Publications

February 1998 (Revised December 1998)
Case

Atlantic Energy/Delmarva Power & Light (A)

By: Benjamin C. Esty, Mathew M Millett and Tracy Aronson

Delmarva Power & Light and Atlantic Energy are neighboring electric utilities based in Delaware and New Jersey, respectively. In early 1996, they entered into merger negotiations, but were unable to reach an agreement on price because they could not agree on what... View Details

Keywords: Valuation; Negotiation Offer; Government Legislation; Risk and Uncertainty; Mergers and Acquisitions; Contracts; Utilities Industry; Delaware; New Jersey

Article

Audit Personnel Salaries and Audit Quality

By: Jeffrey L. Hoopes, Kenneth J. Merkley, Joseph Pacelli and Joseph H. Schroeder

This study examines the relation between audit personnel salaries and office-level audit quality. We measure audit personnel salaries at the associate, senior, and manager ranks for Big 4 audit offices from 2004 to 2013, using unique individual-auditor-level data... View Details

Keywords: Audit Personnel Salary; Audit Quality; Salary Determinants; Audit Fees; Accounting Audits; Quality; Wages

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During a break after starting and selling several successful technology based startups, Hadi Partovi decided to make a short film to inspire students to learn computer science. “Code.org started as a hobby project,” Hadi said. “I had helped pay my way through... View Details

05 Feb 2024
What Do You Think?

How Do You Hire for Attitude?

(AdobeStock/Mediteraneo) For years, my colleagues and I have advised anyone who would listen to hire for attitude, train for skills. Organizations that get it backward pay a heavy price. One of my favorite quotes is that of Richard... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

Web

Great American Business Leaders of the 20th Century - Leadership

Influence: Medium 50 1950 19 The Organization Man Union membership peaks The AFL merges with the CIO: 15 million members Influence: Medium-High 60 1960 19 Factory automation slashes jobs Service industry outpaces growth in manufacturing Civil Rights Act Equal View Details

29 Feb 2024
HBS Case

Beyond Goals: David Beckham's Playbook for Mobilizing Star Talent

for how executives should incentivize and reward talent?” How do you build an infrastructure around a star player? “Not all bets on star talent pay off in the long run,” notes Elberse, pointing to the New York Cosmos’ soccer club’s... View Details

Keywords: by Avery Forman; Sports

Web

Accounting & Management - Faculty & Research

gender pay gap ("GPG") data for the first time, we find that providing voluntary gender diversity disclosure in 2016 is correlated with having a worse gender pay gap in 2017. Our results are concentrated in... View Details

16 May 2023
HBS Case

How KKR Got More by Giving Ownership to the Factory Floor: ‘My Kids Are Going to College!’

Instead, when the company wouldn’t pay them for their lunch hour, they intentionally scheduled deliveries to show up midday, when there wasn’t anyone working to receive them, sabotaging the project. “Top management have to be willing to... View Details

Keywords: by Avery Forman

17 Aug 2023
Research & Ideas

‘Not a Bunch of Weirdos’: Why Mainstream Investors Buy Crypto

Economists had predicted that because stimulus money went to many households that didn’t necessarily need it, much of the money would be invested or saved, rather than spent to spur the economy. “We found that they were using the stimulus money partly by consuming it,... View Details

Keywords: by Ben Rand

22 May 2019
Research & Ideas

Forgiving Student Loan Debt Leads to Better Jobs, Stronger Consumers

more freedom to make a change with their careers and get their acts together financially. “We do see a risk-taking angle to this, where people are willing to pursue a higher-paying job that might or might not pay off,” he says. “They have... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

03 Oct 2023
HBS Case

Layoffs Can Be Bad Business: 5 Strategies to Consider Before Cutting Staff

apology “builds a bridge” between the company and its stakeholders. 5. Invest in laid-off employees Companies can reinforce the bridge by committing to help downsized employees get back on their feet. Many organizations address this through severance pay, but... View Details

Keywords: by Ben Rand; Telecommunications; Technology; Financial Services; Manufacturing

Research Summary

Price as a Stimulus to Think: The Case for Willful Overpricing

Consumers aware of a new benefit will often experience uncertainty about its personal relevance or usage value. This paper shows that the decision to deliberate further to resolve this uncertainty and reach a polarized judgment of personal relevance critically depends... View Details

Fall 2024
Article

The Three Traps That Stymie Reinvention: Organizational Identity, Architecture, and Collaboration Can Be Either Assets or Liabilities to Pursuing Growth in New Sectors

By: Ryan Raffaelli

In more than a decade of researching innovation, I have observed how organizations respond to new opportunities, technological changes, or unexpected market shifts that threaten to upend their current business model. This process, which I call reinvention, may occur... View Details

Keywords: Innovation And Strategy; Change Leadership; Collaboration; Architecture; Transformation; Disruption; Leading Change; Innovation Strategy; Identity; Organizational Culture; Organizational Structure

December 2020 (Revised February 2021)
Teaching Note

The Tulsa Massacre and the Call for Reparations

By: Mihir A. Desai and Suzanne Antoniou

How should historic social injustices be addressed? Survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Massacre and their descendants, including Representative Regina Goodwin of Tulsa, believe they should be addressed through reparations and have consequently continued to push the government... View Details

Article

Administrative Costs Associated with Physician Billing and Insurance-Related Activities at an Academic Health Care System

By: Phillip Tseng, Robert S. Kaplan, Barak D. Richman, Mahek A. Shah and Kevin A. Schulman

The federal government mandated adoption of certified electronic health record systems (EHR), at least in part, to reduce administrative costs for physicians. This study used time-driven activity-based costing to determine the administrative costs associated with... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Cost Management; Insurance; Problems and Challenges

November 2017
Editorial

Facebook, BlackRock, and the Case for Purpose-Driven Companies

By: George Serafeim

Purpose-driven companies have been shown to outperform their peers over the long term. But purpose-driven companies are also hard to come by. Why is that? Because purpose is costly. At the very least, it requires a credible commitment to that purpose. And credible... View Details

Keywords: Facebook; BlackRock; Purpose; Corporate Purpose; ESG; Short-termism; Mission and Purpose; Corporate Governance; Leadership

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2017
Chapter

Multinational Activity in Emerging Markets: How and When Does Foreign Direct Investment Promote Growth?

By: Laura Alfaro

Among the prominent economic trends in recent decades is the exponential increase in flows of goods and capital driven by technological progress and a falling number of restrictions. A key driver of this phenomenon has been the cross-border production, foreign... View Details

Keywords: Multinational Activity; Growth; Spillovers; Complementarities; Foreign Direct Investment; Emerging Markets; Growth and Development; Multinational Firms and Management

May 2008 (Revised June 2008)
Case

Kenny Kahn at Muzak (A)

By: Linda A. Hill and Emily Stecker

Founded in 1934, Muzak pioneered the industry of background music. Equipped with propriety technology and a vast music library, over the ensuing decades the Muzak franchise organization expanded geographically. Despite a history of innovation, by the late 1990s Muzak... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Design; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Brands and Branding; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Franchise Ownership; Music Industry