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- All HBS Web (137)
- Faculty Publications (55)
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- December 2009
- Article
Estimation and Empirical Properties of a Firm-Year Measure of Accounting Conservatism
By: Mozaffar N. Khan and Ross L. Watts
We estimate a firm-year measure of accounting conservatism, examine its empirical properties as a metric, and illustrate applications by testing new hypotheses that shed further light on the nature and effects of conservatism. The results are consistent with the... View Details
Khan, Mozaffar N., and Ross L. Watts. "Estimation and Empirical Properties of a Firm-Year Measure of Accounting Conservatism." Journal of Accounting & Economics 48, nos. 2-3 (December 2009): 132–150.
- 2010
- Dissertation
Accounting Standards and International Portfolio Holdings: Analysis of Cross-border Holdings Following Mandatory Adoption of IFRS
By: Gwen Yu
Prior literature shows that investors under-invest in foreign firms due to information asymmetry problems. I posit that differences in local accounting standards are a source of the information asymmetry among investors. Using security-level holdings of international... View Details
Keywords: Financial Reporting; International Accounting; Standards; Investment Portfolio; Foreign Direct Investment
Yu, Gwen. "Accounting Standards and International Portfolio Holdings: Analysis of Cross-border Holdings Following Mandatory Adoption of IFRS." Diss., University of Michigan, 2010. (Winner of American Accounting Association. International Accounting Section. Outstanding Dissertation Award presented by American Accounting Association.)
- Article
Fly-by-Night Firms and the Market for Product Reviews
By: Gerald R. Faulhaber and Dennis A. Yao
This paper presents a model that permits third-party information provision in a market characterized by information asymmetries and reputation formation. The model is used to examine how the market for information provision affects prices and supply in the primary... View Details
Keywords: Markets; Reputation; SWOT Analysis; Mathematical Methods; Price Bubble; Inflation and Deflation; Duopoly and Oligopoly; Cost; Information; Quality; Price; Competitive Advantage; Information Industry
Faulhaber, Gerald R., and Dennis A. Yao. "Fly-by-Night Firms and the Market for Product Reviews." Journal of Industrial Economics 38, no. 1 (September 1989): 65–77. (Harvard users click here for full text.)
- 2008
- Working Paper
Consequences of Voluntary and Mandatory Fair Value Accounting: Evidence Surrounding IFRS Adoption in the EU Real Estate Industry
By: Karl A Muller III, Edward J. Riedl and Thorsten Sellhorn
We examine the causes and consequences of European real estate firms' decisions to provide investment property fair values prior to the required disclosure of this information under International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). We find evidence that investor... View Details
Keywords: Fair Value Accounting; Financial Reporting; International Accounting; Corporate Disclosure; Standards; Real Estate Industry; European Union
Muller, Karl A., III, Edward J. Riedl, and Thorsten Sellhorn. "Consequences of Voluntary and Mandatory Fair Value Accounting: Evidence Surrounding IFRS Adoption in the EU Real Estate Industry." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 09-033, September 2008.
- July 2004
- Article
Determinants of Control System Design in Divisionalized Firms
By: Margaret A. Abernethy, Jan Bouwens and Laurence van Lent
We investigate two determinants of two choices in the control system of divisionalized firms, namely decentralization and use of performance measures. The two determinants are those identified in the literature as important to control system design: (1) information... View Details
Keywords: Design; Organizational Design; Business Divisions; Management Systems; Performance Evaluation
Abernethy, Margaret A., Jan Bouwens, and Laurence van Lent. "Determinants of Control System Design in Divisionalized Firms." Accounting Review 79, no. 3 (July 2004): 545–570.
- Article
Can Analysts Assess Fundamental Risk and Valuation Uncertainty? An Empirical Analysis of Scenario-Based Value Estimates
By: Peter R. Joos, Joseph D. Piotroski and Suraj Srinivasan
We use a dataset of sell-side analysts' scenario-based valuation estimates to examine whether analysts reliably assess the risk surrounding a firm's fundamental value. We find that the spread in analysts' state-side contingent valuations captures the riskiness of... View Details
Keywords: Analyst Forecasts; Scenarios; Uncertainty; Risk and Uncertainty; Valuation; Forecasting and Prediction
Joos, Peter R., Joseph D. Piotroski, and Suraj Srinivasan. "Can Analysts Assess Fundamental Risk and Valuation Uncertainty? An Empirical Analysis of Scenario-Based Value Estimates." Journal of Financial Economics 121, no. 3 (September 2016): 645–663.
