Publications

August 2006 (Revised July 2007)
Background Note

Governance of the Family Business Owners

By: John A. Davis

Reviews the principal ways in which the owners of a family business achieve their governance objectives of a suitable identity and sensible direction and the discipline to achieve these. Covers the responsibilities and rights of owners, plus governance procedures,... View Details

Keywords: Family Business; Corporate Governance; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Goals and Objectives; Family Ownership

March 2009
Case

Baosteel Group: Governance with Chinese Characteristics

By: Lynn S. Paine and G.A. Donovan

The new outsider-dominated board of directors of China's state-owned Baosteel Group must decide whether to modify the Group's structure. With the completion of a pending acquisition, the Group will control four publicly listed steel-producing subsidiaries, and board... View Details

Keywords: Business Subsidiaries; Corporate Governance; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Governing and Advisory Boards; State Ownership; China

2014
Article

The Governance of Social Enterprises: Mission Drift and Accountability Challenges in Hybrid Organizations

By: Alnoor Ebrahim, Julie Battilana and Johanna Mair

We examine the challenges of governance facing organizations that pursue a social mission through the use of market mechanisms. These hybrid organizations, often referred to as social enterprises, combine aspects of both charity and business at their core. In this... View Details

Keywords: Governance; Hybrid Organizations; Nonprofit; Performance Measurement; Legal Form; Agency Theory; Stakeholder Management; Mission and Purpose; Social Enterprise; Corporate Accountability

2010
Article

Corporate Governance at the World Bank and the Dilemma of Global Governance

By: Ashwin Kaja and Eric Werker

Most major decisions at the World Bank are made by its Board of Executive Directors. While some countries enjoy the opportunity to serve on this powerful body, most countries rarely, if ever, get that chance. This gives rise to the question: does board membership lead... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Governance; Decisions; Governing and Advisory Boards; Banks and Banking; Financing and Loans; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Voting; Globalized Economies and Regions

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12 Nov 2019
Research & Ideas

Corporate Innovation Increasingly Benefits from Government Research

Innovation has always relied, to some degree, on government support. But a recent study suggests that public funding might be even more influential than it seems. “Nearly a third of US patents rely directly on US View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

14 Oct 2013
Research & Ideas

Time that Government Reopens for Business

DC. Jim Aisner: The newspapers point out that a federal government shutdown has occurred 17 times before, but that really doesn't provide much solace, does it? Joe Fuller: The thing that's particularly unnerving about this shutdown is its... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Aisner

October 2011
Case

Strategy and Governance at Yahoo! Inc.

By: Krishna G. Palepu, Suraj Srinivasan, David Lane and Ian McKown Cornell

Yahoo! faces a number of governance and strategic challenges in late 2011 as it tries to compete with rivals such as Google and find ways to monetize its shareholding and business links with Alibaba Group in China and Yahoo! Japan. The company is now valued at almost... View Details

Keywords: Competitive Strategy; Corporate Governance; Web Services Industry

November 2003 (Revised March 2004)
Background Note

How Government Shaped the American Diet

By: David E. Bell, Stacey J. Bell and George L. Blackburn

American eating habits have changed over time. Reviews those changes, the role of government policy in affecting those changes, and the health consequences of obesity. View Details

Keywords: Nutrition; Business and Government Relations; United States

2012
Book

The Future of Boards: Meeting the Governance Challenges of the Twenty-First Century

By: Jay W. Lorsch

This book is a collection of chapters written by Harvard Business School faculty and alums who have experience with corporate boards. It will provide a uniquely HBS perspective on the future of boards. View Details

Keywords: Corporate Governance; Boards Of Directors; Compensation; Succession; Governing and Advisory Boards; Books; Perspective; Governance

November 2007 (Revised March 2008)
Case

Tyco International: Corporate Governance

By: Rakesh Khurana and James Weber

Examines how Tyco and its board recovered from its corporate scandals. Describes how its CEO and board set out to institute processes, guidelines, and a culture that would make Tyco into a company widely recognized for its world class corporate governance. View Details

Keywords: Crime and Corruption; Corporate Governance; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Governing and Advisory Boards; Business Processes; Organizational Culture

2021
Working Paper

Governance Transparency and Firm Value: Evidence from Korean Chaebols

By: Akash Chattopadhyay, Sa-Pyung Sean Shin and Charles C.Y. Wang

We examine Korean business groups' transition from circular-shareholding structures to (relatively simple) pyramidal-shareholding structures between 2011 and 2018. When firms were removed from ownership loops, chaebol families' control or incentive conflicts in them... View Details

Keywords: Business Groups; Cross Shareholding; Circular Shareholding; Pyramidal Ownership; Governance Transparency; Ownership Transparency; Earnings Response Coefficient; Business Conglomerates; Corporate Governance; Valuation; Business Earnings

SSRN

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July 2002
Article

Restoring the Governance Balance

By: William W. George

Keywords: Governance; Balance and Stability

December 2014 (Revised May 2019)
Case

Bhutan: Governing for Happiness

By: Sophus A. Reinert, Thomas Humphrey and Benjamin Safran

Unique among the world’s countries, the Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan had abandoned the traditional policy goal of increasing Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in favor of pursuing Gross National Happiness (GNH). Famously, Bhutan ranked highly on lists of the happiest... View Details

Keywords: Happiness; Economic Growth; Governance; Cost vs Benefits; Bhutan

16 Jun 2020
Working Paper Summaries

Government Incentives for Entrepreneurship

Keywords: by Josh Lerner

Research Summary

Current Research: Issues in Corporate Governance

Effectiveness of shareholder voting

Reform of shareholder voting is a key component of legislation arising from the financial crisis of 2008. Professor Gow examines the effect of shareholder voting on corporate actions, particularly on... View Details

January 1979
Case

Government Receipts and Outlays

By: Henry B. Reiling

Keywords: Government and Politics

Article

Business, Governments and Political Risk in South Asia and Latin America since 1970

By: G. Jones and Rachael Comunale

This article contributes to the literature on political risk in business and economic history by examining both new perspectives (risk encountered by companies domestically, rather than risk for foreign investors) and new settings (emerging markets economies in Latin... View Details

Keywords: Political Risk; Emerging Market; Bribery; Business ＆ Government Relations; Turbulence; Violence; Risk and Uncertainty; Emerging Markets; Crime and Corruption; Business and Government Relations; Business History; India; Latin America