- 10 Oct 2023
- Cold Call Podcast
Scaling Two Businesses Against the Odds: Wendy Estrella’s Founder’s Journey
Entrepreneur Wendy Estrella is attempting to simultaneously scale her law practice, as well as her property management and development company. What strategy will benefit both businesses, and is there a downside to scaling them together, rather than focusing on each one separately? Harvard Business School senior lecturer Jeffrey Bussgang and Estrella discuss her unique founder’s journey – from immigrating to the U.S. to building both of her businesses in Lawrence, Massachusetts despite the specific challenges she faced as a minority entrepreneur. The related case is “Wendy Estrella: Scaling Multiple Businesses.”
- 15 Aug 2023
- Cold Call Podcast
Ryan Serhant: How to Manage Your Time for Happiness
Real estate entrepreneur, television star, husband, and father Ryan Serhant is incredibly busy and successful. He starts his days at 4:00 am and often doesn’t end them until 11:00 pm. But, it wasn’t always like that. In 2020, just a few months after the US began to shut down in order to prevent the spread of the Covid-19 virus, Serhant had time to reflect on his career as a real estate broker in New York City, wondering if the period of selling real estate at record highs was over. He considered whether he should stay at his current real estate brokerage or launch his own brokerage during a pandemic? Each option had very different implications for his time and flexibility. Professor Ashley Whillans and her co-author Hawken Lord (MBA 2023) discuss Serhant’s time management techniques and consider the lessons we can all learn about making time our most valuable commodity in the case, “Ryan Serhant: Time Management for Repeatable Success.”
- 11 Apr 2023
- Research & Ideas
Is Amazon a Retailer, a Tech Firm, or a Media Company? How AI Can Help Investors Decide
More companies are bringing seemingly unrelated businesses together in new ways, challenging traditional stock categories. MarcAntonio Awada and Suraj Srinivasan discuss how applying machine learning to regulatory data could reveal new opportunities for investors.
- 09 Mar 2021
- Cold Call Podcast
A Family Business at a Crossroads: Scaling and Succession
In 2000, Rohit Gera turned his family’s boutique real estate development firm in Pune, India, into a dynamic innovator in housing solutions for urban Indian families. Today Gera Developments stands at a crossroads, with Gera planning the end of his managerial career. How should the family think about scaling the business? And, should the company seek a successor to lead those efforts from inside or outside the family? Senior Lecturer Christina Wing and case protagonist Rohit Gera discuss the family business and the crucial decisions it faces in the case, “Gera Developments: Leadership at a Crossroads.” Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 03 Jun 2020
- Research & Ideas
Who Guarantees Your Workplace Is Safe for Return?
Building health is today a top priority for owners and tenants, but how do we know our offices are safe to re-enter? John Macomber and Joseph Allen offer best practices. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 26 May 2020
- Cold Call Podcast
Can the ‘Cummings Way’ Live On after the Founder Retires?
After 50 years at the helm of Cummings Properties, billionaire and philanthropist Bill Cummings is contemplating retirement. Christina R. Wing and Cummings discuss what's next for both the family business and foundation that he built. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 28 Apr 2020
- Cold Call Podcast
Is the Healthiest Building in the World Worth the Rent?
Some people call 425 Park Avenue, New York, the healthiest building in the world. But will tenants pay a premium for better air and environmental friendliness? John Macomber and Joseph Allen discuss their recent case study and new book. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 20 Apr 2020
- Book
Why COVID-19 Raises the Stakes for Healthy Buildings
Like it or not, humans have become an indoor species, so buildings have a major impact on our health. That's why the Healthy Building Movement is gaining momentum, say John Macomber and Joseph Allen. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 31 Mar 2020
- Cold Call Podcast
Controlling the Emotion of Negotiation
Leslie John discusses the importance of asking (and answering) the right questions when negotiating, particularly under emotional stress. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 28 Jan 2020
- Working Paper Summaries
Does Apple Anchor a Shopping Mall? The Effect of the Technology Stores on the Formation of Market Structure
Anchor stores are the key tenants in a mall, occupying most of the gross leasable area and generating much of the foot traffic. This research provides a framework to understand why new and traditional anchor stores join a shopping mall and how their decisions affect mall configuration.
- 18 Sep 2019
- Op-Ed
WeWork—The IPO That Shouldn’t?
