Publications

April 1997
Case

Romeo Engine Plant (Abridged)

By: Robert S. Kaplan and Amy P. Hutton

A newly reopened automobile engine plant has been organized along total quality and teamwork principles. Employees now solve problems and ensure quality, rather than watch parts being produced. New operating and financial systems have been installed to promote... View Details

Keywords: Cost Accounting; Cost Management; Groups and Teams; Employees; Performance Improvement; Auto Industry

01 Sep 2014
News

Research Brief: A $1.6 Trillion Rainy-Day Fund?

can’t access capital as easily as public ones, though that business reality accounted for only one-quarter of the difference in cash holdings. The remainder of the difference was due to attempts to time the stock market: Public-firm View Details

Keywords: Francis Storrs

03 Feb 2018
Op-Ed

How to Heed BlackRock's Call for Corporate Social Responsibility

Larry Fink recently created a shockwave. As cofounder, chairman, and CEO of BlackRock, one of the world’s largest global asset management firms, in an open letter to CEOs he caught the attention of financial markets and beyond by... View Details

Keywords: by Julie Battilana

24 Mar 2002
Research & Ideas

Are Assets Only for America’s Wealthy?

enough money to prosper, low-income families' access to health benefits, their civic participation, family stability, and mental wellbeing are all diminished by their low success rate in building assets. Peter Tufano, Sylvan C. Coleman Professor of Financial View Details

Keywords: by Carla Tishler

May 2011
Article

The Hollow Science

By: Robert S. Kaplan

The financial meltdown made clear that the executives of many major financial institutions were operating with inadequate or distorted information about the values and risks of their firms' assets. It's fair to say that business scholars bear some... View Details

Keywords: Accounting; Financial Crisis; Financial Management; Information; Knowledge Acquisition; Risk Management; Practice

01 Jun 1999
News

Joel Bines

his new post as an account executive with Nike's largest client, Mont Blanc, the luxury pen manufacturer. His first day at work, however, everything changed. "The senior account executive invited me to lunch... View Details

Keywords: Eileen K. McCluskey

September 2, 2020
Article

What Really Prevents Companies from Thriving in a Recession

By: Ranjay Gulati and Mark Wiedman

Even in the best of times, many companies fail to fund and staff new opportunities. As decades of research have shown, leaders fear threats to their status and power and so become attached to existing businesses and budgets, regarding them as entitlements and as a... View Details

Keywords: Recessions; Resource Allocation; Budgets and Budgeting

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17 Sep 2024
Research & Ideas

Advice for the New CEO: Talk to Your Employees Early and Often

million emails and 80 million meeting invitations. Shortly after a new CEO takes over, uncertainty among employees dampens communication within a company. However, after about five months, internal chatter sharply intensifies as managers... View Details

Keywords: by Ami Albernaz

September 1995 (Revised June 2002)
Case

Intel Pentium Chip Controversy (A), The

By: V.G. Narayanan and James D Evans

Following Intel Inc.'s decision to replace flawed Pentium chips, the company faces revenue recognition choices. Events leading up to IBM's decision to halt shipment of computers that have Intel's microprocessor inside and Intel's decision to replace all the flawed... View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Decision Choices and Conditions; Revenue Recognition; Computer Industry

01 Dec 2013
News

Faculty Books

grading standards? Associate Professor Francesca Gino and colleagues investigate the phenomenon of the "fundamental attribution error." The Case for Combating Climate Change with Nuclear Power and Fracking Senator John Heinz Professor of View Details

18 Jun 2013
First Look

First Look: June 18

account for horizontal peer comparison when designing executive wage contracts and that this comparison has productivity consequences for firms. Download working paper: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=43633 How Do Risk View Details

Keywords: Anna Secino

September 2010 (Revised January 2011)
Background Note

Using Regression Analysis to Estimate Time Equations

This note presents a simple way to estimate time equations using regression analysis in Excel. The note quickly outlines regression analysis, then presents a real-life case example from the natural gas industry that students can use to gain experience developing and... View Details

Keywords: Accounting; Activity Based Costing and Management; Mathematical Methods

16 Sep 2015
Op-Ed

The Real Duty of the Board of Directors

capital. These rights are free from the burdens of ownership. Shareholders thus become temporary, while the corporation is permanent—controlled not by shareholders, but by the board of directors. Under a legal doctrine known as the business judgment rule, directors can... View Details

Keywords: by Robert G. Eccles & Tim Youmans

06 Feb 2006
What Do You Think?

Should CEOs of Public Companies Offer Earnings Guidance?

it may become part of a larger debate in 2006 about added pressures on managers to produce short-term earnings regardless of the impact on the long-term health of the business. In his annual year-end letter to directors, Martin Lipton, a... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Financial Services

04 Aug 2016
News

The right thing to do: Why more U.S. firms need to learn from JP Morgan Chase

November 2000 (Revised January 2003)
Case

Yahoo!'s Stock-Based Compensation

By: Paul M. Healy and Jacob Cohen

Amy Maislos, an investor in Internet and technology companies, was excited to read that Yahoo! had reported a positive net income for 1998 operations. During the late 1990s, stock prices of Internet companies had risen rapidly even though most companies were reporting... View Details

Keywords: Stock Options; Internet and the Web; Financial Statements; Corporate Disclosure; Business Earnings; Earnings Management; Information Technology Industry

18 Jul 2005
Research & Ideas

Time to Rethink the Corporate Tax System?

characterize profits to tax authorities and capital markets separately). There is also much anecdotal evidence on the profusion of tax shelters and compensation incentives for managing effective tax rates. View Details

Keywords: by Ann Cullen

19 Jun 2014
News

Turning "Black Gold" to Green

two oil fields, have contracts to manage as much CO2 as is produced by a small city, and we have the financial backing to finish the job," Dawe says. "That's about as tangible as it gets." Dawe is the president and cofounder of Berkeley,... View Details

Keywords: Ralph Ranalli; Oil and Gas Extraction; Mining

November 2012 (Revised July 2013)
Case

Gerry Pasciucco at AIG Financial Products

By: Gautam Mukunda and Thomas J. DeLong

Gerry Pasciucco was appointed to lead American International Group's Financial Products (AIGFP) group after the government bailout of AIG in 2008 and charged with the task of shutting down the division while minimizing the government's losses. AIGFP's failed trades had... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Accountability; Ethics; Crisis Management; Financial Crisis; Management Teams; Business and Government Relations; Financial Services Industry; United States