Publications

2007
Working Paper

The Impact of Shareholder Activism on Financial Reporting and Compensation: The Case of Employee Stock Options Expensing

By: Fabrizio Ferri and Tatiana Sandino

In this paper we examine the economic consequences of over 150 shareholder proposals to expense employee stock options (ESO) submitted during the proxy seasons of 2003 and 2004–the first case where the SEC has allowed an accounting matter to be subject to an advisory... View Details

Keywords: Executive Compensation; Financial Reporting; Employee Stock Ownership Plan; Corporate Governance; Investment Activism; Business and Shareholder Relations

January–February 2022
Article

Mobilizing the U.S. Military’s TRICARE Program for Value-Based Care: A Report From the Defense Health Board

By: Robert S. Kaplan, Paul R. Schaettle, Vivian S. Lee, Michael D. Parkinson, Gregory H. Gorman and Michael-Anne Browne

The U.S. Military Health System spends about $50 billion annually through its TRICARE health plans to provide care to 9.6 million active duty service members, retirees, and their families. TRICARE, historically, has used the predominant U.S. fee-for-service payment... View Details

Keywords: Military Health System; Value-based Healthcare; Health Care and Treatment; United States

2017
Report

The American Angel: The First In-Depth Report on the Demographics and Investing Activity of Individual American Angel Investors

By: Laura Huang, Andy Wu, Min Ju Lee, Jiayi Bao, Marianne Hudson and Elaine Bolle

Early-stage financing from angel investors is critical to the success of high-growth startups. Recent estimates suggest that annual US angel investment activity may total as much as $24 billion each year, contributing to the growth and success of more than 64,000... View Details

Keywords: Angel Investors; Geography; Risk; Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Demographics; Geographic Location; Decision Making; Financial Services Industry; Technology Industry; United States

February 2020 (Revised February 2022)
Case

Sustainable Product Management at Solvay

By: George Serafeim, Vincent Dessain and Mette Fuglsang Hjortshoej

In November 2019, Ilham Kadri, CEO of Solvay, a Belgian specialty chemicals and advanced materials group, with annual revenues of more than €10 billion in 2018, announced the group’s mid-term strategy, eight months after she took the helm as Solvay’s 11th CEO. The case... View Details

Keywords: Sustainability; Sustainable Business And Innovation; Sustainability Management; Sustainable Development; Management Accounting; Innovation; Carbon Emissions; Sustainability Reporting; Sustainability Targets; Target-setting; Product; Management; Transformation; Growth and Development Strategy; Climate Change; Environmental Sustainability; Chemical Industry; Europe; Belgium

November 2010 (Revised December 2011)
Supplement

Oriflame S.A. (C)

By: David F. Hawkins and Karol Misztal

Notes from Oriflame's 2009 annual report relevant to the assessment of the monetary impact of Oriflame's FX risk management actions. View Details

Keywords: Financial Reporting; Financial Statements; International Accounting; Currency Exchange Rate; Annual Reports; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Risk Management; Standards; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry

June 1995
Case

Banc One Corporation (A)

As Banc One's use of derivatives had proliferated, investors and analysts had expressed increasing concern about the size of derivative portfolios, the potential sensitivity of their value to interest rate swings, and the lack of standardized reporting on their use.... View Details

Keywords: Credit Derivatives and Swaps; Investment Banking; Financial Reporting; Annual Reports; Banking Industry

September 1991 (Revised October 1991)
Background Note

LIFO or FIFO? That Is the Question

By: William J. Bruns Jr.

Excerpts from annual reports of Blount, Inc., Penn Central Corp., and Quaker Oats. Shows changes in inventory valuation from FIFO to LIFO and LIFO to FIFO. Intended to promote a discussion of assumed cost flows through inventory accounts, accounting method changes, the... View Details

Keywords: Accounting

24 Oct 2011
News

Harvard Business School’s Business and Environment Initiative to Host Conference in 2013

November 2000 (Revised January 2003)
Case

Yahoo!'s Stock-Based Compensation

By: Paul M. Healy and Jacob Cohen

Amy Maislos, an investor in Internet and technology companies, was excited to read that Yahoo! had reported a positive net income for 1998 operations. During the late 1990s, stock prices of Internet companies had risen rapidly even though most companies were reporting... View Details

Keywords: Stock Options; Internet and the Web; Financial Statements; Corporate Disclosure; Business Earnings; Earnings Management; Information Technology Industry

September 2010 (Revised December 2011)
Case

Southwest Airlines One ReportTM

By: Robert G. Eccles, Beiting Cheng and Susan Thyne

In 2009, Southwest Airlines produced its first integrated annual report, the Southwest Airlines One Report, combing financial and nonfinancial performance information. This case examines Southwest's environmental and corporate social responsibility (CSR) reports... View Details

Keywords: Environmental Accounting; Financial Reporting; Integrated Corporate Reporting; Innovation and Invention; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Environmental Sustainability; Air Transportation Industry; United States

21 Feb 2005
Research & Ideas

The VC Quandary: Too Much Money

home run" or for U.S. firms that need to penetrate the European market. Mullen spoke as a member of the panel "State of the Venture Capital Industry: Past, Present and Future" at the 11th Annual Venture Capital &... View Details

Keywords: by Julie Jette; Financial Services

Lazy Prices - Follow the Filings

Using the complete history of regular quarterly and annual filings by U.S. corporations from 1995-2014, Professor Lauren Cohen shows that when firms make an active change in their reporting practices, this conveys an important signal about future firm operations. View Details

June 2020
Article

Lazy Prices

By: Lauren Cohen, Christopher J. Malloy and Quoc Nguyen

We explore the implications of a subtle "default" choice that firms make in their regular reporting practices, namely that firms typically repeat what they most recently reported. Using the complete history of regular quarterly and annual filings by U.S. corporations... View Details

Keywords: Default Behavior; Inertia; Firms; Disclosure; Information; Business or Company Management; Behavior; Annual Reports; Corporate Disclosure; Financial Reporting; United States

SSRN

June 2011 (Revised February 2013)
Case

Mandatory Environmental, Social, and Governance Disclosure in the European Union

By: George Serafeim

In 2011, the European Commission was deciding on how to best modify the existing European Union policy on corporate disclosure of environmental, social, and governance (ESG) information. Previous directives had recommended that European companies report ESG... View Details

Keywords: Integrated Corporate Reporting; Corporate Strategy; Corporate Disclosure; Environmental Accounting; Competitive Strategy; International Accounting; Financial Reporting; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Debates; Europe

15 Dec 2005
News

Generosity Can Unite Us

08 Sep 2014
News

Harvard Business School survey finds a ‘troubling divergence in the US economy’

Guest Column

Decarbonizing Economy Requires Lot More Electricity: Big Ramp-ups in Solar, Wind Power Are Needed

By: Jurgen Weiss

The column summarizes the findings of a report prepared for the Coalition for Community Solar Access, which concludes that to achieve New England's 2050 economy-wide greenhouse gas emissions reductions goals would require increasing the annual deployments of new... View Details

Keywords: Decarbonization; Electricity; Renewable Energy; Green Technology; New England

July 2006 (Revised March 2008)
Case

Changan Automobile Co., Ltd.

By: Dennis Campbell and Donglin Xia

Chairman Yin Jiaxu must communicate that the company's extraordinary reported performance in 2002 reflects Changan's unique strategy within the competitive dynamics of China's automobile industry. Changan's 2002 annual report demonstrated an extraordinary level of... View Details

Keywords: Financial Reporting; Ethics; Corporate Disclosure; Media; Business and Shareholder Relations; Auto Industry; China