Publications

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January 2018 (Revised March 2018)
Case

Wenzhou Kangning Hospital: Changing Mental Healthcare in China

By: William C. Kirby, Wei Zhang, Yuanzhuo Wang and Nancy Hua Dai

The city of Wenzhou in the Province of Zhejiang, long known in China for entrepreneurship, now hosts the country’s largest privately owned mental health hospital group. This case traces the development of Wenzhou Kangning Hospital Co, Ltd. from founding to just before... View Details

Keywords: Mental Health; Hospital; IPO; China; Zhejiang; Wenzhou; Private Healthcare; Private Hospital; Health Care and Treatment; Private Ownership; Corporate Governance; Growth and Development; Entrepreneurship; Health Industry; China

September 1999 (Revised July 2022)
Case

The Goldman Sachs IPO

By: Ashish Nanda, Malcolm S. Salter, Boris Groysberg and Sarah Matthews

Addresses the proposed IPO and raises questions regarding how agency costs may rise or fall as Goldman converts from a private partnership to a public limited corporation. View Details

Keywords: Initial Public Offering; Going Public; Corporate Governance; Agency Theory; Transformation; Financial Services Industry

07 Apr 2009
First Look

First Look: April 7, 2009

Mozilo ... and 'Say on Pay' for All! (A) Harvard Business School Case 109-009 Union seeks to protect its pension funds through shareholder activism focused on corporate governance and executive compensation.... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

December 1999
Case

Brierley Investments Limited

By: Paul M. Healy

Brierley's is an investment company that has performed poorly in the New Zealand market. Management has prepared a report of the intrinsic value of the company's investments. View Details

Keywords: Valuation; Corporate Disclosure; Financial Strategy; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Performance Evaluation; Investment; Business Strategy; Financial Services Industry; New Zealand

02 Dec 2002
What Do You Think?

How Will We Respond to the “Moment of Truth” in Option Plans?

matter warrant more careful investigation? Or must we continue to rely on the compensation consulting community to guide us in these matters? What do you think? Original Article Stock option plans are thought to be under attack. View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

13 May 2014
First Look

First Look: May 13

how management and corporate boards of directors can best manage investor relations with activist stockholders such as hedge funds who are demanding major changes within a corporation to improve stockholder... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

23 Jul 2001
Research & Ideas

Looking for CEOs in All the Wrong Places

him and one of its board members? Understanding the dynamics of the CEO search process, as well as the ways in which chief executive turnover influences corporate performance, has been the goal of recent research by HBS assistant... View Details

Keywords: by Peter K. Jacobs; Employment

24 Jul 2007
First Look

First Look: July 24, 2007

by calling attention to Home Depot CEO Robert Nardelli's compensation package and the company's poor performance. The AFL-CIO Office of Investments advocates for improved corporate governance at public... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

February 2008
Article

Attracting Skeptical Buyers: Negotiating for Intellectual Property Rights

By: James J. Anton and Dennis A. Yao

Expropriable disclosures of knowledge to prospective buyers may be necessary to facilitate the sale of intellectual property (IP). In principle, confidentiality agreements can protect disclosures by granting the seller rights to sue for unauthorized use. In practice,... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Disclosure; Intellectual Property; Knowledge Sharing; Lawsuits and Litigation; Rights; Agreements and Arrangements; Competition

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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 pay information in... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

16 Oct 2012
First Look

First Look: October 16

Specifically, products tend to "mirror" the architectures of the organizations in which they are developed. This dynamic occurs because the organization's governance structures, problem solving routines, and communication... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

November 2017
Case

The 'Wonder Drug' That Killed Babies

By: Joshua Lev Krieger, Tom Nicholas and Matthew Preble

In the early 1960s, a popular drug taken by patients worldwide for a range of maladies was found to cause severe birth defects and other health problems in babies born to mothers who had taken it during a certain stage of fetal development. As many as 10,000 children... View Details

Keywords: Regulation; Business and Government Relations; Business and Community Relations; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Product Marketing; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Business History; Health; Government Legislation; Corporate Accountability; Ethics; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Pharmaceutical Industry; Public Administration Industry; United States; United Kingdom; Australia; Germany; Europe

December 2001
Teaching Note

Parenting Magazine TN

By: Paul A. Gompers

Teaching Note for (9-291-015). A rewritten version of an earlier teaching note. View Details

Keywords: Money; Capital; Capital Budgeting; Decisions; Cost Accounting; Economic Systems; Negotiation Process; Corporate Accountability; Negotiation Deal; Business Startups; Financial Strategy; Corporate Finance; Journalism and News Industry; Publishing Industry

October 2021
Article

Shareholder Activism and Firms' Voluntary Disclosure of Climate Change Risks

By: Caroline Flammer, Michael W. Toffel and Kala Viswanathan

This paper examines whether—in the absence of mandated disclosure requirements—shareholder activism can elicit greater disclosure of firms’ exposure to climate change risks. We find that environmental shareholder activism increases the voluntary disclosure of climate... View Details

Keywords: Transparency; Reporting; Shareholder Engagement; Shareholder Activism; Climate Change; Risk and Uncertainty; Environmental Management; Investment Activism; Corporate Disclosure; Communication Strategy; Information Publishing; Measurement and Metrics; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Problems and Challenges; United States

05 Mar 2024
Blog Post

IFC India: Our Godrej Site Visit

to our questions about mangroves, upcoming initiatives, regulation, corporate governance, partnerships, and more. The Godrej Mangroves in Mumbai Next, at the mangroves, Karkhanis described to us the extent of the flora and fauna around... View Details

Web

The Strategic Case for Diversity in Digital Transformation - Blog: RGE Report

development pipelines . For boards, the imperative is not only to govern technological strategy but to make sure that tools like AI are deployed in ways that reinforce , rather than erode, positive organizational values . Ignoring how AI... View Details

29 Sep 2015
First Look

September 29, 2015

traces the evolution of the Internet from government ownership to privatization to the commercial Internet we know today. This is a story of innovation from the edges. Greenstein shows how mainstream service providers that had... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

November 2005 (Revised November 2007)
Case

Meisterchef.com

By: Henry B. Reiling

Two underperforming companies are seeking to combine on terms that will preserve the net operating loss of one for use against their combined future profits or at least against the future profits of the company that generated the losses. The questions are whether the... View Details

Keywords: Code Law; Corporate Governance; Mergers and Acquisitions; Cost Accounting; Taxation; Corporate Strategy; Profit; Crisis Management; Financial Management; Legal Services Industry; Service Industry; United States

May 1997
Case

Donna Karan International Inc.

By: Krishna G. Palepu and Sarayu Srinivasan

Designer Donna Karan takes her firm public. After eager anticipation from Wall Street, the stock loses 60% of its value. This case addresses the questions: Is Karan's company ready to undertake responsibilities of being public? Is the company's strategy sustainable?... View Details

Keywords: Public Equity; Stock Shares; Financial Strategy; Corporate Accountability; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Outcome or Result; Going Public; Business Strategy; Valuation; Fashion Industry