Publications

May 2002 (Revised October 2002)
Background Note

Incentive Strategy II: Executive Compensation and Ownership Structure

By: Brian J. Hall

This case analyzes incentive strategy from the perspective of a company's board of directors and owners. The focus is the role that executive compensation and ownership structure (the composition of, and financial structure between, a company's owners) play in... View Details

Keywords: Governing and Advisory Boards; Executive Compensation; Ownership; Behavior; Motivation and Incentives; Perspective; Strategy; Value Creation

June 2005 (Revised July 2009)
Case

Financial Reporting Problems at Molex, Inc. (A)

By: Paul M. Healy

Following an accounting problem at Molex, the firm's auditors request changes in management. The board of directors has to decide whether the auditors' concerns have merit or whether, as management argues, the accounting issue is immaterial. View Details

Keywords: Managerial Roles; Governing and Advisory Boards; Financial Reporting; Relationships; Resignation and Termination; Accounting Audits

October 1996 (Revised May 2001)
Case

Cantuga Farmworkers Clinic (A)

By: James E. Austin and Catherine Overholt

The board of directors of a rural health clinic fires its executive director. The case elaborates the evolution and progress of the clinic under this director during a period of growth and a changing health care environment. Factors contributing to and questioning the... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Resignation and Termination; Managerial Roles; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Performance Evaluation; Problems and Challenges; Rank and Position; Social Enterprise; Health Industry

Teaching Interest

Overview

By: Lynn S. Paine

Ms. Paine currently teaches Boards of Directors and Corporate Governance in the second-year MBA program. She also co-chairs the HBS flagship programs for corporate directors Making Corporate Boards More Effective, Advanced Corporate Director Seminar, as well as its... View Details

November 1989 (Revised December 1996)
Supplement

Wisconsin Central Ltd. Railroad and Berkshire Partners (B): LBO Associations and Corporate Governance

By: Michael C. Jensen

Describes the resolution of the default situation. Further examines the internal control mechanisms and distinct role of the board of directors of a typical LBO association. View Details

Keywords: Corporate Governance; Leveraged Buyouts; Rail Industry

April 1996 (Revised May 1997)
Case

Netscape's Initial Public Offering

By: W. Carl Kester and Kendall Backstrand

In August 1995, Netscape's board of directors was confronted with a decision about what price to offer the company's shares in its initial public offering (IPO). Preliminary demand for shares was high, but the company had not generated any positive earnings at the time... View Details

Keywords: Initial Public Offering; Information Technology; Problems and Challenges; Valuation; Governing and Advisory Boards; Information Technology Industry

Research Summary

The Talent at the Table: Business Expertise and Share Ownership in Fortune 500 Boardrooms

This paper examines the relationship between corporate value and "vestige" directors, defined as directors who own sizeable shareholdings but lack salient business experience relative to their peers on Fortune 500 boards. These people come to serve on... View Details

May 2014
Article

How to Outsmart Activist Investors

By: Bill George and Jay W. Lorsch

We offer opinions on 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 return. Beverage industry firm PepsiCo is... View Details

Keywords: Investment Activism

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June 2011
Case

Trouble in Islandia; Computer Associates 2001 - 2004

By: Jay W. Lorsch and Melissa Barton

The Board of Directors of Computer Associates deals with pressure from the U.S. Department of Justice as its members try to gain better insight into the accounting practices of the company's top management team. View Details

Keywords: Problems and Challenges; Corporate Governance; Management Teams; Ethics; Practice; Florida; United States

October 1997 (Revised November 1997)
Case

NAACP, The

By: James E. Austin, Paul Barese, Stephanie L. Woerner and Elaine V. Backman

In February 1995, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), the largest civil rights organization in the United States, was in the midst of a crisis. The executive director had been fired due to financial improprieties amid charges of... View Details

Keywords: Crime and Corruption; Capital; Governance Controls; Resignation and Termination; Selection and Staffing; Rights; Leadership; Management; United States

Allison Mnookin is a Senior Lecturer of Business Administration in the Technology and Operations Management (TOM) Unit at the Harvard Business School. She currently is the co-chair of the first-year MBA Technology and Operations Management course. In addition, she... View Details

12 May 2009
News

Schumer's Shareholder Bill Misses the Mark

09 May 2021
News

#245 Hubert Joly- Skyrocketing Best Buy’s Success and Unleashing Human Magic

20 Feb 2013
News

Office Depot-OfficeMax CEOs Face Off in Unorthodox Search

26 Jul 2013
Working Paper Summaries

Accountability of Independent Directors-Evidence from Firms Subject to Securities Litigation

Keywords: by Francois Brochet & Suraj Srinivasan

Nori Gerardo Lietz

Nori Gerardo Lietz is a Senior Lecturer of Business Administration in the Finance and Entrepreneurial Management Units. She presently teaches Real Estate Private Equity and Starting a Private Investment Firm.

Nori Gerardo Lietz is the founder of Areté... View Details

November 2007 (Revised March 2009)
Case

Clear Channel 2006

By: Richard S. Ruback and Leslie Pierson

The Board of Directors of Clear Channel Communications, a radio broadcasting and outdoor advertising company, has to respond to a revised proposal from two private equity firms to take the company private. In November of 2006, the Board had unanimously approved an... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Private Equity; Governing and Advisory Boards; Negotiation Offer; Privatization; Business and Shareholder Relations