Publications

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09 Sep 2008
First Look

First Look: September 9, 2008

Working PapersHow Firms Respond to Being Rated Authors:Aaron K. Chatterji, Michael W. Toffel Abstract While many independent rating systems are designed primarily to help buyers overcome information asymmetries when making purchasing... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

October 2019
Case

Agility Africa

By: Juan Alcacer, Caroline M. Elkins and Esel Çekin

This case illustrates the challenge and opportunities that firms face when developing and executing new business models in high-risk, low-infrastructure, low-trust countries. It features a global logistics group, Agility, that aimed to become the leader in supplying... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Business Model; Innovation and Invention; Expansion; Emerging Markets; Decision Choices and Conditions; Real Estate Industry; Distribution Industry; Africa

14 May 2008
Research & Ideas

Getting Down to the Business of Creativity

professor Mary Tripsas introduces conceptual models to help students launch and creatively manage new businesses, including both stand-alone start-ups and ventures operating within an established organization. "Whenever a View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Retail; Apparel & Accessories; Fashion; Entertainment & Recreation

26 Sep 2011
HBS Case

HBS Cases: Lady Gaga

agency. Should the performer continue with the arena tour solo? Should she develop a small tour for smaller venues? Or should she cancel the concert series entirely? The case, which Elberse coauthored with Michael Christensen (HBS MBA... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Entertainment & Recreation; Music

09 Feb 2007
Working Paper Summaries

Do Corporate Social Responsibility Ratings Predict Corporate Social Performance?

Keywords: by Aaron K. Chatterji, David I. Levine & Michael W. Toffel

March 2007 (Revised August 2009)
Case

Will RacingThePlanet Ltd. Reach the Finish Line?

Mary Gadams, founder and CEO of RacingThePlanet is facing one of the many logistical crises that her young Hong Kong-based venture faces as it stages its popular 4Deserts(tm) adventure marathon series in Atacama Chile, Gobi Desert Mongolia, Sahara Desert Egypt, and... View Details

Keywords: Global Range; Business or Company Management; Logistics; Entrepreneurship; Globalization; Sports Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Hong Kong; Egypt; Mongolia; Chile; Antarctica

03 Jan 2011
Research & Ideas

Most Popular Articles of 2010

Judging by the most-read articles and faculty working papers over the last year, our readers continue to be fascinated by the emergence of social networks and their potential impacts on business and management. Another developing area of interest is in the realm of... View Details

Keywords: by Staff

Research Summary

The Ownership of Deep Metaphors

By: Gerald Zaltman

Deep metaphors are basic orienting structures of human thought. They guide in subtle and overt ways how customers and managers process information about any product, service, or activity and event. It is essential for a firm to understand deep metaphors as they are... View Details

Winter 2021
Article

Can Staggered Boards Improve Value? Causal Evidence from Massachusetts

By: Robert Daines, Shelley Xin Li and Charles C.Y. Wang

We study the effect of staggered boards (SBs) using a quasi-experiment: a 1990 law that imposed an SB on all Massachusetts-incorporated firms. The law led to an increase in Tobin's Q, investment in CAPEX and R&D, patents, higher-quality patented innovations, and... View Details

Keywords: Staggered Board; Entrenchment; Life-cycle; Tobin's Q; Innovation; Profitability; Investor Composition; Governing and Advisory Boards; Investment; Innovation and Invention; Institutional Investing; Value

SSRN

Article

Investing in Distressed Situations: A Market Survey

By: S. C. Gilson

The risks of investing in distressed companies—a practice popularly known as "vulture" investing—are highly firm specific and idiosyncratic. Investors who are adept at managing these risks, who understand the legal rules that must be followed in corporate bankruptcy,... View Details

Keywords: Investment; Markets

08 Jan 2007
What Do You Think?

Neuro Economics: Science or Science Fiction?

At the same time, he adds, there will be "a new set of management and pop psychology books with dubious claims ." Among the potential benefits making it highly relevant, according to David Skinner, is that "its output might... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett

April 2004 (Revised March 2008)
Case

Precise Software

By: Paul A. Gompers and Sara Bergson

Yossi Sela, general partner at Gemini Venture capital, considers a new investment in Precise Software. The firm is at a crisis point, and Sela needs to decide whether he will fire the firm's chief executive officer. Conflicts between the American CEO and the Israeli... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Investment; Resignation and Termination; Crisis Management; Managerial Roles; Conflict and Resolution; Israel; United States

August 2013
Article

Customer-Driven Misconduct: How Competition Corrupts Business Practices

By: Victor Manuel Bennett, Lamar Pierce, Jason A. Snyder and Michael W. Toffel

Competition among firms yields many benefits but can also encourage firms to engage in corrupt or unethical activities. We argue that competition can lead organizations to provide services that customers demand but that violate government regulations, especially when... View Details

Keywords: Competition; Crime and Corruption; Management Practices and Processes; Ethics; Consumer Behavior; Customer Satisfaction; Auto Industry; Service Industry

July 2021
Article

Material Sustainability Information and Stock Price Informativeness

By: Jody Grewal, Clarissa Hauptmann and George Serafeim

As part of the SEC’s revision of Regulation S-K, many investors proposed the mandatory disclosure of sustainability information in the form of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) data. However, progress is contingent on collecting evidence regarding which... View Details

Keywords: Voluntary Disclosure; Accounting Standards; Sustainability; Nonfinancial Information; Corporate Social Responsibility; Stock Price Informativeness; Synchronicity; Environmental Sustainability; Corporate Disclosure; Corporate Accountability; Stocks; Price; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Accounting; Standards

SSRN

2000
Other Unpublished Work

Career Concerns and Staged Investment: Evidence from the Venture Capital Industry

By: Malcolm Baker

I develop a model in which career concerns lead to inefficient reinvestment decisions. Managers have incentives to inflate interim returns by continuing bad projects and delaying write-offs. In the venture capital industry, the syndication of follow-on investments can... View Details

Keywords: Performance Efficiency; Valuation; Venture Capital; Investment; Decisions; Motivation and Incentives; Quality

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August 2016
Article

The Activities of Buy-Side Analysts and the Determinants of Their Stock Recommendations

By: Lawrence D. Brown, Andrew C. Call, Michael B. Clement and Nathan Y. Sharp

We survey 344 buy-side analysts from 181 investment firms and conduct 16 detailed follow-up interviews to gain insights into the activities of buy-side analysts, including the determinants of their compensation, the inputs to their stock recommendations, their beliefs... View Details

Keywords: Analysis; Human Capital; Compensation and Benefits; Stocks; Financial Services Industry

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May 2003
Case

Environmental Defense

By: Forest L. Reinhardt

Analyzes the strategy and management of Environmental Defense, a leading environmental advocacy group, emphasizing the group's activity in the energy and agribusiness industries. From a strategy formulation standpoint, the case encourages students to think of the... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Nonprofit Organizations; Energy; Relationships; Agribusiness; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Energy Industry

August 2018 (Revised October 2021)
Case

Edward Jones: Implementing the Solutions Approach

By: David Collis and Ashley Hartman

In 2017 Edward Jones, the largest brokerage firm in the U.S., is deciding whether and how to implement a new "solutions" business model to replace its traditional "product" or "transactional" approach. Many of the required changes appeared to violate some of the... View Details

Keywords: Strategy Formulation; Strategic Change; ＂Brokerage Industry; ＂Solutions Approach; Strategy Implementation; ＂USA,＂; Business Model Innovation; Change Management; Strategy; Business Model; Innovation and Invention; Financial Services Industry; North and Central America; United States