More from these Authors

• Working Paper | 2013

  The Operational Consequences of Private Equity Buyouts: Evidence from the Restaurant Industry

  Albert W. Sheen and Shai Bernstein

  What, if anything, do private equity firms do with businesses they acquire? We find evidence of significant operational changes in 101 restaurant chain buyouts between 2002 and 2012. Establishment-level analysis of more than 50,000 restaurants in Florida shows that health and sanitation violations, particularly those most attributed to foodborne illness, decline after private equity takeover. These violations are strongly correlated with overall consumer satisfaction. Within a chain, we use independently owned franchised stores, over which private equity owners have limited control, as carbon copy counterfactuals to directly owned stores to support a causal interpretation. Improvements in sanitation and food safety occur while target chains employ fewer workers per store, and menu prices decline. This evidence suggests that private equity firms are not simply financial engineers but rather active investors that improve operations management practices in the firm. Moreover, cost-cutting activities do not come at the expense of consumer product quality.

  Citation:

  Sheen, Albert W., and Shai Bernstein. "The Operational Consequences of Private Equity Buyouts: Evidence from the Restaurant Industry." Working Paper, June 2013.

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• Article | Business History Review | Spring, 2013

  Intermediary Functions and the Market for Innovation in Meiji and Taisho Japan

  Tom Nicholas and Hiroshi Shimizu

  Japan experienced a transformational phase of technological development during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. We argue that an important, but so far neglected, factor was a developing market for innovation and a patent attorney system that was conducive to rapid technical change. We support our hypothesis using patent data, and we also present a detailed case study on Tomogorō Ono, a key developer of salt production technology who used attorneys in connection with his patenting work at a time when Japan was still in the process of formally institutionalizing its patent attorney system. In accordance with Lamoreaux and Sokoloff's influential study of trade in invention in the United States, our quantitative and qualitative evidence highlights how inventors and intermediaries in Japan interacted to create a market for new ideas.

  Keywords: Japan; patents; innovation;

  Citation:

  Nicholas, Tom, and Hiroshi Shimizu. "Intermediary Functions and the Market for Innovation in Meiji and Taisho Japan." Business History Review 87, no. 1 (Spring, 2013): 121–150.

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• Case | HBS Case Collection | 2013 (Revised from original 2012 version)

  Grantham, Mayo, and Van Otterloo, 2012: Estimating the Equity Risk Premium

  Samuel Hanson, Erik Stafford and Luis Viceira

  Keywords: investment banking; Equity Valuation;

  Citation:

  Hanson, Samuel, Erik Stafford, and Luis Viceira. "Grantham, Mayo, and Van Otterloo, 2012: Estimating the Equity Risk Premium." Harvard Business School Case 213-051, February 2013. (Revised from original October 2012 version.)

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