Publications

June 2004
Article

A Catering Theory of Dividends

By: Malcolm Baker and Jeffrey Wurgler

We propose that the decision to pay dividends is driven by prevailing investor demand for dividend payers. Managers cater to investors by paying dividends when investors put a stock price premium on payers, and by not paying when investors prefer nonpayers. To test... View Details

Keywords: Dividends; Catering; Financial Instruments; Investment Return; Business and Shareholder Relations

Find at Harvard

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31 Jan 2022
News

Where Can Digital Transformation Take You? Insights from 1,700 Leaders

Keywords: Digital transformation

Web

Research Community - Doctoral

Research Community Innovative Research, Lasting Relationships Harvard Business School invests more than $140 million in research annually—more than any other school. These funds give researchers at the School the freedom, flexibility, and... View Details

November 2015 (Revised February 2016)
Supplement

Allianz Turkey: Focus on the Customer (B)

By: W. Earl Sasser and Gamze Yucaoglu

At the age of 39, Solmaz Altın took over the helm at Allianz Turkey. Solmaz quickly realized that, although the insurance market was thinly penetrated in Turkey, the company was operating in a very competitive environment with pressure on prices and, hence, cost... View Details

Keywords: Service Excellence; Customer Experience; Customer Service; Emerging Market; Customer Focus; Net Promoter Score; Customer Relationship Management; Competition; Leading Change; Service Operations; Emerging Markets; Customer Satisfaction; Insurance Industry; Turkey

01 Sep 2021
What Do You Think?

Can We Train for Trust?

concluded that “trust in leadership positively affects employees’ job performance, overall job satisfaction, and commitment to their organizations.” One study of 6,500 Holiday Inn employees concluded that when they rated their trust in... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

September 2018
Case

Sealed Air Corporation: Deciding the Fate of VTID (Abridged)

By: Elie Ofek

In mid-2010 the Sealed Air Corporation has to decide on next steps for its novel video tracking technology (called VTID) after unsuccessful attempts to market it in three different industry settings. The company must determine whether its most recent target market, the... View Details

Keywords: Budgets and Budgeting; Customer Focus and Relationships; Decision Choices and Conditions; Technological Innovation; Marketing Strategy; Problems and Challenges; Commercialization; Service Industry

03 Jan 2017
First Look

January 3, 2017

Winter 2017 MIT Sloan Management Review Why Big Data Isn't Enough By: Chai, Sen, and Willy C. Shih Abstract—There is a growing belief that sophisticated algorithms can explore huge databases and find View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

Web

Giving - Alumni

Your gift can be excluded from your federal taxable income. The transfer can also count towards your required minimum distribution. To initiate a transfer, please contact your IRA administrator. Also notify HBS Gift Management at... View Details

March 2020 (Revised January 2022)
Case

Michelin: Building a Digital Service Platform

By: Sunil Gupta and Christian Godwin

Michelin, a tire company with over a century of experience, attempts to develop a digital service platform for its fleet and dealer customers. The case focuses on the challenges of bringing a large, well-established company into the digital age. Concerned about the... View Details

Keywords: Change; Transformation; Customer Focus and Relationships; Decision Making; Leading Change; Growth and Development; Strategy; Digital Platforms; Internet and the Web; Auto Industry; Travel Industry; Transportation Industry; United States; France

2013
Working Paper

Span of Control and Span of Attention

By: Oriana Bandiera, Andrea Prat, Raffaella Sadun and Julie Wulf

Using novel data on CEO time use, we document the relationship between the size and composition of the executive team and the attention of the CEO. We combine information about CEO span of control for a sample of 65 companies with detailed data on how CEOs allocate... View Details

Keywords: Conferences; Analytics and Data Science; Leadership Style; Management Style; Managerial Roles; Time Management; Planning

SSRN

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January 2015 (Revised July 2019)
Case

Rebranding Godiva: The Yıldız Strategy

By: Rohit Deshpande and Esel Çekin

This case concerns Yıldız Holding’s acquisition of Godiva Chocolatier from its previous owner, Campbell Soup, and its salient strategy in preserving Godiva’s “made in Belgian” brand position. Provenance Paradox, a problem faced by companies in emerging countries trying... View Details

Keywords: Branding; Internationalization; Provenance Paradox; Acquisitions; Positioning; Innovation; Customer-centricity; Brands and Branding; Marketing Strategy; Emerging Markets; Product Positioning; Change Management; Innovation and Management; Customer Focus and Relationships; Food and Beverage Industry; North America; Turkey; Japan

03 Oct 2006
First Look

First Look: October 3, 2006

Harvard Business School Case 606-071 For the past eighteen months, Mandy Cabot had worried that the shoe business she had built into a thriving operation with $90 million in annual revenue and over 110 employees might instead be a... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

01 Nov 2021
What Do You Think?

How Long Does It Take to Improve an Organization’s Culture?

determining success in changing an organization’s culture is the interest, support, and even passion displayed by its leader. The quality of leadership is strongly linked to the level of employee engagement, and View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

Program

Competing in the Age of Digital Platforms

platform by businesses, governments, and/or consumers Understand the influence of data privacy laws, antitrust policy, and regulations Manage platforms as a successful business Maximize value for your business by interacting with the... View Details

29 Aug 2006
First Look

First Look: August 29, 2006

produce another cutting-edge device quickly? Purchase this case: http://www.hbsp.harvard.edu/b01/en/common/item_detail.jhtml?id=706496 Managing a Public Image: Cheri Mack Harvard Business School Case 406-096 Cheri Mack, an... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

09 Aug 2016
First Look

August 9, 2016

forthcoming Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes Managing Perceptions of Distress at Work: Reframing Emotion as Passion By: Wolf, Elizabeth Baily, Jooa Julia Lee, Sunita Sah, and Alison Wood Brooks Abstract—Expressing... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

2008
Working Paper

The Decentering of the Global Firm

By: Mihir A. Desai

This paper describes recent changes in the relationship between firms and nation states. Firms are typically linked to the nation in which they began and are considered to have fixed national identities. While firms have reallocated various activities around the world... View Details

Keywords: Business Headquarters; Geographic Location; Globalized Firms and Management; Policy; Business and Government Relations

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20 Jan 2022
News

3 Steps to Help Companies Rebuild Trust During the Pandemic

February 1998 (Revised May 2007)
Case

Airborne Express

By: Jan W. Rivkin

In the wake of a highly successful quarter, senior managers of Airborne Express, the third largest player in the express mail industry, review the firm's competitive position. Airborne has survived, and recently prospered, in an industry with significant economies of... View Details

Keywords: Competition; Business Strategy; Partners and Partnerships; Global Strategy; Rank and Position; Service Industry