Publications

2009
Working Paper

Culture Clash: The Costs and Benefits of Homogeneity

By: Eric J. Van den Steen

This paper develops an economic theory of the costs and benefits of corporate culture—in the sense of shared beliefs and values—in order to study the effects of "culture clash" in mergers and acquisitions. I first use a simple analytical framework to show that shared... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Cost vs Benefits; Values and Beliefs; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Motivation and Incentives; Theory

Read Now

December 2003 (Revised August 2004)
Case

Circon (A) (Abridged)

By: Brian J. Hall, Christopher Rose and Guhan Subramanian

In 1996, U.S. Surgical launched a hostile takeover bid against Circon Corp. CEO Richard Auhll recruited an old HBS friend, George Cloutier, to the Circon board to help him defend the company. Circon's primary defenses include a "poison pill" and a staggered board and... View Details

Keywords: Motivation and Incentives; Governing and Advisory Boards; Executive Compensation; Trust; Relationships; Acquisition; Business and Shareholder Relations; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; United States

December 1998
Background Note

Cash Management Practices in Small Companies

By: H. Kent Bowen, Andrew R. Jassy, Laurence E. Katz, Kevin E. Kelly and Baltej Kochar

Most small business managers claim that cash management is their leading concern. Often walking a tightrope between growth and illiquidity, small business managers face different cash management challenges than their counterparts in larger companies. Compared to larger... View Details

Keywords: Motivation and Incentives; Working Capital; Management Practices and Processes; Organizational Design; Cash; Forecasting and Prediction; Policy; Business Strategy

17 Dec 2020
Research & Ideas

The 10 Most Popular Stories of 2020

Values, and Damages Great Companies Performance hacking means overzealous advocacy of positive interpretations to the point of detachment from actuals. In business as in research there are strong incentives for it, but if behaviors are... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

16 Oct 2006
Research & Ideas

Report from China: The New Entrepreneurs

tangible assets, and contacts that are useful to their ventures, the government has created incentives to attract them back to China, and is more lenient or flexible regarding new venture formation. Q: This was an unusual trip for HBS in... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

19 Apr 2018
Blog Post

Policy, Practice, Leadership & Impact: Making a Difference with the HBS/HKS Joint Degree

felt incredibly passionate about the work and strongly believed in its impact, I also began to observe the risks, limitations, and skewed incentives foreign aid creates within local governments. I began taking a longer-term view of the... View Details

01 Sep 2004
News

A Market-Based Prescription

profitable, while areas such as emergency medicine and burn care are undervalued. In a consumer-driven system, market forces would operate to correct these disparities and create greater incentives for physicians to customize therapies... View Details

Keywords: Deborah E. Blagg; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services; Health, Social Assistance

01 Sep 2015
First Look

First Look -- September 1, 2015

Debt Redemption and Reserve Accumulation By: Alfaro, Laura, and Fabio Kanczuk Abstract—Foreign participation in local-currency bond markets in emerging countries has increased dramatically over the past decade. In light of this trend, we revisit sovereign debt... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

05 Mar 2013
First Look

First Look: March 5

a common non-linear incentive scheme at a leading enterprise software vendor. The empirical results demonstrate that salespeople are adept at gaming the timing of deal closure to take advantage of the vendor's accelerating commission... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

15 May 2007
Working Paper Summaries

I’ll Have the Ice Cream Soon and the Vegetables Later: Decreasing Impatience over Time in Online Grocery Orders

Keywords: by Todd Rogers, Katherine L. Milkman & Max H. Bazerman; Food & Beverage

March 1995
Case

Donald Salter Communications, Inc.

By: Stuart C. Gilson and Jeremy Cott

A new CEO is hired to manage the turnaround of a family-owned newspaper publisher. In a departure from previous management, he implements a new compensation scheme that explicitly ties executive pay to market-value-based measures of firm performance. Because the... View Details

Keywords: Family Business; Transformation; Asset Management; Wages; Balanced Scorecard; Family Ownership; Motivation and Incentives; Valuation; Journalism and News Industry

December 2003 (Revised May 2004)
Case

Sears Auto Centers (A) (Abridged)

By: Lynn S. Paine

In the early 1990s Sears faced and allegations by the California Department of Consumer Affairs that the company's auto repair centers had been overbilling customers and making unnecessary repairs. Top management must evaluate the problem and come up with a plan to... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Governance; Corporate Accountability; Ethics; Organizational Culture; Compensation and Benefits; Management Teams; Employees; Behavior; Motivation and Incentives; Performance Improvement; Auto Industry

September 2024
Case

Leadership for Stretch Goals: Inspiring Employees to Achieve the Impossible at Charter Next Generation

By: Ethan Rouen and Elisabeth Powell

In 2023, Kathy Bolhous, CEO of Charter Next Generation (CNG), set out to achieve an ambitious "Moonshot"—increasing profits by $100 million within three years, purely through internal innovations and efficiency gains, without layoffs or new revenue streams. After years... View Details

Keywords: Profit; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Leadership; Growth Management; Mission and Purpose; Employee Ownership; Motivation and Incentives

01 Dec 2008
News

Lack of Energy: The Problem of Human Inertia

Energy Future’s timeliness underscores another key “energy” problem: America’s inability to get its energy act into gear. “Cognitive, organizational, and political barriers — which are all interconnected — must be surmounted if we are to solve our energy problems,”... View Details

Fall 2013
Article

Engaging Supply Chains in Climate Change

By: Chonnikarn Fern Jira and Michael W. Toffel

Suppliers are increasingly being asked to share information about their vulnerability to climate change and their strategies to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Their responses vary widely. We theorize and empirically identify several factors associated with suppliers... View Details

Keywords: Knowledge Sharing; Motivation and Incentives; Risk Management; Climate Change; Supply Chain Management; Environmental Sustainability