Publications

Research Summary

Searching for a Corporate Savior: The Irrational Quest for Charismatic CEOs ( Princeton University Press, October 2002)

By: Rakesh Khurana

In this book, I argue that the external CEO labor market was born in a burst of rhetoric about wresting control of corporations away from a group of self-interested insiders, as senior managers in the era of managerial capitalism had come to be portrayed. The rationale... View Details

March 2020 (Revised April 2021)
Case

Odebrecht's 'Transformation Journey' (A)

By: Suraj Srinivasan, Lynn S. Paine, Ruth Costas and Mariana Cal

At the center of one of the largest corruption scandals in Latin America, Brazilian conglomerate Odebrecht signed a leniency agreement with American, Swiss and Brazilian prosecutors in 2016 admitting to paying bribes in 12 countries. In an effort to regain financial... View Details

20 Oct 2010
Op-Ed

Export Competitiveness: Reversing the Logic

to provide a much better balance between productivity improvements and private profitability gains. Importantly in the current context, policy interventions that raise... View Details

Keywords: by Christian Ketels

2018
Working Paper

Ethical Hedonism? How Consumers' Prosocial Behavior Varies Along the Utilitarian-Hedonic Product Spectrum: Evidence from a Survey Experiment

By: Kristin Sippl

The marketing literature classifies products along a spectrum from utilitarian (e.g. rice) to hedonic (e.g. cannabis), and additionally using terms such as “luxury” and “illicit.” Research in business ethics has proposed a counter-intuitive mismatch between ethics and... View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Luxury; Consumer Behavior; Environmental Sustainability

January 2023 (Revised August 2023)
Case

Veeva Systems and the Transformation to a Public Benefit Corporation

By: Ranjay Gulati and Allison M. Ciechanover

Peter Gassner, the co-founder and CEO of Veeva Systems, steered the company through rapid scaling from its launch in 2007 to 2022. Year after year, the company had exceeded expectations, with its market capitalization reaching $50 billion at its peak. By 2022, the... View Details

Keywords: Transformation; Corporate Governance; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Mission and Purpose; Organizational Culture; Information Technology Industry; Technology Industry; United States; California

25 Jul 2011
Research & Ideas

How Disruptive Innovation is Remaking the University

Editor's note: It has been more than a decade since the publication of The Innovator's Dilemma, in which Clayton M. Christensen introduced the... View Details

Keywords: by Clayton M. Christensen & Henry J. Eyring; Education

2014
Working Paper

Pay Harmony: Peer Comparison and Executive Compensation

By: Claudine Gartenberg and Julie Wulf

This study suggests that peer comparison affects both wage setting and productivity within firms. We report three changes in division manager compensation following a 1991–1992 controversy over executive pay. We argue that this controversy increased wage comparisons... View Details

Keywords: Pay-for-Performance; Internal Labor Markets; Peer Comparison; Firm Geography; Behavior; Executive Compensation; Policy

SSRN

2013
Working Paper

What Makes the Bonding Stick? A Natural Experiment Involving the U.S. Supreme Court and Cross-Listed Firms

By: Amir N. Licht, Christopher Poliquin, Jordan I. Siegel and Xi Li

On March 29, 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court signaled its intention to geographically limit the reach of the U.S. securities antifraud regime and thus differentially exclude U.S.-listed foreign firms from the ambit of formal U.S. antifraud enforcement. We use this legal... View Details

Keywords: Crime and Corruption; International Finance; Investment; Corporate Governance; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Courts and Trials; Legal Liability; United States

SSRN

2011
Book

Moving Forward: The Future of Consumer Credit and Mortgage Finance

By: Nicolas P. Retsinas and Eric Belsky

The recent collapse of the mortgage market revealed fractures in the credit market that have deep roots in the system's structure, conduct, and regulation. The time has come for a clear-eyed assessment of what happened and how the system should be strengthened and... View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Capital Markets; Credit; Financial Markets; Mortgages; Personal Finance; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Demand and Consumers; Financial Services Industry

Find at Harvard

23 May 2011
Op-Ed

Leading and Lagging Countries in Contributing to a Sustainable Society

reporting is the combination in a single document of the material measures of financial and nonfinancial—environmental, social, and governance... View Details

Keywords: by Robert G. Eccles & George Serafeim

2023
Working Paper

Global Supply Chains: The Looming 'Great Reallocation'

By: Laura Alfaro and Davin Chor

Global supply chains have come under unprecedented stress as a result of U.S.-China trade tensions, the COVID-19 pandemic, and geopolitical shocks. We document shifts in the pattern of U.S. participation in global value chains over the last four decades, in terms of... View Details

Keywords: Supply Chain; International Relations; Trade; Globalized Markets and Industries

03 Feb 2014
Research & Ideas

The Tricky Business of Managing Web Advertising Affiliates

know how companies that use affiliate marketing should set the policies that govern the gray areas where bad practices flourish. They studied... View Details

Keywords: by Kim Girard; Advertising; Publishing

July 2009
Supplement

Who Killed Bhavani Manjula?--A Story of Microfinance in Andhra Pradesh (B)

By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Katharine Lee

The (B) case updates the readers on the outcome of the situation described in the (A) case. It provides data on the growth of microfinance in the region. It introduces the possibility of tighter regulation on the industry through the passage of a "microfinance" bill. View Details

Keywords: Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Industry Growth; Microfinance; Government Legislation; Financial Services Industry; Andhra Pradesh

December 2007
Article

Bankers, Industrialists, and Their Cliques: Elite Networks in Mexico and Brazil during Early Industrialization

By: Aldo Musacchio and Ian Read

The historiographies of Mexico and Brazil have implicitly stated that business networks were crucial for the initial industrialization of these two countries. Recently, differing visions on the importance of business networks have arisen. In the case of Mexico, the... View Details

Keywords: Business and Government Relations; Networks; Business History; Market Entry and Exit; Emerging Markets; Entrepreneurship; Financial Markets; Supply and Industry; Banks and Banking; Brazil; Mexico

Find at Harvard

June 1996 (Revised November 1996)
Background Note

Economic Gains from Trade, The: Theories of Strategic Trade

The theory of competitive advantage is one of the most widely accepted economic principles among economists. The theory, as well as substantial historical evidence, suggest that free trade raises national income, while government intervention in trade relations... View Details

Keywords: Competitive Advantage; Trade

March 2013 (Revised August 2014)
Case

Indonesia's OJK: Building Financial Stability

By: Lakshmi Iyer and David Lane

In 2013, a new financial services authority, the Otoritas Jasa Keuangan (OJK), took over responsibility for regulating capital markets and non-bank financial institutions in Indonesia. OJK was scheduled to take over bank regulation and supervision from the central... View Details

Keywords: Monetary Policy; Bank Regulation; Financial Market Regulation; Corruption; Bureaucracy; Central Bank Independence; Indonesia; Crime and Corruption; Central Banking; Ethics; Emerging Markets; Financial Markets; Corporate Governance; Financial Crisis; Financial Strategy; Financial Services Industry; Indonesia

November 2002
Background Note

Strategy and Sources of Motion Picture Finance, The

By: Mihir A. Desai, Gabriel J. Loeb and Mark Veblen

This case considers the alternative financing mechanisms for film financing, the evolution of film finance in the United States, and the nature of tax-motivated film financing in the United States and around the world. It develops the strategy driving motion picture... View Details

Keywords: Film Entertainment; Financial Instruments; Financial Strategy; Financing and Loans; Globalized Markets and Industries; Taxation; Motivation and Incentives; Competitive Strategy; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; United States