Publications

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July 2002 (Revised November 2002)
Case

Crucial Conversations

By: Thomas J. DeLong and Vineeta Vijayraghavan

Todd McKenna, a third-year associate at an investment banking firm, confronts his boss. His boss had told him he would be the top paid associate at the firm, and McKenna finds out that this isn't true. He approaches his boss to find out why he was lied to. View Details

Keywords: Interpersonal Communication; Investment Banking; Executive Compensation; Employee Relationship Management; Rank and Position; Banking Industry

Educators

02 Nov 2009
Research & Ideas

Shareholders Need a Say on Pay

With executive compensation soaring to unprecedented levels in recent years, the prickly issue of CEO pay has received increasing media and government attention. Now, with the perfect storm of a failing economy, government bailouts, and... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Financial Services

September 1992 (Revised September 2010)
Background Note

Executive Stock Options

By: Henry B. Reiling

After a brief comment on the practical problems associated with taxing options and the possible occasions on which taxation might occur, the note describes the current policy imbedded in the Internal Revenue Code and gives examples of this policy in operation. The... View Details

Keywords: Stock Options; Policy; Taxation; Executive Compensation; Employee Stock Ownership Plan

March 2002
Teaching Note

Akamai's Underwater Options (A) and (B) TN

By: Brian J. Hall and Jonathan Lim

Teaching Note for (9-902-069) and (9-902-195). View Details

Keywords: Stock Options; Employee Stock Ownership Plan

22 Oct 2013
First Look

First Look: October 22

Publications August 2013 PLoS ONE Prosocial Bonuses Increase Employee Satisfaction and Team Performance By: Anik, Lalin, Lara B. Aknin, Elizabeth W. Dunn, Michael I. Norton, and Jordi Quoidbach Abstract—In three field studies, we... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

03 Sep 2009
What Do You Think?

Are Retention Bonuses Worth the Investment?

This has led to a much greater reliance on pay for performance. On the other hand, pay for performance produces large payouts that periodically capture the attention of the public, not all of it positive. They helped raise the ratio of CEO View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett

02 Dec 2002
What Do You Think?

How Will We Respond to the “Moment of Truth” in Option Plans?

recipient leaves the company or fully retires." Measures on which options are based also came under fire. As Moris Simson pointed out, "In the last few years our society has ... ignored the need to have satisfied customers, View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

August 2003 (Revised April 2005)
Case

Old Tex College

By: Regina E. Herzlinger and Ray Herschman

Requires student to choose among the following health insurance options for employers: number of plans offered, managed care and consumer-driven options, and self-funding vs. full insurance. Teaching purpose: To Understand the design of health insurance. Includes color... View Details

Keywords: Insurance; Health; Health Care and Treatment; Compensation and Benefits; Employees

18 Jun 2007
Op-Ed

Leveling the Executive Options Playing Field

behavior. Indeed, a significant cost for corporations—the cost associated with compensating key employees with stock options—was until recently treated as an expense for tax purposes but not for financial... View Details

Keywords: by Mihir Desai

November 2008 (Revised March 2014)
Supplement

Savage Beast (B)

By: Noam Wasserman, LP Maurice and Yael Braid

For several months, things had been spiraling downwards at Savage Beast, the music-recommendation company started three years before by Tim Westergren. The company's founder-CEO recently left due to pressures both at home and within the venture. Dozens of investors... View Details

Keywords: Business Ventures; Entrepreneurship; Compensation and Benefits; Employee Relationship Management; Lawsuits and Litigation; Groups and Teams

December 1999 (Revised August 2000)
Case

Prime Designs

By: Paul W. Marshall

A student takes the role of the father who is the CEO of a family business. A non-family manager has asked for a meeting. Agenda topics are: your son's latest proposal and managers' desire to own equity. View Details

Keywords: Labor and Management Relations; Family Ownership; Employee Stock Ownership Plan

01 Dec 2020
What Do You Think?

How Can We Get Companies to Invest More in Low-Wage Workers?

Inequality in society has been studied from almost every angle. Among others, French economist Thomas Piketty has provided ample evidence of trends in inequality, their causes, and their consequences. We’re reminded constantly of the growing View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

24 Jul 2019
Lessons from the Classroom

Can These Business Students Motivate Londoners to Do the Right Thing?

millions of extra pounds in tax revenue collected. "I’ve seen behavioral economics come into play in a variety of contexts, ranging from employee compensation and investment decisions to corporate... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

March 2001 (Revised February 2005)
Case

Venture Capital Vignettes

By: G. Felda Hardymon

Presents three fictionalized but realistic situations in which a venture capitalist may find himself. One situation requires crisis intervention to quell a dispute between a vice president of sales and a CEO; another poses the problem of working out the composition of... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Crisis Management; Governing and Advisory Boards; Management Teams; Executive Compensation; Situation or Environment; Employee Relationship Management; Problems and Challenges; Financial Services Industry

Educators

January 1996
Case

Transportation Displays Incorporated (C): The Case for a Preemptive Restructuring

By: Stuart C. Gilson, Joel T. Schwartz, Steve Silver and David Stemerman

A company nears the end of a long multiyear turnaround and now must consider how to "cash out" so its management can realize a financial return on investment. The privately held company has several options, including a leveraged ESOP and a leveraged recapitalization. View Details

Keywords: Business Exit or Shutdown; Capital; Employee Stock Ownership Plan; Private Ownership

Educators

08 Jul 2002
What Do You Think?

Have We Carried the Concept of Alignment Too Far?

should have insured and enforced fairness and honest reporting." Many questions were raised about the level and form of compensation afforded U.S. business leaders today. Allen Roberts comments, "In sustainable, successful... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

March 1999
Case

MotivAction plc (A)

By: William J. Bruns Jr.

The owner/manager of MotivAction is developing a package of incentives and bonuses that he hopes will stimulate sales growth, encourage development of new autonomous teams, and increase profitability. If they are adopted, these new incentives will replace others... View Details

Keywords: Employee Relationship Management; Compensation and Benefits; Motivation and Incentives; Performance Improvement; Growth and Development Strategy; Decisions; Profit; Organizational Culture