Publications

2017
Working Paper

The Benefits of Selective Disclosure: Evidence from Private Firms

By: Joan Farre-Mensa

Private firms’ ability to communicate confidentially with selected investors implies that valuation disagreements between firms and investors are larger at public firms than at private ones. Consistent with the notion that misvaluation concerns lead public firms to... View Details

Keywords: Finance; Equity; Private Companies; Corporate Cash; Precautionary Motives; Share Issuance; IPOs; Selective Disclosure; Private Ownership; Cash; Market Timing; Corporate Finance; Public Ownership; Corporate Disclosure; United States

SSRN

13 May 2014
Op-Ed

The Alibaba Effect

ago. It has done more for China's small- and medium-sized enterprises than any government policy, ministry, or bank. Alibaba's only limits are those imposed by the speed at which these enterprises continue to grow. Health and welfare... View Details

Keywords: by Bill Kirby & Warren McFarlan; Retail

November 29, 2011
Article

Gingrich's Social Security Plan: Privatize Gains, Socialize Losses

By: Robert C. Pozen

Keywords: Government and Politics; Privatization

Read Now

05 Mar 2007
Research & Ideas

Risky Business? Protecting Foreign Investments

to gain much traction and proposes measures that will better protect the rights of property owners. We asked Wells to discuss his research and experiences representing host governments in such negotiations, and what international managers... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Energy; Utilities

30 Jan 2017
Research & Ideas

Vanguard, Trian And The Problem With 'Passive' Index Funds

need to get shareholders more engaged? What shape should the separation of management and ownership take in the twenty-first century?” “We are now in a situation where index investors are the major shareholders in most of the large- and... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Financial Services

11 Mar 2009
HBS Case

The Energy Politics of Russia vs. Ukraine

state to ownership (with 50.002 percent), and Gazprom's strategy for becoming a global energy company, mainly through acquisition and partnerships. “Russia needs the money. It can't scare away its customers.” The learning objectives of... View Details

Keywords: by Garry Emmons; Energy; Utilities

September 2020
Case

Keeping It in the Family at the Hayden Saw Company

By: V.G. Narayanan and John Masko

In 2019, Board Chair and third-generation shareholder Helen Fullerton was preparing for a meeting to discuss Ohio-based Hayden Saw Company’s (Hayden) future as a family business. As the company entered its fifth decade, the Hayden family was dealing with three distinct... View Details

Keywords: Family Business; Corporate Governance; Family Ownership; Business and Shareholder Relations; Family and Family Relationships; Governing and Advisory Boards; Construction Industry; Ohio; United States

March 2009 (Revised April 2011)
Course Overview Note

Growing, Financing, and Managing Family and Closely Held Firms: Overview of the Course

By: Belen Villalonga

Most companies around the world are controlled by their founding families, including more than half of all public corporations in the U.S. and Europe and more than two thirds of those in Asia. These companies are the subject of the Financial Management of Family and... View Details

Keywords: Family Business; Financial Management; Corporate Governance; Governing and Advisory Boards; Family Ownership; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Valuation

May 2011
Article

Race at the Top: How Companies Shape the Inclusion of African Americans on Their Boards in Response to Institutional Pressures

By: Clayton S. Rose and William T. Bielby

Drawing on institutionalist theory, we conceptualize the racial composition of the boards of directors of large American companies as shaped in response to social and political norms. We use new longitudinal and cross-sectional data to test hypotheses about factors... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Governing and Advisory Boards; Race; Mathematical Methods; Government and Politics; Public Ownership; United States

June 1988 (Revised August 1988)
Case

Air Canada: The Privatization Option

By: Malcolm S. Salter

Keywords: Competition; Corporate Governance; Privatization; Air Transportation Industry; Canada

March 2009
Teaching Note

Public Purpose and Private Property (TN) (A) and (B)

By: Laura Alfaro and Lakshmi Iyer

Teaching Note for [709027] and [709029]. View Details

Keywords: Property; Government and Politics

19 Jan 2011
Research & Ideas

Activist Board Members Increase Firm’s Market Value

write in their report. Firms in which historically activist institutions held significant ownership stakes lost considerable value on the announcement: a drop in 55 basis points for a 10 percentage point change in activist institution... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

01 Dec 1999
News

Water, Water Everywhere

"Just like everything from cosmetics to sugar, water is bought, repackaged, and sold," according to CBS MarketWatch (August 13, 1999). "Today, it's become an especially big business - a $300 billion one - as deregulation sweeps through the water industry and View Details

November 2009
Article

Organizational Design and Control across Multiple Markets: The Case of Franchising in the Convenience Store Industry

By: Dennis Campbell, Srikant M. Datar and Tatiana Sandino

Many companies operate units that are dispersed across different types of markets, and thus serve significantly diverging customer bases. Such market-type dispersion is likely to compromise the headquarter's ability to control its local managers' behavior and satisfy... View Details

Keywords: Market Dispersion; Decentralization; Incentives; Business Headquarters; Geographic Location; Governance Controls; Distribution; Organizational Design; Franchise Ownership; Retail Industry

June 1996
Case

Armscor: Life After Apartheid?

After taking office, South Africa's new president, Nelson Mandela, must decide whether to dismantle or support Armscor, South Africa's state-owned arms company, which has been a pillar of the apartheid regime. Complicating matters is the fact that the arms industry was... View Details

Keywords: Values and Beliefs; Competitive Advantage; State Ownership; Government Administration; Business and Government Relations; Public Administration Industry; South Africa

May 1993 (Revised October 1995)
Case

Connor Formed Metal Products

By: Lynda M. Applegate, Donna B. Stoddard and Melinda Conrad

Connor Formed Metal Products was a small, privately owned manufacturer of custom metal springs and stampings. Since becoming president in 1984, Bob Sloss had implemented many changes to the company's organizational structure, management control systems, and information... View Details

Keywords: Private Ownership; Organizational Structure; Production; Change; Governance Controls; Information Technology; Manufacturing Industry

July 2010 (Revised December 2010)
Case

Formosa Plastics Group: Business Continuity Forever

Wang Yung-ching, legendary Taiwanese businessman and philanthropist, passed away in 2008. He left behind an estate worth US $5.5 billion, but did not leave a will. The case discusses the potential motivation for Wang, and uses it to study succession planning for family... View Details

Keywords: Family Business; Governance Controls; Management Succession; Family Ownership; Planning; Motivation and Incentives; Chemical Industry; Taiwan

January 2018 (Revised March 2018)
Case

Wenzhou Kangning Hospital: Changing Mental Healthcare in China

By: William C. Kirby, Wei Zhang, Yuanzhuo Wang and Nancy Hua Dai

The city of Wenzhou in the Province of Zhejiang, long known in China for entrepreneurship, now hosts the country’s largest privately owned mental health hospital group. This case traces the development of Wenzhou Kangning Hospital Co, Ltd. from founding to just before... View Details

Keywords: Mental Health; Hospital; IPO; China; Zhejiang; Wenzhou; Private Healthcare; Private Hospital; Health Care and Treatment; Private Ownership; Corporate Governance; Growth and Development; Entrepreneurship; Health Industry; China