Publications

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1998
Case

Nucor Corporation (A)

By: Vijay Govindarajan

Under the leadership of CEO Ken Iverson, Nucor thrived. Nucor's structure was decentralized, with only four management layers. Only 22 employees worked at the corporate headquarters; plants were located in rural areas across the U.S. and the general manager of each... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Structure; Business Strategy

Research Summary

Overview

By: Ethan C. Rouen

Relying on empirical archival methodologies—as well as techniques in data science—to develop and structure new sources of data by which to approach questions of looming disclosure changes, Professor Rouen has focused on one of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s... View Details

February 2006
Article

Wealth and Executive Compensation

Using new data on the wealth of Swedish CEOs, I show that higher wealth CEOs receive stronger incentives. Since high wealth (excluding own-firm holdings) implies low absolute risk aversion, this is consistent with a risk aversion explanation. To examine whether wealth... View Details

Keywords: Wealth; Executive Compensation; Motivation and Incentives; Power and Influence; Risk Management; Competency and Skills; Wages; Sweden

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January 2008
Background Note

Convertible Arbitrage

By: Joshua Coval and Erik Stafford

The goal of this simulation is to understand how convertible bonds can be viewed as a portfolio of simpler securities and to introduce an over-the-counter market. The convertible bonds that are available during the simulation are at-the-money and in-the-money so that... View Details

Keywords: Bonds; Investment Portfolio; Price; Risk Management; Mathematical Methods

2003
Working Paper

The Flattening Firm: Evidence from Panel Data on the Changing Nature of Corporate Hierarchies

By: Raghuram G. Rajan and Julie Wulf

Using a detailed database of managerial job descriptions, reporting relationships, and compensation structures in over 300 large U.S. firms, we find that firm hierarchies are becoming flatter. The number of positions reporting directly to the CEO has gone up... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Structure; Managerial Roles; Jobs and Positions; United States

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November 2006
Article

The Flattening Firm: Evidence from Panel Data on the Changing Nature of Corporate Hierarchies

By: Raghuram G. Rajan and Julie Wulf

Using a detailed database of managerial job descriptions, reporting relationships, and compensation structures in over 300 large U.S. firms, we find that firm hierarchies are becoming flatter. The number of positions reporting directly to the CEO has gone up... View Details

Keywords: Geographic Location; Change; Business Ventures; Compensation and Benefits; Rank and Position; Wages; Motivation and Incentives; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Jobs and Positions; United States

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April 2000 (Revised July 2000)
Case

Ameritrade Holding Corporation

By: Lisa K. Meulbroek

Some of the senior managers at Ameritrade, an Internet brokerage firm, are selling their holdings in the firm. Why are the managers selling, how will it affect shareholders, and what should the CEO do about it? The CEO is concerned that the market will interpret... View Details

Keywords: Valuation; Internet and the Web; Stock Options; Risk Management; Financial Services Industry

04 Mar 2020
Research & Ideas

How Schmoozing with the Boss Helps Men Get Promoted

recruitment, hiring, and promotion processes and by conducting pay audits to evaluate salaries by gender. Yet Cullen’s research suggests that companies may need to consider more subtle underlying forces that are holding women back,... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

20 Nov 2012
First Look

First Look: November 20

business-government relations, nonmarket strategy, and organization theory. Read the paper: http://www.people.hbs.edu/shiatt/GMO_paper_AMJ.pdf ISO Standards Stamp Approval Authors:Michael James and Michael W. Toffel Publication:European View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

1999
Other Unpublished Work

Executive Ownership and Control in Newly Public Firms: The Role of Venture Capitalists

By: Malcolm Baker and Paul Gompers

We study the implications of CEO equity ownership for incentives and control in a sample of 1,011 newly public firms. Before an initial public offering, equity investments by venture capitalists reduce CEO ownership by about half, from an average of 35 percent to 19... View Details

Keywords: Equity; Ownership; Motivation and Incentives; Initial Public Offering; Investment; Venture Capital; Managerial Roles; Cost Management; Governance Controls; Executive Compensation

