Publications

15 Dec 2014
Research & Ideas

Deconstructing the Price Tag

consumers tend to value the product more." Mohan is an author of the paper Lifting the Veil: The Benefits of Cost Transparency, written with HBS assistant professors Ryan W. Buell and Leslie K. John. Intimate Disclosure Since cost... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Retail

2012
Article

Signing at the Beginning Makes Ethics Salient and Decreases Dishonest Self-reports in Comparison to Signing at the End

By: L. Shu, N. Mazar, F. Gino, D. Ariely and M. Bazerman

Many written forms required by businesses and governments rely on honest reporting. Proof of honest intent is typically provided through signature at the end of the document, e.g., tax returns or insurance policy forms. Still, people sometimes cheat to advance their... View Details

Keywords: Nudge; Morality; Honesty; Self-report; Policy-making; Ethics; Corporate Disclosure; Reports; Policy

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01 Aug 2016
Research & Ideas

Retail Execs Underplay Current Performance to Investors--but Why?

Business School finance professor Kenneth A. Froot in the April working paper What Do Measures of Real-Time Corporate Sales Tell Us about Earnings Surprises and Post-Announcement Returns? “It’s startling to find that managers are not even... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Financial Services

March 2012
Article

Advertising Disclosures: Measuring Labeling Alternatives in Internet Search Engines

By: Benjamin Edelman and Duncan S. Gilchrist

In an online experiment, we measure users' interactions with search engines, both in standard configurations and in modified versions with clearer labels identifying search engine advertisements. In particular, for a random subset of users, we change "Sponsored links"... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Disclosure; Online Advertising; Measurement and Metrics; Internet; Search Technology; Education; Labels

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Article

The Causes and Consequences of Industry Self-Policing

By: Jodi L. Short and Michael W. Toffel

Innovative regulatory programs are encouraging firms to police their own regulatory compliance and voluntarily disclose, or "confess," the violations they find. Despite the "win-win" rhetoric surrounding these government voluntary programs, it is not clear why... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Disclosure; Governance Compliance; Law Enforcement; Policy; United States

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07 Jan 2015
What Do You Think?

SUMMING UP: What Are the Limits On Workplace Transparency?

Summing Up What Isn't Off Limits When it Comes to Transparency? The discussion of this month's column on corporate transparency to employees made it clear that we have reached a point at which disclosure of... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

15 Aug 2006
First Look

First Look: August 15, 2006

institutions that accompany it (e.g., financial disclosure rules, investor protections, etc.) allows corporations to rely less on connections to banks. There are two specific hypotheses tested in this work.... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

19 May 2014
Research & Ideas

Why Companies Should Compete for Your Privacy

disclosed, reducing consumer privacy. Consumers benefit from intense competition, but often through lower prices or subsidies, rather than through reduced disclosure of their information. Consumers are more in tune than ever with View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Consumer Products

March 2004 (Revised April 2005)
Case

International Rivers Network and the Bujagali Dam Project (A)

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Aldo Sesia

In the summer of 2002, the International Rivers Network (IRN), an environmental NGO located in Berkeley, California, was engaged in what appeared to be the last hours of a three year campaign to stop a $582 million dam and hydropower project at Bujagali Falls in... View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Corporate Disclosure; Project Finance; Investment; Environmental Sustainability; Projects; Developing Countries and Economies; Energy Industry; Uganda

July–August 2024
Article

Disclosing Downstream Emissions

By: Robert S. Kaplan and Karthik Ramanna

An increasing number of companies are using the E-liability carbon-accounting method as an important tool for tracking progress toward reducing global emissions in their supply chains. The system does not require formal accounting for downstream emissions—those... View Details

Keywords: Carbon Emissions; Environmental Accounting; Corporate Accountability; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Corporate Disclosure; Environmental Sustainability

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21 Aug 2012
First Look

First Look: August 21

Firms Greenwash? Corporate Visibility, Civil Society Scrutiny, and Environmental Disclosure Authors:Christopher Marquis and Michael W. Toffel Abstract Under increased pressure to report environmental... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

28 Aug 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, August 28, 2018

scant direct empirical research on how human interaction patterns change as a result of these architectural changes. In two intervention-based field studies of corporate headquarters transitioning to more open office spaces, we... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

February 2004 (Revised April 2004)
Case

Financial Reporting in the Catholic Church

The Catholic Church is a large and complex international organization with several layers of management spread across a diverse range of services and geographical areas. Creating a coherent and manageable communication strategy for is a challenging task that requires... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Disclosure; Religion; Financial Reporting; Organizational Culture; Communication Strategy

November 2018 (Revised January 2019)
Case

Investor Relations Practices at Edwards Lifesciences

By: C. Fritz Foley and F. Katelynn Boland

In January 2017, the senior leadership team at Edwards Lifesciences were preparing for the quarterly earnings call that would cover the fourth quarter of 2016. They faced questions about what types of information they should disclose on the call, as well as during... View Details

Keywords: Investor Relations; Medical Devices; Corporate Disclosure; Decisions; Business and Shareholder Relations; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; United States

13 Mar 2018
First Look

March 13, 2018

Consequences of Mandatory Corporate Sustainability Reporting By: Ioannou, Ioannis, and George Serafeim Abstract—A key aspect of the governance process inside organizations and markets is the measurement and View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

30 Nov 2016
Op-Ed

Where Could More Regulation Help Small Businesses? Online Lending.

players tend to offer. The problem is that lending to small businesses falls through the regulatory cracks, specifically on borrower protections. As a case in point, safeguards such as the Truth in Lending Act afford consumers standardized View Details

Keywords: by Karen Mills and Brayden McCarthy; Financial Services

13 Apr 2020
Working Paper Summaries

The Bulletproof Glass Effect: When Privacy Notices Backfire

Keywords: by Aaron R. Brough, David A. Norton, and Leslie John

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