Publications

2016
Working Paper

Financing Payouts

By: Joan Farre-Mensa, Roni Michaely and Martin Schmalz

We study the extent to which firms rely on the capital markets to fund their payouts. We find that 42% of firms that pay out capital also initiate debt or equity issues in the same year, resulting in 32% of aggregate payouts being externally financed. Most firms with... View Details

Keywords: Payout Policy; Financing Decisions; Debt Issues; Equity Issues; Capital Structure; Decision Making; Financing and Loans; Corporate Finance

SSRN

winter 1988
Article

Management Buyouts and Managerial Efforts

By: Robert F. Bruner and Lynn S. Paine

Management buyouts, which have played an important role in the recent wave of corporate restructurings, have been criticized from several directions. This article addresses the problems created by management's conflict of interest. As members of the buyout team,... View Details

Keywords: Buyout; Ethical Decision Making; Management; Leveraged Buyouts; Ethics; Decision Making

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March 2012
Article

New Project? Don't Analyze—Act

By: Leonard A. Schlesinger, Charles F. Kiefer and Paul B. Brown

In a predictable world, getting a new initiative off the ground typically involves analyzing the market, creating a forecast, and writing a business plan. But what about in an unpredictable environment? The authors recommend looking to those who are experts in... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Managing Yourself; Project Management; Project Strategy; Risk Management

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October 2007 (Revised January 2008)
Case

The Transformation of Thomson

By: David J. Collis and Troy Smith

Thomson, a French multinational, went through a decade of dramatic change in the early years of the 21st century. From a state-owned enterprise earning 97% of its revenue from television sets and other analog consumer electronics, Thomson had become a publicly traded... View Details

Keywords: Transformation; Leading Change; Growth and Development Strategy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Competitive Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Media and Broadcasting Industry; Technology Industry; France

03 Mar 2008
First Look

First Look: March 4, 2008

Information, and Financial Education Programs Author:Annamaria Lusardi Abstract Individuals are increasingly in charge of their own financial security after retirement. But how well-equipped are individuals to make saving decisions; do... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

January 2025 (Revised March 2025)
Case

Gavi and the 'Next' Pandemic

By: Tarun Khanna and Kerry Herman

In 2025, CEO Dr. Sania Nishtar and her team consider the lessons the Global Alliance for Vaccine and Immunizations (GAVI) learned from the pandemic. GAVI successfully brought COVID-19 vaccines to large swaths of the undeveloped and under-developed world by pooling... View Details

Keywords: Developing Countries and Economies; Health Care and Treatment; Health Pandemics; Crisis Management; Success; Innovation and Invention; Service Delivery; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Strategic Planning; Pharmaceutical Industry; Africa

January 2021 (Revised March 2021)
Supplement

Juno (C): Leveraging Student Power

By: Joshua Schwartzstein, Kathleen L. McGinn and Amy Klopfenstein

In May 2020, Juno co-founders Chris Abkarians and Nikhil Agarwal decided to hold the annual auction for their student loan assistance startup. Five lenders submitted bids, and the co-founders ultimately opted to select Eager Bank as their partner for the 2020-2021... View Details

September 2019
Article

The Effect of Enforcement Transparency: Evidence from SEC Comment-Letter Reviews

By: Miguel Duro, Jonas Heese and Gaizka Ormazabal

This paper studies the effect of the public disclosure of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) comment-letter reviews (CLs) on firms’ financial reporting. We exploit a major change in the SEC’s disclosure policy: in 2004, the SEC decided to make its CLs... View Details

Keywords: Disclosure; SEC Comment-Letter Reviews; Public Enforcement; Governance; Information Publishing; Policy; Financial Reporting; Capital Markets; Organizational Change and Adaptation

SSRN

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October 2006 (Revised August 2007)
Case

RKS Guitars

By: Elie Ofek, Thomas J. Steenburgh, Michael I. Norton and Kerry Herman

RKS has designed a revolutionary electric guitar and needs to decide how to best market their innovation. The iconic status of existing electric guitars, and the lack of any recent radical innovations in the category, pose challenges in securing consumer adoption. If... View Details

Keywords: Innovation and Invention; Marketing Strategy; Product Launch; Consumer Behavior; Product Design; Adoption

02 Feb 2012
News

Harvard Business School Faculty Lead Immersion Trip to Israel

02 Feb 2012
News

Harvard Business School Faculty Lead Immersion Trip to Israel

20 Apr 2012
Working Paper Summaries

Why Every Company Needs a CSR Strategy and How to Build It

Keywords: by Kash Rangan, Lisa A. Chase & Sohel Karim

Web

Placement - Doctoral

studies, are uniquely individualized. Factors like departmental fit, location preferences, dual career choices, and family needs shape these decisions. We celebrate when students secure a position that brings them joy! Students are... View Details

16 Nov 2010
Lessons from the Classroom

Data.gov: Matching Government Data with Rapid Innovation

to post on the site any government data that does not have national security or privacy concerns. That's a lot of data. Anything that can be put online should be put online." Pros And Cons In class, participants who had read the case... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Technology

Article

When Feeling Skillful Impairs Coordination in a Lottery Selection Task

By: Anna Dorfman, Yoella Bereby-Meyer and Simone Moran

Choosing a major field of study to secure a good job after graduation is a tacit coordination problem that requires considering others' choices. We examine how feeling skillful, either induced (Experiment 1) or measured (Experiment 2), affects coordination in this type... View Details

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October 2014 (Revised February 2017)
Case

Europe, Russia, and the Age of Gas Revolution

By: Rawi Abdelal, Leonardo Maugeri and Sogomon Tarontsi

The 2014 Ukraine crisis once again exposed the mutually limiting knot—a web of commercial relationships and oil and gas pipelines—that historically tied the European Union and Russia closely. In this crisis, a familiar conundrum preoccupied minds in the corridors of... View Details

Keywords: International Relations; Business and Government Relations; Energy Sources; Energy Industry; European Union; Russia; Ukraine

November 2007
Case

Antegren: A Beacon of Hope

By: Joshua D. Margolis, Thomas J. DeLong and Terence Heymann

The CEO of Biogen Idec faces a set of difficult decisions regarding a promising drug for Multiple Sclerosis that is headed for early approval by the FDA. The first in a series focuses on operational decisions triggered by the drive for early approval. Sparks discussion... View Details

Keywords: Demand and Consumers; Leadership; Ethics; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Decision Choices and Conditions; Crisis Management; Health Testing and Trials; Biotechnology Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry