Publications

November 2012 (Revised October 2013)
Supplement

Global Expansion at Sanford C. Bernstein (C)

By: Linda A. Hill and Dana Teppert

Robert van Brugge, CEO of Sanford C. Bernstein, a premier sell-side research firm, has recently appointed a new Director of Asian Research to lead the firm's Hong Kong office. Van Brugge wonders what advice he should give the new Director as the firm continues to... View Details

Keywords: Collaboration; Organizational Design; Talent Management; Leadership; Finance; Globalization; Organizational Culture; Financial Services Industry; Hong Kong

July 1997 (Revised March 2005)
Case

Lille Tissages, S.A.

By: William J. Bruns Jr.

The marketing director and finance director must set the price for an expensive yet competitive fabric. Recent price increases have not been matched by competitors, and market share has been lost. The case provides an opportunity to practice contribution analysis... View Details

Keywords: Cost; Competition; Price; Accounting

December 1997 (Revised October 2006)
Case

Merck Sharp & Dohme Argentina, Inc. (A)

By: Lynn S. Paine and Hal Hogan

Describes the efforts of the new managing director of Merck's subsidiary for Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay to transform the organization and its culture. Focuses on a critical decision: whether to offer the son of a high-ranking official in the government's national... View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Ethics; Decision Making; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Leadership; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Conflict of Interests; Argentina; Uruguay; Paraguay

July 2010
Article

Board Interlocks and the Propensity to Be Targeted in Private Equity Transactions

By: Toby E. Stuart and Soojin Yim

In this paper, we examine the propensity for U.S. public companies to become targets for private equity-backed, take-private transactions. We consider the characteristics of 483 private equity-backed deals in the 2000-2007 period relative to public companies, and find... View Details

Keywords: Board Interlocks; Board Networks; Social Networks; Private Equity; Corporate Governance; Public Ownership; Market Transactions; Governing and Advisory Boards; United States

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March 2022
Supplement

Transforming Kimball International, Inc. (B)

By: Lynn S. Paine and Will Hurwitz

Supplements the (A) case. View Details

August 2009 (Revised November 2010)
Case

Managing Creativity at Shanghai Tang

By: Roy Y.J. Chua and Robert G. Eccles

Shanghai Tang is a luxury brand that focuses on Chinese-inspired fashion, accessories, and home decoration products. In fall 2008, amidst a growing global economic crisis, Raphael Ie Masne, executive chairman of Shanghai Tang, had to decide what to do with the recently... View Details

Keywords: Talent and Talent Management; Financial Crisis; Employee Relationship Management; Selection and Staffing; Creativity; Apparel and Accessories Industry

May 2002 (Revised January 2006)
Case

SG Cowen: New Recruits

By: Thomas J. DeLong and Vineeta Vijayaraghavan

Chip Rae, director of recruiting at SG Cowen, must decide which recruits to keep after the final interview process for new outside associate hires. Along with team captains assigned to each school, he reviews the criteria used to make hiring decisions. Their new... View Details

Keywords: Recruitment; Selection and Staffing; Decision Making; Management Practices and Processes; Service Industry

Teaching Interest

Overview

By: Lynn S. Paine

Ms. Paine currently teaches Boards of Directors and Corporate Governance in the second-year MBA program. She also co-chairs the HBS flagship programs for corporate directors Making Corporate Boards More Effective, Advanced Corporate Director Seminar, as well as its... View Details

Article

Consequences of Financial Reporting Failure for Outside Directors: Evidence from Accounting Restatements and Audit Committee Members

By: Suraj Srinivasan

I use a sample of 409 companies that restated their earnings from 1997 to 2001 to examine penalties for outside directors, particularly audit committee members, when their companies experience accounting restatements. Penalties from lawsuits and Securities and Exchange... View Details

Keywords: Outcome or Result; Business Earnings; Financial Statements; Lawsuits and Litigation; Labor; Markets; Financial Reporting; Accounting Audits; Cost; Reputation

SSRN

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14 Apr 2003
Research & Ideas

Andy Grove on the Confident Leader

Christensen and Walter Kiechel, editorial director of Harvard Business School Publishing, to discuss these and other questions confronting business leaders today. Kiechel: You've spoken of high-tech companies, Intel included, moving... View Details

Keywords: by Walter Kiechel; Technology

Research Summary

Overview

By: Lynn S. Paine

My work focuses on boards of directors and corporate governance. I am currently developing new cases and materials for our MBA and Executive offerings in this area and working on a project entitled The Future of Corporate Governance. In addition, I am currently... View Details

07 Jul 2008
Research & Ideas

Innovation Corrupted: How Managers Can Avoid Another Enron

facilitated by Enron's bankers and advisors and largely missed by its board of directors and other watchdogs. Here are some "high level" details: Jeffrey Skilling had begun working with Enron in 1986 as a consultant with... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Energy; Utilities

December 1999
Case

Agrochemicals at Ciba-Geigy AG (A)

By: Michael L. Tushman, Wendy Smith and Daniel Radov

After spending five years to develop a revolutionary product, the director of Ciba-Geigy's fungicide research department is handed an unfavorable market study. The case details the R&D process for the new product, including information on corporate partnerships,... View Details

Keywords: Agribusiness; Plant-Based Agribusiness; Research and Development; Innovation and Invention; Innovation Strategy; Product Launch; Marketing Channels; Change Management; Product Development; Business Processes; Organizational Structure; Corporate Accountability; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry

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December 1980 (Revised March 1991)
Case

Sof-Optics, Inc. (A)

The marketing director of a fast-growing firm must make some decisions about the customer service department. The volume in the department has been rising steadily, eye doctors are waiting longer for orders to be filled, and morale in the department is slipping. With... View Details

Keywords: Marketing Strategy; Customer Focus and Relationships; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

07 Nov 2023
Cold Call Podcast

How Should Meta Be Governed for the Good of Society?

Keywords: Re: Jesse M. Shapiro; Technology; Communications

January 2002 (Revised September 2022)
Case

Aqualisa Quartz: Simply a Better Shower

By: Youngme E. Moon and Kerry Herman

Harry Rawlinson is managing director of Aqualisa, a major U.K. manufacturer of showers. He has just launched the most significant shower innovation in recent history: the Quartz shower. The shower provides significant improvements in terms of quality, cost, and ease of... View Details

Keywords: Problems and Challenges; Product Launch; Consumer Behavior; Product Positioning; Technological Innovation; Decision Choices and Conditions; Sales; Strategy; Manufacturing Industry; Consumer Products Industry; United Kingdom

25 Aug 2003
Research & Ideas

Studying Japan from the Inside

developing business cases in the country, helping faculty conduct research, and acting as a liaison between the School and the host country. The JRO has completed eight case studies, which will be studied in HBS classrooms for years to come. Another fourteen cases are... View Details

Keywords: by Cynthia Churchwell

March 2022 (Revised October 2022)
Case

Transforming Kimball International, Inc. (A)

By: Lynn S. Paine and Will Hurwitz

Kimball International, Inc. (KII), led by CEO Kristie Juster, and its board of directors, chaired by Kim Ryan, faced critical questions about KII’s future in the spring of 2021. Two years earlier, the board had appointed Juster as the new CEO of KII, a publicly traded,... View Details

January 2020 (Revised December 2024)
Case

Governing PG&E

By: Lynn S. Paine and Will Hurwitz

The five commissioners of the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) listened intently at a public forum in April 2019 as PG&E Corporation’s out-going chairman Richard Kelly described the company’s proposed new board. PG&E, which provided electricity and natural... View Details