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June 2005
Teaching Note

Accounting Fraud at WorldCom (TN)

By: Robert S. Kaplan

Teaching Note to (9-104-071). View Details

Keywords: Accounting Audits; Financial Reporting; Financial Statements; Accounting; Crime and Corruption; Governing and Advisory Boards; Telecommunications Industry

July 2005 (Revised August 2006)
Background Note

Bribery in Business: A Legal Perspective

By: Lynn S. Paine and Christopher Bruner

Provides a brief overview of the concept of bribery and the principal rationales prompting restrictions on such conduct. Also, reviews some of the most important U.S. and international laws prohibiting various forms of bribery. View Details

Keywords: Crime and Corruption; Lawfulness

08 Feb 2010
HBS Case

Looking Behind Google’s Stand in China

Google, the "do no evil" company, gained entry into the Chinese search engine market last decade by agreeing to ban search results on topics deemed sensitive by the Chinese government. To Google's way of thinking, it could do more good for Internet freedom... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Technology

05 Jul 2017
Research & Ideas

Are Stockbrokers Illegally Leaking Confidential Information to Favored Clients?

area, that would be important.” Related Reading: Connecting School Ties and Stock Recommendations Why White-Collar Criminals Commit Their Crimes What do you think? Do you think stockbrokers should come under... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Financial Services

August 2011 (Revised December 2013)
Supplement

Albert 'Jack' Stanley in Nigeria (B)

By: Lena G. Goldberg and Chad M. Carr

The case describes Albert "Jack" Stanley's response to actions initiated against him by the U.S. Department of Justice and the SEC. View Details

Keywords: Crime and Corruption; Moral Sensibility; Law; Value; Nigeria; United States

14 Nov 2019
Book

Lifting the Lid on Turkey's Hidden Business History

limited the competitive structure of the economy. Silverthorne: In a chapter on business ethics and corruption, you and colleague Janet Hunter note that the country has struggled with View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

09 Mar 2015
Research & Ideas

Why Entrepreneurs Should Go Work for Government

enforcement on air pollution controls. In California, OpenCounter streamlined registration for small businesses and provided zoning clearances in a fraction of the usual time. In New York, Mark43 is developing software to analyze View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

04 Nov 2013
Research & Ideas

The Real Cost of Bribery

analyze the negative effects of bribery on corporate performance. The results of his study, detailed in the paper Firm Competitiveness and Detection of Bribery, surprised him. As it turns out, the biggest problem with corporate View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

December 2019 (Revised November 2023)
Background Note

Legal Analysis: Insider Trading Liability

By: Trevor Fetter, Eugene F. Soltes and Grant Wahlquist

There are numerous restrictions against trading on material, nonpublic information (MNPI)—typically called “insider trading.” This note describes the limitations facing managers and investors as enforced civilly and criminally within the United States. View Details

Keywords: Insider Trading; Legal Liability; Ethics; Crime and Corruption; Finance; United States

February 2014
Background Note

“When I look back…” Reflections of Bernard Madoff

By: Eugene F. Soltes and Sara Hess

This background note for instructors provides details of Bernard Madoff's career and the classroom recording. View Details

Keywords: Ponzi Scheme; Crime and Corruption; Personal Development and Career; Finance; United States

November 1986 (Revised December 1998)
Case

Disctech, Inc.

Describes a company that had problems of fraudulent financial reporting. Provides an opportunity to discuss the roles of top management, financial management, internal and external auditors, and the audit committee of the board of directors in such circumstances. The... View Details

Keywords: Crime and Corruption; Financial Reporting

28 Apr 2022
Research & Ideas

Can You Buy Creativity in the Gig Economy?

and 2015. In China, e-publishing platforms have become a multibillion-dollar industry, attracting more than 1 million authors and over 300 million readers. Authors tend to produce commercially popular fare,... View Details

Keywords: by Pamela Reynolds

2019
Article

The Frequency of Corporate Misconduct: Public Enforcement versus Private Reality

By: Eugene F. Soltes

Perceptions about the frequency of misconduct—among the public, academics and even regulators—have largely been formed by examining enforcement statistics, which rely on the detection and sanctioning of the misconduct. This study aims to illuminate the real occurrence... View Details

Keywords: Fraud; Bribery; Misconduct; Organizations; Crime and Corruption

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December 2017
Case

Charity or Bribery?

By: Eugene Soltes and Brian Tilley

Filip Kowalski, a senior manager at the pharmaceutical company Healthgen, leads sales for the firm’s Polish division. While pitching Healthgen’s products, he develops a relationship with a director of a regional health fund who also runs a private foundation. After a... View Details

Keywords: Bribery; Crime and Corruption; Law; Ethics; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; United States; Europe

September 1986 (Revised March 1991)
Case

Graves Industries, Inc. (A)

The first in a series of cases that explores the causes and methods of fraudulent financial reporting and the lines between acceptable, unethical, and fraudulent behaviors. View Details

Keywords: Crime and Corruption; Ethics; Financial Reporting

February 2024
Case

Doing Business in Medellín, Colombia

By: Nori Gerardo Lietz, Leonard A. Schlesinger and Karina Souza

This case examines the challenges and opportunities of doing business in Colombia. It highlights Colombia's economic transformation in the decades leading up to 2024 in the context of its history, culture, and politics. The case gives an overview of some of the main... View Details

Keywords: History; Economics; Crime and Corruption; Business and Government Relations; Food and Beverage Industry; Colombia; Medellín; South America

September 2022
Article

Tone at the Bottom: Measuring Corporate Misconduct Risk from the Text of Employee Reviews

By: Dennis W. Campbell and Ruidi Shang

This paper examines whether information extracted via text-based statistical methods applied to employee reviews left on the website Glassdoor.com can be used to develop indicators of corporate misconduct risk. We argue that inside information on the incidence of... View Details

Keywords: Management Accounting; Management Control; Corporate Culture; Corporate Misconduct; Risk Measurement; Organizational Culture; Crime and Corruption; Risk and Uncertainty; Measurement and Metrics