Publications

February 2018
Case

Whole Foods and JANA Partners

By: Suraj Srinivasan and Quinn Pitcher

In 2017, JANA Partners decided to launch an activist campaign at struggling supermarket chain Whole Foods Market. The company had struggled for the past several years, and JANA thought the presence of new directors could help turn around its operations, while Whole... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Governance; Information Technology; Institutional Investing; Investment Activism; United States

January 2003 (Revised December 2003)
Case

Financial Performance Reporting

By: David F. Hawkins

Students must evaluate the Financial Accounting Standards Board/International Accounting Standards Board's tentative decisions on comprehensive income statements. View Details

Keywords: International Accounting; Income; Decision Making; Financial Reporting; Corporate Governance; Accounting Industry

22 Feb 2016
Research & Ideas

The ‘Mother of Fair Trade’ was an Unabashed Price Protectionist

was trying to fix prices. This is antithetical to how most Americans think of the US market operating,” says Sawyer, an assistant professor in the Business, Government and the International Economy unit who previously held the... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Retail; Health; Legal Services

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

June 2009 (Revised October 2011)
Case

Mina O'Reilly at Logan Airport's TSA

By: Michel Anteby and Erin McFee

Mina O'Reilly, an officer at Logan Airport's Transportation Security Administration (TSA) in Boston, must discipline an employee responsible for a security breach that resulted in a 45-minute terminal closure during peak hours, a potential threat to traveler safety,... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Accountability; Employee Relationship Management; Organizational Culture; Air Transportation; Air Transportation Industry; Boston

September 2004 (Revised September 2006)
Case

Harley-Davidson, Inc.: Motorcycle Manufacturer or Financing Company?

Harley-Davidson manufactures and sells motorcycles. It also provides financing for retail purchases and dealer stock. Although Harley's performance has been very strong, analysts and the press have questioned its use of a special-purpose entity to sell securities... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Business or Company Management; Corporate Disclosure; Financial Strategy; Manufacturing Industry; Financial Services Industry; Motorcycle Industry; Retail Industry

Article

Little Patents and Big Secrets: Managing Intellectual Property

By: James J. Anton and Dennis A. Yao

Exploitation of an innovation commonly requires some disclosure of enabling knowledge (e.g., to obtain a patent or induce complementary investment). When property rights offer only limited protection, the value of the disclosure is offset by the increased threat of... View Details

Keywords: Patents; Management; Innovation and Invention; Knowledge; Rights; Value; Information; Corporate Disclosure

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Profile

Tuce Zengin Van den Eynde

Both Tuce Zengin Van den Eynde and her husband, Alain, had completed master’s degrees, and both had considerable experience in corporate finance. But Alain was eager to go the United States to get an MBA. And in what might be considered a... View Details

01 Mar 2007
News

Winter Break Just Got Educational

have transformed China over the past 25 years. The itinerary included academic and media panel presentations on a variety of topics affecting China and networking events with HBS alumni. Students also met with corporate executives and... View Details

Keywords: immersion; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services; Social Assistance; Health, Social Assistance; Corporate, Subsidiary, and Regional Managing Offices; Management

06 Feb 2006
What Do You Think?

Should CEOs of Public Companies Offer Earnings Guidance?

it may become part of a larger debate in 2006 about added pressures on managers to produce short-term earnings regardless of the impact on the long-term health of the business. In his annual year-end letter to directors, Martin Lipton, a long-time student of View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Financial Services

Web

Research Resources | Baker Library

other archival collections related to the company. Administrative Records, circa 1930–2005 (Series I) Corporate governance and leadership records, 1953–1995; Polaroid View Details

July 2009 (Revised January 2014)
Case

Sustainability at Millipore

By: Michael W. Toffel and Katharine Lee

This case describes Millipore Corporation's approach to becoming a more environmentally sustainable company. As he prepared for his quarterly meeting with the CEO, the Director of Sustainability needed to develop positions on several issues. Tactically, he needed to... View Details

Keywords: Investment; Corporate Disclosure; Operations; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Organizational Structure; Natural Environment; Environmental Sustainability; Pollutants

01 Mar 2009
News

A Modern-Day Classic

the exception of some work done on multinational corporations by HBS professor emeritus Chris Bartlett. It’s only recently that there’s been a resurgence of interest. We wanted to capture that moment.” Lawrence and Lorsch’s book... View Details

Keywords: Publishing Industries (except Internet); Information

01 Sep 2016
News

Alumni and Faculty Books for September 2016

set in 1972, involves a Pakistani professor, a CIA spy, an American businessman, and India’s secret development of an atomic bomb. Related events include the KGB’s influence on Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s government and Pakistan’s plan... View Details

Person Page

Media

This lists media reports covering my firm dollarDEX Investments or me (or my colleagues), or columns written by me (or my colleagues). There are all... View Details

July 2003 (Revised February 2004)
Background Note

M&A Legal Context: Standards Related to the Sale or Purchase of a Company

By: Carliss Y. Baldwin, Constance E. Bagley and James Quinn

Introduces students to the legal standards affecting officers and directors when selling or purchasing a company. Provides a practical understanding of the Revlon Standard, the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, Rule 10b-5, and the legal criteria for a cause of... View Details

Keywords: Laws and Statutes; Law Enforcement; Government Legislation; Acquisition; Business Exit or Shutdown; Corporate Governance; Going Public; Courts and Trials

May 2019
Article

Who Consumes Firm Disclosures? Evidence from Earnings Conference Calls

By: Anne Heinrichs, Jihwon Park and Eugene F. Soltes

Using a set of proprietary records, we examine who consumes quarterly earnings conference calls and under which circumstances the calls are consumed. While there is significant interest in calls by institutional investors and sell-side analysts, we find that investors... View Details

Keywords: Disclosure; Conference Calls; Firm News; Corporate Disclosure; Business Earnings; Situation or Environment

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