Publications

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2014
Working Paper

Pay Harmony: Peer Comparison and Executive Compensation

By: Claudine Gartenberg and Julie Wulf

This study suggests that peer comparison affects both wage setting and productivity within firms. We report three changes in division manager compensation following a 1991–1992 controversy over executive pay. We argue that this controversy increased wage comparisons... View Details

Keywords: Pay-for-Performance; Internal Labor Markets; Peer Comparison; Firm Geography; Behavior; Executive Compensation; Policy

October 2020
Article

Peer Influence on Trade Credit

By: Daniel Gyimah, Michael Machokoto and Anywhere (Siko) Sikochi

We examine the influence of peer firms on trade credit policies of listed firms in the United States. We posit and find evidence that firms mimic their peers in formulating trade credit policies. The findings are more pronounced for firms in highly competitive product... View Details

Keywords: Trade Credit; Peer Effects; Product Market Competition; Trade; Credit; Policy; Competition

2014
Working Paper

Search-Based Peer Firms: Aggregating Investor Perceptions Through Internet Co-Searches

By: Charles M.C. Lee, Paul Ma and Charles C.Y. Wang

Applying a "co-search" algorithm to Internet traffic at the SEC's EDGAR web-site, we develop a novel method for identifying economically-related peer firms and for measuring their relative importance. Our results show that firms appearing in chronologically adjacent... View Details

Keywords: Peer Firm; EDGAR Search Traffic; Revealed Preference; Co-search; Industry Classification; Analytics and Data Science; Internet and the Web; Mathematical Methods; Corporate Finance

Article

Search-Based Peer Firms: Aggregating Investor Perceptions Through Internet Co-Searches

By: Charles M.C. Lee, Paul Ma and Charles C.Y. Wang

Applying a "co-search" algorithm to Internet traffic at the SEC's EDGAR website, we develop a novel method for identifying economically-related peer firms and for measuring their relative importance. Our results show that firms appearing in chronologically adjacent... View Details

Keywords: Peer Firm; EDGAR Search Traffic; Revealed Preference; Co-search; Industry Classification; Perception; Internet and the Web; Investment

2016
Working Paper

The Search for Peer Firms: When Do Crowds Provide Wisdom?

By: Charles M.C. Lee, Paul Ma and Charles C.Y. Wang

In knowledge-based economies, many business enterprises defy traditional industry boundaries. In this study, we evaluate six "big data" approaches to peer firm identifications and show that some, but not all, "wisdom-of-crowd" techniques perform exceptionally well. We... View Details

Keywords: Peer Firm; EDGAR Co-search; Analyst Co-coverage; Wisdom Of Crowds; Performance Benchmarking; Crowd Of Crowds; Internet and the Web; Accounting

20 Nov 2012
Working Paper Summaries

Pay Harmony: Peer Comparison and Executive Compensation

Keywords: by Claudine Gartenberg & Julie Wulf

Pay Harmony: Peer Comparison and Executive Compensation

This study suggests that peer comparison affects both wage setting and productivity within firms. We report three changes in division manager compensation following a 1991-1992 controversy over executive pay. We argue that this... View Details

22 Jan 2014
Working Paper Summaries

Separating Homophily and Peer Influence with Latent Space

Keywords: by Joseph P. Davin, Sunil Gupta & Mikołaj Jan Piskorski

2016
Working Paper

An Evaluation of Compensation Benchmarking Peer Groups Based on Mutual Peer-Designating Behaviors

By: Jee Eun Shin

In this paper, I argue that firms mutually recognizing each other as compensation benchmarking peers constitute viable competitors in the same CEO labor market, and that non-mutual peer relationships can serve as a tool to evaluate firms’ executive compensation... View Details

Keywords: Executive Compensation

21 Nov 2017
News

Alumni Peer into the Future of Energy

of the largest users of petroleum products.” Robert Tichio (MBA 2005) Principal, Riverstone/Carlyle “I’m partner and managing director at Riverstone Holdings, one of the world’s largest private equity firms focused on the energy sector.... View Details

