Publications

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

March 2018
Case

Summit Public Schools (A)

By: John J-H Kim and Aldo Sesia

Summit Public Schools was a very successful charter management organization with schools in California and Washington State. The students came from a variety of socioeconomic backgrounds, many from economically disadvantaged households. While nearly all of its students... View Details

Keywords: K-12; Online Learning; Virtual Learning; Blended Learning; Secondary Education; Middle School Education; Early Childhood Education; Learning; Business Model; Performance Improvement; Technology

2013
Working Paper

The Operational Consequences of Private Equity Buyouts: Evidence from the Restaurant Industry

By: Albert W. Sheen and Shai Bernstein

What, if anything, do private equity firms do with businesses they acquire? We find evidence of significant operational changes in 101 restaurant chain buyouts between 2002 and 2012. Analysis of health inspections conducted for over 50,000 stores in Florida shows that... View Details

Keywords: Safety; Quality; Private Equity; Food; Management Practices and Processes; Leveraged Buyouts; Performance Efficiency; Retail Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Florida

April 2011 (Revised April 2012)
Case

Angels in British Columbia

By: Josh Lerner, Thomas Hellmann and Ilkin Ilyaszade

The case study provides an overview of the angel investment practices and describes government policies towards angel and venture capital investing in British Columbia, Canada. It focuses in particular on the Equity Capital Program (BCECP henceforth), which provides... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Private Equity; Investment; Policy; Taxation; Performance Improvement; Programs; British Columbia

March 2011
Article

What Do Dividends Tell Us About Earnings Quality

By: Douglas Skinner and Eugene F. Soltes

Over the past 30 years, there have been significant changes in the distribution of earnings (cross-sectional variation has increased, with increasing left skewness) as well as in corporate payout policy, with many fewer firms paying dividends and the emergence of stock... View Details

Keywords: Distribution; Business Earnings; Change; Policy; Stocks; Investment Return; Performance Consistency; Quality

January 2023
Case

Year Up: Measuring and Scaling Impact

By: Natalia Rigol, Benjamin N. Roth, Brian Trelstad and Sarah Mehta

Year Up, a non-profit that provides training and practical work experience to low-income young people, has for years prioritized impact measurement. By 2022, it had built a robust body of evidence demonstrating that its program yields higher earnings for participants.... View Details

Keywords: Demographics; Education; Jobs and Positions; Measurement and Metrics; Performance; Research; Social Enterprise; Growth Management; Education Industry; United States; Massachusetts; Boston

27 Jun 2022
News

Monitoring Employees Makes Them More Likely to Break Rules

01 Jun 2002
News

Be Our Guest: HBS Show 2002 Goes Off without a Hitch

which ran April 17–20 in Burden Auditorium. Since its first production in 1974, the event has showcased the dramatic, musical, and theatrical talent of HBS students. This year's performance was no exception. Titled Infernal Rate of... View Details

Keywords: Lee-Ann Landis; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services

01 Jun 2011
News

Promising Starts

Performing Arts; Ben Schumacher, Teach For America; (back row) Mariah Sheriff, City of Sacramento Mayor’s Office; Michael Louis, Partners In Health; Austin Johnsen, World Wildlife Fund; Erin Barringer, Endeavor Global; and Daniel Koh,... View Details

01 Apr 1997
News

Management Update Launched

the changing subject of career management." A recent issue of the snappy, twelve-page newsletter, for example, featured a cover story on performance management as an innovative replacement for performance... View Details

Keywords: Judith A. Ross

2012
Working Paper

Earnings Management from the Bottom Up: An Analysis of Managerial Incentives Below the CEO

By: Felix Oberholzer-Gee and Julie Wulf

Performance-based pay is an important instrument to align the interests of managers with the interests of shareholders. However, recent evidence suggests that high-powered incentives also provide managers with incentives to manipulate the firm's reported earnings. The... View Details

Keywords: Compensation and Benefits; Interests; Business and Shareholder Relations; Motivation and Incentives; Earnings Management; Performance Evaluation; Stock Options

February 2010
Teaching Note

Sealed Air China (TN)

