William R. Kerr
Associate Professor of Business Administration, Marvin Bower Fellow
William Kerr is an Associate Professor at Harvard Business School. Bill teaches Launching Global Ventures for second-year MBA students; Launching New Ventures and Owners, Presidents and Managers for executive students; and Theoretical and Empirical Perspectives on Entrepreneurship for doctoral students. Bill was previously co-chair of the first-year course The Entrepreneurial Manager at HBS. He has received Harvard's Distinction in Teaching award and was designated the HBS Marvin Bower Fellow. Bill's research focuses on entrepreneurship and innovation. One research strand examines the role of immigrant scientists and entrepreneurs in US technology development and commercialization, as well as the subsequent diffusion of new innovations to the immigrants’ home countries. A second research strand considers agglomeration and entrepreneurship, with special interest in how government policies aid or hinder the entry of new firms, cluster formation, and growth. A final interest area is entrepreneurial finance and angel investments. Bill is a Research Fellow of the NBER and Bank of Finland, has received several awards for his research papers, and serves on the editorial boards of multiple academic journals. Bill has worked extensively with the World Bank, Massachusetts Technology Leadership Council, and the National Science Foundation. Bill received his Ph.D. in Economics from MIT and his B.S. in Systems Engineering from the University of Virginia. Bill has worked with firms worldwide. Past projects include business plan development for start-up ventures in Hong Kong, establishing a corporate entrepreneurship and CVC unit within a Korean chaebol, and evaluating the acquisition of early-stage communications companies for a US multinational entering the Asian market. He also advised the governments of South Africa and Singapore on the economic benefits from telecom market deregulation. Bill and his family live in Lincoln, MA. They enjoy outdoor sports and trail running, are active members of their local church, and maintain close ties to his wife's home country of Finland. Bill grew up in Alabama and remains a passionate college football fan.
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Working Paper
| HBS Working Paper Series
| 2013
Clusters of Entrepreneurship and Innovation
Aaron K Chatterji, Edward Glaeser and William Kerr
This paper reviews recent academic work on the spatial concentration of entrepreneurship and innovation in the United States. We discuss rationales for the agglomeration of these activities and the economic consequences of clusters. We identify and discuss policies that are being pursued in the United States to encourage local entrepreneurship and innovation. While arguments exist for and against policy support of entrepreneurial clusters, our understanding of what works and how it works is quite limited. The best path forward involves extensive experimentation and careful evaluation.
Keywords: entrepreneurship;
innovation;
agglomeration;
clusters;
place making;
Citation: Chatterji, Aaron K., Edward Glaeser, and William Kerr. " Clusters of Entrepreneurship and Innovation." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 13–090, April 2013. (NBER Working Paper Series, No. 19013, April 2013.)
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Working Paper
| 2012
Transition to Clean Technology
Daron Acemoglu, Ufuk Akcigit, Douglas Hanley and William R. Kerr
We develop a microeconomic model of endogenous growth where clean and dirty technologies compete in production and innovation―in the sense that research can be directed to either clean or dirty technologies. If dirty technologies are more advanced to start with, the potential transition to clean technology can be difficult both because clean research must climb several steps to catch up with dirty technology and because this gap discourages research effort directed towards clean technologies. Carbon taxes and research subsidies may nonetheless encourage production and innovation in clean technologies, though the transition will typically be slow. We characterize certain general properties of the transition path from dirty to clean technology. We then estimate the model using a combination of regression analysis on the relationship between R&D and patents, and simulated method of moments using microdata on employment, production, R&D, firm growth, entry and exit from the US energy sector. The model's quantitative implications match a range of moments not targeted in the estimation quite well. We then characterize the optimal policy path implied by the model and our estimates. Optimal policy heavily relies on research subsidies as well as carbon taxes. We use the model to evaluate the welfare consequences of a range of alternative policy structures. For example, just relying on carbon taxes or delaying intervention both have significant welfare costs―though their implications for medium run temperature increases are quite different.
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Working Paper
| 2013
Skilled Immigration and the Employment Structures of U.S. Firms
Sari Pekkala Kerr, William R. Kerr and William F. Lincoln
We study the impact of skilled immigrants on the employment structures of U.S. firms
using matched employer-employee data. Unlike most previous work, we use the firm as
the lens of analysis to account for a greater level of heterogeneity and the fact that many skilled immigrant admissions are driven by firms themselves (e.g., the H-1B visa). OLS and IV specifications find rising overall employment of skilled workers with increased skilled immigrant employment by firm. Employment expansion is greater for younger natives than their older counterparts, and departure rates for older workers appear higher for those in STEM occupations.
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Working Paper
| HBS Working Paper Series
| 2013
Innovation, Reallocation and Growth
Daron Acemoglu, Ufuk Akcigit, Nicholas Bloom and William R. Kerr
We build a model of firm-level innovation, productivity growth and reallocation featuring endogenous entry and exit. A key feature is the selection between high- and low-type firms, which differ in terms of their innovative capacity. We estimate the parameters of the model using detailed US Census micro data on firm-level output, R&D and patenting. The model provides a good fit to the dynamics of firm entry and exit, output and R&D, and its implied elasticities are in the ballpark of a range of micro estimates. We find industrial policy subsidizing either the R&D or the continued operation of incumbents reduces growth and welfare. For example, a subsidy to incumbent R&D equivalent to 5% of GDP reduces welfare by about 1.5% because it deters entry of new high-type firms. On the contrary, substantial improvements (of the order of 5% improvement in welfare) are possible if the continued operation of incumbents is taxed while at the same time R&D by incumbents and new entrants is subsidized. This is because of a strong selection effect: R&D resources (skilled labor) are inefficiently used by low-type incumbent firms. Subsidies to incumbents encourage the survival and expansion of these firms at the expense of potential high-type entrants. We show that optimal policy encourages the exit of low-type firms and supports R&D by high-type incumbents and entry.
Keywords: entry;
Growth;
industrial policy;
innovation;
R＆D;
Reallocation;
selection;
Citation: Acemoglu, Daron, Ufuk Akcigit, Nicholas Bloom, and William R. Kerr. " Innovation, Reallocation and Growth." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 13–088, April 2013. (NBER Working Paper Series, No. 18993, April 2013.)
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Working Paper
| HBS Working Paper Series
| 2012
Growth through Heterogeneous Innovations
Ufuk Akcigit and William R. Kerr
We study how exploration versus exploitation innovations impact economic growth through a tractable endogenous growth framework that contains multiple innovation sizes, multi-product firms, and entry/exit. Firms invest in exploration R&D to acquire new product lines and exploitation R&D to improve their existing product lines. We model and show empirically that exploration R&D does not scale as strongly with firm size as exploitation R&D. The resulting framework conforms to many regularities regarding innovation and growth differences across the firm size distribution. We also incorporate patent citations into our theoretical framework. The framework generates a simple test using patent citations that indicates that entrants and small firms have relatively higher growth spillover effects.
Keywords: Endogenous Growth;
innovation;
Exploration;
Exploitation;
Research and Development;
patents;
Citations;
Scientists;
entrepreneurs;
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Working Paper
| HBS Working Paper Series
| 2012
Agglomerative Forces and Cluster Shapes
William R. Kerr and Scott Duke Kominers
We model spatial clusters of similar firms. Our model highlights how agglomerative forces lead to localized, individual connections among firms, while interaction costs generate a defined distance over which attraction forces operate. Overlapping firm interactions yield agglomeration clusters that are much larger than the underlying agglomerative forces themselves. Empirically, we demonstrate that our model's assumptions are present in the structure of technology and labor flows within Silicon Valley and its surrounding areas. Our model further identifies how the lengths over which agglomerative forces operate influence the shapes and sizes of industrial clusters; we confirm these predictions using variations across patent technology clusters.
