Publications

10 Nov 2009
First Look

First Look: Nov. 10

insider stock purchases are significantly greater after SOX than before. Abnormal trading volumes around filings of insider sales are also greater post-SOX on average, but stock returns are not more negative. However, once View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

16 Nov 2010
First Look

First Look: November 16, 2010

reassignments (transfers) across posts of varying importance to control bureaucrats. High-skilled bureaucrats face less frequent political transfers and lower variability in the importance View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

29 Jul 2008
First Look

First Look: July 29, 2008

likely to be transferred if politicians have alternative means of control through subordinate politicians. Districts with higher rates of politically induced bureaucrat... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

August 2009 (Revised July 2010)
Case

Choosing a GAAP for Canada

By: Karthik Ramanna and Beiting Cheng

Explores Canadian regulators' decision to adopt International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS). The Canadian decision in 2005 to adopt IFRS is particularly interesting because Canada had well-developed domestic accounting standards and because a significant... View Details

Keywords: Financial Reporting; International Accounting; Cost vs Benefits; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Standards; Accounting Industry; Canada

02 Apr 2019
First Look

New Research and Ideas, April 2, 2019

source software (OSS) over proprietary software in an attempt to reduce costs creating an unexpected demand shock for OSS. Analysis using the rest of the EU as controls via difference-in-differences and... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

28 Nov 2007
Research & Ideas

B2B Branding: Does it Work?

company websites worldwide to present a consistent face to stakeholders is the best way to get control of marketing communications that may have become too decentralized. Why should brand-building be... View Details

Keywords: by John Quelch; Consumer Products

29 Apr 2002
Research & Ideas

Star Power! How to Win in Professional Services

Limits To Leadership Being the chief executive of any company is a demanding job. Carrying out the responsibilities of a CEO in a professional service firm is exceptionally challenging because the position... View Details

Keywords: by Jay W. Lorsch & Thomas J. Tierney

February 2009 (Revised March 2013)
Supplement

Messer Griesheim (B)

By: Josh Lerner, Ann-Kristin Achleitner, Eva Lutz and Kerry Herman

In 2001, Allianz Capital Partners and Godlman Sachs acquired a majority stake in Messer Greisheim, a European industrial gas concern held by Hoeschst. The dealmakers faced several challenges, including delicate corporate governance issues due to partial family... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Private Equity; Stock Options; Stock Shares; Corporate Governance; Governance Controls; Family Ownership; Problems and Challenges; Energy Industry; Europe

02 Nov 2009
Research & Ideas

Shareholders Need a Say on Pay

Representatives passed a bill granting shareholders a non-binding vote on executive compensation and severance packages. It also maintains that compensation committees should be independent of management. But given its non-binding status,... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Financial Services

2011
Book

The Fund Industry: How Your Money Is Managed

By: Robert Pozen and Theresa Hamacher

The Fund Industry explains to students and investors how to evaluate mutual funds and other collective investment vehicles. It discusses how different types of funds are managed, marketed, and regulated. It also reviews how funds invest and gather assets in countries... View Details

Keywords: Money; Financial Management; International Finance; Investment Funds; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Financial Services Industry

Find at Harvard

June 2015 (Revised November 2016)
Case

HealthCare.gov: The Crash and the Fix (A)

By: Leonard A. Schlesinger and Paras D. Bhayani

A review of the process utilized by the Obama administration to create the Health Care.gov exchange and the problems that resulted from the implementation effort. There is a B case that provides the follow on strategy and processes utilized to get the site up and... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change; Implementing Strategy; Implementation; Government Innovation; Health Care Industry; Health Care Reform; Health Care and Treatment; Government Administration; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Health Industry; Information Technology Industry; United States

Keywords: Green Building; LEED Rating System; Economic And Environmental Performance; Program Evaluation And Assessment; Tradeoffs Between Process- And Performance Standards; Buildings and Facilities; Business Headquarters; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Standards; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Performance Improvement; Environmental Sustainability; Pollutants; Green Technology Industry

September 2009 (Revised September 2010)
Case

Genzyme Center (A)

By: Michael W. Toffel and Aldo Sesia

Genzyme Corporation is in the midst of planning its new corporate headquarters, which incorporates many innovative green building features. After learning that the building as planned would likely earn a LEED Silver rating, an intermediate score in the LEED green... View Details

03 Jul 2012
Research & Ideas

HBS Faculty on Supreme Court Health Care Ruling

care system, and the controls in the legislation are either worrisome (the Independent Payment Advisory Board, for example, allows a handful of people rather than the American public to cap health care... View Details

Keywords: Re: Multiple Faculty; Health

08 Sep 2010
First Look

First Look: September 8, 2010

non-ethnically Chinese firms of similar size, age, and other characteristics. In addition, within strata of matched firms based on their intangible assets and human capital, ethnically Chinese firms no... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

08 Jun 2010
First Look

First Look: June 8

controlling for the potential effect of cultural norms. China provides a good research lab since it combines great heterogeneity in institutional development across the Chinese provinces with homogeneity in... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

January 2017 (Revised August 2017)
Case

Mexico's Energy Reform

By: Richard H.K. Vietor and Haviland Sheldahl-Thomason

Energy—both petroleum and electricity—had been terribly managed for decades in Mexico. The two national monopolies—PEMEX and CFE—were inefficient, overstaffed, corrupt, rife with subsidies, and losing money. Finally, in 2012, President Enrique Peña Nieto announced his... View Details

Keywords: Energy; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Performance Improvement; Energy Industry; Mexico