Publications

February 2009 (Revised March 2009)
Case

AFSCME vs. Mozilo...and "Say on Pay" for All! (A)

By: Fabrizio Ferri and James Weber

Union seeks to protect its pension funds through shareholder activism focused on corporate governance and executive compensation. The case uses Countrywide Financial as an example. Richard Ferlauto, director of pensions and benefits policy at the AFSCME, the largest... View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Mortgages; Investment Activism; Investment Funds; Corporate Governance; Governing and Advisory Boards; Executive Compensation; Labor Unions; Business and Shareholder Relations; United States

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January 2023 (Revised April 2025)
Case

Peloton Interactive (A)

By: Suraj Srinivasan, Lynn S. Paine and David Lane

Early in February 2022, the board of Peloton Interactive faced some knotty challenges. Immense pandemic demand for its stationary exercise bicycles and treadmills had prompted the firm to scale up production rapidly. But as gyms reopened and the virulence of the virus... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Governance; Governing and Advisory Boards; Growth Management; Investment Activism; Leadership; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Sports Industry; United States

29 Jul 2011
Working Paper Summaries

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

Keywords: by Christopher Marquis & Matthew Lee

Teaching Interest

Compensation Committees

By: Suraj Srinivasan

Executive compensation has become a flashpoint issue for board members, institutional investors, regulators, and the media. Compensation committees are challenged to design compensation programs that not only tie business or corporate strategies to company performance,... View Details

Research Summary

Overview

Professor Sherman's research has long focused on financial reporting, performance measurement/management, and financial literacy issues facing corporate management and Boards of Directors in global businesses. He also actively studies methods to improve productivity in... View Details

20 Apr 2009
Research & Ideas

Misgovernance at the World Bank

Getting a seat at the table often makes all the difference in the world. New research from Harvard Business School suggests that this idea holds true literally at the World Bank, where the 24 countries serving on the Board of Executive... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

2014
Working Paper

Adding Value Through Venture Capital in Latin America and the Caribbean

By: Josh Lerner, Ann Leamon, James Tighe and Susana Garcia-Robles

Venture capital (VC) investment has long been recognized as an engine for economic growth and development. Unlike bank loans, where the entrepreneur receives money and is left alone as long as the payments arrive on the pre-arranged schedule, venture capital... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Value; Entrepreneurship; Investment; Latin America; West Indies

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14 Jan 2013
Research & Ideas

Few Women on Boards: Is There a Fix?

average. They also found that the majority of female board members reported having actively sought their board seats. The same was not true of male View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

September 2016 (Revised April 2020)
Case

Dwyane Wade

By: Anita Elberse and Jennifer Schoppe

In July 2016, while on his annual China tour to help promote the sportswear brand Li-Ning, basketball superstar Dwyane Wade and his long-time business manager, Lisa Joseph-Metelus, face a decision regarding one of his other business partnerships—that with the American... View Details

Keywords: Branding; Fashion; Superstar; Celebrity Endorsement; Innovation; Creative Industries; Talent; General Management; Sports; Entertainment; Brands and Branding; Marketing; Management; Strategy; Personal Development and Career; Consumer Products Industry; Fashion Industry; Sports Industry; China

March 2009 (Revised April 2009)
Case

AFSCME vs. Mozilo...and "Say on Pay" for All! (A) (Abridged)

By: Fabrizio Ferri and James Weber

Richard Ferlauto, director of pensions and benefits policy at the AFSCME, the largest public sector workers union in the U.S., was responsible for protecting the pensions of its members. Because pensions were invested for decades, Ferlauto wanted the companies in which... View Details

Keywords: Voting; Investment; Investment Activism; Corporate Governance; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Governing and Advisory Boards; Executive Compensation; Ownership Stake; Business and Shareholder Relations; United States

27 Oct 2008
Lessons from the Classroom

Achieving Excellence in Nonprofits

outcomes, but using the scalability and capital access of the for-profit form of activity), the corporate social responsibility activities of a traditional for-profit business, and even governmental organizations. There is an hypothesis... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

25 Feb 2014
First Look

First Look: February 25

Download working paper: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1999484 Consequences to Directors of Shareholder Activism By: Gow, Ian D., Sa-Pyung Sean Shin, and Suraj Srinivasan Abstract—We examine how shareholder activist... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

07 Jul 2008
Research & Ideas

Innovation Corrupted: How Managers Can Avoid Another Enron

or fail to analyze the utter breakdown in board governance and Enron's internal controls, and the failure of credit rating agencies to blow the whistle," he says. "They also overlook the collusion of investment banks in... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Energy; Utilities

February 2023
Supplement

Peloton Interactive (B)

By: Suraj Srinivasan, Lynn S. Paine and David Lane

Supplements “Peloton Interactive (A)” (HBS No. 323-005), describing company restructuring and changes to management and the board of directors between February 8 and early October 2022. View Details

Keywords: Corporate Governance; Governing and Advisory Boards; Growth Management; Investment Activism; Leadership; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Sports Industry; United States

June 2007 (Revised December 2007)
Case

AFL-CIO: Office of Investment and Home Depot

By: Rakesh Khurana and James Weber

Describes the AFL-CIO: Office of Investments activities in their campaign to improve governance at Home Depot by calling attention to Home Depot CEO Robert Nardelli's compensation package and the company's poor performance. The AFL-CIO Office of Investments advocates... View Details

Keywords: Investment; Corporate Governance; Governing and Advisory Boards; Executive Compensation; Labor Unions; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Business and Shareholder Relations

August 2021
Case

Yummy: Delivering Value to Venezuela

By: Ayelet Israeli, Jenyfeer Martinez Buitrago and Carla Larangeira

By June 2021, Yummy had become Venezuela’s first and largest food delivery app and last-mile logistics company. In Caracas, the nation’s capital, Yummy held a 55% market share, while operations in other cities had already started to take place, including in three of... View Details

Keywords: Internet and the Web; Health Pandemics; Business Startups; Growth and Development Strategy; Expansion

May 2016 (Revised September 2017)
Case

Canadian Pacific's Bid for Norfolk Southern

By: Benjamin C. Esty and E. Scott Mayfield

In December 2015, Canadian Pacific Railroad (CPR) has just made its third bid to acquire Norfolk Southern Corporation (NSC), one of the largest railroads in the United States. Having rejected the prior offers, NSC’s CEO James Squires and the NSC board must now value... View Details

Keywords: Capital Structure; Cash Flow; Cost of Capital; Financial Strategy; Investment Activism; Bids and Bidding; Negotiation Offer; Corporate Strategy; Rail Transportation; Mergers and Acquisitions; Transformation; United States; Canada

26 Sep 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, September 26, 2017

firm and industry heterogeneity and quasi-exogenous meteorological and sport events. The evidence suggests that family CEOs value—or can pursue—leisure activities relatively more than professional CEOs. Publisher's link:... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

December 2024 (Revised March 2025)
Case

Strategy and CEO Succession at Starbucks

By: Krishna G. Palepu and David Lane

On August 13, 2024, Starbucks announced that Laxman Narasimhan who was appointed as the CEO only in September 2023, was stepping down as CEO and board director “with immediate effect.” Laxman would be replaced on September 9 by Brian Niccol, CEO since 2018 of Chipotle... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Corporate Governance; Leadership; Management Succession; Cost Management; Labor Unions; Working Conditions; Order Taking and Fulfillment; Service Operations; Investment Activism; Governing and Advisory Boards; Resignation and Termination; Food and Beverage Industry; United States