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Show Results For
- All HBS Web
(990)
- News (101)
- Research (806)
- Events (2)
- Multimedia (1)
- Faculty Publications (306)
- 2025
- Working Paper
The Invention of Corporate Governance
By: Yueran Ma and Andrei Shleifer
The analysis of corporate governance begins with a central feature of modern capitalism—the separation of ownership and control in large corporations—first empirically documented by Berle and Means (1932). Such separation entails several agency problems reflecting... View Details
Ma, Yueran, and Andrei Shleifer. "The Invention of Corporate Governance." NBER Working Paper Series, No. 33710, April 2025.
- 9 AM – 10 AM EDT, 19 Oct 2017
- Webinars: Trending@HBS
Innovative Finance for the Common Good
Whether it's a vaccine or green bond, drought insurance, pay-as-you-go financing for solar electricity in Kenya, or discounted metro cards in New York, innovative finance is as much about incentives and sound decision making as it is about money; when it works,... View Details
Mihir A. Desai
Mihir A. Desai is the Mizuho Financial Group Professor of Finance at Harvard Business School and a Professor of Law at Harvard Law School. He received his Ph.D. in political economy from Harvard... View Details
- November 2011 (Revised June 2013)
- Case
Allied Electronics Corporation Ltd: Linking Compensation to Sustainability Metrics
Robert Venter, second-generation Chief Executive (CE) of family-owned Allied Electronics Corporation Ltd (Altron), considered the pros and cons of more clearly linking the firm's compensation system to sustainability performance. In June 2011, Altron, a conglomerate... View Details
Eccles, Robert G., George Serafeim, Shelley Xin Li, and Alan Knight. "Allied Electronics Corporation Ltd: Linking Compensation to Sustainability Metrics." Harvard Business School Case 412-075, November 2011. (Revised June 2013.)
- November 2007
- Case
AXA MONY
By: Lucy White and Andre F. Perold
AXA's friendly bid for MONY is contested by activist hedge funds suspicious of management's generous change in control contracts. Votes trade after the record date. AXA financed the bid using an unusual conditionally convertible bond which may have affected incentives... View Details
White, Lucy, and Andre F. Perold. "AXA MONY." Harvard Business School Case 208-062, November 2007.
- 2000
- Other Unpublished Work
Do Executive Stock Options Encourage Risk-Taking?
Executive stock options create incentives for executives to manage firms in ways that maximize firm market value. Since options increase in value with the volatility of the underlying stock, executive stock options provide managers with incentives to take actions that... View Details
Cohen, Randolph B., Brian J. Hall, and Luis M. Viceira. "Do Executive Stock Options Encourage Risk-Taking?" 2000.
- 26 Feb 2008
- First Look
First Look: February 26, 2008
similar behavior following periods of poor financial performance. In addition to offering promotions more frequently, we find that firms offer deeper price discounts to manage earnings during these periods. Furthermore, our results... View Details
Keywords: Martha Lagace
- 26 Feb 2019
- Blog Post
Forget Cash. Here Are Better Ways to Motivate Employees
incentives for future work. Decades of research does confirm that financial incentives can boost effort and performance. But there’s a downside; when an employee’s pay is... View Details
Keywords: All Industries
- January 2017
- Article
Innovation Under Regulatory Uncertainty: Evidence from Medical Technology
By: Ariel Dora Stern
This paper explores how the regulatory approval process affects innovation incentives in medical technologies. Prior studies have found early mover regulatory advantages for drugs. I find the opposite for medical devices, where pioneer entrants spend 34% (7.2 months)... View Details
Stern, Ariel Dora. "Innovation Under Regulatory Uncertainty: Evidence from Medical Technology." Journal of Public Economics 145 (January 2017): 181–200.
- 2011
- Working Paper
Fiduciary Duties and Equity-Debtholder Conflicts
By: Bo Becker and Per Stromberg
We use an important legal event as a natural experiment to examine the effect of management fiduciary duties on equity-debt conflicts. A 1991 Delaware bankruptcy ruling changed the nature of corporate directors' fiduciary duties in firms incorporated in that state.... View Details
Keywords: Borrowing and Debt; Capital Structure; Equity; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Laws and Statutes; Conflict and Resolution; Welfare or Wellbeing; Delaware
Becker, Bo, and Per Stromberg. "Fiduciary Duties and Equity-Debtholder Conflicts." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 10-070, February 2010. (Revised June 2011, November 2011.)
