Publications
Publications
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- All HBS Web
(374)
- Faculty Publications (60)
- July 2014 (Revised October 2014)
- Supplement
McKinsey & Co. - Protecting its Reputation (B)
By: Jay Lorsch and Emily McTague
On Tuesday March 15, 2011, all 1,200 global Partners of McKinsey & Co. gathered at the Gaylord National Hotel & Convention Center near Washington, DC for their annual Partners' conference. The atmosphere was tense as Partners, in addition to their normal agenda,... View Details
- 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
- July 2013 (Revised October 2013)
- Supplement
United Rentals (B)
By: Jay W. Lorsch and Kathleen Durante
In April 2012, Jenne Britell, the Chairman of the board of directors of United Rentals, Inc. (NYSE: URI) was preparing her notes for an upcoming stockholders' meeting. It was a meeting unlike most other meetings she had chaired. Stockholders were about to vote on a... View Details
- June 2013
- Case
Hess Corporation
By: Jay W. Lorsch and Kathleen Durante
On January 29, 2013, Elliott Management, a hedge fund run by Paul E. Singer, which owned 4.5% of Hess Corporation stock, put forward a slate of five independent directors it wanted elected to improve the company's performance. Elliott argued that Hess lacked focus and... View Details
- June 2013 (Revised September 2015)
- Case
Procter & Gamble
By: Jay W. Lorsch and Kathleen Durante
On July 12, 2012, Bill Ackman's Pershing Square Capital Management announced publicly that it had purchased about $2 billion of Procter and Gamble (P&G) stock. Shares in the company closed up 3.75% the day the disclosure was made public. Ackman told the New York... View Details
- May 2013 (Revised August 2013)
- Case
McKinsey & Company
By: Jay W. Lorsch and Kathleen Durante
In early 2013 the leaders of McKinsey & Co., were reflecting, as they did periodically, on the path forward for their firm. Founded in Chicago in 1926 by James O. McKinsey (Mac), with only a small staff in one office, the firm had grown to be a global company with more... View Details
- 5 Feb 2013
- Conference Presentation
Financing Entrepreneurial Growth
By: Tom Alberg, Andrew A. Bogan, Harold Bradley, Robert D. Cooter, Monika Gruter Cheney, Oliver R. Goodenough, William R. Hambrecht, Frank Hatheway, Thomas F. Hellmann, Marianne Hudson, Jared Konczal, Josh Lerner, Robert E. Litan, Diane Mulcahy, Ramana Nanda, Frank Partnoy, Joe Ratterman, Nava Ravikant, Jay R. Ritter, Alicia Robb, David T. Robinson, Allison Schrager, Barry Silbert, E. R. Sirri, Daniel Stangler and Sharon Vosmek
Despite recent innovations in entrepreneurial finance, particularly at the early stage of business creation, many new and young companies continue to face hurdles to acquire capital.
The Kauffman Foundation addressed current challenges and opportunities in... View Details
- October 2012
- Supplement
Olympus (B)
By: Jay W. Lorsch, Suraj Srinivasan and Kathleen Durante
This case outlines Michael Woodford's awards and honors, after having been fired from Olympus in October 2011. It discusses the repercussions following an investigation into the fraud and the report that was released thereafter. It also discusses the lawsuit that... View Details
- 2012
- Book
The Future of Boards: Meeting the Governance Challenges of the Twenty-First Century
By: Jay W. Lorsch
This book is a collection of chapters written by Harvard Business School faculty and alums who have experience with corporate boards. It will provide a uniquely HBS perspective on the future of boards. View Details
- July–August 2012
- Article
What Good Are Shareholders?
By: Justin Fox and Jay W. Lorsch
The article looks at the role outside shareholders play in corporate governance in the U.S., and the relationship between companies' shareholders and managers, as of 2012. It recounts the shift beginning in the 1970s toward shareholders claiming an increasing amount of... View Details
- December 2011 (Revised September 2015)
- Case
Carl Icahn and Clorox
By: Jay W. Lorsch and Kathleen Durante
This case outlines the takeover attempt by activist investor, Carl Icahn, for the Clorox Company. The board of the company repeatedly rejected Icahn's offers as inadequate. He made three bids over the course of three months. View Details
- June 2011 (Revised October 2012)
- Case
Patagonia Sur: For-Profit Land Conservation in Chile
By: Arthur I Segel, Nicolas Ibanez and Jay Verjee
Warren Adams founded Patagonia Sur in 2007 as one of the world's first for-profit land conservation businesses. His goal was to purchase over 100,000 acres of land in southern Chile and to run a variety of sustainable businesses to generate annual returns for... View Details
- November 2010 (Revised September 2015)
- Case
American International Group - 2010
By: Jay W. Lorsch and Melissa Barton
The AIG Board underwent significant restructuring after the company was bailed out by the U.S. government in September 2008 in the midst of the financial crisis. View Details
- February 2010 (Revised September 2011)
- Case
Local Motors: Designed by the Crowd, Built by the Customer
By: Michael I. Norton and Jeremy Dann
In the wake of the meltdown among U.S. auto manufacturers in 2009, Jay Rogers, CEO of Local Motors, has a new approach for the automotive industry: decide which models are produced through online design competitions, and then allow customers to "build their own cars"... View Details
- August 2009 (Revised August 2010)
- Case
Slanket: Responding to Snuggie's Market Entry
By: John A. Deighton and Leora Kornfeld
How does a pioneer in a new product category deal with the runaway success of a follower? Can search engine marketing and social media help? In 2008 Slanket CEO, Gary Clegg, found that his product, a blanket with sleeves, had been eclipsed by The Snuggie, another... View Details
- 2008
- Book
On Competition
By: M. E. Porter
Competition is one of society's most powerful forces for making things better in many fields of human endeavor. The study of competition and the creation of value, in their full richness, have preoccupied me for several decades. Competition is pervasive, whether it... View Details
- November 2007 (Revised March 2009)
- Case
OppenheimerFunds and Take-Two Interactive (A)
By: Jay W. Lorsch, Andrew Hill and Kaitlyn Simpson
Describes the dilemma faced by Emmanuel Ferreira, a fund manager at OppenheimerFunds. As the largest shareholder and a long-time investor in software publisher Take-Two Interactive, Ferreira contemplates whether or not to get involved with other investors in trying to... View Details
- October 2006 (Revised January 2008)
- Case
Allianz AG: Becoming a European Company
By: Jay W. Lorsch and Alexis Chernak
Focuses on the decision made by leadership at Allianz AG, the German insurance and financial services company, to complete a cross-border merger with the Italian insurance and financial services company, RAS. Allianz, however, could not complete the cross-border merger... View Details
- September 2006 (Revised February 2008)
- Case
Philips Electronics N.V.
By: Jay W. Lorsch and Alexis Chernak
Looks at the multinational company, Philips Electronics, which is headquartered in the Netherlands, as an example of a company with a two-tiered board. The company is governed by both a supervisory board and a board of management. Examines the role, dynamic, and best... View Details
- November 2005
- Case
Michael Ovitz and The Walt Disney Company (A)
By: Jay W. Lorsch and Alexis Chernak
Faced with the need to hire a new president, The Walt Disney Co. pursued Michael Ovitz, a founder of the Creative Artist Agency. Although initially disinterested, Ovitz engaged in negotiations with Michael Eisner, CEO of The Walt Disney Co., in the summer of 1995... View Details