Publications
Publications
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- All HBS Web
(1,811)
- Faculty Publications (305)
- February 2014
- Article
Governance and CEO Turnover: Do Something or Do the Right Thing?
By: Ray Fisman, Rakesh Khurana, Matthew Rhodes-Kropf and Soojin Yim
We study how corporate governance affects firm value through the decision of whether to fire or retain the CEO. We present a model in which weak governance—which prevents shareholders from controlling the board—protects inferior CEOs from dismissal, while at the same... View Details
- January 2014
- Case
In a Bind: Peak Sealing Technologies' Product Line Extension Dilemma
By: Robert J. Dolan and Heather Beckham
Peak Sealing Technologies (PST), a manufacturer of premium carton sealing tapes, stresses technological innovation as the company's core value. But when a new regional competitor introduces a less expensive and inferior product, PST is faced with a decision that could... View Details
- 2014
- Article
Corporate Governance and the Financial Crisis in Italy
By: Dante Roscini
The financial crisis hit Italy harder than many other Eurozone countries. In part this was due to the fact that the crisis came upon a system that was weakened by years of sub-par economic growth. One of the several endogenous factors that explain the stagnation of the... View Details
- 2014
- Case
Yonyou 2013
By: F. Warren McFarlan, Zheng Xiaoming and Ziqian Zhao
The case describes how a leading Chinese management software provider Yonyou (formerly known as "UFIDA") disrupted its value chain-based business model to transform itself into a platform provider. The case describes Yonyou's past success, the market forces and... View Details
- 2014
- Teaching Note
Yonyou 2013 (TN)
By: F. Warren McFarlan, Zheng Xiaoming and Ziqian Zhao
The case describes how a leading Chinese management software provider Yonyou (formerly known as "UFIDA") disrupted its value chain-based business model to transform itself into a platform provider. The case describes Yonyou's past success, the market forces and... View Details
Keywords: Business Models; ERP; Platforms; Strategy; Transformations; China; Information Technology; China
- June 2013
- Article
Dysfunction in the Boardroom: Understanding the Persistent Gender Gap at the Highest Levels
By: Boris Groysberg and Deborah Bell
The article examines the gender gap that is present in boardrooms in U.S. corporations and internationally in 2013 as more women attempt to reach executive-level positions. Countries in the European Union are attempting to institute laws regarding the minimum... View Details
- April 2013
- Article
Overcoming Resistance to Organizational Change: Strong Ties and Affective Cooptation
By: Julie Battilana and Tiziana Casciaro
We propose a relational theory of how change agents in organizations use the strength of ties in their network to overcome resistance to change. We argue that strong ties to potentially influential organization members who are ambivalent about a change (fence-sitters)... View Details
- March–April 2013
- Article
Vaporware, Suddenware and Trueware: New Product Preannouncements under Market Uncertainty
By: Elie Ofek and Ozge Turut
A firm may want to preannounce its plans to develop a new product in order to stimulate future demand. But given that such communications can affect rivals' incentives to develop the same new product, a firm may decide to preannounce untruthfully in order to deter... View Details
- February 2013
- Case
Diamond Foods, Inc.
