Boards Of Directors - Publications - Faculty & Research

March 1991 (Revised January 1996)
Case

The General Mills Board and Strategic Planning

Examines the General Mills Board of Directors' role in the General Mills joint venture with Nestle S.A. to sell cereals outside of North America. It raises the more general question of the appropriate role for the board of directors in strategy formulation. View Details

Keywords: Joint Ventures; Trade; Corporate Governance; Managerial Roles; Expansion; Food and Beverage Industry; North America

Citation

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August 2013
Supplement

Lyric Dinner Theater (Video Supplement)

By: Jim Sharpe

Keywords: Turnarounds; Operations; Boards Of Directors; Family-owned Business; Hiring; Entrepreneurship; Family and Family Relationships; Family Business; Family Ownership; Entertainment; Negotiation; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Saint Louis

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01 Mar 2004
News

Reforming Company Boards

been a lot of good talk by directors about what should be done. Charters and guidelines have been published on corporate Web sites about all the things that boards and... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Services

July 2015 (Revised March 2021)
Case

Proxy Contest at DuPont

By: Jay W. Lorsch and Emily McTague

On January 9, 2015, Nelson Peltz of Trian Fund Management launched a proxy fight for four out of the twelve seats on the DuPont board. The fund had previously published a public letter addressed to shareholders outlining its proposal to break the company into three... View Details

Keywords: Board Of Directors; Hedge Fund; Activist Investing; Activist Investors; Proxy Fight; Corporate Governance; Governing and Advisory Boards; Investment Activism; Chemical Industry; United States

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15 Feb 2022
News

Women’s Gains on Bank Boards at Risk of Stalling

November 29, 2011
Article

The Role of The Board in Creating a Sustainable Strategy

By: Robert G. Eccles, Ioannis Ioannou and George Serafeim

While conceptually elegant, the belief that a corporation's role is to maximize value for shareholders is under increasing challenge as society's expectations for companies change. An equally elegant new concept that takes account of these dual pressures has yet to... View Details

Keywords: Value Creation; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Corporate Strategy; Business and Shareholder Relations; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Performance Expectations; Governing and Advisory Boards; Management Practices and Processes; Decisions; Risk and Uncertainty; Cost vs Benefits; Information

Citation

Read Now

22 Feb 2023
News

The Determinants and Consequences of Appointing Activist Directors

January 2017
Supplement

Q&A: Ghislain de Charentenay, Sanford C. Bernstein Director of Research, Asia

By: Linda A. Hill and Allison J. Wigen

In this video supplement to the HBS case series "Sanford C. Bernstein Goes to Asia," case protagonist Ghislain de Charentenay recalls his leadership priorities and challenges upon being appointed director of research in Asia. View Details

Keywords: Talent Management; Sell-side Analysts; Organizational Behavior; Leadership And Managing People; Leadership, Personal Strategy ＆ Style; Leadership Style; Asia; Hong Kong; Collaboration; Leadership; Organizational Culture; Talent and Talent Management; Financial Services Industry; Asia; Hong Kong

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December 2022 (Revised May 2024)
Background Note

Brief Note on Staggered Boards

By: Lynn S. Paine and Will Hurwitz

This background note discusses the evolution, use, and prevalence of staggered boards. By comparison with unitary boards whose members are all elected annually for one-year terms, staggered boards are divided into subsets of directors, with one subset up for election... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Governance; Governing and Advisory Boards; Business History; Trends; Decision Choices and Conditions; United States

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29 Jul 2014
News

Case Study: Should a Female Director “Tone It Down”?

07 May 2014
HBS Seminar

Oriana Bandiera, Professor of Economics; Director of STICERD, London School of Economics

16 Jul 2020
News

Harvard Business School Appoints Rob Zeaske Director of Its Social Enterprise Initiative

06 Dec 2015
News

Yahoo board is the latest focus of troubled company

TeachingInterests

Making Corporate Boards More Effective

By: Suraj Srinivasan

While a corporate board may have broadly defined legal duties, its role in evaluating management, providing strategic oversight, and dealing with the complexity of today's regulatory environment has never been more tested—or more critically dependent on effective... View Details

Research Summary

Talent and Ownership on Corporate Boards

By: Cynthia A. Montgomery

This research, with co-author Emilie Feldman, examines the performance of firms whose boards include directors with sizeable ownership stakes and relatively low levels of business experience. In contrast to theories that predict a strong... View Details

Program

Preparing to Be a Corporate Director

opportunities in corporate board service. You will gain a greater understanding of the role and responsibilities of corporate directors and the... View Details

01 Aug 2023
News

Admissions Director Q&A: Jana Kierstead of Harvard Business School

16 May 2019
Panel Discussion

Under Pressure: Directors in an Era of Shareholder Primacy

By: Lynn S. Paine

Citation

01 Jun 2006
News

Getting on Board

current board members (nearly 10 percent of the directors of Standard & Poor’s 500 companies are 70 or older), Stautberg and Chin believe there... View Details

Keywords: Deborah Blagg; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services; Management