Publications

December 2009 (Revised May 2010)
Case

Codevasf

By: David E. Bell, Marcos Fava Neves, Luciano Thome e Castro and Natalie Kindred

With many countries facing scarcity of freshwater and farmable land, Brazil decided to leverage its wealth of both resources to attract global agribusiness players to the historically poor Sao Francisco Valley (SFV) in the country's northeast. To do so, Brazil was... View Details

Keywords: Agribusiness; Resource Allocation; Bids and Bidding; Infrastructure; Supply Chain; Business and Government Relations; Natural Environment; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Brazil

18 May 2022
Research & Ideas

Are Banks the ‘Bad Guys’? Overdraft Fees Are Crushing Low-Income Customers

Payday lenders have long been cast as villains for charging consumers sky-high interest rates, leaving borrowers who live paycheck to paycheck struggling to repay loans. But conventional banks are just as guilty of using fees to penalize consumers, hurting low-income... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Financial Services

January 2020
Article

Compensation Consultants and the Level, Composition, and Complexity of CEO Pay

By: Kevin J. Murphy and Tatiana Sandino

We provide fresh evidence regarding the relation between compensation consultants and CEO pay. First, firms that employ consultants have higher-paid CEOs—this result is robust to firm fixed effects and matching on economic and governance variables. Second, while this... View Details

Keywords: Consultants; Benchmarking; Incentive Pay; Executive Compensation; Complexity; Motivation and Incentives; Governance

Find at Harvard

2019
Working Paper

Compensation Consultants and the Level, Composition, and Complexity of CEO Pay

By: Kevin J. Murphy and Tatiana Sandino

We provide fresh evidence regarding the relation between compensation consultants and CEO pay. First, firms that employ consultants have higher-paid CEOs—this result is robust to firm fixed effects and matching on economic and governance variables. Second, while this... View Details

Keywords: Consultants; Benchmarking; Incentive Pay; Executive Compensation; Complexity; Motivation and Incentives; Governance

2012
Working Paper

Colonial Institutions, Trade Shocks, and the Diffusion of Elementary Education in Brazil, 1889–1930

By: Aldo Musacchio, Andre Martinez-Fritscher and Martina Viarengo

In this paper, we examine the role of trade shocks in promoting the diffusion of elementary education in subnational units in Brazil during a period (1889–1930) in which they had relative financial autonomy to collect export taxes and spend on public goods. The... View Details

Keywords: History; Literacy; Voting; Education; Spending; Performance Improvement; Government and Politics; Brazil

2014
Working Paper

Entrepreneurship and Business Groups: An Evolutionary Perspective on the Growth of the Koç Group in Turkey

By: Asli M. Coplan and Geoffrey Jones

This working paper examines the origins and development of the Koç Group, which grew to be the largest business group in Turkey. This enterprise was an important actor in the emergence of modern business enterprise in the new state of the Republic of Turkey from the... View Details

Keywords: Business Groups; Turkey; Entrepreneurship In Emerging Markets; Entrepreneurship; History; Government and Politics; Auto Industry; Banking Industry; Electronics Industry; Middle East; Europe

January 2006 (Revised October 2007)
Background Note

Managing Networked Businesses: Course Overview for Students

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann

Provides an overview for students of the MBA elective course Managing Networked Businesses (MNB). MNB focuses on management challenges in businesses that exhibit network effects. The first section of the note explains that such businesses comprise a large and growing... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Capital Structure; Business or Company Management; Network Effects; Organizational Design; Business and Government Relations; Social and Collaborative Networks; Competitive Strategy

13 Jul 2021
Research & Ideas

Outrage Spreads Faster on Twitter: Evidence from 44 News Outlets

negative tweets engaged more users. Originating as internet novelties 15 years ago, social media platforms have altered everything from democracy to human relationships in ways that are hard to overstate. Governments around the world have... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz; Media & Broadcasting

