Publications
Publications
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- All HBS Web
(3,213)
- Faculty Publications (787)
- July 2004 (Revised January 2007)
- Case
H&R Block and "Everyday Financial Services"
By: Peter Tufano and Daniel Schneider
H&R Block, the U.S. market leader in tax preparation services, must decide whether to offer financial services to its low-income clients. H&R Block is facing increased competition from branded and nonbranded tax preparers, and the number of returns prepared by the... View Details
- June 2004 (Revised November 2004)
- Case
Restoring Trust at WorldCom
By: Jay W. Lorsch and Ashley Robertson
Examines the changes in corporate governance at WorldCom/MCI as proposed by the company's court-appointed corporate monitor, Richard Breeden. Following the largest bankruptcy ever and the downfall of the company, Breeden wrote "Restoring Trust," a report comprised of... View Details
- June 2004 (Revised June 2004)
- Case
Utah Symphony and Utah Opera: A Merger Proposal
By: Thomas J. DeLong and David L. Ager
Anne Ewers, general director of Utah Opera, is awaiting the decision of the members of the board of the Utah Symphony and Utah Opera about whether to merge Utah's top two arts organizations. If the vote favors the merger, Ewers will be asked to assume the helm of the... View Details
- June 2004
- Article
A Catering Theory of Dividends
By: Malcolm Baker and Jeffrey Wurgler
We propose that the decision to pay dividends is driven by prevailing investor demand for dividend payers. Managers cater to investors by paying dividends when investors put a stock price premium on payers, and by not paying when investors prefer nonpayers. To test... View Details
- April 2004 (Revised September 2004)
- Case
Hewlett-Packard-Compaq: The Merger Decision
By: Krishna G. Palepu and Jonathan Barnett
Hewlett-Packard's proposed $24 billion acquisition of rival Compaq marked the largest merger in the history of the computer industry. The merger was Hewlett-Packard's response to sweeping changes impacting the technology industry. The severity of the stock market's... View Details
- spring 2004
- Article
Multinationals and Linkages: An Empirical Investigation
By: Laura Alfaro and Andres Rodriguez-Clare
Several recent papers have used plant-level data and panel econometric techniques to carefully explore the existence FDI externalities. One conclusion that emerges from this literature is that it is difficult to find evidence of positive externalities from... View Details
- March 2004 (Revised April 2005)
- Case
International Rivers Network and the Bujagali Dam Project (A)
By: Benjamin C. Esty and Aldo Sesia
In the summer of 2002, the International Rivers Network (IRN), an environmental NGO located in Berkeley, California, was engaged in what appeared to be the last hours of a three year campaign to stop a $582 million dam and hydropower project at Bujagali Falls in... View Details
- March 2004 (Revised May 2004)
- Case
Governance Reform at MCI
By: Lynn S. Paine and Bridget Gurtler
Richard Breeden proposed corporate governance reforms for MCI. Breeden is a former chairman of the SEC who was a court-appointed "corporate monitor" for the troubled company (formerly WorldCom). The company must adhere to the proposals unless excused by a court order. View Details
- March 2004 (Revised May 2005)
- Case
Shurgard Self-Storage: Expansion to Europe
By: Richard G. Hamermesh and Indra Reinbergs
Shurgard, a U.S.-based firm that rents storage facilities to consumers and small businesses, is considering financing options for rapid expansion of its European operations. Five years after entering Europe, Shurgard Europe has opened 17 facilities in Belgium, France,... View Details
- February 2004 (Revised April 2007)
- Case
Random House
By: Bharat N. Anand, Kyle F. Barnett and Elizabeth Lea Carpenter
On June 12, 2003, the proposed merger of Random House and Time Warner Book Group was called off by the CEO of Random House's parent company, Bertelsmann. The announcement was welcomed by several critics who had questioned the logic of further consolidation in the book... View Details
- February 2004
- Article
Leader Behaviors and the Work Environment for Creativity: Perceived Leader Support
By: Teresa M. Amabile, Elizabeth A. Schatzel, Giovanni B. Moneta and Steven J. Kramer
This exploratory study investigated leader behaviors related to perceived leader support, encompassing both instrumental and socioemotional support. The study first established that leader support, proposed to be a key feature of the work environment for creativity,... View Details
- January 2004 (Revised March 2004)
- Case
Redesigning Sovereign Debt Restructuring Mechanisms
By: Mihir A. Desai, Christina Pham, Julia Stevens and Kathleen Luchs
How should the debt of sovereign countries be restructured when countries approach default? Anne O. Krueger of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) is proposing a new approach to sovereign defaults: the Sovereign Debt Restructuring Mechanism (SDRM). The SDRM would... View Details
- 2004
- Working Paper
Judging Fund Managers by the Company They Keep
By: Randolph Cohen, Joshua Coval and Luboš Pástor
We develop a performance evaluation approach in which a fund manager's skill is judged by the extent to which his investment decisions resemble the decisions of managers with distinguished performance records. The proposed performance measures are estimated more... View Details
- December 2003 (Revised April 2004)
- Case
Sherif Mityas at A.T. Kearney (A): Negotiating a Client Service Predicament
By: Ashish Nanda
Sherif Mityas, recently promoted as project manager at A.T. Kearney, faced a client service challenge in his very first project experience. Mityas had been working closely for six weeks with the management team of the U.S. subsidiary of a Japan-headquartered consumer... View Details
- November 2003 (Revised March 2004)
- Case
Teledesic (Abridged)
Describes plans for a failed project that proposed the use of 288 satellites to deliver high-speed data communications services anywhere in the world. View Details
- October 2003 (Revised November 2004)
- Case
Joe Bachelder: Executive Pay Negotiator
By: Jason R. Barro, Brian J. Hall and Aaron Zimmerman
Joe Bachelder was the leading executive pay negotiator in the United States, securing generous contracts for CEOs and executives at Fortune 500 companies. The CEO of Victor Sports Co. resigned, and the board offered the job to Charles Suarez, a star executive from a... View Details
- September 2003 (Revised January 2004)
- Case
Giant Cinema
The owner of Giant Cinema must decide whether to invest in a digital projector, a new technology for screening films, or purchase a traditional projector. The impact of the new technology is uncertain, and the case describes probabilities for different outcomes that... View Details
- August 2003
- Case
SEC Proposal for Nomination of Directors by Shareholders
By: Jay W. Lorsch and Ashley Robertson
Describes the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission's 2003 proposal to allow shareholders to nominate a "short slate" of directors for the board of listed companies. Includes comment letters for and against the proposal. View Details
- June 2003 (Revised August 2003)
- Case
Pension Policy at The Boots Company PLC
By: Luis M. Viceira and Akiko M. Mitsui
In early 2000, the trustees of the pension scheme at Boots considered a proposal to move 100% of the pension assets into a bond portfolio, which would be passively managed. The Boots Co. PLC was a leading retailer of cosmetics and toiletries in the United Kingdom, and... View Details
- June 2003 (Revised June 2003)
- Background Note
M & A Legal Context: Basic Framework for Corporate Governance
By: Carliss Y. Baldwin, Constance E. Bagley and James Quinn
Students are introduced to the basic framework for corporate governance. Begins by describing the complex role of the modern corporation, then proceeds by discussing the fiduciary duties to which a board of trustees is bound (duty of care, duty of loyalty, etc.), and... View Details