Keywords: agglomeration;
clusters;
networks;
industrial organization;
Silicon Valley;
entrepreneurship;
Technology Flows;
patents;
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Working Paper
| HBS Working Paper Series
| 2012
Highway to Success: The Impact of the Golden Quadrilateral Project for the Location and Performance of Indian Manufacturing
Ejaz Ghani, Arti Grover Goswami and William R. Kerr
We investigate the impact of the Golden Quadrilateral (GQ) highway project on the Indian organized manufacturing sector using enterprise data. The GQ project upgraded the quality and width of 5,846 km of roads in India. We use a difference-in-difference estimation strategy to compare non-nodal districts based upon their distance from the highway system. We find several positive effects for non-nodal districts located 0–10 km from GQ that are not present in districts 10–50 km away, most notably higher entry rates and increases in plant productivity. These results are not present for districts located on another major highway system, the North-South East-West corridor (NS-EW). Improvements for portions of the NS-EW system were planned to occur at the same time as GQ but were subsequently delayed. Additional tests show that the GQ project's effect operates in part through a stronger sorting of land-intensive industries from nodal districts to non-nodal districts located on the GQ network. The GQ upgrades further helped spread economic activity to moderate-density districts and intermediate cities.
Keywords: highways;
roads;
infrastructure;
india;
Development;
manufacturing;
density;
rent;
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Working Paper
| HBS Working Paper Series
| 2013
Diasporas and Outsourcing: Evidence from oDesk and India
Ejaz Ghani, William R. Kerr and Christopher Stanton
This study examines the role of the Indian diaspora in the outsourcing of work to India. Our data are taken from oDesk, the world's largest online platform for outsourced contracts, where India is the largest country in terms of contract volume. We use an ethnic name procedure to identify ethnic Indian users of oDesk in other countries around the world. We find very clear evidence that diaspora-based links matter on oDesk, with ethnic Indians in other countries 32% (9 percentage points) more likely to choose a worker in India. Yet, the size of the Indian diaspora on oDesk and the timing of its effects make clear that the Indian diaspora was not a very important factor in India becoming the leading country on oDesk for fulfilling work. In fact, multiple pieces of evidence suggest that diaspora use of oDesk increases with familiarity of the platform, rather than a scenario where diaspora connections serve to navigate uncertain environments. We further show that diaspora-based contracts mainly serve to lower costs for the company contacts outsourcing the work, as the workers in India are paid about the market wage for their work. These results and other observations lead to the conclusion that diaspora connections continue to be important even as online platforms provide many of the features that diaspora networks historically provided (e.g., information about potential workers, monitoring, and reputation foundations).
Keywords: Diaspora;
ethnicity;
outsourcing;
oDesk;
networks;
india;
South Asia;
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Other Unpublished Work
| 2009
Heterogeneous Technology Diffusion and Ricardian Trade Patterns
William R. Kerr
This study tests the importance of Ricardian technology differences for international trade. The developed panel includes both emerging and advanced economies, and particular attention is devoted to the variation exploited in empirical tests. The elasticity of export growth on the intensive margin to the exporter's output development is 0.3 in preferred specifications. The elasticity for trade entry is 0.02. To provide greater empirical traction, specifications exploit uneven technology diffusion from the US through ethnic scientific networks to model Ricardian advantages. The intensive margin elasticity of exports to stronger US scientific integration is 0.15; the extensive margin elasticity is 0.01.
Keywords: Trade;
Immigration;
Competitive Advantage;
Integration;
Technology;
United States;
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Working Paper
| HBS Working Paper Series
| 2012
Entrepreneurship and Urban Growth: An Empirical Assessment with Historical Mines
Edward L. Glaeser, Sari Pekkala Kerr and William R. Kerr
Measures of entrepreneurship, such as average establishment size and the prevalence of start-ups, correlate strongly with employment growth across and within metropolitan areas, but the endogeneity of these measures bedevils interpretation. Chinitz (1961) hypothesized that coal mines near Pittsburgh led that city to specialization in industries, like steel, with significant scale economies and that those big firms led to a dearth of entrepreneurial human capital across several generations. We test this idea by looking at the spatial location of past mines across the United States: proximity to historical mining deposits is associated with bigger firms and fewer start-ups in the middle of the 20th century. We use mines as an instrument for our entrepreneurship measures and find a persistent link between entrepreneurship and city employment growth; this connection works primarily through lower employment growth of start-ups in cities that are closer to mines. These effects hold in cold and warm regions alike and in industries that are not directly related to mining, such as trade, finance and services. We use quantile instrumental variable regression techniques and identify mostly homogeneous effects throughout the conditional city growth distribution.
Keywords: entrepreneurship;
industrial organization;
Chinitz;
agglomeration;
clusters;
cities;
mines;
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Working Paper
| HBS Working Paper Series
| 2012
Is India's Manufacturing Sector Moving Away from Cities?
Ejaz Ghani, Arti Grover Goswami and William R. Kerr
This paper investigates the urbanization of the Indian manufacturing sector by combining enterprise data from formal and informal sectors. We find that plants in the formal sector are moving away from urban and into rural locations, while the informal sector is moving from rural to urban locations. While the secular trend for India's manufacturing urbanization has slowed down, the localized importance of education and infrastructure have not. Our results suggest that districts with better education and infrastructure have experienced a faster pace of urbanization, although higher urban-rural cost ratios cause movement out of urban areas. This process is associated with improvements in the spatial allocation of plants across urban and rural locations. Spatial location of plants has implications for policy on investments in education, infrastructure, and the livability of cities. The high share of urbanization occurring in the informal sector suggests that urbanization policies that contain inclusionary approaches may be more successful in promoting local development and managing its strains than those focused only on the formal sector.
Keywords: Urban Development;
Policy;
Factories, Labs, and Plants;
Geographic Location;
Education;
Infrastructure;
Manufacturing Industry;
India;
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Working Paper
| HBS Working Paper Series
| 2011
Income Inequality and Social Preferences for Redistribution and Compensation Differentials
William R. Kerr
In cross-sectional studies, countries with greater income inequality typically exhibit less support for government-led redistribution and greater acceptance of wage inequality (e.g., United States versus Western Europe). If individual nations evolve along this pattern, a vicious cycle could form with reduced social concern amplifying primal increases in inequality due to forces like skill-biased technical change. Exploring movements around these long-term levels, however, this study finds mixed evidence regarding the vicious cycle hypothesis. On one hand, larger compensation differentials are accepted as inequality grows. This growth in differentials is of a smaller magnitude than the actual increase in inequality, but it is nonetheless positive and substantial in size. Weighing against this, growth in inequality is met with greater support for government-led redistribution to the poor. These patterns suggest that short-run inequality shocks can be reinforced in the labor market but do not result in weaker political preferences for redistribution.
Keywords: Government and Politics;
Equality and Inequality;
Compensation and Benefits;
Poverty;
Country;
Social Issues;
Income Characteristics;
Wages;
Competency and Skills;
System Shocks;
Size;
Europe;
United States;
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Working Paper
| HBS Working Paper Series
| 2011
Spatial Determinants of Entrepreneurship in India
Ejaz Ghani, William R. Kerr and Stephen O'Connell
We analyze the spatial determinants of entrepreneurship in India in the manufacturing and services sectors. Among general district traits, quality of physical infrastructure and workforce education are the strongest predictors of entry, with labor laws and household banking quality also playing important roles. Looking at the district-industry level, we find extensive evidence of agglomeration economies among manufacturing industries. In particular, supportive incumbent industrial structures for input and output markets are strongly linked to higher establishment entry rates. We also find substantial evidence for the Chinitz effect where small local incumbent suppliers encourage entry. The importance of agglomeration economies for entry hold when considering changes in India's incumbent industry structures from 1989, determined before large-scale deregulation began, to 2005.
