Publications

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01 Aug 2002
News

HBS Alumni Association Board of Directors: President's Report

This spring marked both the end of the academic year and a new beginning as HBS graduated more than nine hundred MBA students. These extremely talented young graduates joined the ranks of over 65,000 fellow alumni, located in 89 countries around the world. My fellow... View Details

01 Jun 2003
News

HBS Alumni Association Board of Directors: President's Report

Writing this letter in early spring, I am mindful of the events that have unfolded recently in the Middle East. My thoughts and those of each board member go out to everyone who is touched by these developments and especially to those... View Details

Keywords: Susan Luick Good; HBS Alumni Association; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services

September 2013
Case

United Rentals (A)

By: Jay W. Lorsch, Kathleen Durante and Emily McTague

In December 1997 United Rentals (URI) went public on the NYSE. Ten years later, during the peak of the economic meltdown, the company's performance was in decline. United Rentals had experienced its share of problems in the prior years and was still struggling to... View Details

Keywords: Board Of Directors; Board Dynamics; Accounting Fraud; Governance; Board Committees; Merger; Corporate Governance; Construction Industry; United States

October 2008
Article

The Small World of Investing: Board Connections and Mutual Fund Returns

By: Lauren Cohen, Andrea Frazzini and Christopher J. Malloy

This paper uses social networks to identify information transfer in security markets. We focus on connections between mutual fund managers and corporate board members via shared education networks. We find that portfolio managers place larger bets on firms they are... View Details

Keywords: Financial Markets; Information Management; Social and Collaborative Networks; Announcements; Investment Portfolio; Investment Return; Investment Funds; Asset Pricing; Governing and Advisory Boards

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June 2008 (Revised July 2008)
Case

How Serial Entrepreneurs Build and Manage a Board of Directors in a Venture-Backed Start Up

By: Michael J. Roberts, William A. Sahlman and Sasha Novakovich

This case includes structured interviews with four serial entrepreneurs about the way in which they built and used their boards in each of their companies and what they have learned through that process. These entrepreneurs were asked similar questions, such as "How do... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Corporate Governance; Governing and Advisory Boards

September 2015 (Revised February 2016)
Case

Novell (A): When an Activist Hedge Fund Came Calling on the Board

By: Richard L. Nolan

No corporation and its board of directors is immune to a disruptive shareholder activist attack. The Novell (A) and (B) cases take students through a shareholder activist attack and its aftermath—a saga that spanned 5 years. The cases outline the activist playbook in... View Details

Keywords: Investment Activism

26 Jan 2017
Working Paper Summaries

Relative Performance Benchmarks: Do Boards Get It Right?

Keywords: by Paul Ma, Jee Eun Shin, and Charles C.Y. Wang

August 13, 2020
Article

Why Do Boards Have So Few Black Directors?

By: J. Yo-Jud Cheng, Boris Groysberg and Paul M. Healy

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May 28, 2013
Article

Talent Management: Boards Give Their Companies an “F”

By: Boris Groysberg and Deborah Bell

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September 2017
Teaching Note

The Allergan Board Under Fire (A) and (B)

By: John C. Coates, Lynn S. Paine and Suraj Srinivasan

Teaching Note for HBS Nos. 316-010 and 316-029. View Details

March 2014
Teaching Note

Jim Johnson's Re-election to the Goldman Sachs Board

By: Suraj Srinivasan

16 Feb 2016
News

The Political Issues Board Directors Care Most About

2009
Chapter

Managing the CEO's Succession: The Challenge Facing Your Board

By: Joseph L. Bower

Keywords: Management Succession; Governing and Advisory Boards; Problems and Challenges

January 2024 (Revised November 2024)
Technical Note

Legal Analysis: Corporate Governance and the Board of Directors

By: Louis Caldera

February 2010 (Revised May 2010)
Case

Bardhaman (A): Shrachi and the West Bengal Housing Board

By: John D. Macomber and Viraal Balsari

A real estate developer decides whether to enter into a public private partnership with the government of West Bengal to develop a township on farmland. The decisions include whether to expand operations from the company's base in Kolkata to Bardhaman, 100 km away;... View Details

Keywords: Development Economics; Growth and Development Strategy; Business and Government Relations; Decisions; Private Equity; Design; Housing; Infrastructure; Projects; Real Estate Industry; West Bengal