Publications

Article

Regulation and UK Retailing Productivity: Evidence from Microdata

By: Jonathan Haskel and Raffaella Sadun

We explore the effects of planning regulation on the UK retail sector between 1997 and 2003 using micro-data from the UK census. We document a shift to smaller shops following a 1996 regulatory change that increased the costs of opening large stores. Our analysis... View Details

Keywords: Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Performance Productivity; Growth and Development; Economic Slowdown and Stagnation; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Change; Cost; Retail Industry; United Kingdom

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November 2006 (Revised July 2021)
Case

Kerr-McGee

By: Robin Greenwood and André Perold

Activist investors Carl Icahn and Barry Rosenstein acquire a stake in Oklahoma-based company Kerr-McGee. They demand two board seats and ask the company to make several operational and financial changes, including the repurchase of equity and divestiture of their... View Details

Keywords: Investment Activism; Restructuring; Equity; Investment; Management; Governance Controls; Corporate Strategy; Chemical Industry; Energy Industry; United States

Educators

30 Nov 2016
Op-Ed

Where Could More Regulation Help Small Businesses? Online Lending.

With Donald Trump’s election, Washington’s policy debate on financial services shifted overnight. Recent signs such as the president-elect’s own words and those of GOP leaders point to renewed efforts to dismantle the Dodd-Frank Act.... View Details

Keywords: by Karen Mills and Brayden McCarthy; Financial Services

19 Mar 2013
First Look

First Look: March 19

recently faced a corruption enforcement action, employ a Big Four audit firm, and have a higher percentage of independent directors. Controlling for these effects, we find that firms with abnormally low... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

16 May 2017
First Look

First Look at New Ideas and Research, May 16

sharing system recording employees’ creative work—a control system often used to promote local experimentation—on the quality of creative work, job engagement, and financial performance. While, on average,... View Details

Keywords: Re: Multiple Faculty

2009
Book

Experiments in Financial Democracy: Corporate Governance and Financial Development in Brazil, 1882-1950

By: Aldo Musacchio

In Experiments in Financial Democracy, I challenge the idea that it was colonial institutions that sent Brazil, a civil law country, down a particular path of corporate governance and finance. Detailed archival research reveals significantly different patterns of... View Details

Keywords: Private Equity; Investment; Corporate Governance; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Business History; Business and Shareholder Relations; Brazil

09 Jul 2013
Research & Ideas

Catching Up With Boards--Jay Lorsch

separate chairman can begin to be more active and try to control the CEO.” Q: On another front, when it comes to corporate governance, the pros and cons of separating the roles View Details

Keywords: by Jim Aisner

2010
Book

International Differences in Entrepreneurship

By: Josh Lerner and Antoinette Schoar

Often considered one of the major forces behind economic growth and development, the entrepreneurial firm can accelerate the speed of innovation and dissemination of new technologies, thus increasing a country's competitive edge in the global market. As a result,... View Details

Keywords: Developing Countries and Economies; Economic Growth; Entrepreneurship; Globalized Economies and Regions; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Supply and Industry; Business and Government Relations

23 Feb 2015
Research & Ideas

How to Break the Expert’s Curse

Playing backwards proved to be an effective rediscovery technique for the experts. Compared with the control group, the rediscovery group reported feeling more empathy for the greenhorn. Next, Zhang hired 75 beginner guitarists to... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Education

Article

How Well Do Social Ratings Actually Measure Corporate Social Responsibility?

By: Aaron K. Chatterji, David I. Levine and Michael W. Toffel

Ratings of corporations' environmental activities and capabilities influence billions of dollars of "socially responsible" investments as well as some consumers, activists, and potential employees. In one of the first studies to assess these ratings, we examine how... View Details

Keywords: Governance Compliance; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Measurement and Metrics; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Performance Effectiveness; Natural Environment; Pollutants

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17 Jan 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research: January 17

prospection during commuting reported higher levels of job satisfaction in comparison to multiple control groups. Although commuting is typically seen as the least desirable part View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

May 1995
Background Note

Note on Industry Self-Regulation and U.S. Antitrust Laws

By: Lynn S. Paine and Michael Santoro

Describes the purpose and nature of industry self-regulation and outlines the factors self-regulatory groups must consider to avoid infringing U.S. antitrust laws. Several examples of industry self-regulation are discussed. View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Governance Compliance; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Knowledge; Law

Educators

01 Jun 2015
News

Exploring Global Business Practices

Enhancing the Worldview of HBS Students and Faculty Building on a legacy of global engagement, Harvard Business School has made internationalization a key priority for its second century. To prepare leaders... View Details

2018
Book

American Fair Trade: Proprietary Capitalism, Corporatism, and the 'New Competition,' 1890–1940

By: Laura Phillips Sawyer

American Fair Trade explores the contested political and legal meanings of the term fair trade from the late nineteenth century through the New Deal era. This history of American capitalism argues that business associations partnered with regulators to... View Details

Keywords: Economic Systems; Competition; Policy; Fairness; History; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; United States

05 May 2015
First Look

First Look: May 5

scanner panel data from a single California location of a major grocery chain, and completely controlling for consumer heterogeneity, we demonstrate that bringing your own bags simultaneously increases... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

August 2008 (Revised May 2009)
Background Note

Note on Generic Drugs in the European Union

By: Robert C. Pozen and Elizabeth M. Leonard

Rules governing the introduction of generic drugs in U.S. and EU have some similarities but significant differences because of the Hatch-Waxman Act in the U.S. View Details

Keywords: Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Government Legislation; Health Care and Treatment; Trademarks; Brands and Branding; Pharmaceutical Industry; European Union; United States

05 Mar 2019
First Look

New Research and Ideas, March 5, 2019

which is hard to explain by the traditional leverage tradeoff with financial distress that emphasizes downside risk. The results are robust to a variety of specification choices and control variables.... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

2009
Working Paper

Where Is the Pharmacy to the World? International Regulatory Variation and Pharmaceutical Industry Location

By: Arthur Daemmrich

A consumer-oriented model for drug development and use has attracted attention in recent years as an alternative to the much-maligned approach of mass-marketing blockbuster drugs. In a parallel development, patients and disease-based organizations have assumed greater... View Details

Keywords: Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Health Disorders; Health Testing and Trials; Power and Influence; Competitive Strategy; Pharmaceutical Industry; European Union; Germany; United States