Keywords: Education;
Entrepreneurship;
Industry Structures;
Infrastructure;
Manufacturing Industry;
Service Industry;
India;
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Working Paper
| HBS Working Paper Series
| 2011
The Dynamics of Firm Lobbying
William R. Kerr, William Lincoln and Prachi Mishra
We study the determinants of the dynamics of firm lobbying behavior using a panel data set covering 1998-2006. Our data exhibit three striking facts: (i) few firms lobby, (ii) lobbying status is strongly associated with firm size, and (iii) lobbying status is highly persistent over time. Estimating a model of a firm's decision to engage in lobbying, we find significant evidence that up-front costs associated with entering the political process help explain all three facts. We then exploit a natural experiment in the expiration in legislation surrounding the H-1B visa cap for high-skilled immigrant workers to study how these costs affect firms' responses to policy changes. We find that companies primarily adjusted on the intensive margin: the firms that began to lobby for immigration were those who were sensitive to H-1B policy changes and who were already advocating for other issues, rather than firms that became involved in lobbying anew. For a firm already lobbying, the response is determined by the importance of the issue to the firm's business rather than the scale of the firm's prior lobbying efforts. These results support the existence of significant barriers to entry in the lobbying process.
Keywords: Business Ventures;
Policy;
Government Legislation;
Immigration;
Business and Government Relations;
Research;
Prejudice and Bias;
Citation: Kerr, William R., William Lincoln, and Prachi Mishra. " The Dynamics of Firm Lobbying." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 12–034, October 2011.
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Working Paper
| HBS Working Paper Series
| 2008
The Ethnic Composition of U.S. Inventors
William R. Kerr
The ethnic composition of US scientists and engineers is undergoing a significant transformation. This study applies an ethnic-name database to individual patent records granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office to document these trends with greater detail than previously available. Most notably, the contributions of Chinese and Indian scientists to US technology formation increase dramatically in the 1990s, before noticeably leveling off after 2000 and declining in the case of India. Growth in ethnic innovation is concentrated in high-tech sectors; the institutional and geographic dimensions are further characterized.
Keywords: Transformation;
Nationality Characteristics;
Innovation and Invention;
Patents;
Technology;
China;
India;
United States;
Citation: Kerr, William R. " The Ethnic Composition of U.S. Inventors." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 08–006, May 2007. (Permanent working paper describing ethnic-name patenting data, revised December 2008.)
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Article
| Journal of Economic Geography
| Forthcoming
Local Industrial Structures and Female Entrepreneurship in India
Ejaz Ghani, William R. Kerr and Stephen O'Connell
We analyze the spatial determinants of female entrepreneurship in India in the manufacturing and services sectors. We focus on the presence of incumbent female-owned businesses and their role in promoting higher subsequent female entrepreneurship relative to male entrepreneurship. We find evidence of agglomeration economies in both sectors, where higher female ownership among incumbent businesses within a district-industry predicts a greater share of subsequent entrepreneurs will be female. Moreover, higher female ownership of local businesses in related industries (e.g., those sharing similar labor needs, industries related via input-output markets) predict greater relative female entry rates even after controlling for the focal district-industry's conditions. The core patterns hold when using local industrial conditions in 1994 to instrument for incumbent conditions in 2000–2005. The results highlight that the traits of business owners in incumbent industrial structures influence the types of entrepreneurs supported.
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Article
| Journal of Economics & Management Strategy
| Forthcoming
Labor Regulations and European Venture Capital
Ant Bozkaya and William R. Kerr
European nations substitute between employment protection regulations and labor market expenditures (e.g., unemployment insurance benefits) for providing worker insurance. Employment regulations more directly tax firms making frequent labor adjustments than other labor market insurance mechanisms. Venture capital investors are especially sensitive to these labor adjustment costs. Nations favoring labor market expenditures as the mechanism for providing worker insurance developed stronger venture capital markets over 1990–2008, especially in high volatility sectors. In this context, policy mechanisms are more important than the overall level of worker insurance.
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Article
| American Economic Review: Papers and Proceedings
| Forthcoming
Immigration and Employer Transitions for STEM Workers
Sari Pekkala Kerr and William R. Kerr
We analyze the career trajectories of STEM workers and firm-level hiring of immigrants using the Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics (LEHD) database of the US Census Bureau. We find STEM career adjustments during periods of abnormally high immigration into the firm to be more difficult on several dimensions compared to non-STEM workers. Most notably, STEM workers do not acquire a new job as quickly as non-STEM workers; moreover, their earnings are reduced after the job transition occurs. This latter earnings effect is strongest for the first five years after the transition, abating somewhat by the tenth year.
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Article
| Management Science
| Forthcoming
Ethnic Innovation and U.S. Multinational Firm Activity
C. Fritz Foley and William R. Kerr
This paper studies the impact that immigrant innovators have on the global activities of U.S. firms by analyzing detailed data on patent applications and on the operations of the foreign affiliates of U.S. multinational firms. The results indicate that increases in the share of a firm's innovation performed by inventors of a particular ethnicity are associated with increases in the share of that firm's affiliate activity in their native countries. Ethnic innovators also appear to facilitate the disintegration of innovative activity across borders and to allow U.S. multinationals to form new affiliates abroad without the support of local joint venture partners. Thus, this paper points out that immigration can enhance the competitiveness of multinational firms.
Keywords: foreign direct investment;
Technology Transfer;
patents;
innovation;
Research and Development;
Ethnic Networks;
diasporas;
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Article
| Journal of Economic Geography
|
From Russia with Love: The Impact of Relocated Firms on Incumbent Survival
Oliver Falck, Christina Guenther, Stephan Heblich and William R. Kerr
We identify the impact of local firm concentration on incumbent performance with a quasi-natural experiment. When Germany was divided after World War II, many firms in the machine tool industry fled the Soviet occupied zone to prevent expropriation. We show that the regional location decisions of these firms upon moving to western Germany were driven by non-economic factors and heuristics rather than existing industrial conditions. Relocating firms increased the likelihood of incumbent failure in destination regions, a pattern that differs sharply from new entrants. We further provide evidence that these effects are due to increased competition for local resources.
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Article
| Review of Financial Studies
| Forthcoming
The Consequences of Entrepreneurial Finance:: Evidence from Angel Financings
William R. Kerr, Josh Lerner and Antoinette Schoar
This paper documents that ventures that are funded by two successful angel groups experience superior outcomes to rejected ventures: they have improved survival, exits, employment, patenting, web traffic, and financing. We use strong discontinuities in angel funding behavior over small changes in their collective interest levels to implement a regression discontinuity approach. We confirm the positive effects for venture operations, with qualitative support for a higher likelihood of successful exits. On the other hand, there is no difference in access to additional financing around the discontinuity. This might suggest that financing is not a central input of angel groups.
Keywords: Business Ventures;
Financing and Loans;
Interests;
Employment;
Patents;
Web;
Operations;
Entrepreneurship;
Business Exit or Shutdown;
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Article
| Finnish Economic Papers
|
Economic Impacts of Immigration: A Survey
Sari Pekkala Kerr and William R. Kerr
This paper surveys recent empirical studies on the economic impacts of immigration. The survey first examines the magnitude of immigration as an economic phenomenon in various host countries. The second part deals with the assimilation of immigrant workers into host-country labor markets and concomitant effects for natives. The paper then turns to immigration's impact for the public finances of host countries. The final section considers emerging topics in the study of immigration. The survey particularly emphasizes the recent experiences of Northern Europe and Scandinavia and relevant lessons from traditional destination countries like the U.S.
Keywords: Surveys;
Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact;
Immigration;
Economic Systems;
Human Capital;
Economic Slowdown and Stagnation;
Fluctuation;
Situation or Environment;
Labor and Management Relations;
United States;
Europe;
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Article
| Journal of Labor Economics
|
The Supply Side of Innovation: H-1B Visa Reforms and U.S. Ethnic Invention
William R. Kerr and William F. Lincoln
This study evaluates the impact of high-skilled immigrants on U.S. technology formation. We use reduced-form specifications that exploit large changes in the H-1B visa program. Higher H-1B admissions increase immigrant science and engineering (SE) employment and patenting by inventors with Indian and Chinese names in cities and firms dependent upon the program relative to their peers. Most specifications find limited effects for native SE employment or patenting. We are able to rule out displacement effects, and small crowding-in effects may exist. Total SE employment and invention increases with higher admissions primarily through direct contributions of immigrants.
