Publications

Article

Paper Versus Practice: A Field Investigation of Integrity Hotlines

By: Eugene Soltes

In an effort to motivate firms to more rapidly detect potential misconduct, legislators, regulators, and enforcement agencies incentivize firms to have integrity or “whistleblowing” hotlines. These hotlines provide individuals an opportunity to report alleged... View Details

Keywords: Hotlines; Compliance Programs; Corporate Misconduct; Governance Compliance; Programs; Performance

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28 Sep 2010
First Look

First Look: September 28, 2010

PublicationsFamilienunternehmen in Westdeutschland. Corporate Governance und Gesellschafterkultur seit den 1960er Jahren (Family business in West Germany since the 1960s) Authors:Christina Lubinski Publication:Vol. 21, Schriftenreihe... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

November 2010 (Revised December 2010)
Case

Mid-Missouri Energy: Ethanol from Corn

By: Forest L. Reinhardt, Noel Michele Holbrook, James Weber and Karla Sartor

Mid-Missouri Energy (MME) is a farmer-owned cooperative that produces ethanol from corn. The cooperative has performed well in comparison to other producers, but margins in the industry had declined as industry production levels neared market demand limits. MME farmers... View Details

Keywords: Agribusiness; Renewable Energy; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Policy; Growth and Development Strategy; Cooperative Ownership; Business and Government Relations; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; United States

Educators

Article

Control, Performance, and Knowledge Transfers in Large Multinationals: Unilever in the United States, 1945-1980

By: G. Jones

This article considers key issues relating to the organization and performance of large multinational firms in the post-Second World War period. Although foreign direct investment is defined by ownership and control, in practice the nature of that "control" is far from... View Details

Keywords: Multinational Firms and Management; Governance Controls; Performance; Business or Company Management; Ownership; Consumer Products Industry; Manufacturing Industry; United States

09 Jan 2024
Research & Ideas

Could Clean Hydrogen Become Affordable at Scale by 2030?

Hydrogen is poised to move from the sidelines of global clean energy as the industry learns to produce it more efficiently and at lower cost, according to newly published research led by Gunther Glenk, a climate fellow with Harvard Business School's Institute for the... View Details

Keywords: by Desmond Dodd; Energy; Green Technology

2021
Chapter

Digital Infrastructure

By: Shane Greenstein

What determines the supply of innovative digital infrastructure and how does variance in supply shape the performance of digital services? The essay reviews research into the economic impact of deployment, innovation, and adoption of digital infrastructure. It... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Infrastructure; Economics; Policy; Research; Analysis; United States

November 2013 (Revised February 2016)
Case

A Long, Bumpy and Unfinished Road: Education Reform in Memphis, Tennessee

By: Allen Grossman, J. Puckett and Nithya Vaduganathan

In 2010 the Memphis City School District merged with the neighboring Shelby County School system under the supervision of a single board of education and superintendent. It promised much more than just administrative synergies—it was an opportunity to change a... View Details

Keywords: Education Reform; Public Education; Business Engagement; Public Sector; Education; Business and Community Relations; Education Industry; Tennessee

Educators

December 2010
Article

The Case for Professional Boards

By: Robert C. Pozen

When the world's largest financial institutions had to be rescued from insolvency in 2008, many experts laid the blame at the feet of corporate boards. But insufficient board oversight is a problem that had supposedly been solved in 2002. As the United States... View Details

Keywords: Financial Institutions; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Governing and Advisory Boards; Failure; Accounting Audits; Quality; Behavior; Legal Liability; Experience and Expertise; Corporate Governance; Governance Controls; Performance Effectiveness; United States

16 Nov 2010
First Look

First Look: November 16, 2010

and Hirotaka Takeuchi. Tokyo: Nihon Keizai Shimbun Publishing, 2010 An abstract is unavailable at this time. How Do Acquirers Retain Successful Target CEOs? The Role of Governance Authors:Julie Wulf and Harbir Singh Publication:Management... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

