Publications

Editorial

Elon Musk's Unusual Compensation Plan Isn't Really About Compensation at All

By: George Serafeim

Earlier this year, Tesla shareholders approved likely the largest compensation package ever awarded to a CEO—for a CEO who clearly doesn’t need the money. Elon Musk is already incredibly rich and also doesn’t seem particularly motivated by further wealth. So why do it?... View Details

Keywords: Tesla; Elon Musk; Innovation; Investor Communication; Investor Relations; Short-termism; Long-termism; Disruption; Executive Compensation; Business and Shareholder Relations; Communication Intention and Meaning; Mission and Purpose

Register to Read

31 May 2020
Working Paper Summaries

Demystifying the Math of the Coronavirus

Keywords: by Elon Kohlberg and Abraham Neyman; Health

19 Oct 2017
Working Paper Summaries

Games of Threats

Keywords: by Elon Kohlberg and Abraham Neyman; Education

03 Mar 2017
Working Paper Summaries

Cooperative Strategic Games

Keywords: by Elon Kohlberg and Abraham Neyman; Education

08 Apr 2015
Working Paper Summaries

The Cooperative Solution of Stochastic Games

Keywords: by Elon Kohlberg & Abraham Neyman

October 2016
Case

Elon Musk: Balancing Purpose and Risk

By: Shikhar Ghosh and Sarah Mehta

The case is used to illustrate the place of ‘Purpose’ versus financial risk and returns in a founder’s objectives. It also addresses personal risk profile of different founders, and when paired with the Risk Tolerance Exercise, it enables evaluating one’s own appetite... View Details

Keywords: Electric Vehicle; Solar Power; Vision; Trade-offs; Leadership; Mission and Purpose; Risk and Uncertainty; Entrepreneurship; Failure; United States; North America

06 Aug 2021
Book

Steve Jobs and the Rise of the Celebrity CEO

and services inextricably linked to bosses with outsized personalities. Think Jeff Bezos of Amazon, Steve Jobs of Apple, and Elon Musk of Tesla. All these leaders have one thing in common: charisma—and in fact, today it’s a quality that... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

29 Nov 2022
Research & Ideas

Is There a Method to Musk’s Madness on Twitter?

Since Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, purchased Twitter for $44 billion last month, the company has undergone a series of abrupt shifts. Some changes, like Musk’s firing of 50 percent of the firm’s 7,000 employees, were deliberate.... View Details

Keywords: by Christina Pazzanese, Harvard Gazette; Technology

Research Summary

The Equilibrium Concept in Game Theory

By: Elon Kohlberg

Elon Kohlberg is studying the foundations of the equilibrium concept in game theory, which is to the study of economic systems what the notion of "equilibrium of forces" is to the study of mechanical systems. Although much of economic theory can be viewed in... View Details

June 1990 (Revised August 1995)
Case

RJR Nabisco--1990

By: Andre F. Perold

Describes the situation facing RJR Nabisco one year after the leveraged buyout by Kohlberg Kravis and Roberts. A vehicle for analyzing the financial restructuring of a highly leveraged, but operationally healthy, company. View Details

Keywords: Leveraged Buyouts; Restructuring; Financial Strategy; Problems and Challenges

April 1991 (Revised July 1991)
Supplement

RJR Nabisco Board: Guardians of the Gate? (B)

By: Jay W. Lorsch

The special committee of the RJR Nabisco board has extended the bidding deadline for the company by 10 days. The case explains the process by which Kohlberg Kravis Roberts and the management group bid against one another for ownership of RJR Nabisco. The board of... View Details

Keywords: Leveraged Buyouts; Situation or Environment; Bids and Bidding; Decision Making; Managerial Roles; Governing and Advisory Boards; Management Teams; Consumer Products Industry; Food and Beverage Industry

06 Jun 2016
Research & Ideas

Skills and Behaviors that Make Entrepreneurs Successful

understanding of the entrepreneurial leader. The program combines self-assessments of their skills and behaviors by entrepreneurs themselves with evaluations of them by peers, friends, and employees. Along... View Details

Keywords: by HBS Working Knowledge

07 Mar 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research, March 7

these dynamics has been constrained by fragmentation within relevant management research. In this paper, we clarify and describe two narratives that have emerged within past and current research on growth and the internal organization.... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

02 Feb 2023
Research & Ideas

Why We Still Need Twitter: How Social Media Holds Companies Accountable

in monitoring companies. There could be severe negative consequences if Twitter were to cease operations.” Two days later, Chipotle said it would raise employee pay by about $2 per hour, with starting wages ranging from $11 to $18, to... View Details

Keywords: by Kasandra Brabaw; Technology

14 Feb 2023
Research & Ideas

When a Vacation Isn’t Enough, a Sabbatical Can Recharge Your Life—and Your Career

time when some companies are pushing employees to think of themselves as little more than a cog in a wheel. “Americans see business as very much like Elon Musk sleeping under his desk, not Steve Jobs learning calligraphy,” DiDonna says.... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

24 Apr 2017
Op-Ed

Op-Ed: Courage: The Defining Characteristic of Great Leaders

Unilever Sustainable Living Plan with well-defined metrics the following year. Polman’s efforts in his first eight years returned 214 percent to Unilever shareholders. Nevertheless, Kraft Heinz, owned by Brazilian private equity firm 3G,... View Details

Keywords: by Bill George; Auto; Food & Beverage

April 2020 (Revised October 2021)
Case

SpaceX, Economies of Scale, and a Revolution in Space Access

By: Matthew C. Weinzierl, Kylie Lucas and Mehak Sarang

From the time he transformed the world of online banking, Elon Musk established himself as a bold innovator. After selling X.com to PayPal in 2002, he founded a series of revolutionary start-ups, starting with Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX). Hoping to "make... View Details

Keywords: Space Tech; Space Access; Vision; Economies Of Scale; Technological Innovation; Emerging Markets; Commercialization; Finance; Aerospace Industry