Entrepreneurial Management

- RECENT PUBLICATION: Article
  Article | Journal of Financial Economics | July 2020
  The Persistent Effect of Initial Success: Evidence from Venture Capital
  Ramana Nanda, Sampsa Samila and Olav Sorenson
  We use investment-level data to study performance persistence in venture capital (VC). Consistent with prior studies, we find that each additional IPO among a VC firm's first ten investments predicts as much as an 8% higher IPO rate on its subsequent investments, though this effect erodes with time. In exploring its sources, we document several additional facts: successful outcomes stem in large part from investing in the right places at the right times; VC firms do not persist in their ability to choose the right places and times to invest; but early success does lead to investing in later rounds and in larger syndicates. This pattern of results seems most consistent with the idea that initial success improves access to deal flow and that preferential access raises the quality of subsequent investments, perpetuating performance differences in initial investments.
  Keywords: Performance; Monitoring; selection; Status; Venture Capital; Performance Consistency; Investment;
  
  Citation:
  Nanda, Ramana, Sampsa Samila, and Olav Sorenson. "The Persistent Effect of Initial Success: Evidence from Venture Capital." Journal of Financial Economics 137, no. 1 (July 2020): 231–248. View Details
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- RECENT PUBLICATION: Working Paper
  Working Paper | HBS Working Paper Series | 2020
  Two Case Studies on the Financing of Forest Conservation
  Andrew Baxter, Connor Cash, Josh Lerner and Ratnika Prasad
  A variety of factors is leading to fresh approaches to the ownership and management of forestland, with an emphasis on the combination of conservation goals and private investments. But the barriers to successfully achieving attractive financial returns and desirable social outcomes can be daunting. This working paper, which features two short case studies that examine the challenges and opportunities associated with forest conservation finance, explores these important issues.
  Keywords: financing; forestry;
  
  Citation:
  Baxter, Andrew, Connor Cash, Josh Lerner, and Ratnika Prasad. "Two Case Studies on the Financing of Forest Conservation." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 20-137, June 2020. View Details
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- RECENT PUBLICATION: Working Paper
  Working Paper | HBS Working Paper Series | 2020
  What Jobs are Being Done at Home During the COVID-19 Crisis? Evidence from Firm-Level Surveys
  Alexander Bartik, Zoë Cullen, Edward L. Glaeser, Michael Luca and Christopher Stanton
  The threat of COVID-19 has increased the health risks of going to an office or factory, leading more workers to do their jobs remotely. In this paper, we provide results from firm surveys on both small and large businesses on the prevalence and productivity of remote work, and expectations about the persistence of remote work once the COVID-19 crisis ends. We present four main findings. First, while overall levels of remote work are high, there is considerable variation across industries. The Dingel and Neiman (2020) measure of suitability for remote work does a remarkably good job of predicting the industry level patterns of remote work - highlighting the challenge of moving many industries to remote work. Second, remote work is much more common in industries with better educated and better paid workers. Third, in our larger survey, employers think that there has been less productivity loss from remote working in better educated and higher paid industries. Fourth, more than one-third of firms that had employees switch to remote work believe that that remote work will remain more common at their company even after the COVID-19 crisis ends.
  
  Citation:
  Bartik, Alexander, Zoë Cullen, Edward L. Glaeser, Michael Luca, and Christopher Stanton. "What Jobs are Being Done at Home During the COVID-19 Crisis? Evidence from Firm-Level Surveys." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 20-138, June 2020. View Details
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The Entrepreneurial Management Unit strives to raise the level of academic work in the field of entrepreneurship, in methodological rigor, conceptual depth, and managerial applicability. We also strive to improve the odds of entrepreneurial success for our students and for practitioners worldwide.

Because it is such a complex phenomenon, entrepreneurship must be studied through multiple lenses. We use three.

The process of entrepreneurship - We seek to understand the processes of entrepreneurial activity in start-ups and established firms by examining the antecedents and consequences of various forms of entrepreneurial opportunity identification and opportunity pursuit for individuals, organizations, and industries. We see experimentation and innovation in products, services, processes, and business models as central to entrepreneurial activity.
The finance of entrepreneurship - We seek to understand the financing of entrepreneurial ventures by studying the antecedents and consequences of entrepreneurial funding decisions both domestically and internationally.
The context of entrepreneurship - We seek to understand the ways in which entrepreneurs both respond to and shape the context in which they operate, by examining the history of entrepreneurship across time and national borders and by analyzing the legal and cultural contexts for managerial action.

Please also visit the Arthur Rock Center for Entrepreneurship.

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