- May 2004
- Article
The Case for International Coordination of Electricity Regulation: Evidence from the Measurement of Efficiency in South America
A decade of experience has shown that monitoring the performance of public and private monopolies is the hardest part of electricity sector reform in South America—because operators control most of the information needed for effective regulation. South American... View Details
Keywords: Information; Mathematical Methods; Monopoly; Globalization; Energy Sources; Energy Industry; South America
Ruzzier, Christian Alejandro, A. Estache, and M. Rossi. "The Case for International Coordination of Electricity Regulation: Evidence from the Measurement of Efficiency in South America." Journal of Regulatory Economics 25, no. 3 (May 2004): 271–295.
- September 1986 (Revised July 2001)
- Case
Eastern Electric Apparatus Repair Company (A)
By: Carliss Y. Baldwin and Harry Gruner
As principals engaged in structuring leveraged buyouts for a well-capitalized risk arbitrage firm, Bob Meehan and George Schwartz are preparing to bid for the business and assets of a Westinghouse subsidiary. The case focuses on the value of the opportunity, methods of... View Details
Keywords: Leveraged Buyouts; Bids and Bidding; Opportunities; Business Subsidiaries; Strategy; Valuation; Equity; Electronics Industry
Baldwin, Carliss Y., and Harry Gruner. "Eastern Electric Apparatus Repair Company (A)." Harvard Business School Case 287-023, September 1986. (Revised July 2001.)
- October 2008
- Article
Risk Frameworks and Biomonitoring: Distributed Regulation of Synthetic Chemicals in Humans
By: Arthur A. Daemmrich
The ability to detect and measure the presence of synthetic chemicals at trace levels in humans coupled to increased environmental NGO mobilization concerning chemical exposure has challenged risk and regulatory frameworks built up over the past quarter-century. This... View Details
Keywords: Chemicals; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Risk Management; Natural Environment; Pollutants; Non-Governmental Organizations; United States
Daemmrich, Arthur A. "Risk Frameworks and Biomonitoring: Distributed Regulation of Synthetic Chemicals in Humans." Environmental History 13, no. 4 (October 2008): 684–694.
- Research Summary
The Benefits of Selective Disclosure: Evidence from Private Firms
This paper explores an unexplored benefit of being privately-held: Non-SEC-filing private firms’ ability to disclose confidential information to selected investors minimizes the scope for information asymmetry between the firms and their investors. This decreases... View Details
- September 2016
- Article
Monitoring Global Supply Chains
By: Jodi L. Short, Michael W. Toffel and Andrea R. Hugill
Firms seeking to avoid reputational spillovers that can arise from dangerous, illegal, and unethical behavior at supply chain factories are increasingly relying on private social auditors to provide strategic information about suppliers' conduct. But little is known... View Details
Keywords: Monitoring; Transaction Cost Economics; Industry Self-regulation; Auditing; Codes Of Conduct; Supply Chains; Corporate Social Responsibility; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Supply Chain; Globalization
Short, Jodi L., Michael W. Toffel, and Andrea R. Hugill. "Monitoring Global Supply Chains." Strategic Management Journal 37, no. 9 (September 2016): 1878–1897. (Video abstract (4 minutes). Working Knowledge article for practitioners.)
- 25 May 2007
- Working Paper Summaries
Self-Regulatory Institutions for Solving Environmental Problems: Perspectives and Contributions from the Management Literature
Keywords: by Andrew King & Michael W. Toffel
- June–July 2014
- Article
Language as a Lightning Rod: Power Contests, Emotion Regulation, and Subgroup Dynamics in Global Teams
By: Pamela J. Hinds, Tsedal Neeley and Catherine Durnell Cramton
Through an ethnographic study comprised of interviews with and observations of 96 globally distributed members in six software development teams, we propose a model that captures how asymmetries in language fluency contribute to an us vs. them dynamic so common in... View Details
Keywords: Equality and Inequality; Communication Intention and Meaning; Groups and Teams; Applications and Software; Emotions; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Power and Influence; Information Technology Industry
Hinds, Pamela J., Tsedal Neeley, and Catherine Durnell Cramton. "Language as a Lightning Rod: Power Contests, Emotion Regulation, and Subgroup Dynamics in Global Teams." Journal of International Business Studies 45, no. 5 (June–July 2014): 536–561.
- Article
Corporate Social Responsibility and Access to Finance
By: Beiting Cheng, Ioannis Ioannou and George Serafeim
In this paper, we investigate whether superior performance on corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategies leads to better access to finance. We hypothesize that better access to finance can be attributed to a) reduced agency costs due to enhanced stakeholder... View Details
Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility; Sustainability; Capital Constraints; ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) Performance; Stakeholder Engagement; Disclosure; Corporate Disclosure; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Environmental Sustainability; Capital
Cheng, Beiting, Ioannis Ioannou, and George Serafeim. "Corporate Social Responsibility and Access to Finance." Strategic Management Journal 35, no. 1 (January 2014): 1–23.
