Publications
Publications
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- All HBS Web
(1,670)
- Faculty Publications (492)
- March 2010 (Revised January 2012)
- Case
Bank of America-Merrill Lynch
By: Guhan Subramanian and Nithyasri Sharma
In September 2008, as Lehman Brothers struggled to survive, John Thain, CEO of Merrill Lynch, realized that his bank was also on the brink of failure. Throughout the weekend of September 13–14, 2008, Thain successfully negotiated a deal with Ken Lewis, CEO of Bank of... View Details
- March 2010
- Article
The Evolution of Corporate Ownership after IPO: The Impact of Investor Protection
By: C. Fritz Foley and Robin Greenwood
We use firm-level data from 34 countries covering the 1995-2006 period to analyze how the characteristics of public markets shape the process by which firms become widely held. Firms in all countries in the sample tend to have concentrated ownership at the time they go... View Details
- November 2009 (Revised March 2013)
- Case
PureCircle
By: David E. Bell and Aldo Sesia
In December 2008, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) determined that high-purity Rebaudioside A (Reb A), a natural and calorie-free product that a young company named PureCircle manufactured from the Stevia plant, could be used in beverages, foods, and as a... View Details
- November 2009
- Article
Responding to Public and Private Politics: Corporate Disclosure of Climate Change Strategies
By: Erin Marie Reid and Michael W. Toffel
The challenges associated with climate change will require governments, citizens, and firms to work collaboratively to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, a task that requires information on companies' emissions levels, risks, and reduction opportunities. This paper... View Details
- November 2009
- Article
What Would Peter Say?
Heeding the wisdom of Peter Drucker might have helped us avoid - and will help us solve - numerous challenges, from restoring trust in business to tackling climate change. He issued early warnings about excessive executive pay, the auto industry's failure to adapt and... View Details
- August 2009 (Revised August 2010)
- Supplement
Eddie Bauer (B)
By: Paul M. Healy, Sharon P. Katz and Aldo Sesia
In February 2007, shareholders of Eddie Bauer, the specialty apparel retailer, were scheduled to vote on management's proposed sale of the company to two private equity firms. More than 50% of outstanding shares in Eddie Bauer needed to be voted in favor of the deal... View Details
- 2009
- Book
Supercorp: How Vanguard Companies Create Opportunity, Profits, Growth, and Social Good
Supercorp is based on a 3-year study involving more than 350 interviews in 20 countries to identify the leadership practices and operating methods of major companies seeking profitable growth through innovation that benefits society. For example, when the tsunami and... View Details
- July 2009 (Revised May 2010)
- Case
Pfizer: Letter from the Chairman (A)
By: Robert L. Simons and Natalie Kindred
This case explores maximizing shareholder value as a goal in executive decision making. Over a period of nine years, three different Pfizer CEOs make critical decisions intended to increase shareholder value. But the results are disappointing. To allow students to... View Details
- June 2009 (Revised January 2011)
- Case
Target Corporation: Ackman versus the Board
By: Krishna G. Palepu, Suraj Srinivasan and James Weber
After 15 years of great performance, Target's faltering performance during an economic downturn led an activist shareholder to initiate a proxy fight. Target Corporation, the second largest discount store retailer in the U.S., had competed successfully against industry... View Details
- June 2009
- Case
Executive Remuneration at Royal Dutch Shell (A)
By: Jay W. Lorsch and Kaitlyn Simpson
The remuneration committee at Shell decided to exercise their discretionary power to award five top executives a bonus for 2008, even though they had not met the necessary performance measures under the compensation plan. Proxy advisors RiskMetrics and the British... View Details
- June 2009
- Supplement
Executive Remuneration at Royal Dutch Shell (B)
By: Jay W. Lorsch and Kaitlyn Simpson
At the 2009 Shell annual meeting, the majority of shareholders vote against the exclusive pay package. The B case compares the remuneration committee perspective (and their rationale for using discretion to award the bonuses) as well as the shareholder perspective (and... View Details
- 2009
- Working Paper
Watch What I Do, Not What I Say: The Unintended Consequences of the Homeland Investment Act
By: Dhammika Dharmapala, C. Fritz Foley and Kristin J. Forbes
This paper analyzes the impact on firm behavior of the Homeland Investment Act of 2004, which provided a one-time tax holiday for the repatriation of foreign earnings by U.S. multinationals. The analysis controls for endogeneity and omitted variable bias by using... View Details
- April 2009
- Case
Merck: Managing Vioxx (A)
By: Robert L. Simons, Kathryn Rosenberg and Natalie Kindred
This two-class case series allows students to stand in the shoes of CEO Ray Gilmartin during the unfolding stages of a reputational crisis. Merck's mission statement claims to "put patients first," but the company is widely criticized for putting profit before patient... View Details
- March 2009
- Case
Aderans
By: Robin Greenwood, Rakesh Khurana and Masako Egawa
Steel Partners is a U.S.-based hedge fund that has made a large investment in Japan-based wigmaker Aderans. The case is set at the close of the annual meeting in May 2008, when shareholders have voted against all incumbent board members. Steel Partners must act... View Details
- March 2009 (Revised December 2009)
- Case
Relational Investors and Home Depot (A)
By: Jay W. Lorsch and Kaitlyn Simpson
In 2006, amidst shareholder upset over CEO Robert Nardelli's compensation and Home Depot's declining stock price, Relational Investors decided to further investigate the situation. As experts in turning around underperforming and undervalued companies, Relational's... View Details
- March 2009
- Background Note
Evaluating M&A Deals: Floors, Caps, and Collars
As equity consideration has become more popular in acquisitions, so has the use of the "pricing-protection" mechanisms, such as floors, caps, and collars. These contractual devices provide insurance to the shareholders of the target and may protect the buyer as well.... View Details
- March 2009 (Revised September 2010)
- Case
HOYA Corporation (A)
By: W. Carl Kester and Masako Egawa
In 2007, HOYA of Japan must decide whether to change its friendly exchange offer for Pentax into a hostile cash tender offer. A surprising sequence of events had caused a friendly merger agreement to fall apart, resulting in a boardroom coup at Pentax and the... View Details
- March 2009
- Supplement
Groupe Eurotunnel S.A. (B): Restructuring Under the Procedure de Sauvegarde
By: Stuart C. Gilson, Vincent Marie Dessain and Sarah Abbott
In mid-2007 the chairman and CEO of Eurotunnel Group, having elected to file for bankruptcy under a newly-enacted French insolvency law, awaits the outcome of a vote by creditors and shareholders. At least 50% of the shareholders must approve the plan, however they... View Details
- March 2009
- Article
Earnings Management and Corporate Tax Shelters, and Book-Tax Alignment
By: Mihir Desai and Dhammika Dharmapala
This paper reviews recent evidence analyzing the link between earnings management and corporate tax avoidance and considers the implications for how policymakers should evaluate the financial reporting environment facing firms. A real-world tax shelter is dissected to... View Details
- March 2009
- Article
The Impact of Shareholder Activism on Financial Reporting and Compensation: The Case of Employee Stock Options Expensing
By: F. Ferri and Tatiana Sandino
We examine the economic consequences of more than 150 shareholder proposals to expense employee stock options (ESO) submitted during the proxy seasons of 2003 and 2004, the first case in which the SEC allowed a shareholder vote on an accounting matter. Our results... View Details