Publications

December 2022 (Revised May 2024)
Background Note

Brief Note on Staggered Boards

By: Lynn S. Paine and Will Hurwitz

This background note discusses the evolution, use, and prevalence of staggered boards. By comparison with unitary boards whose members are all elected annually for one-year terms, staggered boards are divided into subsets of directors, with one subset up for election... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Governance; Governing and Advisory Boards; Business History; Trends; Decision Choices and Conditions; United States

February 2010 (Revised May 2010)
Case

Bardhaman (A): Shrachi and the West Bengal Housing Board

By: John D. Macomber and Viraal Balsari

A real estate developer decides whether to enter into a public private partnership with the government of West Bengal to develop a township on farmland. The decisions include whether to expand operations from the company's base in Kolkata to Bardhaman, 100 km away;... View Details

Keywords: Development Economics; Growth and Development Strategy; Business and Government Relations; Decisions; Private Equity; Design; Housing; Infrastructure; Projects; Real Estate Industry; West Bengal

21 Jul 2004
Lecture

Governance and Corporate Responsibility: Opportunities for Board Leadership." Panelist. "Role of the Corporation in the 21st Century: Corporate Governance in the Face of New Social Values

By: Lynn S. Paine

Keywords: Governance; Leadership; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact

July 2004 (Revised August 2004)
Case

On Becoming a Board Member

By: Jay W. Lorsch and Ashley Robertson

A Hispanic executive is considering whether to join the board of directors of a company and receives advice from several more experienced directors. Teaching Purpose: To focus on the issues related to joining a board of directors. View Details

Keywords: Management; Leadership; Ethnicity; Governing and Advisory Boards

The five commissioners of the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) listened intently at a public forum in April 2019 as PG&E Corporation's out-going chairman Richard Kelly described the company's proposed new board. PG&E, which provided... View Details

01 Jun 2006
News

Getting on Board

Membership on a corporate or advisory board seems like a natural fit for MBAs with solid managerial skills and career experience. But according to the experts, unless you are a... View Details

Keywords: Deborah Blagg; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools

March 2023
Case

FinTunes, Inc., Board of Directors

By: Lynn S. Paine and Jennifer Fonstad

The board of FinTunes, Inc., a start-up aimed at helping musicians distribute their work and manage their finances, must decide among three candidates to serve as the company’s first independent director. The terms of FinTunes’ last round of financing provided that the... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Governing and Advisory Boards; Corporate Governance; Music Industry; Los Angeles; California

November 2009 (Revised July 2012)
Case

Board Leadership at Entergy Corporation

By: Jay W. Lorsch and Melissa Barton

Wayne Leonard became CEO of Entergy in 1999. After serving as CEO for close to eight years, the Entergy Board named Leonard Chairman and CEO. View Details

Keywords: Management Teams; Governing and Advisory Boards; Leadership

August 2006 (Revised July 2007)
Background Note

Governance of the Family Business

By: John A. Davis

Reviews the ways to achieve governance of the family business. Points out the importance of plans (e.g., strategic plans), statements (e.g., mission statements), policies, rules, and agreements to the governance process. Discusses the roles of three structures in... View Details

Keywords: Family Business; Corporate Governance; Governing and Advisory Boards; Management Teams; Mission and Purpose

01 Dec 2000
News

A Trusty Board

just the right balance," she says. "Members of the board are very involved in policy, and they have a breadth of experience and wisdom that is so valuable when View Details

Keywords: Museums, Historical Sites, and Similar Institutions; Museums, Historical Sites, and Similar Institutions

April 1980
Teaching Note

Management Succession and Board Membership, Teaching Note

By: Richard G. Hamermesh

Keywords: Management Succession; Governing and Advisory Boards

29 Jan 1994
Lecture

Multinational Governance in Global Companies: The Conflict Between Companies that Have Become Global and Boards that are Still National

By: W. Carl Kester

Keywords: Corporate Governance; Global Range; Local Range; Conflict and Resolution

April 1995 (Revised July 1996)
Case

Governance at Metallgesellschaft (A)

By: Jay W. Lorsch and Samanta Graff

MG Corp., a U.S. subsidiary of Germany's international conglomerate, Metallgesellschaft, engaged in a disastrous hedging strategy that nearly dragged the entire enterprise into bankruptcy. This case explores issues of responsibility and accountability among the... View Details

Keywords: Business Subsidiaries; Corporate Accountability; Business Conglomerates; Governing and Advisory Boards; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Corporate Governance; Mining Industry; Chemical Industry; Germany; United States

September 2024
Module Note

Governance for Non-Profit Social Enterprises

By: Brian Trelstad, Gerald Chertavian and Alexis Lefort

An overview of the various roles a non-profit board of directors plays, including the board’s principal responsibilities and how those evolve as organizations grow and scale. Looks closely at the overall role in setting the mission of the organization; supervising and... View Details

Keywords: Governing and Advisory Boards; Nonprofit Organizations; Growth Management; Mission and Purpose; United States

September 2013
Case

United Rentals (A)

By: Jay W. Lorsch, Kathleen Durante and Emily McTague

In December 1997 United Rentals (URI) went public on the NYSE. Ten years later, during the peak of the economic meltdown, the company's performance was in decline. United Rentals had experienced its share of problems in the prior years and was still struggling to... View Details

Keywords: Board Of Directors; Board Dynamics; Accounting Fraud; Governance; Board Committees; Merger; Corporate Governance; Construction Industry; United States

16 May 2017
News

Facing the Board

and Al Gordon (MBA 1985), president and CEO of the Delectable Dining Group, as the board members. Kashyap opened the presentation, stating the team is recommending licensing... View Details

Keywords: Jennifer Myers; photos by Susan Young; Blackrock; The Boardroom

2013
Working Paper

Who Is Governing Whom? Executives, Governance and the Structure of Generosity in Large U.S. Firms

By: Christopher Marquis and Matthew Lee

We examine how organizational structure influences strategies over which corporate leaders have significant discretion. Corporate philanthropy is our setting to study how a differentiated structural element—the corporate foundation—constrains the influence of... View Details

Keywords: Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Corporate Governance; Governing and Advisory Boards; Leadership; Managerial Roles; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Organizational Structure; Corporate Strategy; United States