Publications

September–October 2012
Article

Toward a New Culture for Corporate Boards

By: Robert C. Pozen

A decade of business scandals and regulatory reforms find corporate America... facing fresh scandals and calls for more reforms. Robert Pozen, former chair of MFS Investment, noted director, and Harvard Business School faculty member, wonders if we have been fixing the... View Details

Keywords: Governing and Advisory Boards; Ethics; Change; United States

November 2010
Technical Note

Technical Note: An Abridged History of the American Corporation

By: Rakesh Khurana, Andrew David Klaber and Eric Baldwin

This note examines the development of the corporate form in the United States from the eighteenth century to the present, focusing primarily on legal issues. It identifies several major trends in the history of the American corporation: the transition of corporations... View Details

Keywords: Accounting; Corporate Accountability; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; History; Code Law; Managerial Roles; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Private Ownership; United States

June 2012
Article

A Reexamination of Tunneling and Business Groups: New Data and New Methods

By: Jordan I. Siegel and Prithwiraj Choudhury

One of the most rigorous methodologies in the corporate governance literature uses firms' reactions to industry shocks to characterize the quality of governance. This methodology can produce the wrong answer unless one considers the ways firms compete. Because... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Governance; Mergers And Acquisitions; Business Economics; Firm Organization; Firm Performance; Groups and Teams; Analytics and Data Science

04 Jan 2017
What Do You Think?

How Much Bureaucracy is a Good Thing in Government and Business?

results .” Kamal Gupta, citing his experience with corporate bureaucrats, said, “We have a word for it; we call these people ‘zombie managers.’ They keep on pushing papers round and round, and then the actual decision goes to a guy who... View Details

Keywords: by James L. Heskett

April 1995
Supplement

Cooper Industries' Corporate Strategy (B)

By: David J. Collis and Elizabeth Wynne Johnson

Brings students up to date regarding a recent decision by the chairman. View Details

Keywords: Governing and Advisory Boards; Decisions; Corporate Strategy

April 2003 (Revised December 2003)
Background Note

Winning the Influence Game: Corporate Diplomacy and Business Strategy

Provides a framework for influencing key outside players--businesses, governments, and NGOs--in support of business strategy. This could mean negotiating contracts with major customers and suppliers, concluding acquisitions and alliances, and securing financing from... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation; Business Strategy; Power and Influence

Educators

2016
Working Paper

Managing Reputation: Evidence from Biographies of Corporate Directors

By: Ian D. Gow, Aida Sijamic Wahid and Gwen Yu

We examine how corporate directors manage reputation through disclosure choices in biographies in proxy statements filed with the SEC. Directors are more likely to withhold information about directorships at firms that experienced adverse events. Withholding such... View Details

Keywords: Director Monitoring; Strategic Disclosure; Management; Corporate Disclosure; Reputation

SSRN

06 Jan 2012
Op-Ed

Where Green Corporate Ratings Fail

hinder environmental policy. Towards More Effective Ratings It's not impossible: some metrics already exist. For example, Corporate Responsibility's 100 Best Corporate Citizens already credits companies that... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Toffel & Auden Schendler; Information; Publishing

summer 1995
Article

Improving the Corporate Disclosure Process

By: Robert G. Eccles Jr. and Sarah Clay Mavrinac

Keywords: Corporate Disclosure

08 May 2014
Working Paper Summaries

Corporate and Integrated Reporting: A Functional Perspective

Keywords: by Robert Eccles & George Serafeim

2014
Chapter

Promoting Corporate Sustainability through Integrated Reporting: The Role of Investment Fiduciaries and the Responsibilities of the Corporate Board

By: Robert G. Eccles, J. Herron and George Serafeim

This book is a comprehensive reference work exploring recent changes and future trends in the principles that govern institutional investors and fiduciaries. A wide range of contributors offer new perspectives on dynamics that drive the current emphasis on short-term... View Details

Keywords: Governance; Integrated Corporate Reporting; Institutional Investing; Financial Services Industry

November 1984 (Revised March 1985)
Case

Restructuring European Petrochemicals: French Companies and the French Government

By: Francis Aguilar, Joseph L. Bower and Benjamin Gomes-Casseres

Keywords: Restructuring; Corporate Strategy; Business and Government Relations; Energy Industry; Chemical Industry; France

16 Aug 2017
News

Some corporate chiefs have had enough of Trump

21 Nov 2005
Research & Ideas

The Geography of Corporate Giving

generate homogeneity within communities in regard to corporations' social activities. We suggest that there are three main factors that influence corporations to follow locally established patterns: what the View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

30 Jul 2001
What Do You Think?

What’s the Future of Corporate Governance?

Summing Up Future Corporate Governance: Different, But More Effective? Shann Turnbull suggests that the world of corporate governance will benefit from the establishment of... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

November 2009 (Revised July 2012)
Case

Board Leadership at Entergy Corporation

By: Jay W. Lorsch and Melissa Barton

Wayne Leonard became CEO of Entergy in 1999. After serving as CEO for close to eight years, the Entergy Board named Leonard Chairman and CEO. View Details

Keywords: Management Teams; Governing and Advisory Boards; Leadership

Educators

June 2010 (Revised August 2010)
Case

State Grid: Corporate Social Responsibility

By: Christopher Marquis, Nancy Dai, Dongning Yang and Hong Wu

In October 2009, State Grid, the largest utility company in the world, and a pioneer and leader in CSR practices in China, was planning its 2009 CSR Report and long-term CSR implementation. Some of the specific challenges faced at the time include: How could the... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Management Systems; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Corporate Accountability; Behavior; Change Management; Global Range; Employees; Utilities Industry; China