Keywords: Engineering;
Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms;
Policy;
Immigration;
Innovation and Invention;
Patents;
Business and Government Relations;
Science;
United States;
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Article
| Harvard Business Review
|
The Secret to Job Growth: Think Small
Edward L. Glaeser and William R. Kerr
Keywords: Jobs and Positions;
Growth and Development;
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Article
| American Economic Review
|
What Causes Industry Agglomeration? Evidence from Coagglomeration Patterns
Glenn Ellison, Edward Glaeser and William R. Kerr
Why do firms cluster near one another? We test Marshall's theories of industrial agglomeration by examining which industries locate near one another, or coagglomerate. We construct pairwise coagglomeration indices for US manufacturing industries from the Economic Census. We then relate coagglomeration levels to the degree to which industry pairs share goods, labor, or ideas. To reduce reverse causality, where collocation drives input-output linkages or hiring patterns, we use data from UK industries and from US areas where the two industries are not collocated. All three of Marshall's theories of agglomeration are supported, with input-output linkages particularly important.
Keywords: Production;
Economics;
Industry Clusters;
Data and Data Sets;
Labor;
Theory;
Goods and Commodities;
United States;
United Kingdom;
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Article
| Journal of the European Economic Association
|
Banking Deregulations, Financing Constraints and Firm Entry Size
William R. Kerr and Ramana Nanda
We examine the effect of US branch banking deregulations on the entry size of new firms using micro-data from the US Census Bureau. We find that the average entry size for startups did not change following the deregulations. However, among firms that survived at least four years, a greater proportion of firms entered either at their maximum size or closer to the maximum size in the first year. The magnitude of these effects were small compared to the much larger changes in entry rates of small firms following the reforms. Our results highlight that this large-scale entry at the extensive margin can obscure the more subtle intensive margin effects of changes in financing constraints.
Keywords: Business Startups;
Financing and Loans;
Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms;
Market Entry and Exit;
Banking Industry;
United States;
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Article
| Journal of Urban Economics
|
Breakthrough Inventions and Migrating Clusters of Innovation
William R. Kerr
We investigate the speed at which clusters of invention for a technology migrate spatially following breakthrough inventions. We identify breakthrough inventions as the top one percent of U.S. inventions for a technology during 1975-1984 in terms of subsequent citations. Patenting growth is significantly higher in cities and technologies where breakthrough inventions occur after 1984 relative to peer locations that do not experience breakthrough inventions. This growth differential in turn depends on the mobility of the technology's labor force, which we model through the extent that technologies depend upon immigrant scientists and engineers. Spatial adjustments are faster for technologies that depend heavily on immigrant inventors. The results qualitatively confirm the mechanism of industry migration proposed in models like Duranton (2007).
Keywords: History;
Technological Innovation;
Patents;
Labor;
Immigration;
United States;
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Article
| Journal of Urban Economics
|
Clusters of Entrepreneurship
Edward L. Glaeser, William R. Kerr and Giacomo A.M. Ponzetto
Employment growth is strongly predicted by smaller average establishment size, both across cities and across industries within cities, but there is little consensus on why this relationship exists. Traditional economic explanations emphasize factors that reduce entry costs or raise entrepreneurial returns, thereby increasing net returns and attracting entrepreneurs. A second class of theories hypothesizes that some places are endowed with a greater supply of entrepreneurship. Evidence on sales per worker does not support the higher returns for entrepreneurship rationale. Our evidence suggests that entrepreneurship is higher when fixed costs are lower and when there are more entrepreneurial people.
Keywords: Economic Growth;
Entrepreneurship;
Cost;
Employment;
Market Entry and Exit;
Citation: Glaeser, Edward L., William R. Kerr, and Giacomo A.M. Ponzetto. " Clusters of Entrepreneurship." Journal of Urban Economics 67, no. 1 (January 2010): 150–168.
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Article
| Journal of Financial Economics
|
Democratizing Entry: Banking Deregulations, Financing Constraints, and Entrepreneurship
William R. Kerr and Ramana Nanda
We examine entrepreneurship and creative destruction following US banking deregulations using Census Bureau data. US banking reforms brought about exceptional growth in both entrepreneurship and business closures. Most of the closures, however, were the new ventures themselves. Although we do find evidence for the standard story of creative destruction, the most pronounced impact was a massive increase in churning among new entrants. We argue that creative destruction requires many business failures along with the few great successes. The successes are very difficult to identify ex ante, which is why democratizing entry is an important trait of well-functioning capital markets.
Keywords: Entrepreneurship;
Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms;
Market Entry and Exit;
Capital Markets;
Banks and Banking;
Growth and Development;
Disruptive Innovation;
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Article
| Journal of Economics & Management Strategy
|
Local Industrial Conditions and Entrepreneurship: How Much of the Spatial Distribution Can We Explain?
Edward L. Glaeser and William R. Kerr
Why are some places more entrepreneurial than others? We use Census Bureau data to study local determinants of manufacturing startups across cities and industries. Demographics have limited explanatory power. Overall levels of local customers and suppliers are only modestly important, but new entrants seem particularly drawn to areas with many smaller suppliers, as suggested by Chinitz (1961). Abundant workers in relevant occupations also strongly predict entry. These forces plus city and industry fixed effects explain between sixty and eighty percent of manufacturing entry. We use spatial distributions of natural cost advantages to address partially endogeneity concerns.
Keywords: Business Startups;
Entrepreneurship;
Geographic Location;
Employment;
Market Entry and Exit;
Supply Chain;
Manufacturing Industry;
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Article
| Review of Economics and Statistics
|
Ethnic Scientific Communities and International Technology Diffusion
William R. Kerr
This study explores the importance of knowledge transfer for international technology diffusion by examining ethnic scientific and entrepreneurial communities in the US and their ties to their home countries. US ethnic research communities are quantified by applying an ethnic-name database to individual patent records. International patent citations confirm knowledge diffuses through ethnic networks, and manufacturing output in foreign countries increases with an elasticity of 0.1-0.3 to stronger scientific integration with the US frontier. To address reverse-causality concerns, reduced-form specifications exploit exogenous changes in US immigration quotas. Consistent with a model of sector reallocation, output growth in less developed economies is facilitated by employment gains, while more advanced economies experience sharper increases in labor productivity. The ethnic transfer mechanism is especially strong in high-tech industries and among Chinese economies. The findings suggest channels for transferring codified and tacit knowledge partly shape the effective technology frontiers of developing and emerging economies.
Keywords: Change;
Ethnicity Characteristics;
Developing Countries and Economies;
Entrepreneurship;
Immigration;
Patents;
Knowledge Sharing;
Employment;
Production;
Performance Productivity;
Integration;
Technology;
China;
United States;
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Article
| Journal of Technology Transfer
|
The Survey of Industrial R&D--Patent Database Link Project
William R. Kerr and Shihe Fu
This paper details the construction of a firm-year panel dataset combining the NBER Patent Dataset with the Survey of Industrial R&D conducted by the Census Bureau and National Science Foundation. The dataset constitutes a platform that offers an unprecedented view of the R&D-to-patenting innovation process and a close analysis of the strengths and limitations of the R&D survey. The files are linked through a name-matching algorithm customized for uniting the firm names to which patents are assigned with the firm names in the Census Bureau's SSEL business registry. Through the Census Bureau's file structure, R&D can be linked to the operating performances of each firm's establishments, further facilitating innovation-to-productivity studies.
