Publications
Publications
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- All HBS Web
(3,841)
- Faculty Publications (776)
- 2015
- Working Paper
How Should We Pay for Health Care?
By: Michael E. Porter and Robert S. Kaplan
Improving the way we pay for health care must be a central component in health care reform. Payment reform must link provider reimbursement and accountability to improving patient value: better health outcomes delivered at lower cost. Today’s deeply flawed... View Details
- December 2014
- Article
Market Competition, Earnings Management, and Persistence in Accounting Profitability Around the World
We examine how cross-country differences in product, capital, and labor market competition, and earnings management affect mean reversion in accounting return on assets. Using a sample of 48,465 unique firms from 49 countries, we find that accounting returns mean... View Details
- December 26, 2014
- Article
Mergers & Acquisitions: Before a Merger, Consider Company Cultures Along with Financials
By: David G. Fubini
Not everything can be accounted for on a spreadsheet. View Details
- September 2014
- Case
Balanced Scorecard at Delta/Signal Corp.
By: V.G. Narayanan
This auto parts company has just ousted its longtime CEO and founder, and the new, professional CEO is badly in need of a coherent strategy, clear objectives and metrics, and initiatives that are aligned with the strategy and objectives. Will the balanced scorecard... View Details
- 2014
- Report
An Economy Doing Half Its Job: Findings of Harvard Business School's 2013–14 Survey on U.S. Competitiveness
By: Michael E. Porter and Jan Rivkin
In 2013–14, Harvard Business School (HBS) conducted its third alumni survey on U.S. competitiveness. Our report on the findings focuses on a troubling divergence in the American economy: large and midsize firms have rallied strongly from the Great Recession, and highly... View Details
- Article
SOX after Ten Years: A Multidisciplinary Review
By: Suraj Srinivasan and John C. Coates IV
We review and assess research findings from 120+ papers in accounting, finance, and law to evaluate the impact of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. We describe significant developments in how the Act was implemented and find that despite severe criticism, the Act and... View Details
- 2014
- Chapter
Promoting Corporate Sustainability through Integrated Reporting: The Role of Investment Fiduciaries and the Responsibilities of the Corporate Board
By: Robert G. Eccles, J. Herron and George Serafeim
This book is a comprehensive reference work exploring recent changes and future trends in the principles that govern institutional investors and fiduciaries. A wide range of contributors offer new perspectives on dynamics that drive the current emphasis on short-term... View Details
- July 2014
- Article
Smart Money? The Effect of Education on Financial Outcomes
By: Shawn A. Cole, Anna Paulson and Gauri Kartini Shastry
Household financial decisions are important for household welfare, economic growth and financial stability. Yet, our understanding of the determinants of financial decision-making is limited. Exploiting exogenous variation in state compulsory schooling laws in both... View Details
- July–August 2014
- Article
The Crisis in Retirement Planning
By: Robert C. Merton
Corporate America began to really take notice of the looming retirement crisis in the wake of the dot-com crash, when companies in major industries went bankrupt in large part because of their inability to meet their pension obligations. The result was an acceleration... View Details
- June 2014 (Revised May 2017)
- Case
Southeastern Asset Management Challenges Buyout at Dell
By: Paul Healy, Suraj Srinivasan and Aldo Sesia
In late 2012, Michael Dell wants to take Dell Inc., the company he founded, private. Mr. Dell believes that the successful company's transformation from a personal computer (PC) manufacturer to an enterprise solutions and services provider (ESS) is dependent on going... View Details
Keywords: Leveraged Buyout Transaction; Leveraged Recapitalization; Management Buyout; Dell, Inc.; Hedge Fund; Corporate Governance Theory; Valuation; Valuation Ratios; Valuation Methodologies; Board Of Directors; Boards Of Directors; Carl Icahn; Computer Services Industries; Proxy Contest; Proxy Battles; Proxy Fight; Proxy Advisor; Financial Accounting; Financial Analysis; Financial Ratios; Finance; Corporate Accountability; Corporate Governance; Corporate Finance; Leveraged Buyouts; Computer Industry; United States
- Article
Better Accounting Transforms Health Care Delivery
By: Robert S. Kaplan and Mary L. Witkowski
The paper describes the theory and preliminary results for an action research program that explores the implications from better measurements of health care outcomes and costs. After summarizing Porter's outcome taxonomy (Porter 2010), we illustrate how to use process... View Details
- May 2014 (Revised January 2015)
- Case
The Sustainability Accounting Standards Board
By: Julie Battilana and Michael Norris
In 2014, as the Sustainability Accounting Standards Board (SASB) has just brought former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg on as chairman of the board, Jean Rogers, founder and CEO struggles with how best to ensure the nonprofit's financial sustainability while... View Details
- May 2014 (Revised April 2016)
- Case
Three-Year Planning at Li & Fung Limited
By: Paul M. Healy and Keith Chi-ho Wong
Having been able to follow its own "three-year plan" on course constantly, Li & Fung Limited fell short of meeting its stretch earnings target for the first time in almost two decades, leading to a double-digit drop in stock price overnight. Questions were raised on... View Details
- May 2014
- Case
Groupon, Inc.
