Publications

September 2021
Case

Worldreader: Helping Readers Build a Better World

By: Marco Bertini, Elie Ofek and Julia Kelley

Founded in 2010, Worldreader was an international nonprofit organization that promoted reading to children around the world. For many years, Worldreader distributed e-readers to under-resourced communities and funded its operations primarily through philanthropic... View Details

08 Mar 2011
First Look

First Look: March 8

Cournot-style competition. Meanwhile, each advertiser must pay a participation cost to use each ad platform, and advertiser entry strategies are derived using symmetric Bayes-Nash equilibrium that lead to the VCG outcome of the ad... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

2016
Working Paper

Through the Grapevine: Network Effects on the Design of Executive Compensation Contracts

By: Susanna Gallani

Effective design of executive compensation contracts involves choosing and weighting performance measures, as well as defining the mix between fixed and incentive-based pay components, with a view to fostering talent retention and goal congruence. The variability in... View Details

Keywords: Compensation Design; Board Interlocks; Compensation Consultants; Network Centrality; Homophily; Quadratic Assignment Procedure; Blockholders; Executive Compensation

SSRN

Read Now

July 2008 (Revised June 2012)
Case

Corruption in Germany

By: Rawi E. Abdelal, Rafael Di Tella and Jonathan Schlefer

Why do managers become corrupt? Does corruption ever pay? When do friendly relations cross into bribery? How can CEOs manage and prevent outbreaks of corruption? These and other questions are raised by three short case studies of corruption in Germany: at the global... View Details

Keywords: Crime and Corruption; Law; Managerial Roles; Practice; Conflict of Interests; Germany

06 Feb 2006
Research & Ideas

The Trouble Behind Livedoor

Takafumi Horie, the thirty-three-year-old CEO of Livedoor, had become Japan's anti-establishment enfant terrible: rich, hard charging, willing to take big risks such as the ultimately failed attempt to acquire a controlling interest in... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Financial Services; Technology

14 May 2020
Research & Ideas

What Leaders Can Do to Fight the COVID Fog

What is keeping you awake at night during this global pandemic? Over the past few weeks, we asked 600 CEOs that very question. Their responses were touching and instructive, but also daunting about the challenges leaders face at this... View Details

Keywords: by Boris Groysberg and Robin Abrahams

May 2010 (Revised November 2010)
Case

Investment Technology Group

By: Clayton S. Rose and David Lane

Investment Technology Group (ITG) CEO Robert Gasser wondered if the financial crisis had permanently affected the firm's business model. A leader in trade analytics and execution for institutional equity investors, ITG had grown since its establishment in 1987 in step... View Details

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Financial Crisis; Investment; Resignation and Termination; Crisis Management; Product Positioning; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Financial Services Industry; Information Technology Industry; New York (city, NY)

06 Feb 2018
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas: February 6, 2018

including a monopolist, two competing multichannel retailers, as well as a mixed duopoly. Though self-matching can negatively impact a retailer when consumers pay the lower price, we uncover two novel mechanisms that can make... View Details

30 Sep 2014
First Look

First Look: September 30

years, Strauss and Tepperberg managed to keep Marquee one of NYC's hottest clubs for almost nine years. Meanwhile, they significantly expanded their portfolio of clubs in New York City, Las Vegas, and abroad. Now, after a costly renovation of Marquee New York City,... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

01 May 2018
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, May 1, 2018

https://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cbmp/product/313073 Harvard Business School Case 518-071 Huawei: How Can We Lead the Way? On September 12, 2017, just as Apple’s Tim Cook was unveiling the iPhone X, Richard Yu, CEO of Huawei’s Consumer... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

14 Oct 2014
First Look

First Look: October 14

Review Making Charity Pay By: Norton, Michael I., and Jill Avery Abstract—Companies are increasingly experimenting with the use of philanthropy to enhance consumer loyalty, brand awareness, and sales. But even highly creative approaches... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

February 2015
Case

Beckman Coulter, 2011

By: John R. Wells and Galen Danskin

In early 2011, Danaher was contemplating the acquisition of Beckman Coulter. With $3.7 billion of revenues in 2010 and $431 million in operating profits, California-based Beckman Coulter was a global leader in blood cell count diagnostic systems and also supplied a... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Strategy; Decision Choices and Conditions; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

April 2010 (Revised October 2010)
Case

Vale: Global Expansion in the Challenging World of Mining

By: Tarun Khanna, Aldo Musacchio and Ricardo Reisen de Pinho

In 2009 the management of Vale, a Brazilian diversified mining company and the largest iron ore producer in the world, was under pressure from at least two fronts. First, the emergence of China as the most important consumer of iron ore in the last few years had... View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Investment; Global Strategy; Risk Management; Market Entry and Exit; Business and Government Relations; Competitive Strategy; Mining Industry; Brazil

09 Jul 2013
Research & Ideas

Catching Up With Boards--Jay Lorsch

When most people think of a company's organization chart, they put the chief executive officer at the top of the pyramid. But those with an interest in corporate governance know that's not correct. After all, the CEO reports to the board... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Aisner

23 Dec 2014
First Look

First Look: December 23

increases reliance on one's own egocentric perspective when reasoning about the mental states of others. Publisher's link: http://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Publication%20Files/Todd%20et%20al%202014_162adbe2-6427-4cd1-8675-46aab9eda0e7.pdf Working Papers Managing the Family... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

Article

The Influence of Ownership on Accounting Information Expenditures

This paper analyzes the association between ownership, top management incentives, and expenditures on accounting information. We argue that organizations with privately appointed boards of directors such as for-profit and non-governmental nonprofit organizations use... View Details

Keywords: Governance; Motivation and Incentives; Accounting; Health Care and Treatment; Ownership; Health Industry