Keywords: Data and Data Sets;
Patents;
Surveys;
Research and Development;
Innovation and Invention;
Performance Productivity;
Projects;
Management Practices and Processes;
Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques;
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Article
| Kauffman Foundation Research Report
|
Entrepreneurship and Urban Success: Toward a Policy Consensus
Zoltan J. Acs, Edward L. Glaeser, Robert E. Litan, Lee Fleming, Stephan J. Goetz, William R. Kerr, Steven Klepper, Stuart S. Rosenthal, Olav Sorenson and William C. Strange
Like all politics, all entrepreneurship is local. Individuals launch firms and, if successful, expand their enterprises to other locations. But new firms must start somewhere, even if their businesses are conducted largely or exclusively on the Internet. Likewise, policymakers at local and state levels increasingly recognize that entrepreneurship is the key to building and sustaining their economies' growth. Although this is a seemingly obvious proposition, it represents something of a departure from past thinking about how local, state, or regional economies grow. Historically, state and local policymakers have put their energies into trying to attract existing firms from somewhere else, either to relocate to a particular area or to build new facilities there. Such smokestack chasing - or, in this cleaner era, simply firm chasing - often has degenerated into what is essentially a zero-sum game for the national economy. When one city or state offers tax breaks or other financial inducements to encourage firms to locate new plants or headquarters, and succeeds, some other city or state loses out in the process. Local, state, and regional economic development centered on entrepreneurship, however, is a fundamentally different phenomenon. The formation and growth of new firms, especially those built around new products or ways of doing things, wherever this occurs, is clearly a positive sum game, not just for the locality, but for the nation as a whole. This essay provides a guide to policymakers and citizens to what is known about the effects of various local and state policies aimed at fostering entrepreneurially driven growth. There is also much we do not know; thus, the essay identifies subjects that require further research.
Keywords: Business Headquarters;
Business Startups;
Development Economics;
Economy;
Entrepreneurship;
Policy;
Taxation;
Growth and Development Strategy;
Product Development;
Business Processes;
Expansion;
Internet;
Citation: Acs, Zoltan J., Edward L. Glaeser, Robert E. Litan, Lee Fleming, Stephan J. Goetz, William R. Kerr, Steven Klepper, Stuart S. Rosenthal, Olav Sorenson, and William C. Strange. " Entrepreneurship and Urban Success: Toward a Policy Consensus." Kauffman Foundation Research Report (January 2008).
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Article
| Economic Journal (Royal Economic Society)
|
Does Employment Protection Reduce Productivity? Evidence from U.S. States
David H Autor, William R. Kerr and Adriana D. Kugler
Theory predicts that mandated employment protections may reduce productivity by distorting production choices. Firms facing (non-Coasean) worker dismissal costs will curtail hiring below efficient levels and retain unproductive workers, both of which should affect productivity. These theoretical predictions have rarely been tested. We use the adoption of wrongful-discharge protections by U.S. state courts over the last three decades to evaluate the link between dismissal costs and productivity. Drawing on establishment-level data from the Annual Survey of Manufacturers and the Longitudinal Business Database, our estimates suggest that wrongful-discharge protections reduce employment flows and firm entry rates. Moreover, analysis of plant-level data provides evidence of capital deepening and a decline in total factor productivity following the introduction of wrongful-discharge protections. This last result is potentially quite important, suggesting that mandated employment protections reduce productive efficiency as theory would suggest. However, our analysis also presents some puzzles including, most significantly, evidence of strong employment growth following adoption of dismissal protections. In light of these puzzles, we read our findings as suggestive but tentative.
Keywords: Theory;
Production;
Selection and Staffing;
Cost;
Employment;
Capital;
Performance Productivity;
United States;
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Article
| Federal Reserve Bank of Richmond Economic Quarterly
|
Limits on Interest Rate Rules in the IS Model
William R. Kerr and Robert G. King
There has been a substantial amount of research on interest rate rules. This literature finds that the feasibility and desirability of interest rate rules depends on the structure of the model used to approximate macroeconomic reality. We employ a series of macroeconomic models to shed light on how aspects of model structure influence the limits on interest rate rules. In particular, we show that a simple respecification of the IS schedule, which we call the expectational IS schedule, makes the textbook model generate the same limits on interest rate rules as the fully articulated models. We then use this simple model to study the design of interest rate rules with nominal anchors. If the monetary authority adjusts the interest rate in response to deviations of the price level from a target path, then there is a unique equilibrium under a wide range of parameter choices: all that is required is that the authority raise the nominal rate when the price level is above the target path and lower it when the price level is below the target path. By contrast, if the monetary authority responds to deviations of the inflation rate from a target path, then a much more aggressive pattern is needed: the monetary authority must make the nominal rate rise by more than one-for-one with the inflation rate. Our results on interest rate rules with nominal anchors are preserved when we further extend the model to include the influence of expectations on aggregate supply.
Keywords: Inflation and Deflation;
Macroeconomics;
Interest Rates;
Price;
Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms;
Performance Expectations;
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Other Book
| 2010
What Makes a City Entrepreneurial?
Edward L. Glaeser and William R. Kerr
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Chapter
| Reshaping Tomorrow: Is South Asia Ready for the Big Leap?
| 2011
Promoting Entrepreneurship, Growth, and Job Creation
Ejaz Ghani, William R. Kerr and Stephen O'Connell
Citation: Ghani, Ejaz, William R. Kerr, and Stephen O'Connell. "Promoting Entrepreneurship, Growth, and Job Creation." In Reshaping Tomorrow: Is South Asia Ready for the Big Leap? edited by Ejaz Ghani, 168–201. Oxford, UK: Oxford University Press, 2011.
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Foreword
| Entrepreneurial and Business Elites of China: The Chinese Returnees Who Have Shaped Modern China
| 2011
Foreword
William R. Kerr
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Chapter
| Handbook of Research on Innovation and Entrepreneurship
| 2011
Financing Constraints and Entrepreneurship
William R. Kerr and Ramana Nanda
Financing constraints are one of the biggest concerns impacting potential entrepreneurs around the world. Given the important role that entrepreneurship is believed to play in the process of economic growth, alleviating financing constraints for would-be entrepreneurs is also an important goal for policymakers worldwide. We review two major streams of research examining the relevance of financing constraints for entrepreneurship. We then introduce a framework that provides a unified perspective on these research streams, thereby highlighting some important areas for future research and policy analysis in entrepreneurial finance.
Keywords: Economic Growth;
Entrepreneurship;
Financing and Loans;
Investment;
Policy;
Research;
Citation: Kerr, William R., and Ramana Nanda. " Financing Constraints and Entrepreneurship." In Handbook of Research on Innovation and Entrepreneurship, edited by David Audretsch, Oliver Falck, and Stephan Heblich, 88–103. Cheltenham, U.K.: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2011. (NBER WP 15498, HBS WP 10-013.)
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Chapter
| The Innovation for Development Report 2010-2011
| 2010
Breakthrough Inventions and the Growth of Innovation Clusters
William R. Kerr
This report provides a comprehensive look at the role of innovation in promoting economic and social development. It examines the impact of innovation on the economic growth of developing countries and the future role of technological innovation in international efforts to mitigate the effects of climate change, amongst many other issues.
Keywords: Technological Innovation;
Developing Countries and Economies;
Society;
Growth and Development;
Weather and Climate Change;
Social Issues;
Industry Clusters;
Business and Government Relations;
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Chapter
| Agglomeration Economics
| 2010
The Agglomeration of U.S. Ethnic Inventors
William R. Kerr
The ethnic composition of US inventors is undergoing a significant transformation - with deep impacts for the overall agglomeration of US innovation. This study applies an ethnic-name database to individual US patent records to explore these trends with greater detail. The contributions of Chinese and Indian scientists and engineers to US technology formation increase dramatically in the 1990s. At the same time, these ethnic inventors became more spatially concentrated across US cities. The combination of these two factors helps stop and reverse long-term declines in overall inventor agglomeration evident in the 1970s and 1980s. The heightened ethnic agglomeration is particularly evident in industry patents for high-tech sectors, and similar trends are not found in institutions constrained from agglomerating (e.g., universities, government).
