Publications

20 Feb 2006
Research & Ideas

Are Company Founders Underpaid?

research with 1,200 executives at 500 companies concludes founder pay is on average $30,000 less than that of non-founder executives. (The pay discrepancy disappears as the business matures.) What's the reason for such founder discounts?... View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert; Financial Services; Technology

2010
Working Paper

Corporate Governance When Founders Are Directors

By: Feng Li and Suraj Srinivasan

We examine CEO compensation, CEO retention policies, and M&A decisions in firms where founders serve as a director with a non-founder CEO (founder-director firms). We find that founder-director firms offer a different mix of incentives to their CEOs than other firms.... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Governing and Advisory Boards; Executive Compensation; Retention; Managerial Roles; United States

SSRN

20 Jan 2003
Research & Ideas

Fixing Corporate Governance: A Roundtable Discussion at Harvard Business School

weren't getting appropriate information and that was compounded by directors' complacency because everything seemed to be going well. Palepu: Mention of compensation committees brings to mind the issue of dramatic escalations in View Details

Keywords: by Garry Emmons

Web

Your Commitment | Social Enterprise | Harvard Business School

Fellowship, students are required to submit with their application a signed letter from a senior executive of the host organization addressed to the prospective Fellow and setting forth the actual job offer and the specifics of the... View Details

Sanford I. Weill

on strong execution and delivery of services, stock-based incentive compensation plans, and skillful blending of complimentary strengths and weaknesses, has helped to achieve his mission of building a brand... View Details

Keywords: Finance

19 May 2003
Research & Ideas

Expensing Options Won’t Hurt High Tech

companies might benefit from picking other forms of incentive compensation that arguably do a better job of aligning executive and shareholder interests than conventional stock options do. Indexed or... View Details

Keywords: by Zvi Bodie, Robert S. Kaplan & Robert C. Merton

02 Dec 2002
What Do You Think?

How Will We Respond to the “Moment of Truth” in Option Plans?

really know? Has enough attention been focused on what is an admittedly difficult issue to examine, considering that compensation is only one of many factors in an organization's performance? Given the fact that we're talking about tens... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

01 Dec 2020
What Do You Think?

How Can We Get Companies to Invest More in Low-Wage Workers?

Inequality in society has been studied from almost every angle. Among others, French economist Thomas Piketty has provided ample evidence of trends in inequality, their causes, and their consequences. We’re reminded constantly of the growing View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

October 2000 (Revised May 2001)
Case

Richard Spellman (B)

Presents the final version of the agreements introduced in the (A) case. View Details

Keywords: Contracts; Agreements and Arrangements; Internet and the Web; Executive Compensation; Personal Development and Career; Business Startups; Management Teams

29 Apr 2002
Research & Ideas

Star Power! How to Win in Professional Services

Limits To Leadership Being the chief executive of any company is a demanding job. Carrying out the responsibilities of a CEO in a professional service firm is exceptionally challenging because the position lacks the inherent power and... View Details

Keywords: by Jay W. Lorsch & Thomas J. Tierney

July 2002 (Revised November 2002)
Case

Crucial Conversations

By: Thomas J. DeLong and Vineeta Vijayraghavan

Todd McKenna, a third-year associate at an investment banking firm, confronts his boss. His boss had told him he would be the top paid associate at the firm, and McKenna finds out that this isn't true. He approaches his boss to find out why he was lied to. View Details

Keywords: Interpersonal Communication; Investment Banking; Executive Compensation; Employee Relationship Management; Rank and Position; Banking Industry

Web

Real Estate Private Equity - Course Catalog

final module consists of a focus on private investment firms, their compensation structures and how they impact behavior. For the final project students will be asked to develop an investment concept and present it via a paper and... View Details

01 Jun 1999
News

Short Takes

Rewarding the Top Dog The media, institutional investors, and even government officials all seem to have an opinion about CEO compensation, often criticizing how and how much top executives are paid. But do CEOs really dictate their own... View Details

Keywords: Judith A. Ross

December 2003 (Revised August 2004)
Case

Circon (A) (Abridged)

By: Brian J. Hall, Christopher Rose and Guhan Subramanian

In 1996, U.S. Surgical launched a hostile takeover bid against Circon Corp. CEO Richard Auhll recruited an old HBS friend, George Cloutier, to the Circon board to help him defend the company. Circon's primary defenses include a "poison pill" and a staggered board and... View Details

Keywords: Motivation and Incentives; Governing and Advisory Boards; Executive Compensation; Trust; Relationships; Acquisition; Business and Shareholder Relations; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; United States

Greenberg also championed a compensation plan for executives based on performance without waiver. Of the 300 senior managing directors at Bear Stearns, all were required by Greenberg to donate 4% of their... View Details

Keywords: Finance

01 Dec 2009
News

Letters to the Editor

suggestion I have is to increase transparency by requiring all companies that file a proxy statement to include a graph showing executive compensation for the top three or four officers and View Details

Keywords: Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services

03 Sep 2009
What Do You Think?

Are Retention Bonuses Worth the Investment?

organizations known for their prowess in developing their employees have to bear? What do you think? Original Article Last March 25, Jake DeSantis, then an executive vice president with American International Group, published his... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett

November 2011
Article

Corporate Governance When Founders Are Directors

By: Feng Li and Suraj Srinivasan

We examine CEO compensation, CEO retention policies, and M&A decisions in firms where founders serve as a director with a non-founder CEO (founder-director firms). We find that founder-director firms offer a different mix of incentives to their CEOs than other firms.... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Governance; Executive Compensation; Retention; Policy; Motivation and Incentives; Performance; Governing and Advisory Boards; Mergers and Acquisitions; Wages; United States

SSRN

Find at Harvard

March 2001 (Revised February 2005)
Case

Venture Capital Vignettes

By: G. Felda Hardymon

Presents three fictionalized but realistic situations in which a venture capitalist may find himself. One situation requires crisis intervention to quell a dispute between a vice president of sales and a CEO; another poses the problem of working out the composition of... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Crisis Management; Governing and Advisory Boards; Management Teams; Executive Compensation; Situation or Environment; Employee Relationship Management; Problems and Challenges; Financial Services Industry