Publications

March 2016
Article

An Analysis of Firms' Self-reported Anticorruption Efforts

By: Paul M. Healy and George Serafeim

We use Transparency International's ratings of self-reported anticorruption efforts for 480 corporations to analyze factors underlying the ratings. Our tests examine whether these forms of disclosure reflect firms' real efforts to combat corruption or are cheap talk.... View Details

Keywords: Corruption; Corporate Performance; Growth; Disclosure; Disclosure Strategy; Sustainability; Crime and Corruption; Corporate Disclosure; Performance; Sales

December 1995
Case

Assessing Foreign Business Practices

By: Debora L. Spar

As businesses expand worldwide, corporations are increasingly being forced to grapple with definitions of "acceptable" foreign conduct. What differentiates a "bribe" from a "commission"? Should managers abroad refer to local custom or their own national laws in... View Details

Keywords: Crime and Corruption; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues

19 Apr 2022
Cold Call Podcast

What Role Do Individual Leaders Play in Corporate Governance?

Keywords: Re: Aiyesha Dey

April 2013 (Revised March 2014)
Case

Value Partners and the Evergrande Situation

By: Paul Healy and Keith Chi-ho Wong

In June 2012, Cheah Cheng-Hye and his colleagues at Value Partners, a Hong-Kong-based investment firm, received a copy of a short-seller report alleging that Evergrande, one of China's largest property developers, was using fraudulent accounting and paying bribes to... View Details

Keywords: Financial Analysis; Value Investing; China; Asset Management; Crime and Corruption; Financial Services Industry; China

01 Mar 2004
News

Ex-Con Talks Ethics with HBS Students

official. He eventually turned himself in and served four years in prison in Costa Rica and the United States. Currently on probation, he spoke at HBS last November as part of the Leadership & Ethics Forum (LEF), a student-led organization. Kuhse’s descent into View Details

Keywords: Justice, Public Order, and Safety Activities; Government

15 Feb 2011
First Look

First Look: Feb. 15

versus status) for these two subgroups. Distribution and Victim Behavior during a Crime Wave Authors:Rafael Di Tella, Sebastian Galiani, and Ernesto Schargrodsky Publication:Chap. 4 in The Economics of Crime: Lessons for and from Latin... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

28 Feb 2012
First Look

First Look: Feb. 28

PublicationsThe Power of Political Voice: Women's Political Representation and Crime in India Authors:Lakshmi Iyer, Anandi Mani, Prachi Mishra, and Petia Topalova Publication:American Economic Journal: Applied Economics (forthcoming)... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

December 2017
Case

Charity or Bribery?

By: Eugene Soltes and Brian Tilley

Filip Kowalski, a senior manager at the pharmaceutical company Healthgen, leads sales for the firm’s Polish division. While pitching Healthgen’s products, he develops a relationship with a director of a regional health fund who also runs a private foundation. After a... View Details

Keywords: Bribery; Crime and Corruption; Law; Ethics; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; United States; Europe

September 1986 (Revised March 1987)
Case

Graves Industries, Inc. (B): Lohnes Marine Hardware Division

Describes events occurring over a four-year period in one division of Graves Industries. The division goes through a business cycle and uses several methods of managing earnings to meet its budget targets. The purpose of the case is to allow the exploration of the... View Details

Keywords: Earnings Management; Crime and Corruption; Ethics

01 Dec 2005
News

The Deleterious Effects of Dirty Money

corporations, and fake transactions. The practice bolsters international crime and terrorism and contributes to global inequality and poverty, he writes. A guest scholar at the Brookings Institution and a senior fellow at the Center for... View Details

Keywords: Lewis I. Rice; Finance

27 Jan 2016
Research & Ideas

A Politician's Investment Portfolio Might Tip Off Corruption Potential

The risk taken in a politician’s private investment portfolio is a strong indicator of whether that person will cross legal or ethical lines in office. The riskier the portfolio, the more likely the lawmaker will be involved in at least one scandal, according to new... View Details

Keywords: by Roberta Holland

November 1992 (Revised November 1993)
Case

Anheuser-Busch and Campbell Taggart (Abridged)

In 1984, the SEC accused Paul Thayer and eight others of insider trading. Some of Thayer's inside information came from his position on the board of Anheuser-Busch, where he had learned about Busch's 1982 merger with Campbell Taggart before the merger was publicly... View Details

Keywords: Crime and Corruption; Ethics; Capital Markets; United States

Find at Harvard

June 2007 (Revised September 2011)
Case

Caselets: Bribery and Extortion in International Business (Abridged)

By: Louis T. Wells Jr.

"Caselets" present several examples of decisions involving bribery or take other actions that could be considered as corrupt. View Details

Keywords: Crime and Corruption; Globalized Firms and Management

October 2008
Article

Choosing Agents and Monitoring Consumption: A Note on Wealth as a Corruption-Controlling-Device

By: Rafael Di Tella and Federico Weinschelbaum

Keywords: Wealth; Crime and Corruption

Find at Harvard

May 1995
Teaching Note

Note on the Federal Sentencing Guidelines for Organizations and Corporate Criminal Fines Exercise TN

By: Lynn S. Paine and Michael Santoro

Teaching Note for (9-393-060) and (9-394-101). View Details

Keywords: Crime and Corruption; Government and Politics; Corporate Governance

01 Mar 2024
News

The Exchange: Takeaways from the Takedown

Professors Eugene Soltes and Aiyesha Dey; image by John Ritter When Sam Bankman-Fried was convicted in 2023 of all seven charges against him related to the cryptocurrency exchange FTX, the jury needed less than five hours to deliberate after a months-long trial. The... View Details

Keywords: Jen McFarland Flint; Securities, Commodities, and Other Financial Investments; Finance

November 2004 (Revised February 2006)
Background Note

Note on Insider Trading Liability

By: Lynn S. Paine and Christopher Bruner

Provides a general description and overview of U.S. law on insider trading, including the basic theories of liability, the responsibilities of securities firm managers to prevent and detect insider trading, and the potential penalties for insider trading. A rewritten... View Details

Keywords: Insider Trading; Legal Liability; Ethics; Crime and Corruption; Finance