Keywords: Ethnicity Characteristics;
Geographic Location;
City;
Innovation and Invention;
Patents;
Technology;
United States;
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Chapter
| European Productivity Conference Scientific Proceedings
| 2007
Labor Market Regulations and European Venture Capital Investment
Ant Bozkaya and William R. Kerr
Keywords: Venture Capital;
Investment;
Human Capital;
Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms;
Government and Politics;
Business and Government Relations;
Europe;
Citation: Bozkaya, Ant, and William R. Kerr. "Labor Market Regulations and European Venture Capital Investment." In European Productivity Conference Scientific Proceedings, edited by Pekka Malmberg, 165–172. Helsinki, Finland: Paintek Oy, 2007.
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Chapter
| Essays in Entrepreneurial Finance
| 2007
The Rationales and Performance of Public Venturing: Survey Evidence from Belgium and Finland
Ant Bozkaya and William R. Kerr
Keywords: Public Sector;
Public Ownership;
Mission and Purpose;
Performance;
Belgium;
Finland;
Citation: Bozkaya, Ant, and William R. Kerr. "The Rationales and Performance of Public Venturing: Survey Evidence from Belgium and Finland." In Essays in Entrepreneurial Finance, by Ant Bozkaya, 95–139. Université libre de Bruxelles, 2007. (Reprinted in Entrepreneurial Finance: Financing of Young, Innovative Ventures (Saarbrücken, Germany: VDM Verlag, 2009, 95-139.)
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Chapter
| Essays in Entrepreneurial Finance
| 2007
Labor Market Regulations and European Restructuring: Evidence from Private Equity Investments
Ant Bozkaya and William R. Kerr
Keywords: Labor;
Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms;
Restructuring;
Private Equity;
Investment;
Europe;
Citation: Bozkaya, Ant, and William R. Kerr. "Labor Market Regulations and European Restructuring: Evidence from Private Equity Investments." In Essays in Entrepreneurial Finance, by Ant Bozkaya, 151–189. Université libre de Bruxelles, 2007. (Reprinted in Entrepreneurial Finance: Financing Young, Innovative Ventures, (Saarbrüken, Germany: VDM Verlag, 2009), 140-176.)
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Chapter
| Cleveland Federal Reserve Board Commentary
| 2007
U.S. Ethnic Scientists and Entrepreneurs
William R. Kerr
Keywords: Science;
Entrepreneurship;
United States;
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Case
| HBS Case Collection
|
2012
Blink Booking
William R. Kerr, Magnus Thor Torfason and Alexis Brownell
Rebeca Minguela hopes to create an arbitrage platform, similar to Rocket Internet, that can bring start-up ideas and opportunities to Spain. However, Blink Booking, her first venture and proof of concept, is rocked by a co-founder's breach of confidence and departure. Minguela must repair the damage to Blink's management team, restore investor confidence, and continue Blink's rapid growth to deliver on the venture's initial promise. The case explores management team roles, equity splits, and related entrepreneurial challenges that Minguela must navigate. Minguela must also decide whether her long-term goal of an incubator-like platform for Spain is really feasible. The case describes how her vision differs from Rocket Internet—a large German incubator that also provides its entrepreneurs with ready-made business models from existing companies—allowing students to compare the models and discuss the ethics of cloning.
Keywords: entrepreneurship;
clones;
cloning;
ethics;
Rocket Internet;
start-up;
equity split;
arbitrage;
incubator;
mobile app;
Expansion;
Spain;
Europe;
Entrepreneurship;
Ethics;
Information Technology Industry;
Accommodations Industry;
Travel Industry;
Spain;
Europe;
Citation: Kerr, William R., Magnus Thor Torfason, and Alexis Brownell. " Blink Booking." Harvard Business School Case 813-121, December 2012.
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Teaching Note
| HBS Case Collection
|
2013
Blink Booking (TN)
William R. Kerr
Citation: Kerr, William R. " Blink Booking (TN)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 813-158, February 2013.
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Case
| HBS Case Collection
|
2009
(Revised from original 2007 version)
Cherrypicks
William R. Kerr
Cherrypicks is a Hong Kong communications start-up approaching a large Korean mobile operator for a partnership to take the operator's products to markets outside of Korea. SK Telecom's (SKT) Ring Back Tones (RBT) product is a spectacular success in South Korea, but the partnership will require major changes in Cherrypick's business model. Further complicating matters, SKT is also a strategic investor in Cherrypicks, a very large service provider focused on South Korea and China, and typically partners with Korean entrepreneurial firms. The Cherrypicks management team must decide how they should pitch the partnership opportunity to SKT and what their preferred deal structure would be.
Keywords: Business Model;
Business Startups;
Communication Strategy;
Entrepreneurship;
Partners and Partnerships;
Communications Industry;
China;
Hong Kong;
South Korea;
Citation: Kerr, William R. " Cherrypicks." Harvard Business School Case 807-106, March 2009. (Revised from original March 2007 version.)
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Teaching Note
| HBS Case Collection
|
2009
(Revised from original 2007 version)
Cherrypicks (TN)
William R. Kerr
Citation: Kerr, William R. " Cherrypicks (TN)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 808-065, March 2009. (Revised from original September 2007 version.)
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Background Note
| HBS Case Collection
|
2012
Convertible Notes in Angel Financing
Ramana Nanda and William R. Kerr
This note introduces convertible notes in angel financing. It begins by delineating the differences between a priced and non-priced round. It then describes a specific example of a convertible note, with attention paid to technical details regarding valuation caps.
Keywords: financing;
Finance;
Entrepreneurship;
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Case
| HBS Case Collection
|
2013
(Revised from original 2012 version)
Entrepreneurial Finance in Finland?
William R. Kerr, Ramana Nanda and Alexis Brownell
This case describes a new venture attempting to bring early-stage entrepreneurial financing to Finland and other Nordic countries. Entrepreneurship is taking off in Finland, an area that historically has had little venture capital or high-growth start-up activity, but a gap remains for seed-stage financing. The founders are evaluating the best way to structure their private equity fund to reflect their own assets and abilities and the needs and resources of the entrepreneurial scene in the Nordics. The case evaluates whether to organize as an accelerator, a micro-VC fund, an incubator, a normal VC fund, or as a hybrid.
Keywords: angels;
angel investors;
VC;
micro-VC;
accelerator;
incubator;
entrepreneurship;
entrepreneurial finance;
venture capital;
Entrepreneurship;
Venture Capital;
Private Equity;
Business Startups;
Financial Services Industry;
Finland;
Scandinavia;
Europe;
Citation: Kerr, William R., Ramana Nanda, and Alexis Brownell. " Entrepreneurial Finance in Finland?" Harvard Business School Case 813-068, March 2013. (Revised from original September 2012 version.)
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Teaching Note
| HBS Case Collection
|
2013
Entrepreneurial Finance in Finland? (TN)
William R. Kerr
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Case
| HBS Case Collection
|
2013
(Revised from original 2013 version)
EverTrue: Mobile Technology Development (A)
William R. Kerr and Alexis Brownell
Brent Grinna is evaluating different options for the technology development of his start-up's iPhone app, including hiring local programmers, finding a CTO, or outsourcing. He only has a little over two months before he presents his alumni networking app to Brown University, in the hope that they will adopt it and fund his company, EverTrue. He lacks the technical knowledge necessary to make the prototype himself, and so has to quickly decide on the best option. He is considering multiple ways to find a developer, including hiring a local programmer or making use of a local app-development company; using an outsourcing platform like oDesk; contracting with Dashfire, a friend's company that charges low fees for product development in exchange for equity; or finding and hiring a CTO or technical co-founder. Grinna must weigh issues like cost, speed of development, equity retention, proximity and ease of collaboration, and control of intellectual property. The case further provides an opportunity for discussing the business models of global firms like oDesk and Dashfire.
