Publications

23 Apr 2001
Research & Ideas

The Gulf: It’s a Family Affair

struggled to get twenty-five people to the conference. At that conference the academics and consultants came together and created a professional society called the Family Firm Institute (FFI) to develop professionals in the field. Now, when the FFI View Details

Keywords: by Wendy Guild & Andrea Schulman

05 Jul 2006
Op-Ed

Corporate Governance Activists are Headed in the Wrong Direction

corporations incorporated in a given state—public or private, big or small—are subject to the same statutory framework. State statutes typically specify plurality selection as the default rule for director elections. Most private-enterprise View Details

Keywords: by Joseph Hinsey

December 2001 (Revised June 2002)
Case

Compensation at Level 3 Communications

Level 3's unique compensation plan rewarded managers for the firm's performance only if the firm's stock price movement exceeded that of the market. This design was intended to maximize shareholder value by tying manager's performance more closely to that of the firm,... View Details

Keywords: Motivation and Incentives; Compensation and Benefits; Telecommunications Industry

23 Apr 2019
First Look

New Research and Ideas, April 23, 2019

offer opportunities for future research. Publisher's link: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=56001 Rehabilitating Corporate Purpose By: Salter, Malcolm S. Abstract—In this paper, I address how the ascendance of the theory of View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

08 Dec 2008
Research & Ideas

Thinking Twice About Supply-Chain Layoffs

it as an obvious way to cut costs. At Ton's research site, in fact, as at other organizations, a manager's evaluation depended in part on meeting or going below the monthly payroll plan. "Of course managers will err on the side of having... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Retail

February 2018 (Revised August 2018)
Case

OpenInvest

By: Shawn Cole, Boris Vallée and Nicole Tempest Keller

Founded by a team of hedge fund and NGO alumni, OpenInvest launched its platform in 2015 to enable retail investors to tailor their portfolios to their personal values in an automated way, for instance by screening out weapons manufacturers stocks or overweighting... View Details

Keywords: Fintech; Impact Investing; Investment Portfolio; Customization and Personalization; Technological Innovation; Social Issues; Growth and Development Strategy; Business Model; Financial Services Industry

11 Aug 2008
Research & Ideas

Strategy Execution and the Balanced Scorecard

strategy and operations (or tactics) are both important but they are different. The normal course of events is for companies to focus on day-to-day operations and short-term problem solving. Management meetings focus on fighting fires and... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

July 2010 (Revised December 2010)
Case

Post-Crisis Compensation at Credit Suisse (A)

By: Clayton S. Rose and Aldo Sesia

On October 20, 2009, Brady Dougan, the CEO of Credit Suisse Group, announced a new compensation plan for the bank. The announcement had followed quickly on the heels of the G-20 meeting the prior month where, in the wake of the financial crisis, the major governments... View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Globalized Firms and Management; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Taxation; Compensation and Benefits; Organizational Culture; Business and Shareholder Relations; Banking Industry; Financial Services Industry; Switzerland; United Kingdom

11 Jul 2012
Research & Ideas

The Future of Boards

In discussions that continue to swirl in the aftermath of the financial crisis, the question of corporate governance's role is often front and center. In The Future of Boards: Meeting the Governance Challenges of the Twenty-First Century,... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna

19 Aug 2008
First Look

First Look: August 19, 2008

penalties for failing to meet the analyst consensus estimate are higher for firms that give quarterly earnings guidance and in the post-SOX period. Our evidence suggests that (i) boards appear to react directly to managers' ability to... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

June 2011 (Revised June 2013)
Case

Sino-Ocean Land: Responding to Change

By: Nicolas P. Retsinas, Jeffrey Hu and Runjiao Xu

In 2010, Sino-Ocean Land Holdings Limited was a highly successful, large real estate developer based in Beijing, China. Sino-Ocean Land had three main business segments—property development, property investment/management, and other real estate related businesses. From... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Strategic Planning; Diversification; Property; Policy; State Ownership; Business Strategy; Business and Government Relations; Real Estate Industry; Beijing

05 Apr 2004
What Do You Think?

Should We Brace Ourselves for Another Era of M&A Value Destruction?

shareholders of acquired companies. On the other hand, short-term value is more often destroyed than created for shareholders of acquiring organizations. There are conflicting conclusions about whether... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

Article

Tread Lightly Through These Accounting Minefields

By: H. David Sherman and S. David Young

In the current economic climate, there is tremendous pressure—and personal incentive for managers—to report sales growth and meet investors' revenue expectations. As a result, more companies have been issuing misleading financial reports, according to the SEC,... View Details

Keywords: Derivatives; Benchmarking Performance; Accounting; Revenue Recognition; Assets

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15 Jan 2019
First Look

New Research and Ideas, January 15, 2019

exchanges. Shareholder protection strongly predicted exchange success, even in countries with high levels of venture capital activity, patenting, and financial market development. Second-tier exchanges in countries with better View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

2015
Other Unpublished Work

Do Managers Have a Role to Play in Sustaining the Institutions of Capitalism?

By: Rebecca Henderson and Karthik Ramanna

In a capitalist system based on free markets, do managers have responsibilities to the system itself? If they do, should these responsibilities shape their behavior when they engage in the political processes that structure the institutions of capitalism? The... View Details

Keywords: Capitalism; Lobbying; Leadership; Economic Systems; Managerial Roles; Business and Government Relations

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September 2020 (Revised December 2020)
Case

Hot Wheels at Mattel: Reinventing the Wheel

By: Elie Ofek, Andres Terech and Nicole Tempest Keller

In 2017, Chris Down, Global Brand General Manager for Hot Wheels, and his team from the Advanced Play Group within Mattel, Inc., were considering which innovation path to pursue in order to "future proof" the Hot Wheels franchise going forward. Hot Wheels was the... View Details

Keywords: Toys; Industry Evolution; Innovation Strategy; Product Development; Growth and Development Strategy; Technological Innovation; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Decision Making; Digital Transformation

March 2023 (Revised January 2025)
Case

Wilshire Lane Capital

By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang, Lindsay N. Hyde and Stacy Straaberg

In September 2021, Adam Demuyakor (MBA 2017) was faced with decisions about how to launch his venture capital (VC) investment firm. His previous investment activities were a series of angel investments and special purpose vehicles alongside two part-time general... View Details

Keywords: Ownership Stake; Investment Funds; Venture Capital; Business and Shareholder Relations; Real Estate Industry; Technology Industry; Los Angeles; California; United States