Filter Results
:
(318)
Show Results For
- All HBS Web (399)
- Faculty Publications (167)
Show Results For
- All HBS Web (399)
- Faculty Publications (167)
Sort by
- Research Summary
Overview
The Information Age has introduced well-received opportunities to track performance. Fitbits and Fuelbands allow individuals to track their own performance; companies like Uber and leading hospitals help you choose a driver or a doctor based on how others rated... View Details
- June 18, 2019
- Article
Research: Investors Reward Companies That Talk Up Their Digital Initiatives
By: Suraj Srinivasan and Wilbur Chen
A study of how companies disclose their digital initiatives on earnings calls and written communications finds that more firms are using these technologies, that financial markets reward companies that disclose such initiatives, but that financial performance...
View Details
Srinivasan, Suraj, and Wilbur Chen. "Research: Investors Reward Companies That Talk Up Their Digital Initiatives." Harvard Business Review (website) (June 18, 2019).
- 2024
- Article
Financial Constraints and Short-term Planning are Linked to Flood Risk Adaptation Gaps in U.S. cities
By: Shirley Lu and Anya Nakhmurina
Adaptation is critical in reducing the inevitable impact of climate change. Here we study cities’ adaptation to elevated flood risk by introducing a linguistic measure of adaptation extracted from financial disclosures of 431 US cities over 2013–2020. While cities with...
View Details
Keywords:
City;
Natural Disasters;
Climate Change;
Adaptation;
Risk and Uncertainty;
Strategic Planning
Lu, Shirley, and Anya Nakhmurina. "Financial Constraints and Short-Term Planning Are Linked to Flood Risk Adaptation Gaps in U.S. Cities." Art. 43. Communications Earth & Environment 5 (2024).
- May 2011
- Article
Consequences and Institutional Determinants of Unregulated Corporate Financial Statements: Evidence from Embedded Value Reporting
By: George Serafeim
I analyze Embedded Value (EV) reporting by firms with life insurance operations to assess the impact of unregulated financial reporting on transparency and to examine the institutional characteristics that promote unregulated reporting. Under EV accounting the present...
View Details
Keywords:
Financial Statements;
Mergers and Acquisitions;
Financial Reporting;
Cash Flow;
Contracts;
Equity;
Profit;
Value;
Corporate Disclosure;
Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms;
Business and Shareholder Relations;
Business Earnings
Serafeim, George. "Consequences and Institutional Determinants of Unregulated Corporate Financial Statements: Evidence from Embedded Value Reporting." Journal of Accounting Research 49, no. 2 (May 2011).
- 2009
- Comment
Testimony on 'The World Bank's Disclosure Policy Review, and the Role of Democratic Participatory Processes in Achieving Successful Development Outcomes'
By: Alnoor Ebrahim
Ebrahim, Alnoor. "Testimony on 'The World Bank's Disclosure Policy Review, and the Role of Democratic Participatory Processes in Achieving Successful Development Outcomes'." United States House Committee on Financial Services, Hearing (2009).
- June 2020
- Article
Lazy Prices
By: Lauren Cohen, Christopher J. Malloy and Quoc Nguyen
We explore the implications of a subtle "default" choice that firms make in their regular reporting practices, namely that firms typically repeat what they most recently reported. Using the complete history of regular quarterly and annual filings by U.S. corporations...
View Details
Keywords:
Default Behavior;
Inertia;
Firms;
Disclosure;
Information;
Business or Company Management;
Behavior;
Annual Reports;
Corporate Disclosure;
Financial Reporting;
United States
Cohen, Lauren, Christopher J. Malloy, and Quoc Nguyen. "Lazy Prices." Journal of Finance 75, no. 3 (June 2020): 1371–1415. (Winner of the First Prize, Chicago Quantitative Alliance Academic Paper Competition, 2016. Winner of the Jack Treynor Prize for superior work in the field of investment management and financial markets, sponsored by the Q-Group,The Institute for Quantitative Research in Finance, 2016. Winner of the Hillcrest Behavioral Finance Prize, 2016.)
- July 2021
- Article
Material Sustainability Information and Stock Price Informativeness
By: Jody Grewal, Clarissa Hauptmann and George Serafeim
As part of the SEC’s revision of Regulation S-K, many investors proposed the mandatory disclosure of sustainability information in the form of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) data. However, progress is contingent on collecting evidence regarding which...
