Publications

2024
Working Paper

Transforming the Federal Bureau of Investigation: Outcome and Process Framing

By: Ryan Raffaelli, Tiona Zuzul, Ranjay Gulati and Jan Rivkin

This twelve-year qualitative study examines how Director Robert Mueller and his senior team profoundly transformed the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) after the 9/11 terrorist attacks. Drawing on 138 interviews within the FBI and Mueller’s... View Details

Keywords: Mission and Purpose; Transformation; Government and Politics; Organizational Change and Adaptation

July 2017 (Revised November 2017)
Case

'Clarín Lies!': Bias, Post-Truth, and Populism in Argentina's Media War

By: Rafael Di Tella, Jose Liberti and Sarah McAra

In 2012, Argentine media conglomerate Grupo Clarín and President Cristina Fernández de Kirchner were embroiled in what some called “the mother of all battles.” Grupo Clarín was one of the preeminent media companies in Argentina, with leading newspapers, cable... View Details

Keywords: Media Regulation; Media; Government and Politics; Policy; Newspapers; Government Legislation; Business and Government Relations; Risk and Uncertainty; Monopoly; Journalism and News Industry; Journalism and News Industry; Argentina

Educators

2022
Book

Corporate Criminal Investigations and Prosecutions

By: Leo R. Tsao, Daniel S. Kahn and Eugene F. Soltes

Over the past two decades, corporate criminal liability has developed into one of the fastest-growing and most dynamic areas of legal practice. The growth of corporate criminal enforcement has correlated with a broad shift in how the government investigates and... View Details

Keywords: Criminal Investigations; Crime and Corruption; Legal Liability

November 2004
Article

Contractibility and Asset Ownership: On-Board Computers and Governance in US Trucking

By: George P. Baker and Thomas Hubbard

Keywords: Assets; Ownership; Technology; Governance; Contracts; Transportation Industry; United States

February 2016 (Revised July 2017)
Case

Race, Justice, and the Jury System in Postbellum Virginia

By: David Moss and Dean Grodzins

In December 1877, an all-white grand jury in Patrick County, Virginia, indicted two black teenagers, Lee and Burwell Reynolds, for killing a white man. After a series of trials, an all-white trial jury convicted Lee of second-degree murder and sentenced him to prison.... View Details

Keywords: Rights; Courts and Trials; Fairness; Race; Government and Politics; History; Virginia

Educators

January 2022
Technical Note

Ethical Analysis: Well-Being and Rights

By: Nien-hê Hsieh and Christopher Diak

This note introduces students to two central concepts for ethical analysis: well-being and rights. It illustrates ways in which they figure in managerial decisions and challenges that arise, including how to frame trade-offs across individual well-being and... View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Analysis; Rights; Well-being; Management Practices and Processes; Decision Making

Educators

01 Jun 2025
News

Alumni and Faculty Books

hard work, and—for the first time—market forces. The space economy is just that—an economy—governed by the same laws of supply and demand that apply here on Earth. Authors Matthew Weinzierl View Details

October 2011
Supplement

Chris and Alison Weston (B)

By: Sandra J. Sucher and Celia Moore

Chris and Alison Weston describe their trial process and time in prison. View Details

Keywords: Crime and Corruption; Decisions; Moral Sensibility; Courts and Trials; Behavior

01 Mar 2025
News

Alumni and Faculty Books

Edited by Margie Kelley Borders and the Self By Chinwe Ajena-Sagna (MBA 2003) Masobe Books “Who are you?” Every border tells a story. Every story has its origins. Tracing a cultural lineage from the beginnings of Igbo history in the ninth century by delineating... View Details

May 1991
Article

Presidential Commitment and the Veto

By: Daniel E. Ingberman and Dennis Yao

A president's power to veto is widely recognized as an important weapon in the struggle with Congress over legislation. In this paper we investigate the effectiveness of the veto weapon with a simple model of presidential powers that incorporates informal institutional... View Details

Keywords: Government Legislation; Laws and Statutes; Financial Markets; Value; Taxation; Conflict and Resolution; Research; Performance Effectiveness; Legal Services Industry

Article

The Formation and Role of Reputation and Litigation in the Auditor-Manager Relationship

By: S. Datar and M. Alles

Keywords: Reputation; Lawsuits and Litigation; Relationships; Management; Accounting Audits

12 Mar 2014
Research & Ideas

Entrepreneurship and Multinationals Drive Globalization

used trust to support this organizational structure. The firm built a network of trustworthy individuals and business partners that enabled it, eventually, to separate the German parent company from its international affiliates. In... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Beauty & Cosmetics; Manufacturing; Consumer Products; Pharmaceutical

2021
Working Paper

Property Rights and Urban Form

By: Simeon Djankov, Edward L. Glaeser, Valeria Perotti and Andrei Shleifer

How do the different elements in the standard bundle of property rights, including those of possession and transfer, influence the shape of cities? This paper incorporates insecure property rights into a standard model of urban land prices and density, and makes... View Details

Keywords: Property; Rights; City; Development Economics; Global Range

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27 Jun 2005
Research & Ideas

Asian and American Leadership Styles: How Are They Unique?

Political connections and family control are more common in Asian businesses than in the United States. In addition, says HBS professor D. Quinn Mills, American CEOs tend to use one of five leadership styles: directive, participative,... View Details

Keywords: by D. Quinn Mills

Article

Trust and Incentives in Agency

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Daniel F Spulber

Contracts between a principal and an agent are not formed in a vacuum. Although formal contracts between a principal and an agent contain explicit incentives for performance, the relationship between a principal and an agent also involves implicit incentives. Three... View Details

Keywords: Trust; Motivation and Incentives; Agency Theory; Contracts; Market Transactions; Performance; Relationships; Societal Protocols; Legal Liability; Cost

October 1995
Article

Start-ups, Spin-offs, and Internal Projects

By: James J. Anton and Dennis Yao

We examine the incentive problem confronting a firm and employee when the employee privately discovers a significant invention and faces a choice between keeping the invention private and leaving the firm to form a new company (start-up), or transferring knowledge and... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Projects; Motivation and Incentives; Rights; Employees; Innovation and Invention; Compensation and Benefits; Knowledge Sharing; Capital; Profit

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Working Paper

Covenant-Light Contracts and Creditor Coordination

By: Bo Becker and Victoria Ivashina

In 2015, 70% of newly issued leveraged loans had weaker enforcement features, called covenant-light or "cov-lite"; this is nearly a three-time increase in cov-lite issuance compared to a previous peak in 2007. We evaluate whether this development can be attributed to... View Details

Keywords: Credit Cycles; Loan Contracts; Debt Covenants; Contracts; Financing and Loans; Credit; Borrowing and Debt

SSRN

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Web

Modern Capitalism: Mergers and Syndicates - Railroads and the Transformation of Capitalism | Harvard Business School

railroad network fanned out across the United States and connected with lines in Canada and Mexico, smaller railroad companies consolidated as a way to ensure the regular flow of traffic, reduce competition,... View Details

August 2000
Article

Corporate Reorganizations and Non-Cash Auctions

By: Matthew Rhodes-Kropf and S. Viswanathan

This paper extends the theory of non-cash auctions by considering the revenue and efficiency of using different securities. Research on bankruptcy and privatization suggests using non-cash auctions to increase cash-constrained bidder participation. We examine this... View Details

Keywords: Auctions; Revenue; Debt Securities; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Privatization; Capital Structure; Bids and Bidding; Motivation and Incentives; Performance Efficiency; Contracts