Publications
Publications
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(1,708)
- Faculty Publications (499)
- October 16, 2019
- Article
Where ESG Fails
By: Michael E. Porter, George Serafeim and Mark Kramer
We are entering a new stage of understanding of the linkage between investment performance and social impact. Previous approaches, such as socially responsible investing and environmental, social, and governance (ESG) screening, have obscured the opportunities for... View Details
- October 14, 2019
- Article
A Guide to the Big Ideas and Debates in Corporate Governance
By: Lynn S. Paine and Suraj Srinivasan
How corporations govern themselves has become a matter of broad public interest in recent decades. Amid this many commentators and experts still disagree on such basic matters as the purpose of the corporation, the role of corporate boards of directors, the rights of... View Details
- October 2019 (Revised February 2025)
- Case
A Conversation with Ellen J. Kullman, Chair & CEO of DuPont, 2009-2015
By: Lynn S. Paine and Will Hurwitz
Ellen J. Kullman, the retired Chairman and CEO of DuPont, describes how she guided the storied science and technology company through a contentious proxy battle with activist investor Trian Partners, which acquired DuPont shares in 2013 and sought to break up the... View Details
- 2019
- Working Paper
Stewardship Codes and Shareholder Voting on Disputed Ballot Measures
By: Trang T. Nguyen and Charles CY Wang
This study examines the impact of stewardship codes on investor voting behavior in disputed ballot measures-- where ISS's recommendation differs from management's recommendation-- across nine countries. U.S. institutional investors' voting behavior in adopting country... View Details
- September 2019
- Case
JTC: Stronger Together with Shared Ownership
By: Ethan Bernstein and Daniela Beyersdorfer
Nigel Le Quesne, CEO of Jersey-based financial services firm JTC, firmly believed that "shared ownership" was at the heart of his company’s successful track record. The firm had seen its revenues, profits, and number of clients and staff grow steadily throughout its... View Details
- September 2019 (Revised August 2021)
- Case
It's All About Family: Esas Group
By: Christina R. Wing and Alpana Thapar
This case describes how Ali Sabancı and his sister Emine Sabancı Kamışlı, shareholders of Esas Group, one of Turkey’s largest family-owned investment firms, worked to grow and professionalize the business. While their father Şevket Sabancı, played an instrumental role... View Details
- August 2019 (Revised August 2022)
- Case
Baroo (A): Pet Concierge
By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Susie L. Ma
Baroo CEO Lindsay Hyde was facing unrest from the board of her pet services startup in August 2017. One board member (and lead investor) was alarmed that Baroo’s growth was slowing while its appetite for funding was accelerating. Hyde wanted to hit the gas and continue... View Details
- August 2019 (Revised April 2021)
- Case
Zillow Offers: Winning Online Real Estate 2.0
By: Luis Viceira, Marco Di Maggio and Allison Ciechanover
Founded in 2005, Zillow had become the leading online real estate and home-related marketplace. The brand was recognized as a trusted resource for players in the real estate market, providing information and transparency on home prices. Revenue, which was historically... View Details
- August 22, 2019
- Article
CEOs Say Their Aim Is Inclusive Prosperity. Do They Mean It?
By: Lynn S. Paine
Earlier this week, the Business Roundtable issued a statement on corporate purpose. It is noteworthy both for its endorsement of inclusive prosperity as an ideal and for its rejection of maximizing shareholder returns as the sole corporate objective. However, the real... View Details
- Article
181 Top CEOs Have Realized Companies Need a Purpose Beyond Profit
By: Claudine Gartenberg and George Serafeim
On August 19, 2019, the Business Roundtable (BR) issued a memo entitled “Statement on the Purpose of a Corporation.” The Business Roundtable, one of the most preeminent business lobbies in the United States, includes 192 CEOs of leading U.S. companies from Apple to... View Details
- Editorial
3 Ways Investors Can Pressure Companies to Take Sustainability Seriously
By: Mindy Lubber and George Serafeim
- May 2019
- Teaching Note
Tesla, Inc. in 2018
By: Siko Sikochi and Suraj Srinivasan
Teaching Note for HBS No. 119-013. The case facilitates a discussion about corporate governance and its role in achieving sustainable profitability and driving long-term shareholder value. The discussion can focus on such questions as what constitutes good governance,... View Details
- May 17, 2019
- Article
Amazon's Priorities Over the Years, Based on Jeff Bezos's Letters to Shareholders
By: Tricia Gregg and Boris Groysberg
- 16 May 2019
- Panel Discussion
Under Pressure: Directors in an Era of Shareholder Primacy
By: Lynn S. Paine
- 2021
- Working Paper
rTSR: Properties, Determinants, and Consequences of Benchmark Choice
By: Paul Ma, Jee-Eun Shin and Charles C.Y. Wang
We develop a measurement-error framework for assessing the quality of relative-performance metrics designed to filter out the systematic component of performance and analyze relative total shareholder return (rTSR)—the predominant metric market participants use to... View Details
- April 2019 (Revised December 2021)
- Case
Sears: The Demise of an American Icon
By: Kristin Mugford and Sarah L. Abbott
In 2019, ESL Investments’ $5.2 billion offer to purchase Sears Holdings out of Chapter 11 bankruptcy, was accepted, despite opposition from the company's unsecured creditors and other parties. ESL, which was led by Eddie Lampert, had acquired a stake in Sears following... View Details
- 2019
- Working Paper
Rehabilitating Corporate Purpose
In this paper, I address how the ascendance of the theory of shareholder value maximization into the central consciousness of public corporations and its canonization as the only legitimate expression of corporate purpose has contributed to both a widening breach... View Details
- Article
Short-Termism and Capital Flows
By: Jesse M. Fried and Charles C.Y. Wang
During 2007–2016, S&P 500 firms distributed to shareholders $7 trillion via buybacks and dividends, over 96% of their aggregate net income, prompting claims that "short-termism" is impairing firms' ability to invest and innovate. We show that, when taking into account... View Details
- February 2019 (Revised November 2023)
- Case
Rent-a-Center/Vintage Capital
By: Guhan Subramanian and Caeden Brynie
Christopher Korst, General Counsel for Rent-A-Center (RAC), looked at the time. It was late in the evening on December 17, 2018, yet no notice of extension had come from Vintage Capital. In June, Vintage had agreed to buy RAC for $15 per share in cash, amounting to... View Details
- 2020
- Working Paper
Are ISS Recommendations Informative? Evidence from Assessments of Compensation Practices
By: Ana Albuquerque, Mary Ellen Carter and Susanna Gallani
Using detailed information from the largest proxy advisor in the U.S., Institutional Shareholder Services (ISS), we examine whether proxy advisors’ assessments of firms’ compensation practices are able to identify poor compensation practices as measured by subsequent... View Details