Publications

January 2020
Article

Compensation Consultants and the Level, Composition, and Complexity of CEO Pay

By: Kevin J. Murphy and Tatiana Sandino

We provide fresh evidence regarding the relation between compensation consultants and CEO pay. First, firms that employ consultants have higher-paid CEOs—this result is robust to firm fixed effects and matching on economic and governance variables. Second, while this... View Details

Keywords: Consultants; Benchmarking; Incentive Pay; Executive Compensation; Complexity; Motivation and Incentives; Governance

2019
Working Paper

Compensation Consultants and the Level, Composition, and Complexity of CEO Pay

By: Kevin J. Murphy and Tatiana Sandino

We provide fresh evidence regarding the relation between compensation consultants and CEO pay. First, firms that employ consultants have higher-paid CEOs—this result is robust to firm fixed effects and matching on economic and governance variables. Second, while this... View Details

Keywords: Consultants; Benchmarking; Incentive Pay; Executive Compensation; Complexity; Motivation and Incentives; Governance

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September 17, 2021
Article

AI Can Help Address Inequity—If Companies Earn Users' Trust

By: Shunyuan Zhang, Kannan Srinivasan, Param Singh and Nitin Mehta

While companies may spend a lot of time testing models before launch, many spend too little time considering how they will work in the wild. In particular, they fail to fully consider how rates of adoption can warp developers’ intent. For instance, Airbnb launched a... View Details

Keywords: Artificial Intelligence; Algorithmic Bias; Technological Innovation; Perception; Diversity; Equality and Inequality; Trust; AI and Machine Learning

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09 May 2017
What Do You Think?

Should Management Be Primarily Responsible to Shareholders?

formulating strategies and allocating resources, and the interests of future shareholders and other stakeholders would have to be given more deference. The authors point out that they are “capitalists to the core But the health of the View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

13 Jan 2020
Research & Ideas

Do Private Equity Buyouts Get a Bad Rap?

benefit society: asset stripping, short-term profit at the expense of workers, and long-term stability. “There are certainly a lot of concerns around whether these kind of transactions are indeed fomenting inequality by getting rid of high-quality jobs—and concerns... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Financial Services; Banking

21 Dec 2011
Research & Ideas

The Most Common Strategy Mistakes

to understanding everything from the free enterprise system to the individual motivations of managers. Why are some companies more profitable than others? In this excerpt from an interview between Porter and Magretta, Porter discusses the... View Details

Keywords: by Joan Magretta

2023
Working Paper

El Dorado Lost: Local Elites, Real Estate and the Education Business in China

By: Geoffrey Jones and Yuhai Wu

This working paper examines the evolving, complex and multifaceted relationship between the real estate industry and the education sector in China. The current crises in the private education and real estate sectors caused by policy shifts reflect the inter-meshing of... View Details

Keywords: Business and Government Relations; Policy; Government and Politics; Economic Sectors; Education Industry; Real Estate Industry; China

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2020
Book

Capitalism at Risk: How Business Can Lead

By: Joseph L. Bower, Dutch Leonard and Lynn S. Paine

Who should take the lead in fixing market capitalism? Business—not government alone. The spread of capitalism worldwide has made people wealthier than ever before. But capitalism's future is far from assured. Pandemics, income inequality, resource depletion, mass... View Details

Keywords: Capitalism; Business And Society; Economic Systems; Economic Growth; Policy; Leading Change; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Business and Community Relations; Corporate Strategy

2017
Working Paper

Rethinking Measurement of Pay Disparity and its Relation to Firm Performance

By: Ethan Rouen

I develop measures of firm-level pay disparity and examine their relation to firm accounting performance. Using comprehensive compensation data for a large sample of firms, I find no statistically significant relation between the ratio of CEO-to-mean employee... View Details

Keywords: Pay Disparity; Pay Ratio; CEO Pay Ratio; Income Inequality; Executive Compensation; Wages; Equality and Inequality; Business Ventures; Performance

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26 Apr 2022
Book

What Does Your Business Stand For? Why Building Trust Starts with Purpose

purpose” as a way to build trust and in so doing achieve both impressive economic results and positive social impact. The book demonstrates how purpose-driven business leaders find success by clearly articulating a purpose for the... View Details

Keywords: by Ranjay Gulati

Web

Winners & Runners-Up | New Venture Competition

healthier alternative candy bar snack. Business Track, 2025 Argus Systems Lisa Yan (MBA 2025) Drew Borinstein (MBA 2025) Business Track Winner Accelerating AI model development for physical AI. HydroHaul Eli Litchman (MBA 2025) Fenil... View Details

23 Jun 2009
First Look

First Look: June 23

Principles that Matter: Sustaining Software Innovation from the Client to the Web Author:Marco Iansiti Abstract Economic analysis often reviews the role of principles—such as respect for intellectual property rights—in driving innovation.... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

Web

Events & Presentations - Institute For Strategy And Competitiveness

HBS ISC Resources Resources Video Courses Data Events & Presentations Frameworks News Publications Events & Presentations Events & Presentations The Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness frequently hosts events and conferences. We deliver presentations on health... View Details

July 2015
Background Note

The State of U.S. Public Health: Challenges and Trends

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter, Howard Koh and Pamela Yatsko

The World Health Organization defines health as "a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity." For many Americans, the World Health Organization's definition of true health seems unattainable, given... View Details

Keywords: Public Health; Public Sector; Health Care and Treatment; Health Industry; United States

Educators

09 Jun 2015
First Look

First Look: June 9, 2015

new Philips HealthSuite Digital Platform find success in the rapidly evolving industry? Purchase this case: https://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cbmp/product/515052-PDF-ENG Harvard Business School Case 715-047 Korea South Korea's economic success... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

Article

Big Other: Surveillance Capitalism and the Prospects of an Information Civilization

By: Shoshana Zuboff

This article describes an emergent logic of accumulation in the networked sphere, 'surveillance capitalism,' and considers its implications for 'information civilization.' The institutionalizing practices and operational assumptions of Google Inc. are the... View Details

Keywords: Surveillance Capitalism; Big Data; Google; Information Society; Privacy; Internet Of Everything; Rights; Economic Systems; Analytics and Data Science; Internet and the Web; Ethics

Web

Research - Behavioral Finance & Financial Stability

They show that funding loans to these borrowers lead to better economic outcomes for the borrowers and higher returns for the fintech platform. See Marco’s other research here , Dimuthu’s other research here , and Don’s other research... View Details

August 2018
Case

Christine Lagarde (C): Managing the IMF

By: Julie Battilana and Carin-Isabel Knoop

This case covers the career of Christine Lagarde from 2011 to 2018 as she takes the helm of a troubled multilateral organization during a time of deepening economic turmoil. As the first female leader of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), and as a non-economist,... View Details

Keywords: Personal Development and Career; Power and Influence; Change Management; Global Range; Gender; Equality and Inequality; Climate Change

Educators