Publications

April 2016
Supplement

Canadian Pacific's Bid for Norfolk Southern Spreadsheet Supplement

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Scott Mayfield

In December 2015, Canadian Pacific Railroad (CPR) has just made its third bid to acquire Norfolk Southern Corporation (NSC), one of the largest railroads in the United States. Having rejected the prior offers, NSC’s CEO James Squires and the NSC board must now value... View Details

Keywords: Capital Structure; Cash Flow; Cost of Capital; Financial Strategy; Investment Activism; Bids and Bidding; Negotiation Offer; Corporate Strategy; Rail Transportation; Mergers and Acquisitions; Transformation; United States; Canada

December 2016
Article

Social Network Utilization and the Impact of Academic Research in Marketing

By: Stav Rosenzweig, Amir Grinstein and Elie Ofek

The forces that drive the impact of academic research articles in the marketing discipline are of great interests to authors, editors, and the discipline’s policy makers. A key understudied driver is social network utilization by academic researchers. In this paper, we... View Details

Keywords: Social Networks; Academic Reserach; Human Capital; Country Of Origin; Scientometrics; Social and Collaborative Networks; Research; Marketing; Gender; Human Resources; Social Media

Find at Harvard

30 May 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, May 30

diverse methodology to understand the relationships between firm boundaries, firm activities, and geographic borders. Publisher's link: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=52688 2017 Geography, Location, and Strategy. Multinational View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

23 Oct 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, October 23, 2018

construct narratives explaining the dynamics of three nascent technical systems: early aircraft, high-speed steel in machine tools, and container shipping. Download working paper: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=55140 Assessing the Impact of CEO View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

15 Dec 2009
First Look

First Look: Dec. 15, 2009

preferences of their peers—and assessed subsequent brain activity during an incidental processing task in which participants viewed popular, unpopular, and novel symbols. The medial prefrontal cortex (mPFC) differentiated between symbols... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

13 Nov 2012
First Look

First Look: November 13

Chen Abstract The explosion of multinational activities in recent decades is rapidly transforming the global landscape of industrial production. But are the emerging clusters of multinational production the rule or the exception? What... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

February 2015
Case

CLP: Powering Asia

By: George Serafeim, Rebecca Henderson and Dawn Lau

Richard Lancaster, taking over from Andrew Brandler, was the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of CLP Holdings Ltd., one of the leading power companies in Asia, with operations in China, Southeast Asia, Taiwan, Australia, and India, and an energy portfolio spanning coal,... View Details

Keywords: Energy Generation; Environmental Sustainability; Goals and Objectives; Values and Beliefs; Growth and Development Strategy; Strategic Planning; Energy Industry; Asia; India

March 2016 (Revised October 2023)
Case

Central European Distribution Corporation: Hostile Takeover, Bankruptcy Makeover

By: Stuart C. Gilson and Sarah L. Abbott

In early 2013, Central European Distribution Corporation (CEDC), a large publicly traded producer and distributer of vodka and spirits in Eastern and Central Europe, has suffered significant declines in its financial performance, is at risk of defaulting on its debt,... View Details

Keywords: Hostile Takeover; Accounting Restatement; Activist Shareholder; Restructuring; Mergers and Acquisitions; Financial Statements; Corporate Governance; Investment Activism; Distribution Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; United States; Russia; Europe

16 Feb 2023
HBS Case

ESG Activists Met the Moment at ExxonMobil, But Did They Succeed?

The impact-investment hedge fund Engine No. 1 made a big splash in May 2021 when it managed to get three nominees elected to the ExxonMobil board of directors. It was an open effort to prod the oil giant toward renewable energy and test whether activist investing could... View Details

Keywords: by Lane Lambert; Financial Services

June 2016 (Revised May 2017)
Case

FANUC Corporation: Reassessing the Firm's Governance and Financial Policies

By: Benjamin C. Esty, Nobuo Sato and Akiko Kanno

In February 2015, Daniel Loeb (a U.S.–based activist investor) announced his firm had a large investment in FANUC Corporation, a leading producer of industrial robots and software for machine tools. Loeb was demanding that the Japanese firm change its financial and... View Details

Keywords: Hedge Funds; Economic Policy; Investments; Government Policy; Deregulation; Financial Management; Valuation; Investment Funds; Policy; Corporate Governance; Macroeconomics; Investment Activism; Change Management; Financial Strategy; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Japan; United States

2013
Working Paper

Management: Theory and Practice, and Cases

By: Richard L. Nolan

This working paper reports on a major Harvard Business School project designed to enhance MBA and practicing executives in case learning. The work is built on the foundation of HBS field cases employing the monomyth "hero's journey" classic story structure along... View Details

Keywords: Innovation; CIO; CEO; Hero's Journey; Monomyth; Management; Practice; Cases; Theory; Innovation and Invention

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23 Jul 2001
Research & Ideas

Sam Walton: Great From the Start

the town. He was an active member of the Rotary Club, a member of the board of deacons of the Presbyterian church ("even though I was a Methodist, it worked out real well"), and president of the... View Details

Keywords: by Richard S. Tedlow; Retail

14 Feb 2022
Research & Ideas

Curiosity, Not Coding: 6 Skills Leaders Need in the Digital Age

natives (by definition, those younger than most senior leaders) to help them reach positions of significant authority (and even become board members). Elevating promising talent will help the company embrace the new and diverse... View Details

Keywords: by Linda A. Hill, Ann Le Cam, Sunand Menon, and Emily Tedards; Technology

05 Aug 2014
First Look

First Look: August 5

universities and private companies to develop technologies important to Danish industry. We assess the effect of a unique mediated funding scheme that combines project grants with active facilitation and conflict management on firm... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

June 2016
Supplement

FANUC Corporation: Reassessing the Firm's Governance and Financial Policies Spreadsheet Supplement

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Akiko Kanno

In February 2015, Daniel Loeb (a US-based activist investor) announced his firm had a large investment in FANUC Corporation, a leading producer of industrial robots and software for machine tools. Loeb was demanding that the Japanese firm change its financial and... View Details

Keywords: Financial Management; Valuation; Investment Funds; Policy; Corporate Governance; Macroeconomics; Investment Activism; Change Management; Financial Strategy; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Japan; United States