- Winter 2021
- Article
Can Staggered Boards Improve Value? Causal Evidence from Massachusetts
By: Robert Daines, Shelley Xin Li and Charles C.Y. Wang
We study the effect of staggered boards (SBs) using a quasi-experiment: a 1990 law that imposed an SB on all Massachusetts-incorporated firms. The law led to an increase in Tobin's Q, investment in CAPEX and R&D, patents, higher-quality patented innovations, and... View Details
Keywords: Staggered Board; Entrenchment; Life-cycle; Tobin's Q; Innovation; Profitability; Investor Composition; Governing and Advisory Boards; Investment; Innovation and Invention; Institutional Investing; Value
Daines, Robert, Shelley Xin Li, and Charles C.Y. Wang. "Can Staggered Boards Improve Value? Causal Evidence from Massachusetts." Contemporary Accounting Research 38, no. 4 (Winter 2021): 3053–3084.
- 2014
- Working Paper
Further Evidence on Consequences of Debt Covenant Violations
By: Yu Gao, Mozaffar N. Khan and Liang Tan
We present new evidence on debt covenant violation (DCV) consequences that have not previously been examined in the literature. In particular, we show that a DCV triggers significant information asymmetry and uncertainty on the part of shareholders and auditors as... View Details
Keywords: Accounting
Gao, Yu, Mozaffar N. Khan, and Liang Tan. "Further Evidence on Consequences of Debt Covenant Violations." Working Paper, July 2014. (Conditionally accepted, Contemporary Accounting Research.)
- 2023
- Working Paper
Digital Lending and Financial Well-Being: Through the Lens of Mobile Phone Data
By: AJ Chen, Omri Even-Tov, Jung Koo Kang and Regina Wittenberg-Moerman
To mitigate information asymmetry about borrowers in developing economies, digital lenders utilize machine-learning algorithms and nontraditional data from borrowers’ mobile devices. Consequently, digital lenders have managed to expand access to credit for millions of... View Details
Keywords: Borrowing and Debt; Credit; AI and Machine Learning; Welfare; Well-being; Developing Countries and Economies; Equality and Inequality
Chen, AJ, Omri Even-Tov, Jung Koo Kang, and Regina Wittenberg-Moerman. "Digital Lending and Financial Well-Being: Through the Lens of Mobile Phone Data." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 23-076, April 2023. (Revised November 2023. SSRN Working Paper Series, November 2023)
- September 2010
- Article
How Firms Respond to Being Rated
By: Aaron K. Chatterji and Michael W. Toffel
While many rating systems seek to help buyers overcome information asymmetries when making purchasing decisions, we investigate how these ratings also influence the companies being rated. We hypothesize that ratings are particularly likely to spur responses from firms... View Details
Keywords: System; Information; Decisions; Cost; Opportunities; Performance; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Economics; Theory; System Shocks; Rank and Position
Chatterji, Aaron K., and Michael W. Toffel. "How Firms Respond to Being Rated." Strategic Management Journal 31, no. 9 (September 2010): 917–945. (Lead article.)
- September 2009
- Article
Structural Homophily or Social Asymmetry? The Formation of Alliances by Poorly Embedded Firms
By: Gautam Ahuja, Francisco Polidoro Jr. and Will Mitchell
Recent research shows that preexisting network structure constrains the formation of new interorganizational alliances. Firms that are poorly embedded in a network structure are less likely than richly embedded firms to form alliances, because they lack informational... View Details
Keywords: Interorganizational Networks; Interfirm Collaboration; Embeddedness; Networks; Joint Ventures; Alliances
Ahuja, Gautam, Francisco Polidoro Jr., and Will Mitchell. "Structural Homophily or Social Asymmetry? The Formation of Alliances by Poorly Embedded Firms." Strategic Management Journal 30, no. 9 (September 2009): 941–958.
- September 2005
- Article
Managerial Foresight and Attempted Rent Appropriation: Insider Trading on Knowledge of Imminent Breakthroughs
By: Gautam Ahuja, Russell W. Coff and Peggy M. Lee
In order to establish a competitive advantage, firms must acquire or create resources at a price below their value in use. Absent pure luck, this requires managers to exercise foresight about a resource's future value and/or complementarities with pre-existing... View Details
Ahuja, Gautam, Russell W. Coff, and Peggy M. Lee. "Managerial Foresight and Attempted Rent Appropriation: Insider Trading on Knowledge of Imminent Breakthroughs." Strategic Management Journal 26, no. 9 (September 2005): 791–808.