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October 2015 (Revised February 2016)
Teaching Note

Comcast Corporation

By: Sunil Gupta, Henry McGee and Felix Oberholzer-Gee

In March 2015, Richard Plepler, the CEO of Home Box Office (HBO) announced the company's new 'over the top,' or OTT service, HBO Now, that consumers could stream online for a monthly fee of $14.99 without paying for a cable subscription. Soon, CBS followed and... View Details

Keywords: Television Industry; Television; Marketing; Television Entertainment; Telecommunications Industry

18 Apr 2022
HBS Case

Dick’s Sporting Goods Followed Its Conscience on Guns—and It Paid Off

Days after the mass school shooting in Parkland, Florida, in 2018, a shaken Ed Stack, then the CEO and largest shareholder of Dick’s Sporting Goods, decided it was time for his 850-store chain to pull certain guns off its store shelves.... View Details

Keywords: by Jay Fitzgerald

October 2007 (Revised March 2008)
Case

First National Bank's Golden Opportunity

By: Shawn A. Cole, Peter Tufano, Daniel Schneider and Daryl Collins

Executives at First National Bank in South Africa are considering whether to launch a potentially exciting, but rather unorthodox, new savings product. Instead of paying interest, this product gives depositors the chance to win large cash prizes each month. Michael... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Banks and Banking; Investment; Innovation and Invention; Product Launch; Demand and Consumers; Banking Industry; South Africa

May 2001 (Revised January 2003)
Case

Calpine Corporation: The Evolution from Project to Corporate Finance

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Michael Kane

In early 1999, Calpine Corp.'s CEO Pete Cartwright adopted an aggressive growth strategy with the goal of increasing the company's aggregate generating capacity from approximately 3,000 to 15,000 megawatts (MW) by 2004. He believed there was a fleeting opportunity to... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Cost of Capital; Project Finance; Adaptation; Profit; Financial Strategy; Corporate Finance; Energy Industry; United States

August 2007
Case

Codelco Copper Mines

Codelco was a Chilean copper-mining company, widely considered to be one of the most professionally managed firms in South America in spite of the fact that it was 100% government-owned. A $10.5 billion company in 2005, Codelco faced the challenge of incorporating... View Details

Keywords: Mining; Geographic Location; Leading Change; Business Processes; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Information Technology; Mining Industry; Chile

20 Feb 2019
Research & Ideas

Rocket-tunity: Can Private Firms Turn a Profit in Space?

this dynamic future for humanity.” Meanwhile, Blue Origin, under the ownership of Bezos—Amazon CEO and richest man in the solar system—is also pursuing citizen astronaut flights on its New Shepard rocket and space capsule. Weinzierl... View Details

Keywords: by Scott Wallask; Aerospace; Tourism; Transportation

November 2023
Case

The Commons Project in Rwanda—Building Digital Infrastructure for the Global Public Good

By: Álvaro Rodríguez Arregui and Tom Quinn

In September 2022, The Commons Project Foundation (TCP) CEO Zhenya Lindgardt and her team met on a Zoom call to discuss building tools to help Rwandans manage their health data. They believed that helping Africa build digital infrastructure would improve much-needed... View Details

Keywords: Developing Countries and Economies; Capital; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Health Care and Treatment; Information Management; Adaptation; Information Infrastructure; Information Technology Industry; Rwanda; United States

September 2001 (Revised January 2002)
Case

The American Medical Association-Sunbeam Deal (C): Denouement

By: Ashish Nanda and Kimberly A. Haddad

On September 5, 1997, the American Medical Association(AMA) withdrew from a contract with Sunbeam Corporation, the maker of small home appliances. Sunbeam sued the AMA to pay for the damages or to comply with the contract. The fracas led to the dismissal of three top... View Details

Keywords: Medical Services; Appliances; Lawsuit; Litigation; Professionalism; Contracts; Corporate Accountability; Organizations; Lawsuits and Litigation; Consumer Products Industry; Health Industry; United States