09 Jun 2009
First Look

First Look: June 9

likelihood that the firm will engage in such practices. These findings extend existing theory by showing that both activist groups and government actors can spur changes in organizational practices, and that challenges mounted against a... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

TeachingInterests

Strategy and Technology (Elective Curriculum)

By: David B. Yoffie

This course explores the unique aspects of creating effective management and investment strategies for technology-intensive businesses. What strategies can win in markets with strong network effects? How can firms leverage technology to build multi-sided platforms?... View Details

September 2022
Case

HPP: Tapping the Netherlands’ Potential

By: Brian Trelstad and Idelès Kaandorp

Stichting Het Potentieel Pakken (HPP) was launched to solve a systemic problem in the Dutch Labor Market: gender inequity that was leading to a large number of women to work part-time in fields that were in desperately short supply of labor, like health care, child... View Details

Keywords: COVID-19 Pandemic; Grants; Scaling And Growth; Nonprofit Organizations; Opportunities; Gender; Income; Employment; Health Care and Treatment; Human Capital; Mission and Purpose; Motivation and Incentives; Growth and Development Strategy; Employment Industry; Health Industry; Education Industry; Consulting Industry; Europe; Netherlands

Article

Mandate Outcomes Reporting

By: Robert S. Kaplan and Michael E. Porter

Currently, few health care providers measure and report their patient outcomes, which leads to several problems. Attempts to introduce price transparency without outcomes transparency could trigger a “race to the bottom.” Should Medicare coverage be expanded to... View Details

Keywords: Outcomes Reporting; Outcomes Measurement; Medicare; Medicaid; Health Care and Treatment; Outcome or Result; Measurement and Metrics

April 2015 (Revised July 2015)
Case

Proxy Access at Whole Foods

By: Jay Lorsch and Emily McTague

Proxy access grants shareholders meeting certain ownership requirements the right to nominate directors for election to the board without going through a typical proxy contest. In August 2010 the SEC approved a rule granting proxy access for shareholders meeting... View Details

Keywords: Board Of Directors; Proxy Advisor; Shareholder Activism; Shareholder Voting; Shareholder Votes; Proxy Battle; Institutional Change; Institutional Investing; Business and Shareholder Relations; Food and Beverage Industry; North America

July 2004 (Revised July 2005)
Case

Linux in 2004

By: Pankaj Ghemawat, Brian Subirana and Christina Pham

A new technology platform conceived in the early 1990s, Linux developed into a force to be reckoned with in the operating system marketplace. At first, Linux was dismissed as a renegade option used only by tech geeks. By 2004, however, Linux had exploded into the... View Details

Keywords: Competition; Open Source Distribution; Information Technology; Applications and Software; Digital Platforms; Information Technology Industry

09 Feb 2015
News

Uber Needs Our Permission to Grow

GUINNANE, T.; MARTÍNEZ-RODRÍGUEZ, S. (2018) “Choice of Enterprise Form: Spain, 1886-1936.” Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization, 34(1), 1-26.

Every new firm selects a legal form. Organizing as a corporation, a limited company, or a partnership shapes the firm’s access to capital markets, its governance arrangements and tax liabilities, and its treatment in bankruptcy. We use multinomial choice models... View Details

The Power of Experiments: Decision Making in a Data-Driven World

In this book, Michael Luca and Max Bazerman explain the importance of experiments for decision making in a data-driven world. Luca and Bazerman describe the central role experiments play in the tech sector, drawing lessons and best practices from the experiences of... View Details

March 2011 (Revised April 2018)
Case

1366 Technologies: Scaling the Venture

By: Joseph B. Lassiter III, Ramana Nanda, David Kiron and Evan Richardson

For some time, 1366's co-founders, Frank van Mierlo and Ely Sachs, had faced a choice, which was now made all the more stark: 1366 could expand to produce silicon wafers itself, raising the required capital from "friendly" investors and building shipment volume slowly,... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Innovation Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Intellectual Property; Management Teams; Renewable Energy; Financial Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; Corporate Finance; Energy Industry; Technology Industry; United States