View Details
Keywords:
Voluntary Disclosure;
Accounting Standards;
Sustainability;
Nonfinancial Information;
Corporate Social Responsibility;
Stock Price Informativeness;
Synchronicity;
Environmental Sustainability;
Corporate Disclosure;
Corporate Accountability;
Stocks;
Price;
Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact;
Accounting;
Standards
Grewal, Jody, Clarissa Hauptmann, and George Serafeim. "Material Sustainability Information and Stock Price Informativeness." Journal of Business Ethics 171, no. 3 (July 2021): 513–544.
- June 2024
- Article
Going Digital: Implications for Firm Value and Performance
By: Wilbur Chen and Suraj Srinivasan
We examine firm value and performance implications of the growing trend of non-technology companies engaging in digital transformation. We measure digital activities in firms based on the disclosure of digital words in the business description section of 10-Ks. Digital...
View Details
Keywords:
Digital Technologies;
Valuation;
Return Predictability;
Financial Statement Analysis;
Performance;
Value;
Information Technology
Chen, Wilbur, and Suraj Srinivasan. "Going Digital: Implications for Firm Value and Performance." Review of Accounting Studies 29, no. 2 (June 2024): 1619–1665.
- January 2020 (Revised July 2020)
- Case
BlackRock: Linking Purpose to Profit
The case revolves around the actions that Barbara Novick, co-founder and Vice-Chair of Blackrock, and Michelle Edkins, Global Head of Investment Stewardship, would need to take in response to the controversial CEO letters from Laurence (Larry) Fink, Chairman and CEO of...
View Details
Keywords:
Boards Of Directors;
Institutional Investors;
Disclosure;
Transparency;
Corporate Purpose;
Corporate Profits;
ESG;
ESG Disclosure Metrics;
Corporate Sustainability;
Engagement Strategy Of Institutions;
Stewardship Role Of Institutions;
BlackRock;
Corporate Governance;
Governing and Advisory Boards;
Institutional Investing;
Accounting;
Corporate Disclosure;
Mission and Purpose;
Profit;
Environmental Sustainability;
Climate Change;
Diversity;
Corporate Accountability;
Financial Services Industry;
United States
Deshpandé, Rohit, Aiyesha Dey, and George Serafeim. "BlackRock: Linking Purpose to Profit." Harvard Business School Case 120-042, January 2020. (Revised July 2020.)
- October 2018 (Revised September 2022)
- Case
Stock-Based Compensation at Twitter
By: Jonas Heese, Zeya Yang and Mike Young
Olivia Nash, an analyst at leading hedge fund BlueShark Capital Management, had just finished listening to the hour-long earnings call for Twitter’s Q4 2017 results. Was Twitter doing well? That depended on which numbers she chose to believe. According to Generally...
View Details
Keywords:
Twitter;
Non-GAAP Disclosure;
Stock-based Compensation;
Earnings Management;
Corporate Disclosure;
Compensation and Benefits;
Stocks;
Measurement and Metrics
Heese, Jonas, Zeya Yang, and Mike Young. "Stock-Based Compensation at Twitter." Harvard Business School Case 119-032, October 2018. (Revised September 2022.)
- 2024
- Working Paper
Intrinsic Motivation and Referrals Within Firms: Evidence from a Large Microfinance Institution
By: Natalia Rigol and Benjamin N. Roth
Many organizations rely on internal referrals between employees with differing
comparative advantages. Yet when an employee encounters a lucrative opportunity,
they may be motivated to retain it even when doing so harms efficiency. We develop
a framework that...
View Details
Keywords:
Loan Officers;
Strategic Behavior;
Strategic Disclosure;
Microfinance;
Financial Institutions;
Financing and Loans
Rigol, Natalia, and Benjamin N. Roth. "Intrinsic Motivation and Referrals Within Firms: Evidence from a Large Microfinance Institution." NBER Working Paper Series, No. 29427, October 2021. (Resubmitted, Econometrica.)
- February 2013
- Case
Diamond Foods, Inc.
