Publications

2013
Working Paper

Who Is Governing Whom? Executives, Governance and the Structure of Generosity in Large U.S. Firms

By: Christopher Marquis and Matthew Lee

We examine how organizational structure influences strategies over which corporate leaders have significant discretion. Corporate philanthropy is our setting to study how a differentiated structural element—the corporate foundation—constrains the influence of... View Details

Keywords: Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Corporate Governance; Governing and Advisory Boards; Leadership; Managerial Roles; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Organizational Structure; Corporate Strategy; United States

SSRN

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December 2011
Case

Negotiating the Path of Abraham

By: James K. Sebenius and Kimberlyn Leary

The Abraham Path Initiative board faces strategic and negotiating challenges in revitalizing a route of Middle East cultural tourism following Abraham's path 4000 years ago. The Path begins in the ancient ruins of Harran, in modern-day Turkey, where Abraham first heard... View Details

Keywords: Nonprofit Organizations; Governing and Advisory Boards; Partners and Partnerships; Negotiation; Social Entrepreneurship; Religion; Culture; Tourism Industry; Israel; Syria; Middle East; Turkey; Jordan

February 2011
Background Note

Corporate Reform Elements of the Dodd-Frank Act

By: Robert C. Pozen, Phillip Andrews and David Lane

This note summarizes the four major changes affecting corporate governance that were made by the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010. These changes relate to: advisory notes by shareholders, refinements to board structure, non-disclosure on compensation and tightening up of certain... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Disclosure; Corporate Governance; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Governing and Advisory Boards; Government Legislation; Executive Compensation; Business and Shareholder Relations; United States

11 Feb 2014
News

AOL’s Armstrong Joins Parade of CEOs Apologizing

August 2010 (Revised March 2012)
Supplement

The Dow Acquisition of Rohm and Haas (B)

By: Jay W. Lorsch and Melissa Barton

The Dow Board made a bid for Rohm and Haas Company in order to transition its portfolio away from commodity chemicals towards specialty chemicals. View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Investment Portfolio; Governing and Advisory Boards; Chemical Industry

20 Apr 2014
Video

The Music of this Place

October 2005 (Revised September 2006)
Case

Museum of Fine Arts Boston

By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Marie Bell

One of Boston's main cultural attractions, the Museum of Fine Arts (MFA), has experienced a steady decline of its core audience over the last decade. The museum's executive director attempted to bridge the shortfall by staging new, innovative, special exhibitions,... View Details

Keywords: Product Marketing; Growth Management; Innovation Leadership; Capital; Financing and Loans; Service Operations; Consumer Behavior

18 Feb 2015
News

Inside the Psychology of Productivity

August 2010 (Revised March 2012)
Case

The Dow Acquisition of Rohm and Haas (A)

By: Jay W. Lorsch and Melissa Barton

The Rohm and Haas Board decided how to move forward after its largest shareholder chose to sell all of its shares in the company. View Details

Keywords: Governing and Advisory Boards; Leadership; Management Teams; Ownership Stake; Business and Shareholder Relations; Chemical Industry

2009
Book

The Adventures of an IT Leader

By: Robert D. Austin, Richard L. Nolan and Shannon O'Donnell

Becoming an effective IT manager presents a host of challenges-from anticipating emerging technology to managing relationships with vendors, employees, and other managers. Ultimately, a good IT manager must be a strong business leader, not just a technical... View Details

Keywords: Books; Leadership; Crisis Management; Personal Development and Career; Relationships; Safety; Information Technology

Find at Harvard

10 Oct 2021
News

Nancy Koehn: The Nature of Leadership

April 2007 (Revised July 2011)
Case

The Tale of the Lynx (A)

By: Noam Wasserman

The founders of Lynx Solutions have survived major challenges within their board of directors, the firing of Lynx's founder-CEO and departure of its successor CEO, and a crisis sparked by media allegations that it had been spying on its users. Now that the company is... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Decision Choices and Conditions; Governing and Advisory Boards; Growth and Development Strategy; Management Teams; Conflict and Resolution; Business Strategy; Computer Industry

04 May 2021
News

Hubert Joly – How To Unleash Human Magic & Achieve Improbable Results (Former CEO of Best Buy)

17 Jun 2022
News

In Defense of Online Anonymity

Article

The Price of a CEO's Rolodex

By: Christopher Parsons, J. Engelberg and P. Gao

CEOs with large networks earn more than those with small networks. An additional connection to an executive or director outside the firm increases compensation by about $17,000 on average, more so for "important" members, such as CEOs of big firms. Pay-for-connectivity... View Details

Keywords: Networks; Executive Compensation

Find at Harvard

10 Feb 2016
HBS Seminar

Hong Luo of Harvard Business School and Julie Mortimer of Boston College, Department of Economics

September 2018
Supplement

From Beirut With Love (B): The Last Judgment

By: Christina R. Wing, Esel Y. Cekin and Samer Al-Rachedy

February 2010
Other Article

The Chilling Effect of Sarbanes Oxley: A Discussion of Sarbanes-Oxley and Corporate Risk-Taking

By: Aiyesha Dey

Bargeron, Lehn, and Zutter [2009. Sarbanes–Oxley and corporate risk-taking. Journal of Accounting and Economics, forthcoming] document that as compared with non-US firms, risk-taking by publicly traded companies in the US declined after the passage of the... View Details

Keywords: Risk; Corporate Risk-taking; Risky Investments; Risk and Uncertainty