By: Suraj Srinivasan and Tim Gray
The Diamonds Foods, Inc. case describes the major accounting blow up at the company in late 2011 that was triggered by a report by Off Wall Street, a prominent short selling research firm. Diamond Foods, a high flying growth company in 2011, grew from a walnut farmers'... View Details
Keywords: Accounting Restatements; Accounting Scandal; Accounting; Financial Analysis; Financial Statement Analysis; Short Selling; Revenue Recognition; Board Of Directors; Audit Committees; Auditing; Financial Reporting; Financial Statements; Agribusiness; Accrual Accounting; Earnings Management; Corporate Accountability; Corporate Disclosure; Corporate Governance; Valuation; Revenue; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; California; Cambridge
- January 2013 (Revised April 2013)
- Case
Microsoft Server & Tools
By: Marco Iansiti and Alain Serels
In 2011, Microsoft's Server & Tools Business (STB) was large, fast growing and highly profitable on the strength of traditional packaged product lines led by the Windows Server operating system. Even as the current packaged business was performing exceptionally well,... View Details
- January 2013 (Revised August 2013)
- Case
First Solar: CFRA's Accounting Quality Concerns
By: Suraj Srinivasan and Ian McKown Cornell
The case relates to accounting quality analysis conducted by the leading research firm Center for Financial Research and Analysis (CFRA) on companies in the solar industry with a focus on First Solar Inc. In 2009, CFRA was concerned that First Solar, like much of the... View Details
Keywords: Accounting; Accounting Quality; Financial Accounting; Financial Statement Analysis; Accounting Fraud; Accounting Red Flags; Accounting Scandal; Risk and Uncertainty; Quality; Earnings Management; Valuation; Crime and Corruption; Financial Statements; Energy Sources; Green Technology Industry; Accounting Industry; Energy Industry
- January 2013 (Revised March 2017)
- Teaching Note
Luotang Power: Variances Explained (Brief Case)
By: Robert Simons and Craig Chapman
The primary objective is to explore the concepts of variance analysis in performance from one year to the next and the predictability of contracting counterparts to extract value from contract positions where they can. The general manager of a coal-fired power plant... View Details
- 2013
- Case
The COFCO Group
By: F. Warren McFarlan, Zheng Xiaoming and Ziqian Zhao
COFCO was China's sole legitimate window for agricultural foreign trade before 1987. The reform of China's foreign trade system beginning in 1987 cost COFCO its monopoly position. Subsequently, the SOE giant capitalized on its foreign trade expertise to strategically... View Details
- 2013
- Teaching Note
The COFCO Group (TN)
By: F. Warren McFarlan, Zheng Xiaoming and Ziqian Zhao
COFCO was China's sole legitimate window for agricultural foreign trade before 1987. The reform of China's foreign trade system beginning in 1987 cost COFCO its monopoly position. Subsequently, the SOE giant capitalized on its foreign trade expertise to strategically... View Details
- December 2012
- Case
Trouble Brewing for Green Mountain Coffee Roasters
By: Suraj Srinivasan and Michael Norris
In October 2011, noted hedge fund manager David Einhorn of Greenlight Capital delivered a presentation at an investors' conference analyzing the business and accounting quality weaknesses of Green Mountain Coffee Roasters. Until then Green Mountain had exhibited rapid... View Details
Keywords: Accounting Fraud; Accounting Quality; Accounting Red Flags; Accounting Restatements; Accounting Scandal; Accounting Information; Financial Accounting; Financial Analysts; Financial Analysis; Financial Intermediaries; Hedge Funds; Financial Ratios; Financial Statement Analysis; Valuation Methodologies; Earnings Quality; Accounting; Quality; Earnings Management; Valuation; Crime and Corruption; Mergers and Acquisitions; Financial Reporting; Investment Funds; Financial Statements; Food and Beverage Industry
- 2012
- Book
Strength in Numbers: The Political Power of Weak Interests
By: Gunnar Trumbull
This book investigates the sources of interest group influence on public policy. Trumbull argues that diffuse groups like consumers are more influential, and industry less influential, than we commonly assume. View Details
- December 2012
- Article
Structural Impediments to African Growth? New Evidence from Real Wages in British Africa, 1880–1965
By: Ewout Frankema and Marlous van Waijenburg
Recent literature on the historical determinants of African poverty has emphasized structural impediments to African growth, such as adverse geographical conditions, weak institutions, or ethnic heterogeneity. But has African poverty been a persistent historical... View Details
Keywords: Living Standards; Real Wages; Labor Market; Colonial Institutions; Economic Growth; Wages; History; Africa
- September 2012 (Revised January 2013)
- Case
Martin Smith: July 2012
By: Josh Lerner and Felda Hardymon
Martin Smith, a recently hired general partner at a Brazil-based venture capital firm, must decide among three deal opportunities. Each has different strengths (management, market, and technology) but each has its own weaknesses as well. He must also consider each deal... View Details
- 2012
- Working Paper
Clusters, Convergence, and Economic Performance
By: Mercedes Delgado, Michael E. Porter and Scott Stern
This paper evaluates the role of regional cluster composition in the economic performance of industries, clusters, and regions. On the one hand, diminishing returns to specialization in a location can result in a convergence effect: the growth rate of an industry... View Details
- May 2012
- Case
Columbia's Final Mission (Abridged) (A)
By: Amy C. Edmondson and Kerry Herman
This case documents decision-making processes, organizational culture, and other contributors to NASA's failed Columbia mission in 2003. Addresses the question of how organizations should deal with "ambiguous threats" - weak signals of potential crisis - and explores... View Details