Publications

24 Oct 2017
Research & Ideas

Tax Reform is on the Front Burner Again. Here’s Why You Should Care

instrument than we acknowledge. Silverthorne: If we go through American history and look at the different stages of tax evolution, broadly, how has it advanced, progressed, or changed over time? Weinzierl: The tax system was very... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

28 Aug 2012
First Look

First Look: August 28

http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/13-017.pdf Earnings Management from the Bottom Up: An Analysis of Managerial Incentives Below the CEO Authors: Felix Oberholzer-Gee and Julie Wulf Abstract Performance-based pay is an important instrument... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

Article

Marketing Complex Financial Products in Emerging Markets: Evidence from Rainfall Insurance in India

By: Sarthak Gaurav, Shawn A. Cole and Jeremy Tobacman

Recent financial liberalization in emerging economies has led to the rapid introduction of new financial products. Lack of experience with financial products, low levels of education, and low financial literacy may slow adoption of these products. This article reports... View Details

Keywords: Literacy; Insurance; Marketing; Decisions; Demand and Consumers; Financial Instruments; Emerging Markets; Education; Personal Finance; Agribusiness; Developing Countries and Economies; Innovation and Invention; Gujarat

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September 2006 (Revised January 2008)
Case

Providian Financial Corporation

By: John R. Wells

On October 3, 2005, Washington Mutual acquired Providian Financial Corporation, the ninth-largest credit card issuer in the U.S., for $6.5 billion. At the time, Providian had approximately 10 million customer relationships and a balance of $18.6 billion. For some... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Restructuring; Customer Relationship Management; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Credit Cards; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Financial Services Industry; United States

January 1992
Teaching Note

MCI Communications Corporation (1983) TN

By: Richard S. Ruback

Teaching Note for (9-284-057). View Details

Keywords: Financing and Loans; Growth and Development Strategy; Debt Securities; Risk and Uncertainty; Monopoly; Communications Industry

May 2017
Article

Distracted Shareholders and Corporate Actions

By: Elisabeth Kempf, Alberto Manconi and Oliver Spalt

Investor attention matters for corporate actions. Our new identification approach constructs firm-level shareholder "distraction" measures, by exploiting exogenous shocks to unrelated parts of institutional shareholders' portfolios. Firms with "distracted" shareholders... View Details

Keywords: Investors; Business and Shareholder Relations; Executive Compensation; Stocks; Mergers and Acquisitions

Read Now

August 2010 (Revised December 2010)
Case

Malcolm Life Enhances Its Variable Annuities

By: Robert C. Pozen and David J. Pearlman

The case involves an insurance CEO choosing between different designs for a variable annuity product in light of hedging, marketing, and pricing issues. The case provides students with background on the economics and regulation of life insurance and variable annuities.... View Details

Keywords: Annuities; Insurance; Investment Return; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Product Design; Insurance Industry; United States

14 Jul 2015
First Look

First Look: July 14, 2015

include various types of the most frequently utilized marketing instruments: two forms of advertising-candidate's own and outside advertising, and two forms of personal selling-retail campaigning and field operations. Although effectiveness varies by View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

25 Sep 2000
Research & Ideas

Cyber-Marketing: Scouting the Digital Communications Frontier

millions of customers. The third distinctive quality of the Web is something of a handicap. To be frank, the authors say, it is a boring medium when compared with television, lacking TV's power to engage fantasy and arouse emotions. Instead, the Web is an View Details

Keywords: by Peter K. Jacobs

August 1988 (Revised July 1996)
Case

Colt Industries

Colt Industries is a conglomerate that is considering undertaking a leveraged recapitalization. The deal would involve a large one-time dividend to stockholders, which would be financed by over $1 billion in new debt. Unlike in an leveraged buyout, however, public... View Details

Keywords: Business Conglomerates; Equity; Economic Growth; Ownership Stake; Stocks; Borrowing and Debt; Employee Stock Ownership Plan; Financial Strategy

March 2010
Article

Information Content of Insider Trades before and after the Sarbanes-Oxley Act

By: Francois Brochet

This paper examines the information content of Form 4 filings under the more timely disclosure regime introduced by Section 403 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (SOX). Abnormal returns and trading volumes around filings of insider stock purchases are significantly... View Details

Keywords: Stocks; Corporate Disclosure; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Government Legislation; Lawsuits and Litigation; Market Transactions; Volume; Sales

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01 Oct 2013
First Look

First Look: October 1

legislators in India influences development outcomes, both for citizens of their religious group and for the population as a whole. Using an instrumental variables approach derived from a regression discontinuity, we find that increasing... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

03 Mar 2008
First Look

First Look: March 4, 2008

wrought by Wall Street's first panic, the New York legislature acted quickly to ban outdoor securities auctions and a popular class of financial instruments known as "time bargains," both of which were thought to have... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

February 2025
Case

Ingersoll Rand: Broadening Employee Ownership

By: Ethan Rouen and Jenyfeer Martinez Buitrago

Set in 2024, this case examines how Ingersoll Rand—a global leader in air, liquid, and gas handling technologies—approached broadening employee ownership. The company granted restricted stock units (RSUs) to all employees on their one-year anniversary, reinforcing a... View Details

Keywords: Stock Shares; Employee Stock Ownership Plan; Retention; Employee Ownership; Mergers and Acquisitions; Organizational Culture; Expansion; Africa; Asia; Europe; Latin America; Middle East; North and Central America