- 20 Feb 2008
- First Look
First Look: February 20, 2008
financial gain, and (b) inducing them to act as agents of the stockholders by devising incentives that minimize the difference between the financial returns to stockholders and... View Details
Keywords: Martha Lagace
- July 2009 (Revised June 2010)
- Supplement
Executive Pay and the Credit Crisis of 2008 (B)
By: V.G. Narayanan and Lisa Brem
As the recession lingered on into 2009, the U.S. government sought to limit executive pay and excessive risk. The debate raged over what constituted excessive risk and how best to mitigate it. This case describes the government restrictions on executive pay for TARP... View Details
Keywords: Financial Crisis; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Government Legislation; Executive Compensation; Risk Management; Business and Government Relations; Motivation and Incentives; United States
Narayanan, V.G., and Lisa Brem. "Executive Pay and the Credit Crisis of 2008 (B)." Harvard Business School Supplement 110-005, July 2009. (Revised June 2010.)
- 2013
- Chapter
The Most Successful CEOs Come from Within
By: Joseph L. Bower
The financial crisis of 2008 and the Great Recession caused a crisis of public confidence in business and American-style capitalism, with its focus on maximizing shareholder value. Corporate leaders understood that reform was needed and that they needed to commit... View Details
Keywords: Governing and Advisory Boards; Management Succession; Business and Community Relations; Management Teams
Bower, Joseph L. "The Most Successful CEOs Come from Within." In How CEOs Can Fix Capitalism, edited by Raymond V. Gilmartin and Steven E. Prokesch, 124–127. Boston, MA: Harvard Business Review Press, 2013. Electronic.
- October 2012 (Revised July 2014)
- Background Note
The Role of the Government in the Early Development of American Venture Capital
By: Josh Lerner and Tom Nicholas
Whether the government or markets, or a mixture of both, can provide efficient and effective incentives for encouraging entrepreneurial activity and new venture financing is an age-old question. Public promotion efforts are controversial and in most cases they tend to... View Details
Lerner, Josh, and Tom Nicholas. "The Role of the Government in the Early Development of American Venture Capital." Harvard Business School Background Note 813-096, October 2012. (Revised July 2014.)
- October 2013 (Revised November 2018)
- Background Note
Note on the Leveraged Loan Market
This note provides an introduction to the process of loan syndication and the evolution of the leveraged loan market. The note emphasizes the role of banks as loan originators and the evolution of the institutional investors' entry into the leveraged loan market. In... View Details
Ivashina, Victoria. "Note on the Leveraged Loan Market." Harvard Business School Background Note 214-047, October 2013. (Revised November 2018.)
- January 2025 (Revised April 2025)
- Case
Blue Frontier: Disrupting Air Conditioning
By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Jacob A. Small
Serial entrepreneur Daniel Betts founded Blue Frontier in South Florida to offer a climate-friendly solution to increase air conditioning efficiency and dehumidify using new technology he developed. Backed by significant venture capital, Blue Frontier had to choose... View Details
Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Climate Change; Environmental Sustainability; Technological Innovation; Market Entry and Exit; Performance Efficiency; Business Strategy; Florida
Kanter, Rosabeth Moss, and Jacob A. Small. "Blue Frontier: Disrupting Air Conditioning." Harvard Business School Case 325-088, January 2025. (Revised April 2025.)
- 2014
- Chapter
Payout Policy
By: Joan Farre-Mensa, Roni Michaely and Martin Schmalz
We survey the literature on payout policy, with a particular emphasis on developments in the last two decades. Of the traditional motives of why firms pay out (agency, signaling, and taxes), the cross-sectional empirical evidence is most persuasive in favor of agency... View Details
Farre-Mensa, Joan, Roni Michaely, and Martin Schmalz. "Payout Policy." In Annual Review of Financial Economics, Volume 6, edited by Andrew W. Lo and Robert C. Merton. Palo Alto, CA: Annual Reviews, 2014.
- 02 Jun 2009
- First Look
First Look: June 2, 2009
technology, file sharing has not undermined the incentives of authors to produce new works. We argue that the effect of file sharing has been muted for three reasons: First, the cannibalization of sales that is due to file sharing is more... View Details
Keywords: Martha Lagace