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Curriculum - Business & Environment

work, and in society. It is meant for those who want to make things happen, despite the obstacles that might stand in your way. This course is also intended to prepare you to use power responsibly, resist its corruptive perils, and... View Details

Web

Resources - Creating Emerging Markets

conference papers, and graduate level research. Stories of Corruption CEM has started a blog series featuring personal accounts of corruption in emerging markets as a means of fostering transparent data... View Details

2016
Book

Why They Do It: Inside the Mind of the White-Collar Criminal

By: Eugene F. Soltes

From the financial fraudsters of Enron, to the embezzlers at Tyco, to the Ponzi schemer Bernie Madoff, the failings of corporate titans are regular fixtures in the news. But what drives wealthy and powerful people to white-collar crime? I draw from extensive personal... View Details

Keywords: Crime and Corruption; Corporate Finance

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20 Dec 2010
Research & Ideas

Panama Canal: Troubled History, Astounding Turnaround

motivation was a defensive American nationalism, not American national defense. Q: What role did the corrupt governments of dictators Torrijos and Noriega play in the handover of the canal back to the Panamanians in 1999? A: Ironically,... View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert; Transportation

01 Dec 2019
News

Remix

So many boxes. Drew Dixon (MBA 2004) moved into this Brooklyn Heights apartment just a few days ago, as evidenced by the ratio of boxes emptied to those still filled. The living room, though, is an island of unpacked order, bobbing above a cardboard sea. It’s late... View Details

Keywords: Jen McFarland Flint; photographed by Chris Sorensen; #MeToo; DefJam; Arts, Entertainment

05 Mar 2009
What Do You Think?

How Frank or Deceptive Should Leaders Be?

the authors, "how the economy really works" as opposed to the way that classical economics views it. They cite the importance of economists understanding the impact of such things as "confidence, fairness, corruption and... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett

January 2020
Article

The Impact of Mass Shootings on Gun Policy

By: Michael Luca, Deepak Malhotra and Christopher Poliquin

There have been dozens of high-profile mass shootings in recent decades. This paper presents three main findings about the impact of mass shootings on gun policy. First, mass shootings evoke large policy responses. A single mass shooting leads to a 15% increase in the... View Details

Keywords: Gun Violence; Gun Policy; Crime and Corruption; Governance; Policy; United States

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30 Jul 2018
Research & Ideas

Why Ethical People Become Unethical Negotiators

PeopleImages Convicted stockbroker Bernie Madoff knew exactly what he was doing when he stole billions from clients, yet the financial advisor didn’t pull off the biggest Ponzi scheme in the United States by himself. He had the help of unwitting accomplices—hundreds of... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

Portrait Project

Uzoma Nwagba

"African government? Don't. You must be corrupt or crazy. Or you will fail." Big Mentor always means well. But this time he will be wrong. That classic doomsday narrative will not remain Africa's soundtrack. No, not even in our... View Details

12 Aug 2020
Research & Ideas

Why Investors Often Lose When They Sue Their Financial Adviser

School Working Knowledge. HBS Digital Media Producer Amelia Kunhardt produced the video interview. [Image: kuri2000 ] Related Reading The Startling Percentage of Financial Advisors with Misconduct Records A Politician's Investment Portfolio Might Tip Off View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost; Financial Services

December 2009 (Revised January 2024)
Case

A Letter from Prison

By: Eugene Soltes

Stephen Richards, the former global head of sales at Computer Associates, Inc. (CA), is serving a seven-year prison sentence for financial fraud. In the case, Richards responds to a number of questions about managerial responsibility and the manipulation of financial... View Details

Keywords: Accounting; Crime and Corruption; Ethics; Corporate Accountability; Managerial Roles

March 2016 (Revised May 2021)
Case

Michael Milken: The Junk Bond King

By: Tom Nicholas and Matthew G. Preble

Michael Milken, an investment banker who dominated the junk bond market in the 1980s, was sentenced to jail in 1990 after pleading guilty to a number of securities and tax-related felonies. In the preceding decade, Milken had helped usher in a new wave of leveraged buy... View Details

Keywords: Junk Bonds; High-yield Bonds; Financial Innovation; Shareholder Value; Bonds; Capital; Capital Structure; Cost of Capital; Crime and Corruption; Entrepreneurship; Ethics; Finance; Investment Banking; Leveraged Buyouts; Mergers and Acquisitions; Ownership; Private Equity; Restructuring; United States

September 2013 (Revised January 2015)
Case

Wal-Mart Lobbying in India?

By: Karthik Ramanna and Vidhya Muthuram

In 2012, as part of a routine disclosure under U.S. law, Wal-Mart revealed it had spent $25 million since 2008 on lobbying to "enhance market access for investment in India." This disclosure, which came weeks after the Indian government made a controversial decision to... View Details

Keywords: Lobbying; India; Multinational Corporations; Business and Government Relations; Crime and Corruption; Retail Industry; India

18 Dec 2013
HBS Case

Lessons from the Lance Armstrong Cheating Scandal

the case is not centered on dictating to students a particular value system; rather, it begins to reveal to them the importance of understanding their personal values so they will be able to make decisions on their own terms—and not blindly follow a bad leader or View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Sports

04 Aug 2010
News

A Lonely Crusader

We’ve all read stories about those rare individuals who saw the financial crisis coming and profited handsomely from their contrarian insights. Add to that list of contrarians hedge fund manager Bill Ackman (MBA ’92), whose six-year crusade to expose the financial... View Details

Keywords: Roger Thompson; subprime mortgages; Finance; Real Estate

23 Aug 2021
Research & Ideas

Why White-Collar Crime Spiked in America After 9/11

After the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the FBI shifted financial resources and hundreds of agents toward combatting terrorism, unintentionally weakening the agency’s ability to investigate white-collar crime in America, research shows. As a result, wire fraud, illegal... View Details

Keywords: by Jay Fitzgerald

October 2011
Case

Chris and Alison Weston (A)

By: Sandra J. Sucher and Celia Moore

Chris and Alison Weston describe how they, a well-educated middle class couple, ended up committing mail fraud, for which they each served a year and a half in federal prison. The case highlights for students how otherwise upstanding individuals much like themselves... View Details

Keywords: Crime and Corruption; Moral Sensibility; Values and Beliefs; Conflict of Interests; Value