Publications

2012
Working Paper

Earnings Management from the Bottom Up: An Analysis of Managerial Incentives Below the CEO

By: Felix Oberholzer-Gee and Julie Wulf

Performance-based pay is an important instrument to align the interests of managers with the interests of shareholders. However, recent evidence suggests that high-powered incentives also provide managers with incentives to manipulate the firm's reported earnings. The... View Details

Keywords: Compensation and Benefits; Interests; Business and Shareholder Relations; Motivation and Incentives; Earnings Management; Performance Evaluation; Stock Options

Read Now

18 Feb 2013
Research & Ideas

Breaking Through a Growth Stall

evaluate business development opportunities. Driven by cash needs, they may call this "experimentation," but in effect they tell salespeople to "go forth and multiply!" By selling to anyone, though, ventures fragment... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

July 2007
Teaching Note

Rwanda: National Economic Transformation (TN)

By: Michael E. Porter and Michael Patrick McCreless

Teaching Note to 706491. View Details

Keywords: Economy; Problems and Challenges; Development Economics; Policy; Poverty; Transformation; Performance Evaluation; Political Elections; Rwanda

February 2011
Teaching Note

Citigroup's Exchange Offer (TN)

By: Robin Greenwood

Teaching Note for 210009. View Details

Keywords: Equity; Government and Politics; Stocks; Price; Capital; Banks and Banking; Performance Evaluation; Risk and Uncertainty; Capital Markets; Banking Industry; Financial Services Industry; United States

06 May 2019
Research & Ideas

Consumers Blame Business for Global Health Problems. Can Business Become the Solution?

representing more than 200 of the world’s largest companies, has recently launched investor forums dedicated to the culture of health, often featuring prominent CEOs like Paul Polman of Unilever and Alex Gorsky of Johnson & Johnson. In 2015, Harvard Business Review... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost; Health

03 Feb 2018
Op-Ed

How to Heed BlackRock's Call for Corporate Social Responsibility

financial purpose. Because BlackRock manages more than $6 trillion in assets, Mr. Fink’s announcement has the potential to help change companies’ behaviors in big ways. But this will happen only if BlackRock and other large asset managers add social View Details

Keywords: by Julie Battilana

November 2010 (Revised April 2011)
Supplement

Aman Resorts (B)

By: Eugene Soltes and Aldo Sesia

The (B) case describes how employees are rewarded and compensated and is used to supplement the (A) case. View Details

Keywords: Customer Focus and Relationships; Customer Satisfaction; Globalized Firms and Management; Compensation and Benefits; Employees; Performance Evaluation; Motivation and Incentives; Accommodations Industry

September 1987 (Revised October 1987)
Background Note

The Job of the General Manager

By: James L. Heskett

Describes elements of the job of the general manager that are addressed in the Management Policy and Practice course at the Harvard Business School. These include: 1) establishing strategic direction, 2) setting goals and managing standards of performance, 3)... View Details

Keywords: Experience and Expertise; Policy; Recruitment; Working Conditions; Managerial Roles; Resource Allocation; Mission and Purpose; Performance Evaluation; Strategy; Value

2019
Working Paper

Improving Working Conditions in Global Supply Chains: The Role of Institutional Environments and Monitoring Program Design

By: Jodi L. Short, Michael W. Toffel and Andrea R. Hugill

Activism seeking to improve labor conditions in global supply chains has led transnational corporations to adopt codes of conduct and monitor suppliers for compliance, but it is unclear whether these formal organizational structures raise labor standards. Drawing on... View Details

SSRN

Read Now

07 Oct 2002
Research & Ideas

What Leaders Need to Do To Restore Investor Confidence

concern for a wide range of constituencies—has been pushed aside and has been replaced by a technical definition of what is acceptable. So there's also no question that we need to strengthen the internal systems that guide conduct within a firm: View Details

Keywords: by Harvard Management Update

23 May 2011
Op-Ed

Leading and Lagging Countries in Contributing to a Sustainable Society

Editor's note: Please see related story, Corporate Sustainability Reporting: It's Effective. To what extent companies contribute to a sustainable society is a question increasingly important, not only to the companies themselves, but also to investors, the countries... View Details

Keywords: by Robert G. Eccles & George Serafeim

18 Dec 2007
First Look

First Look: December 18, 2007

institutions. Risk-adjusted CCA balance sheets facilitate simulations and stress testing to evaluate the potential impact of policies to manage systemic risk. Purchase the paper from SSRN.com ($5): http://papers.nber.org/papers/w13607... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

13 Aug 2018
Research & Ideas

Women Heart Patients Have Better Survival Odds with Women Doctors

became. Male doctors performance also improved when emergency rooms had more female doctors. For Huang, the price of that learning curve seems too high for women. “There's lots of these scenarios where people have to advocate, have to... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Health

September 2010 (Revised January 2012)
Case

Emergia: Driving Profitability on Help Desk Contracts

Emergia wants to keep its customer happy with its contact center service, but the margins on the help desk contract are dangerously low. Can Miguel Neira, the COO, increase margins while preserving the customer relationship? View Details

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Customer Satisfaction; Profit; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Service Operations; Performance Capacity; Performance Evaluation; Mathematical Methods; Service Industry

March 2014
Teaching Note

Oral Rehydration Therapy

By: Nava Ashraf and Natalie Kindred

This Teaching Note accompanies the case "Oral Rehydration Therapy" (911-035). The case highlights the puzzlingly high rate of diarrhea-related child mortality in developing countries despite the existence of a simple, effective treatment: oral rehydration therapy... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Innovation Strategy; Problems and Challenges; Developing Countries and Economies; Technological Innovation; Distribution Channels; Emerging Markets; Consumer Behavior; Performance Consistency; Performance Evaluation; Health Industry; Africa; Asia

August 2009
Case

Bank of America Sports Sponsorship

By: Stephen A. Greyser and John L. Teopaco

A major sports sponsor must decide on new, renewal, or withdrawal from significant relations with teams/leagues/events, using a distinctive approach to assessment. View Details

Keywords: Cost vs Benefits; Decision Choices and Conditions; Partners and Partnerships; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Performance Evaluation; Financing and Loans; Marketing Strategy; Sports Industry