Keywords: entrepreneurship;
start-up;
mobile app;
oDesk;
outsourcing;
CTO;
minimum viable product;
app development;
intellectual property;
globalization;
Business Startups;
Decisions;
Entrepreneurship;
Mobile Technology;
Intellectual Property;
Product Development;
Globalization;
Technology Industry;
Massachusetts;
Boston;
India;
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Supplement
| HBS Case Collection
|
2013
EverTrue: Mobile Technology Development (B)
William R. Kerr and Alexis Brownell
Brent Grinna has one customer signed up for his alumni-networking mobile app, and is now trying to choose among three possibilities for a CTO. He decided to contract with a friend's company, Dashfire, to create a prototype of the app, and has signed up Brown University as a customer. Since the end of the events of the A case, Grinna's company, EverTrue, has launched the app, found an advisor and office space, and been covered in the Boston Globe. He is still unsure about how to move forward with EverTrue, and is struggling with issues like a conflict in his B2B2C business models or what his next steps should be, as well as personal concerns. At the moment, he is trying to decide between three candidates for CTO, and he must weigh the importance of having an MBA and having experience in app development, and also must consider how hiring a CTO will affect his relationship with Dashfire.
Keywords: entrepreneurship;
start-up;
mobile app;
CTO;
hiring;
scaling;
Business Startups;
Decisions;
Entrepreneurship;
Growth and Development;
Mobile Technology;
Technology Industry;
Massachusetts;
Boston;
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Teaching Note
| HBS Case Collection
|
2013
EverTrue: Mobile Technology Development (TN) (A) and (B)
William R. Kerr
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Background Note
| HBS Case Collection
|
2011
Financing New Ventures
William R. Kerr and Ramana Nanda
Aid in understanding of financing entrepreneurship.
Keywords: Business Startups;
Entrepreneurship;
Financing and Loans;
Citation: Kerr, William R., and Ramana Nanda. " Financing New Ventures." Harvard Business School Background Note 811-093, March 2011.
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Case
| HBS Case Collection
|
2013
(Revised from original 2011 version)
Home Essentials: Building a Global Service Business with Local Operations
Lynda M. Applegate, William R. Kerr and David Lane
Chris Exline founded Home Essentials, a furniture rental business targeted toward expatriates, in Singapore but rapidly moved the base of operations to Hong Kong. The company was highly successful in Singapore and Hong Kong and then pursued rapid global expansion. Lacking frameworks for deciding upon countries to enter and services to deliver in each country, Exline used gut instinct. Lacking control systems and information, he failed to identify problems early and had trouble understanding the root cause of failures. The global financial crisis intensified the problems. The case ends by describing how Exline was able to turn around the troubled company and develop necessary governance systems. The question of whether to once more attempt to grow beyond Hong Kong and, if so, the approach to take in selecting countries, is a central issue Exline faced at the time of the case.
Keywords: Growth Management;
Renting or Rental;
Corporate Governance;
Global Strategy;
Failure;
Singapore;
Hong Kong;
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Supplement
| HBS Case Collection
|
2012
Home Essentials: Building a Global Service Business with Local Operations (CW)
Lynda M. Applegate and William R. Kerr
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Teaching Note
| HBS Case Collection
|
2013
Home Essentials: Building a Global Service Business with Local Operations (TN)
William R. Kerr
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Teaching Note
| HBS Case Collection
|
2013
INNOVA-MEX's Bid for ENKONTROL (TN)
William R. Kerr and Ramana Nanda
In their second year, two Mexican HBS MBAs joined forces to start a search fund based in Mexico City. They had raised money to acquire an existing private company in Mexico with an initial enterprise value between $5 million and $15 million. Just seven months after raising the fund, they were about to close a deal on a target company, but the seller wants to renegotiate.
Keywords: entrepreneurial finance;
Finance;
Strategy;
Entrepreneurship;
Mexico;
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Case
| HBS Case Collection
|
2012
(Revised from original 2011 version)
INNOVA-MEX's Bid for ENKONTROL
Ramana Nanda, William R. Kerr and Carin-Isabel Knoop
In their second year, two Mexican HBS MBAs joined forces to start a search fund based in Mexico City. They had raised money to acquire an existing private company in Mexico with an initial enterprise value between $5 million and $15 million. Just seven months after raising the fund, they were about to close a deal on a target company, but the seller wants to renegotiate.
Keywords: Business Exit or Shutdown;
Corporate Entrepreneurship;
Investment Funds;
Corporate Finance;
Mexico City;
Citation: Nanda, Ramana, William R. Kerr, and Carin-Isabel Knoop. " INNOVA-MEX's Bid for ENKONTROL." Harvard Business School Case 812-008, August 2012. (Revised from original October 2011 version.)
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Case
| HBS Case Collection
|
2011
(Revised from original 2011 version)
Internet Securities, Inc.: Path to Sustainability
Lynda M. Applegate, William R. Kerr and Ryan Johnson
Founded in 1994 when the Internet was still a "toy for techies," the case is set in 1998 when Internet IPOs were red-hot. Internet Securities provides hard-to-find financial, business, economic, and political information on emerging markets. Information from over 600 information suppliers in more than 25 emerging markets (e.g., China, Russia, Poland, Venezuela, Argentina, Chile, Turkey) is provided to over 650 institutional clients, including J.P. Morgan, Deutsche Morgan Grenfell, KPMG, and ING Barings. After ruling out seeking another round of VC financing, the cash-strapped founder of this Internet information service provider must decide whether to IPO or accept an offer to be acquired by Euromoney, a global publishing and information content provider that is eager to launch an Internet information service. The case contains a term sheet that can be reviewed to support analysis and decision making.
Keywords: Acquisition;
Business Model;
Business Startups;
Decision Choices and Conditions;
Venture Capital;
Cash Flow;
Initial Public Offering;
Data and Data Sets;
Growth and Development Strategy;
Valuation;
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Teaching Note
| HBS Case Collection
|
2011
Internet Securities, Inc.: Path to Sustainability (TN)
William R. Kerr
Teaching Note for 811098.
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Module Note
|
2013
Launching Global Ventures: Business Models
William R. Kerr
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Module Note
|
2013
Launching Global Ventures: Location Choices
William R. Kerr
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Background Note
| HBS Case Collection
|
2012
(Revised from original 2011 version)
Location Choice for New Ventures: Choices within Cities
William R. Kerr and Alexis Brownell
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Background Note
| HBS Case Collection
|
2013
(Revised from original 2011 version)
Location Choice for New Ventures: Cities
William R. Kerr and Ramana Nanda
Location choice is a critical decision for entrepreneurs. This note explores how entrepreneurs should think about different city options through a systematic framework that encompasses professional and personal issues. We use the intellectual frameworks of the cluster and industry agglomeration literatures to organize these factors. We then provide some tactical advice and worksheets for entrepreneurs to consider when selecting the location for their new venture.
Keywords: City;
Business Startups;
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Case
| HBS Case Collection
|
2013
(Revised from original 2012 version)
micro Home Solutions: A Social Housing Initiative in India
William R. Kerr and Alexis Brownell
mHS is a social enterprise for the provision of affordable housing in India. After India's microfinance industry collapses, mHS needs to reposition itself for continued operations and long-term growth.
Keywords: entrepreneurship;
india;
Housing;
loans;
social enterprise;
Development;
Poverty;
Micro Finance;
Entrepreneurship;
Housing;
Social Enterprise;
Poverty;
India;
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Background Note
| HBS Case Collection
|
2011
Online Research Guide
Lynda M. Applegate, William R. Kerr, Ann Cullen and Alexis Brownell
This note provides students with an approach to using online databases to analyze companies, industries, markets, including country markets.
Keywords: Business Model;
Decisions;
Data and Data Sets;
Markets;
Supply and Industry;
Planning;
Research;
Online Technology;
Citation: Applegate, Lynda M., William R. Kerr, Ann Cullen, and Alexis Brownell. " Online Research Guide." Harvard Business School Background Note 811-095, April 2011.
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Background Note
| HBS Case Collection
|
2011
Pitching Business Opportunities
Lynda M. Applegate, William R. Kerr and Alexis Brownell
This note can be used to develop a business plan pitch for a new venture.
