Publications

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12 Oct 1999
Research & Ideas

Paid for Success: Options for Compensating CEOs

the proxy statements of 478 large U.S. companies, analyzing executive compensation between 1980 and 1994. "We built a database that enabled us to measure with great precision, using the Black-Scholes... View Details

Keywords: by Judith A. Ross

18 Jun 2007
Op-Ed

Leveling the Executive Options Playing Field

examining the role of stock options in executive compensation; the incidence of stock option abuses; how stock option compensation is reported to stockholders under generally accepted accounting principles... View Details

Keywords: by Mihir Desai

21 Sep 2009
Research & Ideas

Excessive Executive Pay: What’s the Solution?

boards have improved in recent years, the speed at which they were improving lagged behind the speed at which solutions should have been implemented." -Rakesh Khurana That culture, critics maintain, spawned executive View Details

Keywords: by Roger Thompson

January 2020
Article

Compensation Consultants and the Level, Composition, and Complexity of CEO Pay

By: Kevin J. Murphy and Tatiana Sandino

We provide fresh evidence regarding the relation between compensation consultants and CEO pay. First, firms that employ consultants have higher-paid CEOs—this result is robust to firm fixed effects and matching on economic and governance variables. Second, while this... View Details

Keywords: Consultants; Benchmarking; Incentive Pay; Executive Compensation; Complexity; Motivation and Incentives; Governance

SSRN

2019
Working Paper

Compensation Consultants and the Level, Composition, and Complexity of CEO Pay

By: Kevin J. Murphy and Tatiana Sandino

We provide fresh evidence regarding the relation between compensation consultants and CEO pay. First, firms that employ consultants have higher-paid CEOs—this result is robust to firm fixed effects and matching on economic and governance variables. Second, while this... View Details

Keywords: Consultants; Benchmarking; Incentive Pay; Executive Compensation; Complexity; Motivation and Incentives; Governance

SSRN

Read Now

2016
Article

Scandal and Stigma: Does Corporate Misconduct Affect the Future Compensation of Bystander Managers?

By: Boris Groysberg, Eric Lin and George Serafeim

This paper explores whether a firm’s misconduct can affect the compensation of former managers who were neither at the firm at the time of misdeeds nor involved in the scandal. Results suggest that stigma may influence compensation of former managers, even in cases... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Misconduct; Stigma; Executive Compensation

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06 Dec 2017
Working Paper Summaries

Does Financial Misconduct Affect the Future Compensation of Alumni Managers?

Keywords: by Boris Groysberg, Eric Lin, and George Serafeim

01 Sep 2009
News

Executive Pay: Onward & Upward

1994 Under intense pressure from industry, regulators decide stock options should not be reported as a compensation expense but as footnotes in financial statements. 2002 Following the collapse of Enron and WorldCom, Congress enacts... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Services; Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services; Professional Services

1999
Chapter

CEO Compensation in Financially Distressed Firms: An Empirical Analysis

By: S. C. Gilson and M. R. Vetsuypens

Keywords: Executive Compensation; Insolvency and Bankruptcy

January 2013
Supplement

Aubrey McClendon's Special Incentive Compensation at Chesapeake Energy (B)

By: Paul Healy, Clayton S. Rose and Penelope Rossano

Keywords: Stockholders; Activist Investors; Corruption; Conflict of Interests; Crime and Corruption; Executive Compensation; Energy Industry

September 1999 (Revised December 2000)
Case

Boeing Company's Accounting for Executive Stock Compensation, The

By: Paul M. Healy and Jacob Cohen

Executive stock options are experiencing increased use and the Financial Accounting Standards Board is proposing changes in accounting in the United States. View Details

Keywords: Executive Compensation; Stock Options; Financial Reporting; United States

2011
Article

Incentive Compensation and the Likelihood of Termination: Theory and Evidence from Real Estate Organizations

By: Christopher Parsons, G. Hallman and J. Hartzell

We analyze two managerial compensation incentive devices: the threat of termination and pay for performance. We first develop a simple model predicting that these devices are substitutes: when termination incentives are low, optimal contracts provide stronger... View Details

Keywords: Motivation and Incentives; Resignation and Termination; Compensation and Benefits; Real Estate Industry

Winter 2013
Article

Corporate Governance Reform and Executive Incentives: Implications for Investments and Risk-Taking

By: Daniel Cohen, Aiyesha Dey and Thomas Lys

We investigate the mechanism through which the Sarbanes Oxley Act (SOX) was associated with changes in corporate investment strategies. We document that the passage of the governance regulations in SOX was followed by a significant decline in pay‐performance... View Details

1995
Book

Report of the NACD Blue Ribbon Commission on Director Compensation

By: Robert B. Stobaugh

Keywords: Executive Compensation

21 Jun 2010
Research & Ideas

Strategy and Execution for Emerging Markets

financial crises, and weak intellectual property rights. HBS professors Tarun Khanna and Krishna G. Palepu, authors of the new book Winning in Emerging Markets: A Road Map for Strategy and Execution (Harvard Business Press), offer an... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

Blog

Eight Steps to Board Success for Female Executives

A few years ago, HBS Executive Education unveiled the program Women on Boards: Succeeding as a Corporate Director, designed to introduce executives to the process of joining a corporate board. Since that... View Details

November 2018 (Revised January 2019)
Supplement

The Weir Group: Reforming Executive Pay (B)

By: Lynn S. Paine and Federica Gabrieli

Supplement to the (A) case. The case describes the events that took place in the run-up to the 2018 Annual General Meeting, the voting outcome, key perspectives on success factors, and the challenges that The Weir Group faced in the near future. View Details

Keywords: Corporate Governance; Human Resources; Management; Executive Compensation; Europe; United Kingdom; Scotland

January 2023
Teaching Note

The Opioid Settlement and Executive Pay at AmerisourceBergen

By: Suraj Srinivasan and Li-Kuan Ni

Teaching Note for HBS Case No 122-014. In 2020, AmerisourceBergen Corporation, a Fortune 50 company in the drug distribution industry, agreed to settle thousands of lawsuits filed nationwide against the company for its opioid distribution practices that critics alleged... View Details

June 2009
Supplement

Executive Remuneration at Royal Dutch Shell (B)

By: Jay W. Lorsch and Kaitlyn Simpson

At the 2009 Shell annual meeting, the majority of shareholders vote against the exclusive pay package. The B case compares the remuneration committee perspective (and their rationale for using discretion to award the bonuses) as well as the shareholder perspective (and... View Details

Keywords: Voting; Corporate Governance; Governance Controls; Executive Compensation; Business and Shareholder Relations; Perspective; Energy Industry