Publications

March 2012
Background Note

Managing the Layoff Process: The United States

By: Sandra J. Sucher

This note is an overview of the context for managing layoffs in the United States. It describes the legal responsibilities of managers in conducting layoffs, recent unemployment trends, and the financial, health, training, job placement, and other benefits that... View Details

Keywords: Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Resignation and Termination; Compensation and Benefits; Ethics; Management; Employees; Governance Compliance; United States

May 2004 (Revised June 2004)
Case

Sarvega

By: Paul A. Gompers and Vanessa del Valle Broussard

David Cowan, general partner at Bessemer Venture Partners, has taken the lead on Sarvega, a Bessemer-backed company that was recently orphaned by the departure of one of Bessemer's other general partners. Cowan must decide whether to reinvest in Sarvega and, if so,... View Details

Keywords: Decisions; Venture Capital; Investment; Governance Compliance; Resignation and Termination; Negotiation Deal; Partners and Partnerships; Information Technology Industry

2018
Working Paper

It is Easy to be Brave From a Safe Distance: Proximity to the SEC and Insider Trading

By: Trung Nguyen and Quoc H. Nguyen

We use hand-collected data from SEC’s litigation releases for insider trading violations to examine the effect of geographic distance on its enforcement activities and insider trading activities. First, we find that the SEC is more likely to investigate companies that... View Details

Keywords: SEC; Enforcement; Financial Misconduct; Insider Trading; Geographic Proximity; Governance Compliance; Law Enforcement; Geographic Location; Finance; Crime and Corruption

SSRN

15 Nov 2004
Research & Ideas

Solving the Health Care Conundrum

have been largely ineffective as they failed to address the root causes of the problems and have dealt instead with micromanaging and inspecting providers and forcing process compliance as opposed to achieving outcomes and results. The... View Details

Keywords: by Michael E. Porter; Health

18 Jun 2013
First Look

First Look: June 18

which toolmaking was not central, and those to which toolmaking was important. As for the influence activities that imply toolmaking, we can outline the contours of three modes of operation, which describe experts operating as Compliance... View Details

Keywords: Anna Secino

August 2012
Article

A Darker Side to Decentralized Banks: Market Power and Credit Rationing in SME Lending

By: Rodrigo Canales and Ramana Nanda

We use loan-level data to study how the organizational structure of banks impacts small business lending. We find that decentralized banks-where branch managers have greater autonomy over lending decisions-give larger loans to small firms and those with "soft... View Details

Keywords: Geographic Location; Customers; Financing and Loans; Credit; Organizational Structure; Banks and Banking; Governance Compliance; Competitive Strategy

Read Now

January 2002
Case

Price-Fixing Vignettes

By: Guhan Subramanian and Michelle Kalka

This case escribes the antitrust prosecutions in the United States and abroad of the international bulk vitamins cartel. Both the civil and criminal fines were historically high, and it was the first time the United States prosecuted foreign nationals for U.S. criminal... View Details

Keywords: Price; Lawsuits and Litigation; Governance Compliance; Auctions; Laws and Statutes; Monopoly; Globalized Markets and Industries; Retail Industry; Health Industry; United States

November 2001
Case

Aventis CropScience and StarLink Corn

By: Ray A. Goldberg and James M Beagle

Aventis CropScience responds to the discovery of an unapproved corn variety in food supplies and draws lessons for the company, industry, and governments. View Details

Keywords: Policy; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Food; Science-Based Business; Outcome or Result; Governance Compliance; Problems and Challenges; Nutrition; Food and Beverage Industry

20 Nov 2012
First Look

First Look: November 20

reward firms for practices that go above and beyond the requirements of the law. "Self-policing" programs adopted by several agencies shift the burden of monitoring regulatory compliance and reporting noncompliance from the... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

October 1992 (Revised August 1994)
Case

Allied-Signal: Managing the Hazardous Waste Liability Risk

By: Richard H.K. Vietor and Edward Prewitt

Allied-Signal, Inc., one of the world's oldest chemical companies and today a diversified conglomerate, is liable for clean-up costs of old hazardous waste sites. These costs are substantial: reserves grew to nearly $500 million in 1991. Attempting to avoid further... View Details

Keywords: Wastes and Waste Processing; Environmental Sustainability; Programs; Cost Management; Policy; Government Legislation; Factories, Labs, and Plants; Governance Compliance; Legal Liability; Chemical Industry; United States; Europe

November 3, 2020
Article

Gender Differences in COVID-19 Attitudes and Behavior: Panel Evidence from Eight Countries

By: Vincenzo Galasso, Vincent Pons, Paola Profeta, Michael Becher, Sylvain Brouard and Martial Foucault

Using original data from two waves of a survey conducted in March and April 2020 in eight OECD countries (N = 21,649), we show that women are more likely to see COVID-19 as a very serious health problem, to agree with restraining public policy measures adopted in... View Details

Keywords: COVID-19; Health Pandemics; Attitudes; Behavior; Gender; Policy; Governance Compliance

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18 Feb 2009
First Look

First Look: February 18, 2009

Chairman and CEO of KPMG, the firm made a number of changes in compensation, governance, and culture in order to address the underlying reasons for actions that occurred prior to him becoming CEO that led to the accounting giant paying $456 million to the federal View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

23 Nov 2010
First Look

First Look: November 23

their own operations, shifting enforcement resources away from voluntary disclosers. We also find that firms that voluntarily disclosed regulatory violations and committed to self-policing improved their regulatory compliance and... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

11 May 2011
Research & Ideas

Building a Better Board

When Stephen Kaufman took the helm at Arrow Electronics in 1982, it was de rigueur for CEOs to sit on the boards of several other companies in addition to running their own. Back then, serving as a board member didn't require much of a time commitment, and View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

05 Jun 2014
Research & Ideas

Fixing the ‘I Hate Work’ Blues

under intense operational pressure is nearly impossible. In addition, the heavy burden of compliance with government regulations and internal corporate requirements is taking a toll on people, limiting their... View Details

Keywords: by Bill George

15 Dec 2015
First Look

December 15, 2015

grounded in the competitive dynamics that may otherwise drive a race-to-the-bottom. Publisher's link: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=50203 forthcoming Journal of Business Ethics Corporate Governance and Executive... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

July/August 2004
Article

Stakeholders and Environmental Management Practices: An Institutional Framework

By: Magali Delmas and Michael W. Toffel

Despite burgeoning research on companies' environmental strategies and environmental management practices, it remains unclear why some firms adopt environmental management practices beyond regulatory compliance. This paper leverages institutional theory by proposing... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Management Practices and Processes; Environmental Management; Adoption; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Organizational Structure; Factories, Labs, and Plants; Competition; Framework; Governance Compliance; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms

Read Now

August 1995 (Revised September 1995)
Case

Hutton Branch Manager (C)

By: Lynn S. Paine and Jane Palley Katz

Centers on the company's plea of guilty to 2,000 counts of mail and wire fraud in response to the U.S. government's challenge to its cash management practices. Describes the Justice Department's investigations as well as the findings and recommendations of former... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Financial Management; Governance Controls; Crime and Corruption; Governance Compliance; Law Enforcement; Financial Services Industry; United States