Keywords: Business Plan;
Business Startups;
Spoken Communication;
Competency and Skills;
Entrepreneurship;
Citation: Applegate, Lynda M., William R. Kerr, and Alexis Brownell. " Pitching Business Opportunities." Harvard Business School Background Note 811-086, March 2011.
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Case
| HBS Case Collection
|
2011
PunchTab, Inc.
Ramana Nanda, William R. Kerr and Lauren Barley
PunchTab was a Silicon Valley startup, founded in 2011, that was developing an Internet-based turnkey customer loyalty program for website owners, mobile applications developers, and brands. Founder/CEO Ranjith Kumaran must make strategic decisions about how to fund PunchTab's early operations and growth given the many options available: individual angel investors, super angel funds, incubators, and seed funds inside traditional venture capital firms.
Citation: Nanda, Ramana, William R. Kerr, and Lauren Barley. " PunchTab, Inc." Harvard Business School Case 812-033, October 2011.
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Teaching Note
| HBS Case Collection
|
2012
(Revised from original 2012 version)
PunchTab, Inc. (TN)
Ramana Nanda and William R. Kerr
A Teaching Note for the PunchTab case, which discusses how high-tech startups structure seed financing, merits of angels vs. super angels vs. VCs, and related topics (e.g., convertible notes, priced versus non-priced financing rounds, entrepreneurial finance networks).
Keywords: venture capital;
finance;
entrepreneurial finance;
Venture Capital;
Entrepreneurship;
Citation: Nanda, Ramana, and William R. Kerr. " PunchTab, Inc. (TN)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 812-141, September 2012. (Revised from original June 2012 version.)
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Case
| HBS Case Collection
|
2012
PunchTab, Inc. Investor Presentation Deck
William R. Kerr and Ramana Nanda
This case examines the PowerPoint presentation that Ranjith Kumaran, founder of the start-up PunchTab, Inc., is using for his investment pitches to venture capital firms. Students can discuss the materials that Kumaran has included, his presentation style, and what they would retain or remove from the presentation.
Keywords: Entrepreneurship;
Management;
Presentations;
Venture Capital;
Business Startups;
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Case
| HBS Case Collection
|
2011
ReSource Pro
Lynda M. Applegate, William R. Kerr, Elisabeth Koll and David Lane
Citation: Applegate, Lynda M., William R. Kerr, Elisabeth Koll, and David Lane. " ReSource Pro." Harvard Business School Case 812-031, December 2011.
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Teaching Note
| HBS Case Collection
|
2013
ReSource Pro (TN)
William R. Kerr and David Lane
Citation: Kerr, William R., and David Lane. " ReSource Pro (TN)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 813-137, January 2013.
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Case
| HBS Case Collection
|
2012
Start-Up Chile: April 2012
Lynda M. Applegate, William R. Kerr, Josh Lerner, Dina D. Pomeranz, Gustavo A. Herrero and Cintra Scott
Start-Up Chile is a unique program to encourage entrepreneurs to bring their new ventures to Chile. Policymakers must evaluate its effectiveness in achieving economic and social goals.
Keywords: Entrepreneurship;
Venture Capital;
Policy;
Chile;
Citation: Applegate, Lynda M., William R. Kerr, Josh Lerner, Dina D. Pomeranz, Gustavo A. Herrero, and Cintra Scott. " Start-Up Chile: April 2012." Harvard Business School Case 812-158, May 2012.
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Teaching Note
| HBS Case Collection
|
2013
Start-Up Chile: April 2012 (TN)
William R. Kerr
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Case
| HBS Case Collection
|
2011
(Revised from original 2007 version)
TA Energy (Turkey): A Bundle of International Partnerships
William R. Kerr, Daniel J. Isenberg and Ant Bozkaya
Stimulates discussion of entrepreneurship in emerging economies, especially for entrepreneurs returning to their home countries to start businesses with global technologies and partners. Focuses on the partnership tensions between global firms and local family-dominated conglomerates. Addresses new venture financing in an asset-intensive business through the assembly of strategic contrasts. More broadly, highlights the opportunities and challenges for returnee entrepreneurs.
Keywords: Family Business;
Developing Countries and Economies;
Entrepreneurship;
Venture Capital;
Globalized Firms and Management;
Partners and Partnerships;
Conflict and Resolution;
Turkey;
Citation: Kerr, William R., Daniel J. Isenberg, and Ant Bozkaya. " TA Energy (Turkey): A Bundle of International Partnerships." Harvard Business School Case 807-175, June 2011. (Revised from original June 2007 version.) (This case replaces "Bundling the Contracts: TA-Energy", Harvard Business School Case 807-075, by Kerr and Bozkaya.)
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Teaching Note
| HBS Case Collection
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2011
(Revised from original 2009 version)
TA Energy (Turkey): A Bundle of International Partnerships (TN)
William R. Kerr
Teaching Note for 807175.
Keywords: Energy;
Partners and Partnerships;
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Background Note
| HBS Case Collection
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2008
(Revised from original 2007 version)
Take Advantage of Your Diaspora Network
William R. Kerr and Daniel J. Isenberg
Diaspora networks (DNs) are an important resource for global entrepreneurs. Discusses several features of DNs, combining both academic and practitioner perspectives. Describes the history and prevalence of DNs in many ethnicities, documents the broad resources DNs can provide to founders, and specifies potential pitfalls or traps from working through DNs. Closes with some practical advice for entrepreneurs accessing and utilizing their DNs.
Keywords: Business Startups;
Diasporas;
Entrepreneurship;
Globalized Markets and Industries;
Social and Collaborative Networks;
Citation: Kerr, William R., and Daniel J. Isenberg. " Take Advantage of Your Diaspora Network." Harvard Business School Background Note 808-029, July 2008. (Revised from original August 2007 version.) (Featured in a 2008 Harvard Business Review write-up.)
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Other Unpublished Work
| 2007
The Higher Order Moments of Establishment Employments
William R. Kerr
Citation: Kerr, William R. "The Higher Order Moments of Establishment Employments." United States, Bureau of the Census Technical Paper Series, U.S. Bureau of the Census, January 2007.
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Other Unpublished Work
| 2006
The Impact of the SIC-NAICS Conversion on Industrial Organization Metrics: Evidence Building from Establishment Data
Glenn Ellison, Edward Glaeser and William R. Kerr
Keywords: Measurement and Metrics;
Organizations;
Citation: Ellison, Glenn, Edward Glaeser, and William R. Kerr. "The Impact of the SIC-NAICS Conversion on Industrial Organization Metrics: Evidence Building from Establishment Data." United States, Bureau of the Census Technical Paper Series, U.S. Bureau of the Census, January 2006.
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Other Unpublished Work
| 2006
The RAD-Patent-LRD Mapping Project
William R. Kerr and Shihe Fu
Keywords: Patents;
Citation: Kerr, William R., and Shihe Fu. "The RAD-Patent-LRD Mapping Project." United States, Bureau of the Census Technical Paper Series, U.S. Bureau of the Census, January 2006. (Summary version published in The Journal of Technology Transfer.)
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Dissertation
| 2005
The Role of Immigrant Scientists and Entrepreneurs in International Technology Transfer
William R. Kerr
Keywords: Technology;
Immigration;
Entrepreneurship;
Science;
Trade;
Citation: Kerr, William R. "The Role of Immigrant Scientists and Entrepreneurs in International Technology Transfer." Ph.D. diss., Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), 2005.
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Thesis
| 1996
Limits on Interest Rate Rules in Macroeconomic Models Governed by Price Stickiness and Rational Expectations
William R. Kerr
Keywords: Interest Rates;
Macroeconomics;
Mathematical Methods;
Citation: Kerr, William R. "Limits on Interest Rate Rules in Macroeconomic Models Governed by Price Stickiness and Rational Expectations." Bachelor's thesis, University of Virginia, 1996.
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