By: Regina M. Abrami, William C. Kirby and F. Warren McFarlan

Teaching Note for [308051]. View Details

Keywords: Globalization; Investment; Growth and Development Strategy; Experience and Expertise; Market Entry and Exit; Production; Performance Efficiency; Factories, Labs, and Plants; Service Industry; China; Shanghai

December 2003 (Revised May 2004)
Case

Sears Auto Centers (A) (Abridged)

By: Lynn S. Paine

In the early 1990s Sears faced and allegations by the California Department of Consumer Affairs that the company's auto repair centers had been overbilling customers and making unnecessary repairs. Top management must evaluate the problem and come up with a plan to... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Governance; Corporate Accountability; Ethics; Organizational Culture; Compensation and Benefits; Management Teams; Employees; Behavior; Motivation and Incentives; Performance Improvement; Auto Industry

September 7, 2020
Article

Where ESG Ratings Fail: The Case for New Metrics

By: Mark R. Kramer, Nina Jais, Erin E. Sullivan, Carina Wendell, Kerry Rodriguez, Carlo Papa, Carlo Napoli and Filippo Forti

One agency’s A+ is another’s “laggard” — and neither links to financial performance. Hybrid metrics will change everything, argue Harvard Business School’s Mark Kramer and leaders in the shared-value movement. View Details

Keywords: ESG Ratings; Shared Value; Integrated Corporate Reporting; Performance; Measurement and Metrics

September 2021
Article

Joint Problem-solving Orientation in Fluid Cross-boundary Teams

By: Michaela J. Kerrissey, Anna T. Mayo and Amy C. Edmondson

Using interviews, a national field survey, and an online laboratory study, we have examined teamwork in fluid cross-boundary teams. Across three studies, we qualitatively discovered and quantitatively explored "joint problem-solving orientation" as a new team factor.... View Details

Keywords: Problem Solving; Cross-boundary Teams; Groups and Teams; Problems and Challenges; Performance

January–February 2014
Article

Blame Me

By: Kevin Sharer

The author looks at the psychological side of management, discussing his realization that thinking about and acknowledging his own contributions to organizational underperformance or other work problems is critical to getting employees to improve and generating... View Details

Keywords: Management Style; Perspective; Relationships; Performance

1998
Other Unpublished Work

Pursuing Value: The Information Reporting Gap in the U.S. Capital Markets

By: Robert G. Eccles Jr. and Harold D. Kahn

Keywords: Capital Markets; Performance; Financial Reporting; United States

February 2022
Case

Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi (Abridged)

By: Linda A. Hill and Emily Tedards

In 2006, the Cleveland Clinic and Mubadala Investment Company partnered with a bold ambition to deliver world class healthcare in the United Arab Emirates. In 2015, after nearly a decade of planning and construction, Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi opened its doors. By... View Details

Keywords: Organization Behavior; Culture; Alignment; Organizational Effectiveness; Purpose; Impact; Leadership Development; Diversity; Collaboration; Co-creation; Learning Organizations; Empowerment; Teams; Team Dynamics; Teamwork; Team Effectiveness; Trust; Talent; Talent Development And Retention; Psychological Safety; Organizational Evolution; Coaching; Board; Analytics; Innovation; Data; Data Visualization; Digital Technology; Digital; Customer Experience; Experimentation; Change Management; Data-driven Decision-making; Debates; Ecosystem; Partnership; Telemedicine; Sustainability; Global Organizations; Local; Hospital; Healthcare; United Arab Emirates; Health Care and Treatment; Partners and Partnerships; Globalization; Quality; Organizational Culture; Mission and Purpose; Innovation and Management; Information Technology; Joint Ventures; Leadership; Performance Effectiveness; Abu Dhabi; United Arab Emirates

July 2002 (Revised August 2003)
Case

Unilever Superannuation Fund vs. Merrill Lynch, The

By: Andre F. Perold and Joshua Musher

In 2001, the Unilever Superannuation Fund sued Merrill Lynch for damages of 130 million British pounds. Over the period 1977 to 1998, the Unilever Fund had significantly underperformed the benchmark, and its trustees contended that the poor returns resulted from... View Details

Keywords: Investment; Lawsuits and Litigation; Performance Evaluation; Agreements and Arrangements; Customer Relationship Management; Risk and Uncertainty; Asset Management; Risk Management; Legal Liability; Financial Services Industry; United Kingdom