Publications

February 2015 (Revised March 2022)
Case

Quincy Apparel (A)

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Lisa Mazzanti

Quincy Apparel designs, manufactures and sells work apparel for young professional women that offers the fit and feel of high-end brands at a lower price. In late 2012, Quincy's cofounders are debating how to approach a crucial board meeting. Their seed-stage startup... View Details

Keywords: Retail; Failure; Online Retail; Women's Apparel; Business Startups; Business Plan; Business Model; Entrepreneurship; Production; E-commerce; Retail Industry; Technology Industry; Fashion Industry; New York (city, NY)

September 2007 (Revised September 2010)
Case

ValueAct: Shareholder in the Boardroom

By: Jay W. Lorsch and Alexis Chernak

ValueAct, a San Francisco investment firm, makes an investment in PerSe Technologies. The partners of ValueAct build relationships with the PerSe board and management. Eventually ValueAct is given a seat on the PerSe board and is able to influence a significant imprint... View Details

Keywords: Governing and Advisory Boards; Investment; Business and Shareholder Relations; Financial Services Industry; San Francisco

Elon Kohlberg is the Royal Little Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School. His research is mainly in Game Theory, in particular the study of non-cooperative equilibrium.

Professor Kohlberg has taught many courses in the MBA,... View Details

Keywords: asset management; education industry; energy; pharmaceuticals; real estate

Apr 25 2018
Testimonial

Clarifying Governance Responsibilities

May 1989 (Revised August 2006)
Case

RJR Nabisco

By: Richard S. Ruback

Gives students the opportunity to explore issues facing the board of directors in a leveraged buyout. RJR Nabisco is valued under different operating strategies and the source of gains in leveraged buyouts is stressed. View Details

Keywords: Leveraged Buyouts; Profit; Operations; Problems and Challenges; Strategy; Valuation

Leemore Dafny is the Bruce V. Rauner Professor of Business Administration and the Mary Ellen Jay and Jeffrey Jay Fellow at the Harvard Business School, and Professor of Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School. Dafny is an applied microeconomist whose... View Details

Keywords: health care

14 Jan 2013
Research & Ideas

Few Women on Boards: Is There a Fix?

Nobody questions that there's whopping gender imbalance in today's boardrooms, despite ample evidence that it makes financial sense to put women on the board. Companies with female board representation routinely outperform those with no... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

August 2016
Article

Independent Directors' Dissent on Boards: Evidence from Listed Companies in China

By: Juan Ma and Tarun Khanna

In this paper, we examine the circumstances under which so-called "independent" directors voice their independent views on public boards in a sample of Chinese firms. First, we ask why independent directors dissent, i.e. how they justify such dissent to public... View Details

Keywords: Independent Directors; China; Corporate Governance; Governing and Advisory Boards; China

November 2008 (Revised November 2024)
Case

The Fall of Enron

By: Paul Healy and Krishna Palepu

The case traces the rise of Enron, covering the company's business innovations, personnel management, and risk management processes. It then examines the company's dramatic fall including the extension of its trading model into questionable new businesses, the... View Details

Keywords: Risk Management; Management Practices and Processes; Crime and Corruption; Financial Reporting; Corporate Governance; Governing and Advisory Boards

2013
Article

Boardroom Centrality and Firm Performance

By: David F. Larcker, Eric C. So and Charles C.Y. Wang

Firms with central or well-connected boards of directors earn superior risk-adjusted stock returns. Initiating a long position in the most central firms and a short position in the least central firms earns an average risk-adjusted return of 4.68% per year. Firms with... View Details

Keywords: Networks; Governing and Advisory Boards; Forecasting and Prediction; Performance

SSRN

George Serafeim is the Charles M. Williams Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. He co-leads a Lab, within Harvard's Digital, Data, Design Institute, and serves on the faculty steering commitee of Harvard University's Salata Institute. He... View Details

Keywords: asset management; insurance industry; automobiles; industrial goods; fashion; food; green technology

June 2017
Case

Maggie Wilderotter: The Evolution of an Executive

By: Boris Groysberg, Sarah L. Abbott and Robin Abrahams

In a career that spanned over 30 years, Maggie Wilderotter served as CEO of two publicly traded companies and served on 32 corporate and 9 association and nonprofit boards of directors. As CEO of Frontier Communications, a U.S. telecom company with over $25 billion in... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Managing People; Networks; Strategy And Leadership; Personal Development and Career; Personal Characteristics; Leadership Style; Social and Collaborative Networks; Gender; Power and Influence; Telecommunications Industry; United States

April 1994 (Revised August 1996)
Case

American Express (A)

By: Jay W. Lorsch

In January 1993, the American Express board met to decide who would succeed James D. Robinson, III as chairman and CEO. The board needed to act in the spotlight of intense media and investor scrutiny, and after leaks had revealed that there was a conflict among the... View Details

Keywords: Decision Making; Corporate Governance; Resignation and Termination; Leadership; Management Succession; Performance Evaluation

November 2007 (Revised March 2009)
Case

Clear Channel 2006

By: Richard S. Ruback and Leslie Pierson

The Board of Directors of Clear Channel Communications, a radio broadcasting and outdoor advertising company, has to respond to a revised proposal from two private equity firms to take the company private. In November of 2006, the Board had unanimously approved an... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Private Equity; Governing and Advisory Boards; Negotiation Offer; Privatization; Business and Shareholder Relations

Career Coach

Megan Gardner

Megan (HBS ’06) is an executive coach, board member and tactical advisor for CEOs and senior executives. As a founder and CEO of a technology business, she knows first-hand the value of strong coaching in a rapidly growing business. In... View Details

Keywords: Emerging Markets; Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Financial Services (All); Hospitality

November 2007 (Revised March 2008)
Case

Tyco International: Corporate Governance

By: Rakesh Khurana and James Weber

Examines how Tyco and its board recovered from its corporate scandals. Describes how its CEO and board set out to institute processes, guidelines, and a culture that would make Tyco into a company widely recognized for its world class corporate governance. View Details

Keywords: Crime and Corruption; Corporate Governance; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Governing and Advisory Boards; Business Processes; Organizational Culture