27 Oct 2008
Lessons from the Classroom

Achieving Excellence in Nonprofits

revenue by outside audit firms) without providing much or sometimes any guidance about how to improve actual mission performance. I'd like to see a renewed focus on mission performance rather than on financial performance, which in the... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

24 Jul 2000
Research & Ideas

Value Maximization and Stakeholder Theory

choose among alternative policy options), what would it be? Or, even more simply, How do we want the firms in our economy to measure better versus worse?" It's tempting to consider value simply as a matter of maximizing the short-term financial View Details

Keywords: by Michael C. Jensen

2022
Working Paper

Electoral Turnovers

By: Benjamin Marx, Vincent Pons and Vincent Rollet

In most national elections, voters face a key choice between continuity and change. Electoral turnovers occur when the incumbent candidate or party fails to win reelection. To understand how turnovers affect national outcomes, we study the universe of presidential and... View Details

Keywords: Election Outcomes; Regression Discontinuity Design; Political Elections; Change; Global Range; Outcome or Result; Economy; Governance; Performance Improvement

30 Jan 2018
First Look

January 30, 2018

role of telecommunications firms in providing content. Publisher's link: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=53774 forthcoming Journal of Accounting Research Effects of an Information Sharing System on Employee Creativity, Engagement, and View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

March 1990 (Revised May 1993)
Case

USSR--1990

By: Willis M. Emmons III

Describes the political, economic, and social development of the USSR from 1921-90. Particular emphasis is placed on 1) institutional change, 2) the costs and benefits of central economic planning, and 3) the political economy of perestroika under Mikhail Gorbachev.... View Details

Keywords: Country; Strategy; Cost vs Benefits; Change; Government and Politics; Russia

13 Feb 2014
Research & Ideas

Managing the Family Business: Leadership Roles

business systems worldwide, including how leadership affects performance. As an example of very capable leadership of a high performing family enterprise, I introduced Nelson Sirotsky, Chairman of RBS, who two years ago successfully... View Details

Keywords: by John A. Davis

2011
Working Paper

Fairness, Efficiency and Flexibility in Organ Allocation for Kidney Transplantation

By: Dimitris Bertsimas, Vivek F. Farias and Nikolaos Trichakis

We propose a scalable, data-driven method for designing national policies for the allocation of deceased donor kidneys to patients on a waiting list, in a fair and efficient way. We focus on policies that have the same form as the one currently used in the U.S. In... View Details

Keywords: Fairness; Policy; Health Disorders; Marketplace Matching; Performance Effectiveness; Rank and Position; Health Industry; United States

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Article

Recent Research on Competitiveness and Clusters: What Are the Implications for Regional Policy?

By: Christian Ketels

This paper reviews implications of recent research on competitiveness and clusters for regions and regional policy. A new framing of competitiveness clarifies the role of regions. Its empirical findings align well with the literature on drivers of regional performance,... View Details

Keywords: Competition; Industry Clusters; Policy

July 2019
Case

Piramal Foundation: The Business of Philanthropy

By: Vikram Gandhi and Mahima Rao-Kachroo

The Piramal Foundation was launched by diversfied Indian conglomerate, the Piramal Group, to improve the healthcare services and quality of education of India’s economically and socially disadvantaged. The foundation operates under three verticals—‘Piramal Foundation... View Details

Keywords: Social Enterprise; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Education; Health Care and Treatment; Performance Improvement; Growth and Development Strategy; Education Industry; Health Industry; India

Educators

2010
Working Paper

Lawful but Corrupt: Gaming and the Problem of Institutional Corruption in the Private Sector

By: Malcolm S. Salter

This paper describes how the gaming of society's rules by corporations contributes to the problem of institutional corruption in the world of business. "Gaming" in its various forms involves the use of technically legal means to subvert the intent of society's rules in... View Details

Keywords: Crime and Corruption; Civil Society or Community; Competitive Advantage; Earnings Management; Trust; Law; Performance; Investment Funds; Private Sector; Behavior; Relationships; Goals and Objectives