Basic Accounting Concepts - Publications - Faculty & Research

17 Mar 2009
First Look

First Look: March 17, 2009

recourse to funds-of-funds. We use asset allocation concepts to estimate characteristics of the funds-of-funds benchmark distribution. Since the benchmark characteristics are reasonable, we conclude that funds-of-funds, on average,... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

16 Dec 2019
Research & Ideas

Taking on the Taboos That Keep Women Out of India's Workforce

bank account was opened in the name of the woman in the household; the second included an account and basic training in banking; the third included an View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna

31 Jan 2023
Op-Ed

Can Insurance Technology Solve the Uninsured Driver Problem?

nonstandard drivers frequently lapse on their payments in order to pay for basic necessities, then incur high fees when they re-enroll in coverage. Nonstandard carriers earn 13 percent of their premium income from fees and often require... View Details

Keywords: by Ray Kluender; Insurance

31 Aug 2020
What Do You Think?

Why Don’t More Organizations Understand the Power of Diversity and Inclusion?

number of readers put forward well-tempered comments questioning research on whether diversity and inclusion enhance organization performance. The implication is that this may account in some part for the slow pace of progress on this... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

21 Feb 2005
Op-Ed

Is Business Management a Profession?

individuals. In response to the recent scandals, politicians and government officials have stepped in to pass new laws and create new regulations, while prominent persons on Wall Street and elsewhere in the business community have issued their own calls for reform in... View Details

Keywords: by Rakesh Khurana, Nitin Nohria & Daniel Penrice

15 Dec 2003
Research & Ideas

Women Leaders and Organizational Change

Why are women so dramatically underrepresented in formal leadership positions, and what can be done about it? That's the basic question contemplated in a book of essays called, The Difference "Difference" Makes, edited by Debra... View Details

Keywords: by Mallory Stark

31 May 2004
Research & Ideas

How Team Leaders Show Support–or Not

the creative ideas the team might have generated if given more latitude. Without that creative thinking, the team's performance suffered, likely reinforcing James's basic tendency to micromanage and closely monitor individual team... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

28 Nov 2005
Research & Ideas

Unilever: Transformation and Tradition

account individual circumstances. From the 1980s Unilever also honed skills in divesting businesses. Unilever's ability to identify acquisition targets, and to absorb the capabilities of acquired companies, became one of its principal... View Details

Keywords: by Geoffrey Jones; Consumer Products

17 Sep 2024
HBS Case

The Climate Targets Leaders Need to Know as Regulations Loom

As investor pressure mounts on companies to show their environmental impacts, leaders are encountering an unwieldy tangle of terms and approaches. Climate accounting basics and a dictionary of sorts can help... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

Research Summary

Sustainability and Integrated Reporting

A sustainable strategy for a company is one that enables it to create value for shareholders over the long term while contributing to a sustainable society. In doing so, it must balance the needs of different types of providers of financial capital (e.g.,... View Details

Keywords: Sustainability; Sustainability Reporting

29 May 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, May 29, 2018

February 2018 Journal of Accounting & Economics Bank CEO Materialism: Risk Controls, Culture and Tail Risk By: Bushman, Robert, Robert Davidson, Aiyesha Dey, and Abbie Smith Abstract—We investigate how the prevalence of materialistic... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

23 Oct 2012
First Look

First Look: October 23

Trichakis Publication:Management Science (forthcoming) Abstract This paper deals with a basic issue: How does one approach the problem of designing the "right" objective for a given resource allocation problem? The notion of... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

11 Oct 2006
What Do You Think?

How Do We Respond to the “Dependency Ratio” Dilemma?

a discussion on Accounting for Social Insurance (PV): http://www.fasab.gov/pdffiles/si_newsrelease.pdf Of course, dependency ratios are not reduced without other economic and social effects. For example, to the extent that current... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett

29 Nov 2017
Research & Ideas

How to Succeed in Business (According to a 15th Century Trade Merchant)

down, his intelligence dims and his memory becomes less quick, so that he risks committing many errors in his business.” “In a sense, these are very early concepts of corporate social responsibility,” says Harvard Business School... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna

24 Nov 2003
Research & Ideas

Boards and Corporate Governance: A Balanced Scorecard Approach

accounting scandals, companies have engaged in "earnings games," evidenced by widespread earnings restatements: Over the past five years there have been more than 1,000 restatements, reflecting a lack of board oversight. Many... View Details

Keywords: Re: Robert S. Kaplan & Krishna G. Palepu

18 Jul 2022
Research & Ideas

After the 'Crypto Crash,' What's Next for Digital Currencies?

And so, there’s a lot of uncertainty around crypto; and in times of overall financial market uncertainty, people pull away from riskier assets. At the same time, a lot of the basic technology investment and entrepreneurship in crypto is... View Details

Keywords: by Christina Pazzanese, Harvard Gazette; Financial Services; Technology

20 Oct 2010
Op-Ed

Export Competitiveness: Reversing the Logic

specific data and econometric approach used (Rodriguez/Rodrik, 2000; Median-Smith, 2001). There are also questions as to whether the relationship between specific trade policy instruments such as tariffs and growth has not been stable over time (Clemens/Williamson,... View Details

Keywords: by Christian Ketels

18 Dec 2019
Book

6 Skills That Wise Companies Harness for World-Changing Innovation

dynamically. The book also presents the concept of “phronesis,” a kind of practical wisdom that benefits not only the organization, but also society at large. From ancient Greek, “phronesis is translated as practical knowledge, so it’s a... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz

21 Nov 2015
HBS Case

HBS Cases: Stella McCartney Combines High Fashion with Environmental Values

exactly the image we have when we think about sustainability. We think about much more rational and thoughtful consumption. So you could see why these two concepts would seem contradictory. And people would ask me: why are you making such... View Details

Keywords: by Brian Kenny; Fashion

15 Jun 2007
Research & Ideas

Remembering Alfred Chandler

But I saw him on campus often, particularly at the Business History Seminar on Monday afternoons in the fall. In fact, I remember how we used to schedule the seminar around duck-hunting season, on account of Al, who loved the sport. The... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

Publications