Control Rights - Publications - Faculty & Research

28 May 2019
Research & Ideas

Investor Lawsuits Against Auditors Are Falling, and That's Bad News for Capital Markets

financial reporting quality has fallen in places where it has become harder to sue. The rulings of Tellabs and Janus have made it easier for auditors to argue, “We didn’t know the company lied to us.” How do investors prove that auditors didn’t ask the View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Financial Services; Accounting

24 Jan 2011
HBS Case

Terror at the Taj

managers could explain the behavior of these employees," says Deshpandé. "In the interview, the vice chairman of the company says that they knew all the back exits—the natural human instinct would be to flee. These are people who instinctively did the View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Accommodations

15 Jul 2019
Book

Many Executives Are Afraid of Finance. Here's How They Can Gain Confidence

sellers control important sources of information, including historic financial information. What do you think the seller has been doing, as it prepares for a sale? It might make itself look particularly good by accelerating sales,... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

10 Jul 2007
What Do You Think?

How Much of Leadership Is About Control, Delegation, or Theater?

theater and control is required to make people feel comfortable when fundamental operating systems change ." Narendar Singh Raj Purohit adds that " when things are getting out of control someone... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett

18 Nov 2013
Research & Ideas

Pulpit Bullies: Why Dominating Leaders Kill Teams

to ask questions and make comments. In reality, however, the speakers often do the opposite—dominating the time and not allowing for much discussion at all. "As professors we do this too," admits Gino. "It's very difficult when you think you have the... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

05 Mar 2012
Research & Ideas

Is JC Penney’s Makeover the Future of Retailing?

challenge, Lal says. Pricing It Right Retail pricing is a high art, and Johnson is starting from scratch at Penney, replacing frequent sales—the company had 590 of them in 2011—with "Fair and Square everyday pricing." When outlining the... View Details

Keywords: by Kim Girard; Retail

04 Dec 2019
Book

Creating the Experimentation Organization

launched as new champion. Example of an experiment conducted by Booking.com; from Experimentation Works by Stefan Thomke. Discipline required In order for such an experiment to work, says Thomke, a company must be disciplined—having a testable hypothesis with a View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

14 Jun 2010
Research & Ideas

The Hard Work of Measuring Social Impact

the same time," Ebrahim notes. "Delivering emergency relief and basic services in sanitation, water, and housing is easier to measure than impacts on public policy or on good governance, freedoms, and rights. Societal transformations—such as improving human View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna

23 Jan 2013
Research & Ideas

Three-Dimensional Strategy: Winning the Multisided Platform

third party. By contrast, a grocery store also creates a space for consumers and multiple brands to meet—but the store controls the transaction, serving as a reseller. Done right, the MSP model has proven extremely lucrative, throwing off... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna

11 Jul 2016
HBS Case

Neurodiversity: The Benefits of Recruiting Employees with Cognitive Disabilities

time when many bemoan the lack of skilled workers. ASD is an umbrella term for several cognitive impairments, including Asperger syndrome. The United States Centers for Disease Control estimates one in 68 children have been diagnosed with... View Details

Keywords: by Roberta Holland; Technology

15 Jan 2014
Research & Ideas

Managing the Family Business: It Takes a Village

depends, to a surprising extent, on capable leaders. If boards of directors of public, anonymously-owned companies didn't believe that leadership mattered so much, they wouldn't pay such huge salaries to their CEOs. (By the way, I don't think they are worth that much,... View Details

17 Nov 2020
Research & Ideas

Why a Blended Workforce May Be Key to Lasting Competitive Advantage

In recent years, companies have been anxious about the lack of skilled workers to fill pivotal jobs. But then came COVID-19 and a subsequent recession. The ensuing business turmoil and record-high unemployment may have temporarily distracted companies from their... View Details

Keywords: by Joseph B. Fuller

23 Jun 2003
Research & Ideas

Building a Better Buyer-Seller Relationship

compared the firms' performance over six years. What they found: in the beginning of a relationship, suppliers enjoyed no significant difference in sales, inventory holding and control costs, gross margins, or return on investment. But... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

03 May 2022
Research & Ideas

Desperate for Talent? Consider Advancing Your Own Employees First

Job openings in the United States continue to hover at record high levels, exacerbated by the Great Resignation and a sputtering emergence from the pandemic. Competition remains fierce among companies struggling to find qualified workers. Yet many employers,... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

25 Aug 2003
Research & Ideas

Why IT Does Matter

ability to rapidly and more deeply analyze huge databases. Understanding the potential and then deciding when the time is right to seize these transformative applications will be neither routine nor boring for the CEO or CIO. Grid... View Details

Keywords: by F. Warren McFarlan & Richard L. Nolan

01 Sep 2006
What Do You Think?

Are We Ready for Self-Management?

decision that invites initiative and not followership." But John Inman's comments suggested a concern that was more strongly voiced by others, when he commented that "if you are a command and control manager keep away from... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

17 Aug 2021
Research & Ideas

Can Autonomous Vehicles Drive with Common Sense?

like." Yet as car manufacturers, tech companies, and ride hailing services move forward with plans for deploying AVs, widespread deployment has been slow, primarily because AVs face a huge challenge: Many people are uneasy about relinquishing View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Auto

22 Jul 2019
Book

How to Be a Digital Platform Leader

Failure to get that pricing right inevitably leads to decline. You can see examples in businesses like ridesharing. The first player in the space was a company called Sidecar that never was able to figure out the View Details