Publications

18 Nov 2002
Research & Ideas

Where Morals and Profits Meet: The Corporate Value Shift

on. But I caution managers against focusing only on the financial case for values. No matter how much evidence we amass for this case, the fact remains that moral indifference and even blatantly unethical behavior can also be View Details

Keywords: by Carla Tishler

December 2019 (Revised January 2021)
Supplement

The Leveraged Buyout of TXU: (B) Energy Future Holdings

By: Trevor Fetter, Erik Snowberg and Rebecca M. Henderson

This case is designed to support a lively discussion about the relative merits of shareholder vs. stakeholder perspectives in the context of a company that provides a vital public service that has important environmental implications. The 2007 purchase of TXU, the... View Details

Keywords: Leveraged Buyouts; Transformation; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Environmental Sustainability; Business and Shareholder Relations; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Energy Generation; Utilities Industry; Energy Industry; Texas

November 2008 (Revised January 2012)
Case

Teena Lerner: Dividing the Pie at Rx Capital (Abridged)

By: Boris Groysberg, Victoria Winston and Robin Abrahams

Teena Lerner, the CEO of Rx Capital, had a problem. Her three-year-old hedge fund was highly profitable, but in 2004, one of her four equities analysts lost a lot of money for the firm. If Lerner followed her existing compensation system, designed to reward teamwork,... View Details

Keywords: Compensation and Benefits; Employee Relationship Management; Performance Evaluation; Groups and Teams; Financial Services Industry

November 1999 (Revised July 2003)
Case

Pre-Paid Legal Services, Inc.

By: Paul M. Healy and Jacob Cohen

Pre-Paid Legal Services' business model reveals two key issues--managing the sales force and sales growth and managing claims. Students analyze the economics of the business and consider how to measure firm performance, how to evaluate and reward the sales force, and... View Details

Keywords: Financial Management; Financial Strategy; Salesforce Management; Marketing Strategy; Accrual Accounting; Business Cycles; Forecasting and Prediction; Insurance; Business Growth and Maturation; Insurance Industry

TeachingInterests

Executive Education - Owner/President Management Program

By: Martin A. Sinozich

Delivered in three units that span 24 months over three calendar years, the Owner/President Management (OPM) program is a transformative learning experience that boosts leadership skills and the value of participants’ enterprises. Sinozich teaches the Finance... View Details

2013
Article

Prosocial Spending and Well-Being: Cross-Cultural Evidence for a Psychological Universal

By: Lara B. Aknin, Christopher P. Barrington-Leigh, Elizabeth W. Dunn, John F. Helliwell, Justine Burns, Robert Biswas-Diener, Imelda Kemeza, Paul Nyende, Claire Ashton-James and Michael I. Norton

This research provides the first support for a possible psychological universal: Human beings around the world derive emotional benefits from using their financial resources to help others (prosocial spending). In Study 1, survey data from 136 countries were examined... View Details

Keywords: Prosocial Spending; Psychological Universal; Prosocial Behavior; Well-being; Happiness; Spending; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Canada; Uganda; South Africa; India

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2003
Conference Paper

Follow the Money: What Really Drives Technology Innovation in Construction

By: John D. Macomber

Technology enthusiasts, academics, and software companies remain concerned about the slow pace of innovation in the construction industry. Tools are widely available that seem to provide eminently sensible and clearly apparent improvement to the process of design and... View Details

Keywords: Buildings and Facilities; Technological Innovation; Construction; Design; Performance Improvement; Motivation and Incentives; Knowledge Management; Adoption; Business Model; Capital Structure; Supply Chain

2008
Chapter

Corporate Honesty and Business Education: A Behavioral Model

By: Rakesh Khurana and Herbert Gintis

Since the mid-1970s neoclassical economic theory has dominated business school thinking and teaching in dealing with the nature of human motivation. However valuable in understanding competitive product and financial markets, neoclassical economic theory employs an... View Details

Keywords: Business Education; Ethics; Managerial Roles; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Organizational Culture; Business and Shareholder Relations; Mathematical Methods; Behavior

09 Oct 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, October 9, 2018

tight labor market, it is critical to understand how to effectively reward employees. To address this question, we review relevant evidence that explains the importance of workplace rewards and recognition.... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

November 2007
Article

If Private Equity Sized Up Your Business

By: Robert C. Pozen

This article includes a one-page preview that quickly summarizes the key ideas and provides an overview of how the concepts work in practice along with suggestions for further reading. As the dust settles on the recent frenzy of private equity deals (including... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Capital Structure; Private Equity; Investment Return; Governing and Advisory Boards; Executive Compensation; Business and Shareholder Relations; Value Creation; Financial Services Industry

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February 2016
Case

Banking and Politics in Antebellum New York

By: David Moss and Colin Donovan

After a long period of solid Democratic control, Whigs secured a majority of seats in the New York State Assembly in 1837, the same year that a major financial panic had crippled the banking system and shaken public confidence in the state's governance. The next year,... View Details

Keywords: Governance; Central Banking; Ethics; Laws and Statutes; Business and Government Relations; Government and Politics; History; New York (state, US)

Often downplayed in the excitement of starting up a new business venture is one of the most important decisions entrepreneurs will face: should they go it alone, or bring in... View Details

17 Aug 2010
First Look

First Look: August 17

data with firm-level financial data, we find evidence that differs from prior literature. Instead of reducing expenditures to boost earnings, soup manufacturers roughly double the frequency and change the mix of marketing promotions... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

10 Feb 2010
Working Paper Summaries

Investing in Improvement: Strategy and Resource Allocation in Public School Districts

Keywords: by Stacey Childress; Education

Research Summary

Current Research

Ian studies extrinsic rewards -- monetary incentives from formal compensation systems, as well as other formal and informal external rewards-- in order to help businesses understand the tensions and tradeoffs inherent in motivating employees. His research takes a... View Details

Working Paper

Rebates in the Pharmaceutical Industry: Evidence from Medicines Sold in Retail Pharmacies in the U.S.

By: Pragya Kakani, Michael Chernew and Amitabh Chandra

Rising list prices are often used to illustrate the burden of prescription drug spending, but payers routinely negotiate rebates from manufacturers that generate differences between list and net prices. List prices are easily available and affect patient cost-sharing,... View Details

Keywords: Pharmaceuticals; Rebates; Health Care and Treatment; Markets; Price; Analysis; Pharmaceutical Industry

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September 2003
Case

Executive Compensation at Reckitt Benckiser plc

By: V.G. Narayanan, Krishna G. Palepu and Lisa Brem

Investors felt betrayed by the increasingly lucrative pay packages awarded to CEOs and other top executives at multinational companies. Yet, board members charged with adequately rewarding executives were forced to compete with rising packages of salaries and stock... View Details

Keywords: Design; Stock Options; Investment Activism; Corporate Accountability; Compensation and Benefits; Employee Stock Ownership Plan; Management Teams; Business and Shareholder Relations; Consumer Products Industry; Netherlands; United States

July 11, 2023
Article

How Reputation Does (and Does Not) Drive People to Punish Without Looking

By: Jillian J. Jordan and Nour S. Kteily

Punishing wrongdoers can confer reputational benefits, and people sometimes punish without careful consideration. But are these observations related? Does reputation drive people to people to “punish without looking”? And if so, is this because unquestioning... View Details

Keywords: Opposing Perspectives; Outrage Culture; Signaling; Ideology; Moralistic Punishment; Perspective; Behavior; Reputation; Decision Making