Publications

December 2005 (Revised October 2006)
Case

Nest Fresh Eggs (A)

By: Teresa M. Amabile and Victoria Winston

Cyd Szymanski's cage-free egg business was threatened by large caged-hen companies that saw new profit potential in the industry she had helped build. Szymanski had based her company, Nest Fresh Eggs, on a strong personal belief that people deserved healthier... View Details

Keywords: Motivation and Incentives

December 2023
Article

Discerning Saints: Moralization of Intrinsic Motivation and Selective Prosociality at Work

By: Mijeong Kwon, Julia Lee Cunningham and Jon M. Jachimowicz

Intrinsic motivation has received widespread attention as a predictor of positive work outcomes, including employees’ prosocial behavior. In the current research, we offer a more nuanced view by proposing that intrinsic motivation does not uniformly increase prosocial... View Details

Keywords: Motivation and Incentives; Behavior; Moral Sensibility; Employees

Find at Harvard

31 Jan 2012
First Look

First Look: Jan. 31

duties in firms incorporated in that state. This change limited managers' incentives to take actions favoring equity over debt for firms in the vicinity of financial distress. We show that this ruling... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne & Carmen Nobel

15 Aug 2006
First Look

First Look: August 15, 2006

Working PapersOptimal Reserve Management and Sovereign Debt Authors:Laura Alfaro and Fabio Kanczuk Abstract Most models currently used to determine optimal foreign reserve holdings take the level of international debt as given. However, given the sovereign's... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

20 May 2014
First Look

First Look: May 20

future research. Specifically, I call for research on the materiality of environmental and social issues for the future financial performance of corporations, the design of incentive and control systems to... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

10 Dec 2013
First Look

First Look: December 10

and Incentives in Online Affiliate Marketing By: Edelman, Benjamin G., and Wesley Brandi Abstract—We consider alternative methods of supervising staff who have significant discretion and whose efforts are subject to both incomplete... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

October 2012
Article

Securitization without Adverse Selection: The Case of CLOs

By: Effi Benmelech, Jennifer Dlugosz and Victoria Ivashina

In this paper, we investigate whether securitization was associated with risky lending in the corporate loan market by examining the performance of individual loans held by CLOs. We employ two different datasets that identify loan holdings for a large set of CLOs and... View Details

Keywords: Personal Finance; Performance; Markets; Banks and Banking; Debt Securities; Investment Portfolio; Financing and Loans

24 Mar 2009
First Look

First Look: March 24, 2009

authorities will soon deplete their supply. I evaluate a series of possible responses to this shortage: sharing addresses impedes new Internet applications and does not seem to be scalable. A new numbering system ("IPv6") offers greater capacity, but network... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

January 1976 (Revised June 1984)
Case

Megalith, Inc. -- Hay Associates (A)

By: John P. Kotter

In 1969, Megalith centralized its financial and control functions. John Boyd, senior vice president for finance, hired four brilliant young managers to "bring the group out of the stone age." By 1975, this management team had created a near-perfect finance office of... View Details

Keywords: Management Teams; Compensation and Benefits; Motivation and Incentives; Problems and Challenges

21 Dec 2009
Research & Ideas

Good Banks, Bad Banks, and Government’s Role as Fixer

Most books about the nation's financial crisis tell us what happened. In his new book, HBS senior lecturer Robert Pozen tells us how to fix the system. A financial industry veteran and chairman of MFS... View Details

Keywords: by Roger Thompson; Financial Services; Financial Services

15 May 2024
Research & Ideas

A Major Roadblock for Autonomous Cars: Motorists Believe They Drive Better

matter of how they view the technology in a vacuum, but it's how they view it in relation to themselves.” The pursuit of vehicle automation isn’t just a technological or financial quest by automakers, it’s an urgent public safety issue.... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Transportation; Auto

16 Mar 2010
First Look

First Look: March 16

book deals with two of the biggest problems in business: Why do sane, smart leaders often refuse to accept the facts that threaten their companies? And how do they find the courage to resist denial when facing new trends, changing markets, and tough new competitors?... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

December 2014
Article

Market Competition, Earnings Management, and Persistence in Accounting Profitability Around the World

By: Paul M. Healy, George Serafeim, Suraj Srinivasan and Gwen Yu

We examine how cross-country differences in product, capital, and labor market competition, and earnings management affect mean reversion in accounting return on assets. Using a sample of 48,465 unique firms from 49 countries, we find that accounting returns mean... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Performance; Valuation; Equity Valuation; Persistence; Competitive Advantage; Institutions; Earnings Management; Labor Market; Capital Markets; Competition; Profit; Performance; Supply and Industry; Financial Statements; Government and Politics; Globalized Markets and Industries

SSRN

Find at Harvard

23 Jan 2024
Book

More Than Memes: NFTs Could Be the Next Gen Deed for a Digital World

also advise companies and serve as experts on marketplace and incentive design, Web3 strategy, NFT brand-building, and other topics. Additionally, Kominers is a Research Partner at a16z crypto, which is an investor in crypto projects,... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Financial Services; Financial Services; Financial Services

29 Oct 2013
Research & Ideas

Do Employees Work Harder for Higher Pay?

more or less appreciated and reciprocated." Malhotra also believes that companies need to consider what other factors motivate employees. "There is a lot of work that shows non-monetary incentives (e.g., recognition, respect, autonomy,... View Details

Keywords: by Chuck Leddy & Harvard Gazette

June 2000 (Revised July 2000)
Case

ORIX KK

By: Malcolm S. Salter and Andrew Eggers

Describes the challenges facing a Japanese financial services company as it attempts to maintain its ability to attract and retain talented employees. The CEO's ideas of corporate governance and evidence from the competitive labor environment suggest the need for more... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Governance; Compensation and Benefits; Motivation and Incentives; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Geographic Location; Financial Services Industry; Japan