In recent months, mechanisms that have allowed for high-skilled foreign nationals to study and work in the U.S. have been put on the policy chopping block. In this Kenan Insight, we discuss why high-skilled foreign workers are critical to America's economic health, and why policies must continue to support their entry into the U.S.
In their paper titled Squaring Venture Capital Valuations with Reality, researchers Will Gornall and Ilya A. Strebulaev propose that, due to flawed valuation models, the average unicorn fair value is overestimated by as much as 51 percent.
Major strides have been taken in recent years to push toward more sustainable investing practices, yet it remains to be seen if such initiatives are actually meeting their goals. In this Kenan Insight, we look at the challenges of both implementing and measuring the effectiveness of social entrepreneurship and impact investing.
Small businesses are an undeniable engine of growth for the United States, comprising 99 percent of all U.S. firms and driving nearly half our total economic activity. Yet small business owners across the country lack sufficient capital to succeed, grow and scale. The Kenan Institute has conducted a new analysis on the role of the Small Business Administration’s SBIC program in providing capital to the often-overlooked small businesses operating outside of metropolitan centers, as well as those owned by women and underrepresented minorities. You can access an overview of our findings, as well as key takeaways for business and policy leaders, by clicking below.
Over the last two decades, public and private equity markets have changed dramatically. For instance, the total number of publicly listed firms decreased from more than 7500 in 1997 to approximately 3500 in 2018. This precipitous decline can be attributed to a corresponding sharp drop in the number of IPOs.
Purpose ‐ The purpose of this paper is to propose a conceptual framework ‐ the 4V model ‐ for better understanding how global brands create firm value. Organized around the global brand value chain, the 4V model includes four sets of value-creating activities: first, valued brands; second, value sources; third, value delivery; and fourth, valued outcomes. Design/methodology/approach ‐ The approach is conceptual with illustrative examples.
The year 2019 has seen a multitude of events unprecedented in recent history. A crippling polar vortex followed by a destructive heatwave. Debate over blockchain and 5G permeating board rooms and Capitol Hill. The raging U.S.-China trade war. How do major global events like these affect those of us watching from the sidelines?
UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School Professor Al Segars and co-author Anselm Beach have written about their new model for developing diversity, equity and inclusion in an organization, the Values/Principles Model, in the most recent issue of the MIT Sloan Management Review. At a time when recognition of DEI’s benefits has become widespread, their approach gives leaders the tools to create real change that will allow their whole companies to prosper. Learn more by clicking below.
Battered by the COVID-19 pandemic, the precipitous drop in the economy and continuing racial justice protests, American colleges and universities are facing their most challenging period ever as they head into the fall semester. In this Kenan Insight, we explore what the long-term impact of such forces will be on higher education, and what policy and strategic actions might help mitigate the damage.
Emerging artificial intelligence (AI) capabilities are ushering in significant changes in how enterprises operate – and raising a host of questions for organizations. In this Kenan Insight, we explore how changing the organizational mindset to treat AI as an “employee” may pave the way to fully reaping the benefits of AI systems.
The coronavirus pandemic has been especially traumatic on our country’s African American working poor. From being disproportionately concentrated in low-wage hospitality and service sector jobs to struggling with caregiving and food insecurity issues due to shuttered daycare facilities and food banks, working-poor African Americans are facing an inequitable share of financial, social and psychological challenges. What can be done to ease the burdens of working-poor African Americans, both during the pandemic and moving forward? In this Kenan Insight, Urban Investment Strategies Center Director and William R. Kenan Jr. Distinguished Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship Jim Johnson invokes a little-known federal program, the Southeast Crescent Regional Commission (SCRC), as part of a strategic response to providing a coherent, place-based development plan.
Google Scholar tells us that, over a quarter of a million studies examine the relationship between CEO compensation and firm performance. Aguinis et al. (2018) take much of that work to task. Observing that the distribution of CEO compensation is skewed, they question any work that assumes a normal distribution. Correcting the flaw, Aguinis et al. (2018) conduct their own investigation of this important relationship. Contrary to previous work, they find no consistent empirical relationship between pay and performance. The authors review and discuss their work with a clear eye on its implications for improving our understanding of these relationships.
Entrepreneurial culture celebrates the successful archetypical founder as a “lone wolf”; however, academic literature has found the majority of new entrepreneurial firms, ventures and start-ups are founded not by individuals, but by teams.
How will sweeping changes in primary care services and providers affect the primary care workforce? We examine this question as well as how well the increasing demand for these services can be met in the future.
ESG measurement and impact accounting can have vast economic and social influence; however, implementation is extremely challenging for both businesses and policymakers. In this week’s insight, our experts propose ways of refining ESG measures to produce structures that meet various stakeholder needs, drive reporting free from political influence and agendas, and illustrate the promise and risks of impact accounting.
Nonwage benefits have become more important to employers and employees alike. A new look shows where you work plays a far greater role in the level of benefits you receive than it does your paycheck.
Institute for Private Capital Research Director Greg Brown, UNC Kenan-Flagler Ph.D. candidate Matteo Binfarè, Darden School of Business Professor Bob Harris and UNC Kenan-Flagler Professor Christian Lundblad's latest paper is the recipient of the Two Sigma Award for the Best Paper on Investment Management. The Western Finance Association announced the award at their annual meeting in Huntington Beach, California on Monday, June 17. Read the paper, "How Do Financial Expertise and Networks Affect Investing? Evidence from the Governance of University Endowments,"
On Thursday, March 28, about 250 private equity professionals gathered for the 12th annual Alternative Investments Conference, hosted by the Institute for Private Capital, to discuss portfolio positioning for the late-stage cycle environment.
With growing prominence of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) issues, we witness enhanced scrutiny of the public stance and statements of organizational actors. For example, two such statements by Tucker Carlson, known for his primetime show on Fox News, one on immigration (2018) and the other on the Black Lives Matter (2020) movement, pushed nongovernmental organizations, such as Media Matters, to sociopolitical activism by putting pressures on advertisers to boycott the show. This mingling of DEI, sociopolitical activism, and associated economic effects raises a critical research question: what is the economic consequence of DEI stances that arouse sociopolitical activism and what are the underlying mechanisms for the economic consequences?
The goal of this paper is to conduct a survival analysis to determine the causal impact of federal R&D subsidies on firms’ long-term survival.