By: Suraj Srinivasan and Tim Gray
The Diamonds Foods, Inc. case describes the major accounting blow up at the company in late 2011 that was triggered by a report by Off Wall Street, a prominent short selling research firm. Diamond Foods, a high flying growth company in 2011, grew from a walnut farmers'...
View Details
Keywords:
Accounting Restatements;
Accounting Scandal;
Accounting;
Financial Analysis;
Financial Statement Analysis;
Short Selling;
Revenue Recognition;
Board Of Directors;
Audit Committees;
Auditing;
Financial Reporting;
Financial Statements;
Agribusiness;
Accrual Accounting;
Earnings Management;
Corporate Accountability;
Corporate Disclosure;
Corporate Governance;
Valuation;
Revenue;
Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry;
California;
Cambridge
Srinivasan, Suraj, and Tim Gray. "Diamond Foods, Inc." Harvard Business School Case 113-055, February 2013.
- January 2017 (Revised January 2019)
- Case
The Rise and Fall of Lehman Brothers
By: Stuart C. Gilson, Kristin Mugford and Sarah L. Abbott
With nearly $700 billion in assets, Lehman was the largest U.S. bankruptcy in history. In 2007, Lehman achieved record earnings of over $4 billion on revenues of $60 billion. By September 2008 the fourth largest investment bank in the world was bankrupt. How had a...
View Details
Keywords:
Bankruptcy;
Financial Distress;
Accounting Policies;
Business Ethics;
Financial Reporting;
Volatility;
Judgments;
Financial Crisis;
Insolvency and Bankruptcy;
Financial Liquidity;
Investment Banking;
Financial Management;
Financial Strategy;
Corporate Accountability;
Corporate Disclosure;
Corporate Governance;
Crisis Management;
Risk Management;
Failure;
Business and Government Relations;
Ethics;
Banking Industry;
New York (city, NY)
Gilson, Stuart C., Kristin Mugford, and Sarah L. Abbott. "The Rise and Fall of Lehman Brothers." Harvard Business School Case 217-041, January 2017. (Revised January 2019.)
- September 2023
- Article
Stock Price Reactions to ESG News: The Role of ESG Ratings and Disagreement
By: George Serafeim and Aaron Yoon
We investigate whether ESG ratings predict future ESG news and the associated market reactions. We find that the consensus rating predicts future news, but its predictive ability diminishes for firms with large disagreement between raters. Relation between news and...
View Details
Keywords:
ESG;
ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) Performance;
ESG Disclosure;
ESG Ratings;
ESG Reporting;
ESG Disclosure Metrics;
Sustainability;
Investments;
Disagreement;
Rating Disagreement;
Ratings;
Environmental Sustainability;
Social Issues;
Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact;
Performance;
News;
Investment;
Financial Markets;
Stocks;
Price
Serafeim, George, and Aaron Yoon. "Stock Price Reactions to ESG News: The Role of ESG Ratings and Disagreement." Special Issue on RAST 2022 Conference. Review of Accounting Studies 28, no. 3 (September 2023): 1500–1530.
- June 2013
- Teaching Plan
The K-Dow Petrochemicals Joint Venture
By: Guhan Subramanian and Charlotte Krontiris
This case follows a two-part deal involving Dow Chemicals: Dow's ill-fated joint venture with the Kuwait Petroleum Corporation, the failure of which nearly scuttled Dow's simultaneous acquisition of Rohm & Haas. Focusing on Dow CEO Andrew Liveris, this case examines...
View Details
Keywords:
Dow Chemicals;
Kuwait;
Financial Crisis;
Negotiation Process;
Joint Ventures;
Corporate Disclosure;
Acquisition;
Chemical Industry;
Kuwait
Subramanian, Guhan, and Charlotte Krontiris. "The K-Dow Petrochemicals Joint Venture." Harvard Business School Teaching Plan 913-047, June 2013.
- June 10, 2002
- Article
Audit the audit committees: VIEWPOINT PAUL HEALY AND KRISHNA PALEPU: After Enron, boards must change the focus and provide greater financial transparency
By: P. M. Healy
Healy, P. M. "Audit the audit committees: VIEWPOINT PAUL HEALY AND KRISHNA PALEPU: After Enron, boards must change the focus and provide greater financial transparency." Financial Times (June 10, 2002), 14.
