Publications

Allison Mnookin is a Senior Lecturer of Business Administration in the Technology and Operations Management (TOM) Unit at the Harvard Business School. She currently is the co-chair of the first-year MBA Technology and Operations Management course. In addition, she... View Details

June 2005 (Revised July 2009)
Case

Financial Reporting Problems at Molex, Inc. (A)

By: Paul M. Healy

Following an accounting problem at Molex, the firm's auditors request changes in management. The board of directors has to decide whether the auditors' concerns have merit or whether, as management argues, the accounting issue is immaterial. View Details

Keywords: Managerial Roles; Governing and Advisory Boards; Financial Reporting; Relationships; Resignation and Termination; Accounting Audits

31 Jan 2013
Working Paper Summaries

Boardroom Centrality and Firm Performance

Keywords: by David F. Larcker, Eric C. So & Charles C.Y. Wang

November 2005
Case

Playgrounds and Performance: Results Management at KaBOOM! (A)

By: Herman B. Leonard, Marc J. Epstein and Laura Winig

KaBOOM!, a successful playground-building social enterprise funded through corporate partnerships, wants to develop a performance measurement system that will enable the organization to expand its impact substantially. The board of directors and management are trying... View Details

Keywords: Governing and Advisory Boards; Growth and Development Strategy; Social Enterprise; Performance Evaluation; Management Systems; Design; Construction Industry

June 2011
Case

Trouble in Islandia; Computer Associates 2001 - 2004

By: Jay W. Lorsch and Melissa Barton

The Board of Directors of Computer Associates deals with pressure from the U.S. Department of Justice as its members try to gain better insight into the accounting practices of the company's top management team. View Details

Keywords: Problems and Challenges; Corporate Governance; Management Teams; Ethics; Practice; Florida; United States

April 1996 (Revised May 1997)
Case

Netscape's Initial Public Offering

By: W. Carl Kester and Kendall Backstrand

In August 1995, Netscape's board of directors was confronted with a decision about what price to offer the company's shares in its initial public offering (IPO). Preliminary demand for shares was high, but the company had not generated any positive earnings at the time... View Details

Keywords: Initial Public Offering; Information Technology; Problems and Challenges; Valuation; Governing and Advisory Boards; Information Technology Industry

09 May 2021
News

#245 Hubert Joly- Skyrocketing Best Buy’s Success and Unleashing Human Magic

Research Summary

The Talent at the Table: Business Expertise and Share Ownership in Fortune 500 Boardrooms

This paper examines the relationship between corporate value and "vestige" directors, defined as directors who own sizeable shareholdings but lack salient business experience relative to their peers on Fortune 500 boards. These people come to serve on... View Details

May 2014
Article

How to Outsmart Activist Investors

By: Bill George and Jay W. Lorsch

We offer opinions on how management and corporate boards of directors can best manage investor relations with activist stockholders such as hedge funds who are demanding major changes within a corporation to improve stockholder return. Beverage industry firm PepsiCo is... View Details

Keywords: Investment Activism

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19 Jul 2011
Research & Ideas

Rupert Murdoch and the Seeds of Moral Hazard

firm that discreetly interviews (not for attribution) a number of employees who interact with the senior executives being reviewed. I have directly observed this board-directed process in several situations and, in my experience, it has... View Details

Keywords: by Staff; Journalism & News; Publishing

19 Dec 2005
Research & Ideas

The Regional Slice of Your Global Strategy

case, product divisions). And just as obviously, no one likes to give up power. Leadership from the top, aimed at promoting a "one-company" mentality, is often the only way forward. One of Oosterveld's conditions for taking the... View Details

Keywords: by Pankaj Ghemawat

Teaching Interest

Overview

By: Lynn S. Paine

Ms. Paine currently teaches Boards of Directors and Corporate Governance in the second-year MBA program. She also co-chairs the HBS flagship programs for corporate directors Making Corporate Boards More Effective, Advanced Corporate Director Seminar, as well as its... View Details

12 Feb 2016
News

Creating Common Ground in Communities of Conflict

director of product, where she oversaw the launch of Xbox Kinect incubation. “Many days I would say, ‘This isn’t work.’ There was a lot of... View Details

Keywords: Jill Radsken

10 Jul 2007
What Do You Think?

How Much of Leadership Is About Control, Delegation, or Theater?

"servant leadership." Without hesitating, he asked an associate to get him some cleaning materials and proceeded to get down on his hands and knees to soak the coffee out of the carpeting while his View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett

01 Dec 2000
News

Opening Doors: Inside the World of Museum Management

operations of their complicated, not-for-profit institutions. "The job of running a museum is much bigger and broader than it once was," observes HBS marketing professor emeritus Stephen A. Greyser, an... View Details

Keywords: Susan Young; museums; marketing; management; nonprofits; education; facilities; Internet; Museums, Historical Sites, and Similar Institutions; Arts, Entertainment; Advertising, Public Relations, and Related Services; Professional Services

November 2007 (Revised March 2009)
Case

Clear Channel 2006

By: Richard S. Ruback and Leslie Pierson

The Board of Directors of Clear Channel Communications, a radio broadcasting and outdoor advertising company, has to respond to a revised proposal from two private equity firms to take the company private. In November of 2006, the Board had unanimously approved an... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Private Equity; Governing and Advisory Boards; Negotiation Offer; Privatization; Business and Shareholder Relations