Publications

16 Jul 2013
First Look

First Look: July 16

from shareholders than directors in a benchmark sample. They are also more likely than other independent directors to leave sued firms. Overall, shareholders use litigation... View Details

Keywords: Anna Secino

October 2021
Case

Financial Reporting at Mattel

By: Aiyesha Dey, Trung Nguyen, Marshal Herrmann and Julia Kelley

In September 2020, Diana Ferguson was nearing her first Audit Committee meeting as the newly appointed Audit Committee chair of Mattel, Inc. Mattel was just recovering from an accounting scandal which had revealed the company’s poor internal controls and weak board... View Details

July 2022 (Revised January 2025)
Case

Call of Fiduciary Duty: Microsoft Acquires Activision Blizzard

By: Jonas Heese, Joseph Pacelli and James Barnett

In January 2022, Microsoft announces its acquisition of the video game company Activision Blizzard, in a deal valued at $68.7 billion, which would make Microsoft the world’s third largest video game company. The deal came as Activision Blizzard faced gender pay... View Details

Keywords: Accounting; Goodwill Accounting; Analysis; Decision Making; Talent and Talent Management; Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Ethics; Leadership; Risk and Uncertainty; Mergers and Acquisitions; Lawsuits and Litigation; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Video Game Industry; North America; California

Keywords: Corporate Governance; Governance Controls; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Governing and Advisory Boards; Executive Compensation; Lawsuits and Litigation; Crisis Management; Mission and Purpose; Organizational Design; Business and Community Relations; Business and Government Relations; Crime and Corruption; Business Organization; Business Model; Ethics; Corporate Accountability; Governance Compliance; Policy; Compensation and Benefits; Resignation and Termination; Laws and Statutes; Legal Liability; Business or Company Management; Risk Management; Business Processes; Organizational Culture; Organizational Structure; Failure; Agency Theory; Business and Shareholder Relations; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Risk and Uncertainty; Salesforce Management; Public Opinion; Banking Industry; North and Central America

10 Aug 2009
Research & Ideas

High Commitment, High Performance Management

high commitment, high performance company. Martha Lagace: What differentiates HCHP firms and their leaders? Michael Beer: The leaders manage with a multiple stakeholder perspective. Contrary to many CEOs, HCHP leaders—with support from their boards—define firm purpose... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

02 May 2022
What Do You Think?

Can the Case Method Survive Another Hundred Years?

of its employees, Disney ran the risk of alienating portions of all of its constituencies as well as those holding political sway over the home state of its Disney World. The sense of many responses to the column was that Disney CEO Bob... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Education

02 Oct 2006
Research & Ideas

Negotiating in Three Dimensions

Tactics, deal design, and set-up are three crucial components of the most effective negotiations. Yet many negotiators focus only on the tactical part, running the risk of undermining their own best interests. How can you negotiate more... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

Research Summary

Research

The founding and expansion of new firms is central to innovation and economic growth, but the determinants of a new idea’s success are difficult to ascertain. The decision to form a new firm and its ultimate outcome are impacted by ownership structure, financing... View Details

26 Mar 2006
Research & Ideas

The Office of Strategy Management

ones." While they would seem to create the risk of more top-down management, the opposite effect happens. Could you give some examples of positive effects in companies you've seen? What activities should OSMs not be involved in? A:... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

11 May 2009
Research & Ideas

The IT Leader’s Hero Quest

a context apart from the complexity and sensitivity of their own company; this allows executives to engage in important discussions about, for example, risk trade-offs and relationships with peers, subjects that might be too sensitive in... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

21 Feb 2005
Op-Ed

Is Business Management a Profession?

some of the most urgent problems facing modern societies, we find American business schools propagating the doctrine of shareholder primacy and the paradigm of the manager as the mere agent of the company's "owners". Taken in... View Details

Keywords: by Rakesh Khurana, Nitin Nohria & Daniel Penrice

June 2017 (Revised September 2021)
Case

Sales Misconduct at Wells Fargo Community Bank

By: Suraj Srinivasan, Dennis W. Campbell, Susanna Gallani and Amram Migdal

Set in early 2017, this case examines widespread sales misconduct at Wells Fargo Community Bank. Wells Fargo's governance and controls are described in the lead up to the September 2016 announcement that Wells Fargo had settled with regulators for $185 million in... View Details

18 Jun 2018
Research & Ideas

Warning: Scary Warning Labels Work!

risks involved, and prompting them to consider the negative health consequences, the researchers found. Compared to text warnings, graphic warnings worked better by grabbing the attention of consumers. “I’ve gotten some early feedback... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Advertising; Public Relations

09 Sep 2015
Research & Ideas

Leadership Lessons of the Great Recession: Options for Economic Downturns

when other approaches would produce better results for customers, employees, and shareholders and foster better long-term performance of the company. “I’ve been a leader during three recessions, and I’ve never heard a management team talk... View Details

Keywords: by Sandra Sucher & Susan Winterberg; Aerospace; Electronics

November 2005 (Revised December 2016)
Case

Bally Total Fitness (A): The Rise, 1962–2004

By: John R. Wells, Elizabeth A. Raabe and Gabriel Ellsworth

From a single, modest club in 1962, Bally Total Fitness had grown to become—in management’s words—the “largest and only nationwide commercial operator of fitness centers” in the United States in 2004. Bally had faced its share of challenges, but the last couple of... View Details

Keywords: Bally Total Fitness; Fitness; Gyms; Health Clubs; Chain; Securities And Exchange Commission; Paul Toback; Weight Loss; Exercise; Contracts; Personal Training; Retention; Accounting; Accounting Audits; Accrual Accounting; Finance; Advertising; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Model; For-Profit Firms; Customers; Customer Satisfaction; Public Equity; Financing and Loans; Revenue; Revenue Recognition; Geographic Scope; Multinational Firms and Management; Health; Nutrition; Business History; Lawsuits and Litigation; Management; Business or Company Management; Goals and Objectives; Growth and Development Strategy; Marketing; Operations; Service Delivery; Service Operations; Public Ownership; Problems and Challenges; Business and Shareholder Relations; Business Strategy; Competition; Corporate Strategy; Expansion; Segmentation; Trends; Cost Management; Profit; Growth and Development; Leadership Style; Five Forces Framework; Private Ownership; Opportunities; Motivation and Incentives; Competitive Strategy; Health Industry; United States; Illinois; Chicago