Publications

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April 2011 (Revised April 2011)
Exercise

Raptor Oil Company: An Exercise

The exercise, which adapts a famous experiment by experimental psychologist Thomas Gilovich, is designed to show both the ubiquity of analogy or associative thinking more generally and its potential perils. Students are presented with a scenario in which an oil company... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Cognition and Thinking; Prejudice and Bias; Strategy

19 Jan 2011
Research & Ideas

Activist Board Members Increase Firm’s Market Value

shift too much power to unions and special interest groups, and that highly experienced directors might not want to serve on a board if they had to work alongside shareholder-sponsored candidates. In addition, View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

April 2011 (Revised April 2011)
Supplement

Fleet Oil Company: An Exercise

The exercise, which adapts a famous experiment by experimental psychologist Thomas Gilovich, is designed to show both the ubiquity of analogy or associative thinking more generally and its potential perils. Students are presented with a scenario in which an oil company... View Details

Keywords: Business Headquarters; Crime and Corruption; Decisions; Non-Renewable Energy; Cost; Production; Performance Productivity; Research and Development; Energy Industry; Atlanta; Houston

05 Oct 2009
Research & Ideas

The Vanguard Corporation

has moved many jobs to other countries. They are not perfect. But they aspire to meet higher standards, and in their operations around the world they also try to raise the standards. Q: A critical point for you is that a company needs an... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

02 Oct 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, October 2, 2018

that, relative to offering free shipping, offering contingent free shipping increases basket sizes by encouraging consumers to meet the minimum order threshold. Consumers incur search costs to meet this... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

September 2018 (Revised May 2021)
Teaching Plan

Eastern Bank: Innovating Through Eastern Labs

By: Karen Mills, Dennis Campbell and Aaron Mukerjee

Eastern Bank is a 200-year-old New England mutual bank with a community focus. Eastern specializes in small business lending, having made strategic investments to become the top SBA lender in New England in the midst of the Great Recession, when other banks were... View Details

Keywords: Banks; Fintech; Innovation; Innovation ＆ Entrepreneurship; Innovation And Strategy; Technological Change; Technology And Innovation Management; Entrepreneurial Management; Intrapreneurship; Banks and Banking; Innovation and Invention; Entrepreneurship; Innovation Strategy; Technological Innovation; Information Technology; Management

20 Dec 2006
Op-Ed

Investors Hurt by Dual-Track Tax Reporting

Since when do the taxman and the shareholder agree? IRS Commissioner Mark Everson and SEC Chairman Christopher Cox (HBS MBA '76) have advanced a simple, but controversial proposal. Companies would be required to disclose how much they pay... View Details

Keywords: by Mihir Desai

15 Jan 2019
First Look

New Research and Ideas, January 15, 2019

exchanges. Shareholder protection strongly predicted exchange success, even in countries with high levels of venture capital activity, patenting, and financial market development. Second-tier exchanges in countries with better View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

March 2018 (Revised March 2018)
Teaching Note

OpenInvest

By: Boris Vallee and Caitlin Reimers Brumme

Founded by a team of hedge fund and NGO alumni, OpenInvest launched its platform in 2015 to enable retail investors to tailor their portfolio to their personal values in an automated way, for instance by screening out weapon manufacturers stocks or overweighting LGBTQ... View Details

Keywords: Socially Responsible Investing; Investing For Impact; Robo-advisors; Investment; Values and Beliefs; Customization and Personalization; Technology; Financial Services Industry

21 Apr 2009
First Look

First Look: April 21, 2009

institutional theory, and economic theory. Download the paper: http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/08-025.pdf Broadening Focus: Spillovers and the Benefits of Specialization in the Hospital Industry Authors:Jonathan R. Clark and Robert S.... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

31 Jul 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, July 31, 2018

largest insurance program. To meet this target, the government will rely on technology to effectively scale services, monitor quality, and ensure accountability. While India has seen great strides in informational technology development... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

Article

Tread Lightly Through These Accounting Minefields

By: H. David Sherman and S. David Young

In the current economic climate, there is tremendous pressure—and personal incentive for managers—to report sales growth and meet investors' revenue expectations. As a result, more companies have been issuing misleading financial reports, according to the SEC,... View Details

Keywords: Derivatives; Benchmarking Performance; Accounting; Revenue Recognition; Assets

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October 2021
Case

Financial Reporting at Mattel

By: Aiyesha Dey, Trung Nguyen, Marshal Herrmann and Julia Kelley

In September 2020, Diana Ferguson was nearing her first Audit Committee meeting as the newly appointed Audit Committee chair of Mattel, Inc. Mattel was just recovering from an accounting scandal which had revealed the company’s poor internal controls and weak board... View Details

Educators

2002
Book

Searching for a Corporate Savior: The Irrational Quest for Charismatic CEOs

By: Rakesh Khurana

Corporate CEOs are headline news. Stock prices rise and fall at word of their hiring and firing. Business media debate their merits and defects as if individual leaders determined the health of the economy. Yet we know surprisingly little about how CEOs are selected... View Details

Keywords: Managerial Roles; Selection and Staffing; Personal Characteristics; Experience and Expertise; Investment Activism; Corporate Strategy

17 Jul 2023
Research & Ideas

Money Isn’t Everything: The Dos and Don’ts of Motivating Employees

Noncents.” It will be a practical examination of the way money—and nonmonetary rewards—trickle down to create that special magic that makes employees believe in the mission and work harder to further its success. Getting these incentive... View Details

Keywords: by Avery Forman

20 Feb 2007
First Look

First Look: February 20, 2007

landscape of India's infrastructure. Purchase this case: http://www.hbsp.harvard.edu/b01/en/common/item_detail.jhtml?id=407061 Keggfarms (India)—Which Came First, the Kuroiler or the KEGG? Harvard Business School Case 807-089 Vinod Kapur has founded a unique... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

February 2008 (Revised October 2010)
Case

Mellon Financial and The Bank of New York

By: Carliss Y. Baldwin and Ryan Taliaferro

Bob Kelly, the new CEO of Mellon Financial, is considering the terms of a proposed "merger of equals" with The Bank of New York, just before the final Board meeting to approve the deal. The combination offers a great strategic fit, and the expected synergies are large.... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Equity; Banks and Banking; Business and Shareholder Relations; Valuation; Banking Industry; Pittsburgh

Educators