Publications

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January 2006
Article

Are Perks Purely Managerial Excess?

By: Raghuram G. Rajan and Julie Wulf

A widespread view is that executive perks exemplify agency problems--they are a route through which managers misappropriate a firm's surplus. Accordingly, firms with high free cash flow, operating in industries with limited investment prospects, should offer more... View Details

Keywords: Problems and Challenges; Cash Flow; Business or Company Management; Situation or Environment; Performance Productivity; Investment; Executive Compensation

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October 2019
Case

GRIT Fitness

By: Lynda M. Applegate and Olivia Hull

In December 2018, GRIT Fitness was a growing chain of boutique fitness studios offering a variety of workout classes, including weightlifting, high intensity interval training, and cardio dance. With 400 members and three Dallas studios, CEO Brittani Rettig believed... View Details

07 Oct 2008
First Look

First Look: October 7, 2008

30,000 megawatts of power, would change the face of European energy networks, use new technology, and help several European countries meet their Kyoto targets for reducing CO2. The issues are whether a small company like Airtricity has the View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

24 Aug 2016
Research & Ideas

Can Obamacare Be Saved?

operating in the commercial employer market. Commercial employers buy health insurance for pools of employees–sometimes thousands of them. The decision-makers are often skilled human resource specialists who... View Details

Keywords: by John A. Quelch and Emily Boudreau; Insurance; Health

11 Dec 2012
First Look

First Look: Dec. 11

that technology diffuses slower to locations that are farther away from adoption leaders. This effect is stronger across rich countries and also when measuring distance along the south-north dimension. A simple theory of human... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

August 2011
Teaching Note

Before the Fall: Lehman Brothers 2008 (TN)

By: Clayton Rose and Sally Canter Ganzfried

Teaching Note for 309-093. View Details

Keywords: Resignation and Termination; Problems and Challenges; Management; Change; Performance; Rank and Position; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Investment Funds; Capital Structure; Service Industry

July 2010 (Revised February 2011)
Supplement

Eden McCallum: A Network-Based Consulting Firm (B)

By: Heidi K. Gardner and Erin McFee

To weather the 2009 financial crisis, Eden McCallum's cofounders must renegotiate partners' compensation, attract independent consultants to meet different client demands, and reassure their Advisory Board that their network-based consulting model remains sound. The... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Decision Choices and Conditions; Financial Crisis; Entrepreneurship; Governing and Advisory Boards; Compensation and Benefits; Partners and Partnerships; Consulting Industry

January 2003 (Revised April 2004)
Case

Cat is out of the Bag, The: KANA and the Layoff Gone Awry (A)

By: Leslie A. Perlow and David Ager

Vicki Amon-Higa, vice president of KANA, a publicly traded, midsize development company, was working with Bryan Kettle, KANA's CFO, to plan a layoff in which KANA would reduce the size of its workforce by nearly 40%. Despite the best of intentions, news of the layoff... View Details

Keywords: Crisis Management; Employees; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Problems and Challenges; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Conflict Management

04 May 2020
Research & Ideas

Predictions, Prophets, and Restarting Your Business

what’s a manager to do given the uncertainty of both predictions and prophets? Here’s some advice to CEOs, CFOs, sales managers, and others who allocate the major resources in most firms. Whatever else you do in thinking about the future... View Details

Keywords: by Frank V. Cespedes

04 Dec 2007
First Look

First Look: December 4, 2007

students frame their leader(ship) development experiences while in a business school. How we frame our experiences has a significant impact on how we ultimately "have" our experiences, as well as what we make of them. Drawing broadly from educational, View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

22 May 2007
First Look

First Look: May 22, 2007

and thereby improve human welfare. Most previous research has emphasized the use of for-profit firms. Such institutions cannot effectively address many environmental problems, however, because environmental problems often transcend firm... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

06 Oct 2003
Research & Ideas

The Growth of the Social Enterprise

and seem to require stronger, more committed leadership. And branch organizations reported more challenges with human resource issues, while affiliates asserted greater challenges in governance. While these... View Details

Keywords: by Carla Tishler

July 2011
Teaching Note

Miles Everson at PricewaterhouseCoopers (TN)

By: Robert G. Eccles and Penelope Rossano

Teaching Note for 410062. View Details

Keywords: Partners and Partnerships; Employees; Financial Institutions; Opportunities; Networks; Managerial Roles; Experience and Expertise; Attitudes; Leadership; Service Industry; United States

2011
Working Paper

The Impact of Forward-Looking Metrics on Employee Decision Making

By: Pablo Casas-Arce, F. Asis Martinez-Jerez and V.G. Narayanan

This paper analyzes the effects of providing forward-looking metrics on employee decision making. We use data from a southern European bank that, in April 2002, started providing its branch managers with customer lifetime value (CLV) information about mortgage... View Details

Keywords: Customer Value and Value Chain; Decision Choices and Conditions; Mortgages; Employees; Information; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Service Delivery; Banking Industry; Europe

Article

The Role of Lockups in Initial Public Offerings

By: Alon Brav and Paul A. Gompers

In a sample of 2,794 initial public offerings (IPOs), we test three potential explanations for the existence of IPO lockups: lockups serve as (i) a signal of firm quality, (ii) a commitment device to alleviate moral hazard problems, or (iii) a mechanism for... View Details

Keywords: Initial Public Offering; Quality; Moral Sensibility; Compensation and Benefits; Venture Capital; Problems and Challenges; Stock Shares; Going Public

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January 2024 (Revised June 2024)
Case

School of Rock: Tuning into Structured Empowerment (A)

By: Tatiana Sandino, Jeffrey Rayport, Samuel Grad and Stacy Straaberg

In summer 2021, School of Rock was a youth-oriented music education company with 291 franchise- and company-owned schools globally. Before CEO Rob Price’s hire in 2017, School of Rock’s nonconformist rock ‘n’ roll culture led to variability in teaching styles,... View Details

05 May 2003
Research & Ideas

Sharing the Responsibility of Corporate Governance

Harvard Business School professor Constance Bagley studies the intersection of business and law, and is interested in how companies can use legal resources as a competitive asset. In this interview, Bagley discusses ways businesses can... View Details

Keywords: by Carla Tishler

May 2021
Case

Endeavor Kenya: Building an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem

By: Lynda M. Applegate, Shikhar Ghosh and Christian Godwin

In 2016, Fiona Mungai became Endeavor Kenya’s first managing director. In this role, she helped the organization build its inaugural board and select its first Endeavor entrepreneur, a fintech company called Cellulant. Throughout this process, Mungai observed the power... View Details