Entrepreneurial Management
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- 2024
- Working Paper
Case Studies of the Emulation of Chinese Entrepreneurial Business Models
By: Josh Lerner, Junxi Liu, Jacob Moscona and David YangThis working paper presents four short case studies of emerging market businesses whose founders emulated Chinese firms. These examples are part of a more systematic pattern, documented extensively in Lerner et al. (2024), in which businesses developed in China were more applicable to the demands, constraints, and characteristics of other emerging markets than were businesses developed in and for the U.S. or other high-income countries.
- 2024
- Working Paper
Case Studies of the Emulation of Chinese Entrepreneurial Business Models
By: Josh Lerner, Junxi Liu, Jacob Moscona and David YangThis working paper presents four short case studies of emerging market businesses whose founders emulated Chinese firms. These examples are part of a more systematic pattern, documented extensively in Lerner et al. (2024), in which businesses developed in China were more applicable to the demands, constraints, and characteristics of other emerging...
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- October 2024
- Article
Founder-CEO Compensation and Selection into Venture Capital-Backed Entrepreneurship
By: Michael Ewens, Ramana Nanda and Christopher StantonWe show theoretically that a critical determinant of the attractiveness of VC-backed entrepreneurship for high-earning potential founders is the expected time to develop a startup’s initial product. This is because founder-CEOs’ cash compensation increases substantially after product development, alleviating the non-diversifiable risk that founders face at startup birth. Consistent with the model’s predictions of where the supply of entrepreneurial talent is likely to be most constrained, we find that technological shocks differentially altering the expected time to product across industries can explain changes in both the rate of entry and characteristics of individuals selecting into VC-backed entrepreneurship.
- October 2024
- Article
Founder-CEO Compensation and Selection into Venture Capital-Backed Entrepreneurship
By: Michael Ewens, Ramana Nanda and Christopher StantonWe show theoretically that a critical determinant of the attractiveness of VC-backed entrepreneurship for high-earning potential founders is the expected time to develop a startup’s initial product. This is because founder-CEOs’ cash compensation increases substantially after product development, alleviating the non-diversifiable risk that...
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- September 2024
- Case
Xendit: Hiring for Growth
By: Jeffrey F. Rayport, Steve Castano, Quoc Anh Nguyen and Claire WuIn 2019, Xendit, a growth-stage Southeast Asia (SEA) fintech venture based in Jakarta, was looking to hire a Head of Sales and Head of Product to lead its next phase of growth. Founded by Moses Lo and Tessa Wijaya, Xendit provided payment infrastructure, modeling itself as the Stripe of SEA. It was the first Indonesian company to be accepted into Y Combinator, and it had raised over $18 million in its Series A round in 2018. By 2019 it was processing $6.5 billion worth of transactions per year, growing at 10% month over month, and had recently announced plans to raise a $65-million Series B round. The company attributed much of its success to hiring smart and tenacious generalists who could adapt to new situations, learn quickly, and bring an execution mindset. But the organization was maturing, and specialists were increasingly required. Sourcing executives with the right skillset and cultural fit for Xendit was a challenge. Fintech was in its infancy in SEA, resulting in a shallow pool of industry talent. Bringing in talent from outside SEA was tricky due to the importance of regional knowledge and language proficiency. As the founders looked to hire new leaders to drive core growth while also expanding into the Philippines, they also sought talent that could help professionalize the organization. Promoting from within had the advantage of rewarding loyalty and ensuring cultural fit, while bringing in seasoned talent from outside offered deep skillsets and new approaches, provided they could fit with Xendit's culture. The founders had narrowed down their choices to two candidates for the Head of Product and Head of Sales positions. Now they needed to make a decision.
- September 2024
- Case
Xendit: Hiring for Growth
By: Jeffrey F. Rayport, Steve Castano, Quoc Anh Nguyen and Claire WuIn 2019, Xendit, a growth-stage Southeast Asia (SEA) fintech venture based in Jakarta, was looking to hire a Head of Sales and Head of Product to lead its next phase of growth. Founded by Moses Lo and Tessa Wijaya, Xendit provided payment infrastructure, modeling itself as the Stripe of SEA. It was the first Indonesian company to be accepted into...
About the Unit
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.
Recent Publications
Case Studies of the Emulation of Chinese Entrepreneurial Business Models
- 2024 |
- Working Paper |
- Faculty Research
Founder-CEO Compensation and Selection into Venture Capital-Backed Entrepreneurship
- October 2024 |
- Article |
- Journal of Finance
Xendit: Hiring for Growth
- September 2024 |
- Case |
- Faculty Research
4 Steps That Can Optimize Your Sales Process
- September 24, 2024 |
- Article |
- Harvard Business Review (website)
Comun: Partners in Peril
- September 2024 |
- Case |
- Faculty Research
XYZ Robotics
- September 2024 |
- Case |
- Faculty Research
Investing in the Next Generation: The Long-Run Impacts of a Liquidity Shock
- September 2024 |
- Article |
- American Economic Review
Modernizing the U.S. Exchange Visitor Skills List
- 2024 |
- White Paper |
- Faculty Research