusses the development of an Internet start-up by a recent HBS graduate. Details the company's business plan, incubation, technology development, marketing strategy, and search for funding. View Details
- October 2000 (Revised October 2000)
- Case
Off-Balance Sheet Leases in the Restaurant Industry
By: Amy P. Hutton, Paul M. Healy and Jacob Cohen
Amid mounting concern by credit agencies about off-balance sheet liabilities, an analyst for one of the leading credit-rating agencies has been asked to make a presentation about off-balance sheet liabilities, the strategic analysis behind leasing versus purchasing... View Details
- September 2000
- Case
MCI-WorldCom Combination, The (A)
By: Paul M. Healy and Jacob Cohen
Outlines the accounting decision faced by WorldCom in its acquisition of MCI. Two methods are discussed (purchase and pooling) and students are asked to evaluate which would be more suitable for WorldCom. View Details
- August 2000 (Revised November 2001)
- Background Note
Liability Reporting
By: Paul M. Healy and Preeti Choudhary
By examining key criteria for recognizing a liability, this case explores liability recognition in straightforward situations and then examines the most difficult reporting issues in recording liabilities. These often arise when: 1) uncertainty arises about whether an... View Details
- November 1999 (Revised July 2003)
- Case
Pre-Paid Legal Services, Inc.
By: Paul M. Healy and Jacob Cohen
Pre-Paid Legal Services' business model reveals two key issues--managing the sales force and sales growth and managing claims. Students analyze the economics of the business and consider how to measure firm performance, how to evaluate and reward the sales force, and... View Details
- 1999
- Other Unpublished Work
Executive Ownership and Control in Newly Public Firms: The Role of Venture Capitalists
By: Malcolm Baker and Paul Gompers
We study the implications of CEO equity ownership for incentives and control in a sample of 1,011 newly public firms. Before an initial public offering, equity investments by venture capitalists reduce CEO ownership by about half, from an average of 35 percent to 19... View Details
- January 1999 (Revised March 2000)
- Case
ZEFER: November 1998
By: Paul A. Gompers
ZEFER, a young Internet professional service firm, is considering its expansion options. Organic growth versus growth by acquisition is a central theme. The firm's financing strategy will be determined by its business strategy. View Details