Publications

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November 2006
Article

The Flattening Firm: Evidence from Panel Data on the Changing Nature of Corporate Hierarchies

By: Raghuram G. Rajan and Julie Wulf

Using a detailed database of managerial job descriptions, reporting relationships, and compensation structures in over 300 large U.S. firms, we find that firm hierarchies are becoming flatter. The number of positions reporting directly to the CEO has gone up... View Details

Keywords: Geographic Location; Change; Business Ventures; Compensation and Benefits; Rank and Position; Wages; Motivation and Incentives; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Jobs and Positions; United States

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31 Jan 2023
Op-Ed

Can Insurance Technology Solve the Uninsured Driver Problem?

insurance at a time and only pay for coverage on the days they actually drive. The high cost of the uninsured While 13 percent of drivers nationwide are uninsured, the problem is even worse in some states like California (17 percent),... View Details

Keywords: by Ray Kluender; Insurance

24 Sep 2014
Op-Ed

The ABCs of Addressing Climate Change (From a Business Perspective)

It's Climate Week in New York City. The schedule features a UN Climate Summit, a People's Climate March, the Clinton Global Initiative, substantial criticism of the whole endeavor, and plenty of agitated interaction. There is a lot of noise here. How can businesses cut... View Details

Keywords: by John Macomber; Energy; Utilities

February 1996
Case

Eastman Chemical Company: Building a Board from Scratch

By: Jay W. Lorsch and Samanta Graff

Eastman Chemical Co. spun off from Kodak in 1993. The CEO of Eastman, Earnest Deavenport did not want the new company's board any members of the Kodak board to include, so he initiated a deliberate and thorough process to build an entirely new board that he hoped would... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Governance; Management Teams; Selection and Staffing; Chemical Industry

30 Sep 2014
News

Finding out how much the boss earns

Managing in a Complex Environment

For the first time in anybody's memory we're starting to see the biopharmaceutical industry and the medical industry at large affected by a recession. I think there are a couple of reasons. One is very high unemployment, and every time the unemployment rate goes up,... View Details

08 Sep 2016
News

Train your successor before you need one

March 2007 (Revised May 2012)
Case

PRG-Schultz International

By: Paul W. Marshall and James Weber

PRG-Schultz will run out of cash within a couple of months unless the new CEO can reduce costs and restructure the company's debt. PRG was the dominant market leader in the audit recovery industry. The industry consisted of firms which employed accounting professionals... View Details

Keywords: History; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Leadership; Restructuring; Cost Management; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Borrowing and Debt; Accounting Audits; Accounting Industry

March 2005 (Revised August 2006)
Case

Siebel Systems: The Role of the CFO

By: Malcolm P. Baker and Lauren Barley

Mike Lawrie, the newly appointed CEO of Siebel Systems, considers a combination of growth and spending cuts to turn around the struggling software company. Focuses on the role of the chief financial officer, Ken Goldman, in corporate governance and compliance under... View Details

Keywords: Financial Management; Leading Change; Entrepreneurship; Job Design and Levels; Corporate Governance; Financial Strategy; Management Teams; Corporate Finance; Business and Shareholder Relations; Information Technology Industry

04 Mar 2020
Research & Ideas

How Schmoozing with the Boss Helps Men Get Promoted

recruitment, hiring, and promotion processes and by conducting pay audits to evaluate salaries by gender. Yet Cullen’s research suggests that companies may need to consider more subtle underlying forces that are holding women back,... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

28 Apr 2022
Research & Ideas

Can You Buy Creativity in the Gig Economy?

Writers may lament the uncertainties of the digital age, as many turn to online markets to distribute their work with no promises of fame or fortune. But when authors are guaranteed a cut of their own book sales, they tend to work harder... View Details

Keywords: by Pamela Reynolds

April 2000 (Revised July 2000)
Case

Ameritrade Holding Corporation

By: Lisa K. Meulbroek

Some of the senior managers at Ameritrade, an Internet brokerage firm, are selling their holdings in the firm. Why are the managers selling, how will it affect shareholders, and what should the CEO do about it? The CEO is concerned that the market will interpret... View Details

Keywords: Valuation; Internet and the Web; Stock Options; Risk Management; Financial Services Industry

24 May 2010
Research & Ideas

Stimulus Surprise: Companies Retrench When Government Spends

professors Lauren Cohen, Joshua Coval, and Christopher Malloy discovered to their surprise that companies experienced lower sales and retrenched by cutting payroll, R&D, and other expenses. Indeed, in the years that followed a... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

August 2004 (Revised September 2005)
Case

Stanley O'Neal at Merrill Lynch (A)

By: David A. Thomas and Ayesha Kanji

In the late 1970s, Stanley O'Neal joined Merrill Lynch as an investment banker. Profiles O'Neal's ascent at Merrill to CEO. O'Neal put Merrill through a comprehensive restructuring program, cutting costs and significantly reducing the work force. As CEO, O'Neal faces... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Race; Cost Management; Investment Banking; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Leadership; Management Succession; Performance Effectiveness; Personal Development and Career

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1999
Other Unpublished Work

Executive Ownership and Control in Newly Public Firms: The Role of Venture Capitalists

By: Malcolm Baker and Paul Gompers

We study the implications of CEO equity ownership for incentives and control in a sample of 1,011 newly public firms. Before an initial public offering, equity investments by venture capitalists reduce CEO ownership by about half, from an average of 35 percent to 19... View Details

Keywords: Equity; Ownership; Motivation and Incentives; Initial Public Offering; Investment; Venture Capital; Managerial Roles; Cost Management; Governance Controls; Executive Compensation

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June 1991 (Revised October 1991)
Case

General Electric: Reg Jones and Jack Welch

By: Francis Aguilar and Christopher A. Bartlett

When GE's retiring Reginald Jones turned the job of CEO over to Jack Welch on April 1, 1981, the Wall Street Journal reported that GE had "decided to replace a legend with a live wire." Some wondered if the young dynamo could fill the elder statesman's very large... View Details

Keywords: Management Teams; Business or Company Management; Change Management; Leading Change; Restructuring; Investment; Strategic Planning; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Management Succession

October 2007 (Revised March 2008)
Case

First National Bank's Golden Opportunity

By: Shawn A. Cole, Peter Tufano, Daniel Schneider and Daryl Collins

Executives at First National Bank in South Africa are considering whether to launch a potentially exciting, but rather unorthodox, new savings product. Instead of paying interest, this product gives depositors the chance to win large cash prizes each month. Michael... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Banks and Banking; Investment; Innovation and Invention; Product Launch; Demand and Consumers; Banking Industry; South Africa