By: Krishna G. Palepu, Blythe J. McGarvie and James Weber
Internet coupon site "Groupon" grew revenues rapidly and went public, but struggled to impress investors or operate profitably. Did it have a sustainable business model?
Groupon sold coupons called Groupons which purchasers used to acquire goods or services at... View Details
- 2014
- Working Paper
The Role of the Corporation in Society: An Alternative View and Opportunities for Future Research
By: George Serafeim
A long-standing ideology in business education has been that a corporation is run for the sole interest of its shareholders. I present an alternative view where increasing concentration of economic activity and power in the world's largest corporations, the Global... View Details
Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility; Corporate Governance; Environment; Environmental And Social Sustainability; Sustainability; Sustainability Reporting; Sustainability Research; Sustainability Targets; Corporate Performance; Corporate Accountability; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact
- May 2014
- Article
Digital Dark Matter and the Economic Contribution of Apache
By: Shane Greenstein and Frank Nagle
Researchers have long hypothesized that research outputs from government, university, and private company R&D contribute to economic growth, but these contributions may be difficult to measure when they take a non-pecuniary form. The growth of networking devices and... View Details
Keywords: Open Source; Apache; Economic Measurement; Digital Economics; Measurement and Metrics; Open Source Distribution; Internet and the Web; Information Technology; Applications and Software; Economic Growth; Research and Development; Web Services Industry; Information Technology Industry; United States
- May 2014
- Case
Goldman Sachs: Anchoring Standards After the Financial Crisis
By: Rajiv Lal and Lisa Mazzanti
Goldman Sachs, a longtime venerable financial institution headquartered in New York City, had a partnership culture that was known to value its clients. But when the financial crisis hit in 2008 and Goldman Sachs emerged relatively unscathed, its public image took a... View Details
- May 2014
- Article
Incorporating Field Data into Archival Research
By: Eugene F. Soltes
I explore the use of field data in conjunction with archival evidence by examining Iliev, Miller, and Roth's (2014) analysis of an amendment to the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. This regulatory amendment allowed depositary banks to cross-list firms without the... View Details
- April 29, 2014
- Column
Corporate Reporting in the Big Data Era
By: George Serafeim
Advancements in information technology can improve corporate communication with shareholders, but not through incessant data dumps. Instead, companies will more likely be poised for continued success if they use digital platforms for long-term oriented engagement and... View Details
Keywords: Integrated Reporting; Big Data; Corporate Reporting; Sustainability; Corporate Social Responsibility; Corporate Governance; Accounting; Reporting; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Corporate Accountability; Analytics and Data Science; Information Technology; Communication; Financial Reporting; Business and Shareholder Relations
- April 2014
- Supplement
Ingrid Johnson: Reflections on Leading Change
By: Michael Tushman
This case discusses the issue of leading change at the business banking division of Nedbank, a prominent South African bank, between 2005 and 2009. (This timeframe, beginning just 11 years after Apartheid's end, covers Ingrid Johnson's leadership of this division... View Details