Publications

Purchase

Article

Do Strict Capital Requirements Raise the Cost of Capital? Bank Regulation, Capital Structure and the Low Risk Anomaly

By: Malcolm Baker and Jeffrey Wurgler

Traditional capital structure theory predicts that reducing banks' leverage reduces the risk and cost of equity but does not change the weighted average cost of capital, and thus the rates for borrowers. We confirm that the equity of better-capitalized banks has lower... View Details

Keywords: Capital Structure; Banks and Banking; Banking Industry

2017
Working Paper

Digital Agility: The Impact of Software Portfolio Architecture on IT System Evolution

By: Alan MacCormack, Robert Lagerström, Martin Mocker and Carliss Y. Baldwin

The modern industrial firm increasingly relies on software to support its competitive position. However, the uncertain and dynamic nature of today’s global marketplace dictates that this software be continually evolved and adapted to meet new business challenges. This... View Details

Keywords: Information Systems; Software; Architecture; Modularity; Agility; Coupling; Applications and Software; Design; Decisions; Performance

SSRN

April 2014
Article

Who Lives in the C-Suite? Organizational Structure and the Division of Labor in Top Management

By: Maria Guadalupe, Hongyi Li and Julie Wulf

Top management structures in large U.S. firms have changed significantly since the mid-1980s. While the size of the executive team—the group of managers reporting directly to the CEO—doubled during this period, this growth was driven primarily by an increase in... View Details

Keywords: Communication; Functions; Centralization; M-form; Hierarchy; Top Management Team; C-Suite; Activities; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Diversification; Managerial Roles; Organizational Design; Information Technology; Organizational Structure; Management Teams; United States

February 2024
Article

Diversification as an Adaptive Learning Process: An Empirical Study of General-Purpose and Market-Specific Technological Know-How in New Market Entry

By: Dominika Kinga Randle and Gary P. Pisano

An enduring trait of modern corporations is their propensity to diversify into multiple lines of business. Penrosian theories conceptualize diversification as a strategy to exploit a firm’s fungible, yet “untradeable”, resources and point to redeployment of... View Details

Keywords: Diversification; Market Entry and Exit; Assets

Purchase

15 Sep 2015
News

Easing the Costs of Saving a Child

When Kerr Taylor (OPM 39, 2010) and his wife, Jill, returned from Russia in 1998 with his adopted baby girl, Christina, another child remained in his thoughts: a blue-eyed little boy named Andrew left behind in the orphanage. “He’s in my View Details

Keywords: Jill Radsken

1991
Chapter

Transfer Pricing as a Problem of Agency

By: Robert G. Eccles Jr.

Keywords: Price; Agency Theory

22 Feb 2010
Research & Ideas

Manager Visibility No Guarantee of Fixing Problems

the common theory behind improvement thinking, which is that you first go out and find a lot of issues," Tucker says. "You obviously can't address everything, so you pick one or two, fix them, and... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Health

15 Nov 2023

HBS Information Session at University of Arizona

Do you know where an MBA can take you? Open your mind to the breadth of career opportunities available in business and feel the flexibility of the MBA degree. Come learn more... View Details

10 Oct 2023

HBS Information Session at University of Oxford

Do you know where an MBA can take you? Open your mind to the breadth of career opportunities available in business and feel the flexibility of the MBA degree. Come learn more... View Details

15 Jan 2019
News

Working to Improve the End of Life

to convince other people that something is right. It wasn't a matter of learning facts and figures. It was learning how to use my mind to find solutions.” (Published January 2019) View Details

Keywords: Ambulatory Health Care Services; Health, Social Assistance

Working Paper

Developing the Guts of a GUT (Grand Unified Theory): Elite Commitment and Inclusive Growth

By: Lant Pritchett and Eric D. Werker

Two key unanswered questions in theories of growth are (a) why some countries successfully initiate episodes of rapid growth while others suffer extended stagnation and (b) why some countries are able to sustain growth episodes over many decades of rapid (or steady)... View Details

Keywords: Elite Commitment; Inclusive Growth; Status and Position; Rank and Position; Economic Growth

03 Oct 2019

Information Session at the University of Michigan

Do you know where an MBA can take you? Open your mind to the breadth of career opportunities available in business and feel the flexibility of the MBA degree. It's not about... View Details

April 27, 2022
Article

Inequality in Researchers' Minds: Four Guiding Questions for Studying Subjective Perceptions of Economic Inequality

By: Jon M. Jachimowicz, Shai Davidai, Daniela Goya-Tocchetto, Barnabas Szaszi, Martin Day, Stephanie Tepper, L. Taylor Phillips, M. Usman Mirza, Nailya Ordabayeva and Oliver P. Hauser

Subjective perceptions of inequality can substantially influence policy attitudes, public health metrics, and societal well-being, but the lack of consensus in the scientific community on how to best operationalize and measure these perceptions may impede progress on... View Details

Keywords: Equality and Inequality; Perception; Analysis

2010
Other Unpublished Work

Hunkering Down and Venturing Out: Network Activation in Response to the Uncertainty of Organizational Restructuring

Uncertain times in organizational life are often accompanied by shifts in resources and power and can trigger a desire for people to affiliate with others. Yet little is understood about which network ties people activate when they feel uncertain about their standing... View Details

Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Restructuring; Interpersonal Communication; Organizational Structure

22 May 2020
Blog Post

Remembering Well and Making Meaning of Memorial Day

As Memorial Day approaches, it’s natural for our minds to drift to summer – thoughts of firing up the grill, getting a boat in the water, or vacation travel would (at least in normal times) tantalize us... View Details

June 2008
Journal Article

Strategic Alliances: Bridges Between 'Islands of Conscious Power'

By: George P. Baker, Robert Gibbons and Kevin J. Murphy

Strategic alliances range from unstructured collaborations, through consortia and joint ventures that superimpose new governance structures on existing firms, to transactions that restructure firm boundaries and asset ownership. In this paper, we draw on detailed... View Details

Keywords: Governance; Contracts; Agreements and Arrangements; Alliances; Strategy; Theory