Publications

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06 Dec 2020
Working Paper Summaries

'Repayment-by-Purchase' Helps Consumers to Reduce Credit Card Debt

Keywords: by Grant E. Donnelly, Cait Lamberton, Stephen Bush, Zoe Chance, and Michael I. Norton

July 2024 (Revised January 2025)
Case

Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors: Bringing Systematic Investment to Philanthropy

By: Lauren Cohen, Hao Gao, Alexander Bischoff and Sophia Pan

Melissa Berman, CEO of Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors (RPA), evaluated her client’s philanthropy project and its mediocre performance. RPA was a segment of the Rockefeller Family Office’s Philanthropy Department, becoming an independent charity in 2002. Consistently... View Details

09 Apr 2024
Research & Ideas

When Climate Goals, Housing Policy, and Corporate R&D Collide, Social Good Can Emerge

For almost four years, Omar Asensio and his colleagues have been studying the impact of federal energy programs on low-income neighborhoods. The intersection of technology—artificial intelligence, in particular—and public policy has long been an area of focus for... View Details

Keywords: by Glen Justice

September 2011 (Revised August 2013)
Case

The Pepsi Refresh Project: A Thirst for Change

By: Michael I. Norton and Jill Avery

In 2010, for the first time in 23 years, PepsiCo did not invest in Superbowl advertising for its iconic brand. Instead, the company diverted this $20 million to the social media-fueled Pepsi Refresh Project: PepsiCo's innovative cause-marketing program in which... View Details

Keywords: Risk Management; Marketing Strategy; Customer Focus and Relationships; Advertising Campaigns; Investment Return; Brands and Branding; Marketing Communications; Social Marketing; Cost vs Benefits; Food and Beverage Industry

26 Jan 2017
Working Paper Summaries

Relative Performance Benchmarks: Do Boards Get It Right?

Keywords: by Paul Ma, Jee Eun Shin, and Charles C.Y. Wang

09 Apr 2020
Research & Ideas

How Social Entrepreneurs Can Increase Their Investment Impact

Both impact investing and traditional philanthropy are on the rise after the decade-long economic boom following the Great Recession. But when does an impact investment make a bigger difference than a grant? The question is far more complicated than simply evaluating... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

Article

Big Names or Big Ideas: Do Peer-Review Panels Select the Best Science Proposals?

By: Danielle Li and Leila Agha

This paper examines the success of peer-review panels in predicting the future quality of proposed research. We construct new data to track publication, citation, and patenting outcomes associated with more than 130,000 research project (R01) grants funded by the U.S.... View Details

Keywords: Patents; Research; Entrepreneurship; Forecasting and Prediction; Innovation and Invention; Business and Government Relations; United States

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October 2015
Article

The Relational Nature of Leadership Identity Construction: How and When It Influences Perceived Leadership and Decision-Making

By: Lisa Marchiondo, Christopher G. Myers and Shirli Kopelman

This paper empirically tests leadership identity construction theory (DeRue & Ashford, 2010), conceptually framing claiming and granting leadership as a negotiated process that influences leadership perceptions and decision-making in interdependent contexts. In Study... View Details

Keywords: Identity Construction; Leadership Development; Identity

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October 1997 (Revised January 1998)
Case

Oxfam America

By: James E. Austin and James Kondo

Oxfam America, a nongovernmental organization providing grant assistance to organizations fighting hunger, poverty, and their causes, was engaged in a new strategy formulation process, led by its new president. View Details

Keywords: Change; Situation or Environment; Non-Governmental Organizations; Strategy

October 2012
Case

Monsanto

By: Ray A. Goldberg

Monsanto CEO Hugh Grant must guide his global agribusiness technology company into an uncertain future where food security, food safety, sustainability, and climate change will all impact the global food system. View Details

Keywords: Technology; Risk and Uncertainty; Information Technology; Food; Social and Collaborative Networks; Global Strategy; Agribusiness; Globalized Markets and Industries; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry

February 2022
Supplement

SpartanNash Company: The Amazon Warrants (A)

By: Benjamin C. Esty, E. Scott Mayfield and Daniel Fisher

As of 12/31/21, Amazon held $22 billion of equity and warrants in related companies. In fact, it often requests a free grant of warrants when it enters into a new commercial agreement with a supplier. Over the past 20 years, Amazon has gotten warrants almost 20... View Details

Keywords: Valuation; Value Creation; Consumer Behavior; Negotiation; Distribution; Ownership; Partners and Partnerships; Business Strategy; Equity; Distribution Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; United States

February 2005 (Revised March 2005)
Case

The P&G Acquisition of Gillette

By: Jay W. Lorsch and Ashley Robertson

Raises issues about the role of boards of directors in compensating CEOs and, specifically, the rewards granted to CEOs for arranging a change-of-control for their companies. View Details

Keywords: Governing and Advisory Boards; Acquisition; Corporate Governance; Consumer Products Industry; United States

09 May 2000
Research & Ideas

Stock Options Are Not All Created Equal

Most of the companies I've studied don't pay a whole lot of attention to the way they grant options. Their directors and executives assume that the important thing is just to have a plan in place; the details are trivial. As a result,... View Details

Keywords: by Brian Hall

April 2002
Case

Sally Jameson: Valuing Stock Options in a Compensation Package (Abridged)

By: Peter Tufano

Details a thinly disguised situation facing a recent Harvard MBA graduate who was forced by a prospective employer to place a dollar value on a grant of stock options. There are two objectives: 1) Serves as an introduction to option valuation, in which students have an... View Details

Keywords: Valuation; Stock Options; Compensation and Benefits

May 2022 (Revised October 2022)
Supplement

The Freedom Fund (B)

By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Courtney Han

The Freedom Fund (B) case describes the management’s plan of how to use the windfall of $35 million granted by philanthropist Mackenzie Scott. The case also describes the process by which the decisions were arrived at. View Details

Keywords: Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Spending; Decision Making

28 May 2007
Research & Ideas

How Property Ownership Changes Your World View

What happens when a person owns property? Aside from the well-established financial benefits of equity and potential access to credit, there is the equally strong pull of the American Dream and everything it suggests—the idea that through hard work and determination,... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna

November 2002 (Revised January 2003)
Case

SBC Foundation, The

By: Diana Barrett, Sarah Aaron and Cassandra Hanley

Examines the role of the corporation as it makes philanthropic donations. Questions raised include the connection between corporate strategy and giving, the degree to which grant making should be decentralized, and the size and focus of grants. View Details

Keywords: Corporate Strategy; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving

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February 2015
Case

Credem: Banking on Cheese

By: Nikolaos Trichakis, Gerry Tsoukalas and Emer Moloney

Credem, an Italian regional bank, grants loans to Parmigiano Reggiano producers and holds the cheese as collateral in its own warehouse during the maturation process, essentially replacing part of the operations for the cheese producers and gaining deep operations... View Details

Keywords: Banks And Banking; Assets; Animal-Based Agribusiness; Operations; Financing and Loans; Commercial Banking; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Italy

1998
Case

Nucor Corporation (A)

By: Vijay Govindarajan

Under the leadership of CEO Ken Iverson, Nucor thrived. Nucor's structure was decentralized, with only four management layers. Only 22 employees worked at the corporate headquarters; plants were located in rural areas across the U.S. and the general manager of each... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Structure; Business Strategy