Publications

28 Jul 2009
First Look

First Look: July 28

case explores maximizing shareholder value as a goal in executive decision making. Over a period of nine years, three different Pfizer CEOs make critical decisions intended to increase shareholder value. But... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

08 Apr 2008
First Look

First Look: April 8, 2008

Publication:Harvard Business Review 86, no. 4 (April 2008): 104-111 Abstract These days, boards are working overtime to comply with Sarbanes-Oxley and other governance requirements meant to protect shareholders from executive wrongdoing.... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

06 Feb 2006
Research & Ideas

The Trouble Behind Livedoor

early 2003 would have 10,000 shares today. Why would a company want to cut the trading price of its stock by so much? A: In a stock split, each share of the firm is divided into more units, but the proportional ownership of each View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Financial Services; Technology

September 2010 (Revised July 2021)
Case

Gone Rural

By: Andre F. Perold

Gone Rural employs 750 women in rural communities across Swaziland to produce handwoven baskets and other hand-crafted items. The women are mostly grandmothers caring for children orphaned as a result of the country's high AIDS-related death rate. The company has a... View Details

Keywords: Social Enterprise; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Growth and Development; Buildings and Facilities; Business Growth and Maturation; Corporate Finance; Business and Shareholder Relations; Swaziland

January 1993
Article

Complementarity of Prior Accounting Information: The Case of Stock Dividend Announcements

By: R. Banker, S. Das and S. Datar

Keywords: Accounting; Stocks; Business and Shareholder Relations

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Editorial

Why CEOs Should Share Their Long-Term Plans with Investors

By: Christina Rehnberg, George Serafeim and Brian Tomlinson

Rather than requiring less short-term information, the key to combating short-termism is to encourage companies to share more information about their long-term plans. Analysis of companies that have done so suggests that long-term plans are not mere marketing... View Details

Keywords: CEO; Investor Relations; Disclosure; Long-term Growth; Investing; Business and Shareholder Relations; Strategy; Corporate Disclosure

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February 2001
Case

California PERS (B)

By: Jay O. Light, Jay W. Lorsch, James O. Sailer and Katharina Pick

The largest state pension fund continues the evolution of its approach to corporate governance contemplating "relationship investing" and other new approaches. View Details

Keywords: Investment; Corporate Governance; Financial Management; Asset Management; Business and Shareholder Relations; Investment Funds; Financial Services Industry; California

February 1991 (Revised June 1991)
Case

Raymond Jackson (A)

By: Jay W. Lorsch

Professor Jackson is offered a spot on the slate of directors that Harold Simmons, Lockheed's largest shareholder, has nominated for Lockheed's board to oppose the slate nominated by Lockheed in the Spring, 1990 elections. Jackson must decide whether to join Simmons'... View Details

Keywords: Business and Shareholder Relations; Corporate Governance; Decisions; Voting; Governing and Advisory Boards; Alliances

December 2003 (Revised August 2004)
Case

Circon (A) (Abridged)

By: Brian J. Hall, Christopher Rose and Guhan Subramanian

In 1996, U.S. Surgical launched a hostile takeover bid against Circon Corp. CEO Richard Auhll recruited an old HBS friend, George Cloutier, to the Circon board to help him defend the company. Circon's primary defenses include a "poison pill" and a staggered board and... View Details

Keywords: Motivation and Incentives; Governing and Advisory Boards; Executive Compensation; Trust; Relationships; Acquisition; Business and Shareholder Relations; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; United States

20 Mar 2013
Research & Ideas

How CEOs Sustain Higher-Ambition Goals

At a recent Harvard Business School conference, dozens of CEOs committed to the idea of working toward "higher-ambition" goals that go beyond just short-term shareholder value. Inspired by the book Higher Ambition: How Great Leaders... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

08 Mar 2011
First Look

First Look: March 8

management friendly provisions, we identify the economic determinants of the resulting trade-offs for shareholder value. Consistent with the theory, our empirical analysis shows that provisions that allow managers to delay takeovers have... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

25 Oct 2006
Op-Ed

Fixing Executive Options: The Veil of Ignorance

chunk of potential managerial wealth, and shareholders can remain assured that incentives are well aligned. Managers will not, however, know if they should try to accelerate earnings or delay them. They will not know what stock price they... View Details

Keywords: by Mihir Desai & Joshua Margolis

25 Jun 2013
First Look

First Look: June 25

governments have started to list state-owned enterprises, have selected professional managers to run them, and have given them more financial autonomy. We argue that the transformation from owner and manager to majority shareholder has... View Details

Keywords: Anna Secino

05 May 2009
First Look

First Look: May 5, 2009

oversight by the board of directors. The case explores the history of AFSCME's shareholder activism on this front and particularly its use of shareholder proposals voted on by View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

March 2013
Supplement

HOYA Corporation (A)

By: W. Carl Kester

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Investment Activism; Corporate Governance; Governance Controls; Governing and Advisory Boards; Negotiation Tactics; Business and Shareholder Relations; Valuation; Japan

Article

A Head Start on Succession

By: Joseph L. Bower

Our studies of CEO succession over the past several years have shown some improvements in the trends in CEO turnover, often resulting from outside pressures for improved oversight and better corporate governance. The next step in improving CEO succession—and ultimately... View Details

Keywords: Investment Return; Corporate Governance; Governing and Advisory Boards; Leadership Development; Management Practices and Processes; Management Succession; Management Teams; Business and Shareholder Relations