- January 2014 (Revised January 2014)
- Case
Showdown at Cracker Barrel
By: Suraj Srinivasan and Tim Gray
In the fall of 2011, activist investor, Sardar Biglari, has acquired nearly 10% ownership in the Cracker Barrel restaurant chain. He believes that the board and senior management have failed and the company has underperformed relative to its peers. When he is denied a...
View Details
Keywords:
Boards;
Activist Investors;
Proxy Battles;
Shareholder Activism;
Peer Firm;
Ratio Analysis;
Financial Accounting;
Financial Analysis;
Board Of Directors;
Boards Of Directors;
Financial Intermediaries;
Financial Analysts;
CEO Turnover;
New CEO;
Peer Groups;
Hedge Fund;
Hedge Funds;
Proxy Contest;
Proxy Fight;
Proxy Advisor;
Proxy Battle;
Financial Statement Analysis;
Financial Strategy;
Corporate Governance;
Corporate Disclosure;
Governing and Advisory Boards;
Competition;
Valuation;
Business Strategy;
Value Creation;
Business and Shareholder Relations;
Financial Reporting;
Financial Statements;
Retail Industry;
Food and Beverage Industry;
United States
Srinivasan, Suraj, and Tim Gray. "Showdown at Cracker Barrel." Harvard Business School Case 114-026, January 2014. (Revised January 2014.)
- September–October 2020
- Article
Social-Impact Efforts That Create Real Value
By: George Serafeim
Until the mid-2010s few investors paid attention to environmental, social, and governance (ESG) data—information about companies’ carbon footprints, labor policies, board makeup, and so forth. Today the data is widely used by investors. How can organizations create...
View Details
Keywords:
Sustainability;
Sustainability Management;
ESG;
ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) Performance;
ESG Disclosure;
ESG Disclosure Metrics;
ESG Ratings;
ESG Reporting;
Social Impact;
Impact Measurement;
Social Innovation;
Purpose;
Corporate Purpose;
Corporate Social Responsibility;
Strategy;
Social Enterprise;
Society;
Accounting;
Investment;
Environmental Sustainability;
Climate Change;
Corporate Strategy;
Mission and Purpose;
Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact;
Financial Services Industry;
Chemical Industry;
Technology Industry;
Consumer Products Industry;
Pharmaceutical Industry;
North America;
Europe;
Japan;
Australia
Serafeim, George. "Social-Impact Efforts That Create Real Value." Harvard Business Review 98, no. 5 (September–October 2020): 38–48.
- Article
Core Earnings: New Data and Evidence
By: Ethan Rouen, Eric C. So and Charles C.Y. Wang
Using a novel dataset, we show that components of firms' GAAP earnings stemming from ancillary business activities or transitory shocks are significant in frequency and magnitude. These components have grown over time and are dispersed across various sections of the...
View Details
Keywords:
Core Earnings;
Transitory Earnings;
Non-operating Earnings;
Quantitative Disclosures;
Equity Valuation;
Big Data;
Business Earnings;
Financial Reporting;
Valuation;
Analytics and Data Science
Rouen, Ethan, Eric C. So, and Charles C.Y. Wang. "Core Earnings: New Data and Evidence." Journal of Financial Economics 142, no. 3 (December 2021): 1068–1091.
- February 2017 (Revised June 2017)
- Supplement
ExxonMobil: Business as Usual? (B)
By: George Serafeim, Shiva Rajgopal and David Freiberg
The case presents ExxonMobil's response to growing pressure to disclose how climate change will impact their business. This includes multiple asset impairments and losing a proxy vote to shareholders to increase climate change related reporting. Supplements the (B)...
View Details
Keywords:
Oil & Gas;
Oil Prices;
Oil Companies;
Asset Impairment;
Predictive Analytics;
Sustainability;
Environmental Impact;
Innovation;
Disclosure;
Accounting;
Valuation;
Energy Sources;
Ethics;
Corporate Disclosure;
Governance Compliance;
Climate Change;
Financial Reporting;
Energy Industry;
United States
Serafeim, George, Shiva Rajgopal, and David Freiberg. "ExxonMobil: Business as Usual? (B)." Harvard Business School Supplement 117-047, February 2017. (Revised June 2017.)