Publications

Program

Program for Leadership Development

the careful selection of living group members and new HBS case studies to professional executive coaching for individuals and teams, every aspect is designed to foster collaborative learning and accelerate personal growth. Review Our Campus Health & Safety Protocols... View Details

The Contract Year Phenomenon in the Corner Office: An Analysis of Firm Behavior During CEO Contract Renewals

This paper investigates how executive employment contracts influence corporate financial policies during the final year of the contract term, using a new, hand-collected data set of CEO employment agreements. On the one hand, the impending... View Details

26 Mar 2021
News

Bosses Are 'Thriving' Right Now — But Most Employees Say The Opposite

2014
Working Paper

The Contract Year Phenomenon in the Corner Office: An Analysis of Firm Behavior During CEO Contract Renewals

By: Ping Liu and Yuhai Xuan

This paper investigates how executive employment contracts influence corporate financial policies during the final year of the contract term, using a new, hand-collected data set of CEO employment agreements. On the one hand, the impending expiration of fixed-term... View Details

Keywords: Management Style; Contracts; Behavior; Employment

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September 2000 (Revised November 2002)
Case

Amazon.com: 1994-2000

By: Lynda M. Applegate and Meredith Collura

Enables a thorough analysis of Amazon.com and the company's value proposition, in terms of its business concept, digital business capabilities, and community and shareholder value. Examines the company's complex set of business models and web of business relationships,... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Asset Pricing; Capital; Financial Strategy; Technological Innovation; Business or Company Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Business Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Information Technology Industry; Web Services Industry

Find at Harvard

16 Dec 2016
News

Make America's workforce great again by revamping education

February 2001 (Revised April 2001)
Background Note

Note on Valuing Private Businesses

By: Dwight B. Crane and Indra Reinbergs

This case provides a brief overview of valuation for owners of closely held companies. The focus is on a comparable transactions approach, although rules of thumb and discounted cash flow are mentioned. Earnings multiples and their drivers are discussed. It uses... View Details

Keywords: Earnings Management; Finance; Cash Flow; Analytics and Data Science; Private Ownership; Valuation

17 Jan 2012
First Look

First Look: January 17

the paper: http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/12-057.pdf Earnings Management from the Bottom Up: An Analysis of Managerial Incentives Below the CEO Authors:Felix Oberholzer-Gee and Julie Wulf Abstract... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

Preparing High-Earning Athletes for their Post-Play LIves

The average NFL player makes upwards of a million dollars a year. Even rookies are guaranteed a minimum of $325,000, which is seven times the average starting salary of a college grad. It’s a lot of money, but with the career of an NFL player averaging just... View Details

Krishna G. Palepu

KRISHNA G. PALEPU is the Ross Graham Walker Professor of Business Administration, and has served previously as Senior Advisor to the President of Harvard University, and Senior Associate Dean at the... View Details

Keywords: accounting industry; banking; financial services; information technology industry; pharmaceuticals; retailing

19 May 2008
Research & Ideas

Connecting School Ties and Stock Recommendations

Christopher J. Malloy, along with University of Chicago colleague Andrea Frazzini, investigated the ties between more than 1,800 sell-side analysts and the management of public firms, and the subsequent performance of stock... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Financial Services

March 1991 (Revised April 1995)
Case

IBP and the U.S. Meat Industry

By: David J. Collis and Nancy Donohue

IBP, the largest U.S. beef and pork processor, is facing deteriorating earnings and undertakes a fundamental strategic review in 1990. Having grown from its founding in 1961 to its current position as a low cost, innovative producer of boxed beef, and more recently... View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Product; Competition; Business Earnings; Geography; Vertical Integration; Corporate Strategy; Food and Beverage Industry; United States

December 1996
Background Note

Financial Engineering and Tax Risk: The Case of Times Mirror PEPS

By: Peter Tufano

Provides general background on the taxation of corporate securities, and shows how the inconsistent taxation of functionally-similar securities can permit financial engineers to bear tax risk to earn positive returns. Designed to be used with Times Mirror Co. PEPS... View Details

Keywords: Risk Management; Taxation; Corporate Finance

14 Aug 2009
Working Paper Summaries

Insider Trading Preceding Goodwill Impairments

Keywords: by Karl A. Muller III, Monica Neamtiu & Edward J. Riedl

January 2017 (Revised January 2019)
Case

The Rise and Fall of Lehman Brothers

By: Stuart C. Gilson, Kristin Mugford and Sarah L. Abbott

With nearly $700 billion in assets, Lehman was the largest U.S. bankruptcy in history. In 2007, Lehman achieved record earnings of over $4 billion on revenues of $60 billion. By September 2008 the fourth largest investment bank in the world was bankrupt. How had a... View Details

07 Mar 2023
HBS Case

ChatGPT: Did Big Tech Set Up the World for an AI Bias Disaster?

in the Boston area. Gebru was a math and science standout at her high school, “despite teachers’ disbelief that a Black refugee could be intellectually successful,” Neeley notes. Gebru would go on to earn a Ph.D. as part of the Stanford... View Details

Keywords: by Scott Van Voorhis; Technology

August 2021 (Revised April 2022)
Case

KKR

By: Jo Tango and Alys Ferragamo

In June of 2021, KKR’s executive team convened to prepare for an upcoming board meeting. From a small, three-person partnership that started in 1976 and invested only in U.S. LBOs, the firm 45 years later was a public company that employed over 1,600 people and managed... View Details

Keywords: Governing and Advisory Boards; Public Equity; Globalized Markets and Industries; Growth and Development Strategy; Profit; Strategy; Finance; Private Equity; United States

November 2000 (Revised June 2001)
Case

Pokemon: Gotta Catch 'Em All

Pokemon, the colloquial name given to a collection of 150 fantastic, animal-inspired creatures with organic powers and the capacity to evolve, are the stars of video games, trading card games, and TV cartoons. Conceived in Japan in 1996, Pokemon quickly became that... View Details

Keywords: Age; Entertainment; Ethics; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Brands and Branding; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Japan; United States

October 2015
Teaching Note

Molycorp: Financing the Production of Rare Earth Minerals (A)

By: Benjamin C. Esty and E. Scott Mayfield

Molycorp, the western hemisphere's only producer of rare earth minerals, was in the middle of a $1 billion capital expenditure project in its effort to become a vertically integrated supplier of rare earth minerals, oxides, and metals. Yet it had just reported lower... View Details