Publications

SSRN

Luis M. Viceira is the George E. Bates Professor in the Finance Unit and a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research. His research, course development, and teaching focus on the areas of investment management... View Details

Keywords: banking; education industry; financial services; nonprofit industry; retail financial services

Capitalism at Risk: How Companies Can Lead

Q. Who should take the lead in fixing market capitalism? A. Business, not government alone. The spread of capitalism worldwide has made people wealthier than ever before. But capitalism's future is far from assured. Pandemics, income inequality, resource depletion,... View Details

2022
Chapter

Prioritarianism and Optimal Taxation

By: Matti Tuomala and Matthew Weinzierl

Prioritarianism has been at the center of the formal approach to optimal tax theory since its modern starting point in Mirrlees (1971), but most theorists’ use of it is motivated by tractability rather than explicit normative reasoning. We characterize analytically and... View Details

Keywords: Prioritarianism; Optimal Taxation; Utilitarianism; Redistribution; Inverse-optimum; Taxation; Theory; Policy

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October 1993 (Revised June 1997)
Case

Champion International

By: David F. Hawkins

Management must decide which first quarter's earnings numbers to report. The company is classified by its securities market as a "growth" company. The corporate controller prefers a quarterly earnings figure that represents a decline in earnings. View Details

Keywords: Problems and Challenges; Financial Reporting; Judgments; Leadership; Management Teams; Corporate Disclosure

13 Oct 2015
News

How Thin Political Markets Undermine Democracy

Article

Why Compliance Programs Fail: And How to Fix Them

By: Hui Chen and Eugene Soltes

Firms spend millions of dollars annually on whistle-blower hotlines, training, and other efforts to ensure adherence to laws, regulations, and company policies. Yet malfeasance remains entrenched in the corporate world. Why? Too many firms treat compliance as a... View Details

Keywords: Governance Compliance; Programs; Employees; Training; Performance Effectiveness; Measurement and Metrics

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28 Jun 2016
First Look

June 28, 2016

businesses. The strategy literature uses real option theory to explain the transition to scale, but does not consider the complex relationships between corporate ventures and their parent organizations. By... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

February 2018
Case

Infrastructure in Nigeria: Unlocking Pension Fund Investments

By: John Macomber and Pippa Tubman Armerding

The so-called “infrastructure finance gap” was a problem in Nigeria as in many parts of the world. Infrastructure projects like power plants and dams were very large capital investments that could generate long-term consistent cash flows, but their financing and... View Details

Keywords: Pension Fund Investing; Infrastucture; Power/Energy; Credit Enhancement; Infrastructure; Project Finance; Investment Funds; Emerging Markets; Nigeria; Africa

Carliss Y. Baldwin is the William L. White Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School. She studies the process of design and its impact of design architecture on firm strategy, platforms, and business ecosystems. With Kim Clark, she authored... View Details

Keywords: computer; electronics; software

23 Aug 2016
News

7 Charts Show How Political Affiliation Shapes U.S. Boards

February 1994 (Revised July 2005)
Case

Competitive Information Policy at Pratt & Whitney

By: Lynn S. Paine

Officials at United Technologies Corp. (UTC) must decide on an ethics policy to govern competitive intelligence gathering. The flow of competitor information into the Pratt & Whitney division has declined sharply since adoption of UTC's code of ethics. A rewritten... View Details

Keywords: Policy; Corporate Governance; Ethics; Competition; Information Management; Business or Company Management; Law

2017
Other Article

Designing an Agile Software Portfolio Architecture: The Impact of Coupling on Performance

By: Alan MacCormack and Robert Lagerstrom

The modern industrial corporation encompasses a myriad of different software applications, each of which must work in concert to deliver functionality to end-users. However, the increasingly complex and dynamic nature of competition in today’s product-markets dictates... View Details

Keywords: Applications and Software; Design; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Performance Effectiveness

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2012
Chapter

Social Entrepreneurs, Socialization Processes, and Social Change: The Case of Sekem

By: Tomislav Rimac, Johanna Mair and Julie Battilana

How can application of a positive lens to understanding social change and organizations enrich and elaborate theory and practice? This is the core question that inspired this book. It is a question that brought together a diverse and talented group of researchers... View Details

Keywords: Social Entrepreneurship; Social Psychology; Social Issues; Organizations; Business and Community Relations

Keywords: Ecotourism

January 2014 (Revised May 2014)
Case

Tech Mahindra and the Acquisition of Satyam Computers (A)

By: Srikant M. Datar, Anjali Raina and Namrata Arora

Set in 2008, the case details Tech Mahindra, an information technology (IT) company within the Mahindra Group, an Indian multi-industry company with a diverse stable of businesses including automotives, farm equipment, and financial services, and its decision to... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Corporate Governance; Computer Industry; India

Keywords: Green Building; LEED Rating System; Economic And Environmental Performance; Program Evaluation And Assessment; Tradeoffs Between Process- And Performance Standards; Buildings and Facilities; Business Headquarters; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Standards; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Performance Improvement; Environmental Sustainability; Pollutants; Green Technology Industry

September 2009 (Revised September 2010)
Case

Genzyme Center (A)

By: Michael W. Toffel and Aldo Sesia

Genzyme Corporation is in the midst of planning its new corporate headquarters, which incorporates many innovative green building features. After learning that the building as planned would likely earn a LEED Silver rating, an intermediate score in the LEED green... View Details

July 2004 (Revised October 2004)
Case

Harbus Foundation (2003), The

In 1997, the Harbus Foundation was established by Harvard Business School students to use the school newspaper's accumulated operating surpluses for creating social value in the community. The case investigates the challenges that the student management team faced in... View Details

Keywords: Social Enterprise; Corporate Governance; Education Industry; Boston

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June 14, 2023
Article

How New CEOs Establish Legitimacy

By: Nitin Nohria

CEOs are given the authority to lead by the rules of corporate governance. They gain additional influence and credibility by demonstrating competence. CEOs who achieve legitimacy have a higher level of trust and influence. This legitimacy will be gained by consistently... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Governance; Leadership Style; Power and Influence; Trust; Competency and Skills