WeWork's IPO has been one of the most debated in recent memory. But the real controversy, says Nori Gerardo Lietz, is what is contained in the company's prospectus. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 08 Mar 2019
- Research & Ideas
Seven Negotiation Lessons from Amazon's HQ Disaster in Queens
After a lengthy courting process, Amazon thought its plan for a New York HQ campus was in the bag. But the company failed a primary goal of negotiations, says James Sebenius. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 16 Aug 2017
- Research & Ideas
Researchers Use Google Street View to See the Future of Cities
Scott Duke Kominers, Nikhil Naik, and colleagues use Google Street View to show how cities are changing and help them improve over time. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 20 Feb 2017
- Working Paper Summaries
Where Should We Build a Mall? The Formation of Market Structure and Its Effect on Sales
In spite of the recent surge in e-commerce, brick-and-mortar retail, specifically in the form of large-scale shopping malls, is still the dominant venue for consumer purchases in the developed world. The construction of mass-scale shopping malls has also experienced tremendous growth in newly industrialized countries such as China. This research provides a rigorous, yet practical, framework to understand and evaluate why retail stores join a shopping mall and how their decisions affect mall revenue. The model can be extended and applied to a number of settings where a decision maker must choose among alternative sites to construct a market, for example, for transportation hubs such as airports or train stations.
- 18 Feb 2016
- Working Paper Summaries
Urbanization with Chinese Characteristics? China’s Gamble for Modernization
If the Chinese Communist Party has its way in the coming decades, it will urbanize hundreds of millions of people, transform agriculture, and sustain economic growth--all without political instability. This paper details the risks and opportunities of China’s new-style urbanization reforms, arguing that proposals for urbanization and economic transformation are not a radical departure from the institutions that have structured Chinese society for the last 30 years.
- 10 Feb 2016
- Working Paper Summaries
Land Institutions and Chinese Political Economy: Institutional Complementarities and Macroeconomic Management
This paper shows the ways in which the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has used land as a policy tool. CCP leaders intentionally reorganized fiscal, financial, and land institutions to put land at the center of local government finances in the mid-1990s. Since the late 1990s, the CCP has used the land supply as a key tool of macroeconomic expansion and contraction. Local officials act as agents of the center: pursuing land development when pushed to so do by central authorities concerned about managing economic growth.
- 12 Nov 2014
- Op-Ed
A Challenge to the New Congress: Pass Housing Finance Reform
It is time for Congress to recommit itself to drafting legislation that will transform housing finance for the twenty-first century, write Nicolas P. Retsinas and Rob Couch. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 30 Oct 2014
- Working Paper Summaries
Housing Collateral, Credit Constraints, and Entrepreneurship-Evidence from a Mortgage Reform
One of the strongest findings in studies of entrepreneurship is the clear positive correlation between personal wealth and the propensity to engage in entrepreneurship. One study, for example, has shown that entrepreneurs comprise just under 9 percent of households in the United States, but hold about 40 percent of total net worth. The most common explanation for this correlation is that credit constraints pose an important barrier to entry for less wealthy individuals. However, others have questioned the degree to which financing constraints are barriers to entrepreneurship, particularly in advanced economies where firms have adequate access to capital. In this paper, the authors consider a unique mortgage reform in Denmark to study how increasing access to credit through the unlocking of housing collateral for personal loans had an impact on entrepreneurship. Findings show that the reform affected the ability to draw on debt backed by home equity. However, despite the positive and statistically significant effect of relaxing credit constraints on entrepreneurship, the magnitudes are small. Furthermore, an important reason for the small magnitude was that the marginal business founded by those who benefited from the reform was of lower quality, where the new entrants failed within two years of entry. Overall, the results paint a more nuanced picture of the extent to which financing constraints are important in settings with well-developed credit markets, and the role that home equity can play in alleviating these. Key concepts include: Findings address the longstanding question of the importance of credit constraints for entrepreneurship. Housing collateral shifts the bank's adjudication decision from a specific project to the creditworthiness of the borrower. On the one hand, good entrepreneurial projects may be able to be started or sustained. On the other hand, though, optimistic entrepreneurs may start lower quality businesses because they do not face the same discipline from the bank. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 24 Feb 2014
- Research & Ideas
Uncovering Racial Discrimination in the ‘Sharing Economy’
New research by Benjamin G. Edelman and Michael Luca shows how online marketplaces like Airbnb inadvertently fuel racial discrimination. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
Are Virtual Tours Still Worth It in Real Estate? Evidence from 75,000 Home Sales
Many real estate listings still feature videos and interactive tools that simulate the experience of walking through properties. But do they help homes sell faster? Research by Isamar Troncoso probes the post-pandemic value of virtual home tours.