Keywords: Margie Kelley; solar power; wind power

02 May 2000
Research & Ideas

Leading Professional Service Firms

people have very different backgrounds and skills—clearly lawyers are not like software developers—but they have a lot in common too. Fundamentally, professional service firm leaders grapple with the same kinds of management issues. It's... View Details

Keywords: Re: Jay W. Lorsch; Service; Consulting; Accounting

Program

Leading Professional Service Firms

Summary As entry barriers rapidly disappear, competition is accelerating and reshaping the business landscape for professional service firms. Navigating this continual change successfully requires extraordinary leadership abilities. This professional service View Details

Keywords: Professional Services; Professional Services

April–May 2019
Article

Disclosure Incentives When Competing Firms Have Common Ownership

By: Jihwon Park, Jalal Sani, Nemit Shroff and Hal D. White

This paper examines whether common ownership – i.e., instances where investors simultaneously own significant stakes in competing firms – affects voluntary disclosure. We argue that common ownership (i) reduces proprietary cost concerns of disclosure, and (ii)... View Details

Keywords: Voluntary Disclosure; Externalities; Corporate Disclosure; Ownership

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2022
Working Paper

Passing the Mic: Career and Firm Outcomes of Executive Interactions

By: Wei Cai, Ethan Rouen and Yuan Zou

We exploit a unique feature of conference calls to study one type of interaction among executives—directly inviting colleagues to respond to analysts’ questions. We find that the frequency of initiating interaction is positively associated with an executive’s ability,... View Details

Keywords: Conference Calls; CEO Succession; Executive Interactions; Promotion; Interpersonal Communication; Personal Development and Career; Retention

2020
Working Paper

Social Influence in the COVID-19 Pandemic: Community Establishments’ Closure Decisions Follow Those of Nearby Chain Establishments

By: Abhishek Nagaraj, Mathijs de Vaan, Saqib Mumtaz and Sameer Srivastava

As conveners that bring various stakeholders into the same physical space, firms can powerfully influence the course of pandemics such as COVID-19. Even when operating under government orders and health guidelines, firms have considerable discretion to keep their... View Details

Keywords: COVID-19; Peer Influence; Closure Decisions; Health Pandemics; Business Ventures; Decisions; Business and Community Relations

07 Feb 2013
Working Paper Summaries

Which Does More to Determine the Quality of Corporate Governance in Emerging Economies, Firms or Countries?

Keywords: by Andrea Hugill & Jordan Siegel

March 2019
Article

When Does Advice Impact Startup Performance?

By: Aaron Chatterji, Solène Delecourt, Sharique Hasan and Rembrand Koning

Why do some entrepreneurs thrive while others fail? We explore whether the advice entrepreneurs receive about managing their employees influences their startup's performance. We conducted a randomized field experiment in India with 100 high-growth technology firms... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurial Management; Field Experiment; Peer Effects; Entrepreneurial Ecosystems; Advice; Management Style; Management Practices and Processes; Knowledge Dissemination; Entrepreneurship; Performance; India

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2014
Working Paper

Which Does More to Determine the Quality of Corporate Governance in Emerging Economies, Firms or Countries?

By: Andrea Hugill and Jordan Siegel

Scholars of corporate governance have debated the relative importance of country and firm characteristics in understanding corporate governance variation across emerging economies. Using panel data and a number of model specifications, we shed new light on this debate.... View Details

Keywords: Quality; Corporate Governance; Developing Countries and Economies

March 2014 (Revised September 2019)
Teaching Note

Say on Pay: Qualcomm, Inc. Shareholders Vote 'Maybe'

By: Suraj Srinivasan and Charles C.Y. Wang

This case centers around Qualcomm shareholders' 2012 Say-on-Pay vote and the dispute between the Institutional Shareholder Services and management regarding the appropriateness of the CEO's compensation plan. Was ISS right that Qualcomm CEO's pay was inflated and... View Details

Keywords: ISS; Proxy Advisor; Investor Communication; Investor Relations; Peers; Say-on-Pay; Benchmarking; Peer Group; Compensation Committee; Board Of Directors; Governing and Advisory Boards; Executive Compensation; Corporate Governance; Business and Shareholder Relations