Publications

November 1997 (Revised January 2003)
Case

Martin Smith: January 2002

By: Josh Lerner

An MBA student must choose between offers from three private equity organizations. Each organization has distinct strengths and weaknesses, and different implications for the student's career development. The case presents compensation and employment data about the... View Details

Keywords: Private Equity; Compensation and Benefits; Analytics and Data Science; Job Offer; Personal Development and Career

05 Jul 2004
What Do You Think?

Work-Life: Is Productivity in the Balance?

things, to attract and retain talent. Such benefits recognize the growing demands on the lives of people, particularly at times when jobs are being expanded to achieve higher productivity—to do more with... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

December 2023
Case

Francis Ngannou

By: Anita Elberse

In May 2023, professional fighter Francis Ngannou is facing a choice: re-sign with the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), the world’s premier mixed-martial-arts (MMA) organization, or opt for a contract with the Professional Fighters League (PFL), a growing but... View Details

Keywords: Contracts; Compensation and Benefits; Sports; Decision Choices and Conditions

January–February 2019
Article

Case Study: When Two Leaders on the Senior Team Hate Each Other

By: Boris Groysberg and Katherine Connolly Baden

In this fictional case, the CEO of a sports apparel manufacturer is faced with an ongoing conflict between two of his top executives. Specifically, the head of sales and the CFO are at each other’s throats and the tension is having a ripple effect on their teams and... View Details

Keywords: Interpersonal Conflict; Management Teams; Conflict Management

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March 2024 (Revised May 2025)
Case

Governing OpenAI (A)

By: Lynn S. Paine, Suraj Srinivasan and Will Hurwitz

In late November 2023, OpenAI’s new board of directors took stock of the situation. The company, which sought to develop artificial general intelligence (AGI)—computer systems with capabilities exceeding human abilities—was looking to regain its footing after a chaotic... View Details

Article

The Price of a CEO's Rolodex

By: Christopher Parsons, J. Engelberg and P. Gao

CEOs with large networks earn more than those with small networks. An additional connection to an executive or director outside the firm increases compensation by about $17,000 on average, more so for "important" members, such as CEOs of big firms. Pay-for-connectivity... View Details

Keywords: Networks; Executive Compensation

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09 Dec 2020
Blog Post

How to Create a Psychologically Safe Workplace

Candidates consider many factors when seeking new job opportunities – location, role, benefits, and compensation to name just a few. Yet there is another element that may be more difficult to explain on... View Details

11 May 2021
Blog Post

Q+A on the Socioeconomic Inclusion Task Force with Holly Fetter (MBA 2020) and Alexxis Isaac (MBA 2020)

reality is that different populations and people from different backgrounds actually do need additional support in order to create an equal experience. Introducing that lens to help the school better understand where it could View Details

2024
Working Paper

Loan Officers Impede Graduation From Microcredit: Evidence from a Large Microfinance Institution

By: Natalia Rigol and Benjamin N. Roth

Graduating microcredit borrowers to larger loans can increase livelihoods. We demonstrate that loan officers impede borrower graduation due to common features of their compensation. Through an experiment with one of Chile’s largest microfinance institutions (MFIs), we... View Details

Keywords: Loan Officers; Strategic Behavior; Strategic Disclosure; Microfinance; Financial Institutions; Financing and Loans

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01 Jul 2013
News

Top CEOs: Rich Get Richer

2024
Working Paper

Using LLMs for Market Research

By: James Brand, Ayelet Israeli and Donald Ngwe

Large language models (LLMs) have rapidly gained popularity as labor-augmenting tools for programming, writing, and many other processes that benefit from quick text generation. In this paper we explore the uses and benefits of LLMs for researchers and practitioners... View Details

Keywords: Large Language Model; Research; AI and Machine Learning; Analysis; Customers; Consumer Behavior; Technology Industry; Information Technology Industry

SSRN

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09 Dec 2013
Research & Ideas

Cultural Disharmony Undermines Workplace Creativity

In today's global work environment, it's a given that companies need culturally diverse teams to succeed. Both scientific studies and common sense tell us that having people with different viewpoints onboard increases the creativity that... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

25 Apr 2024
Blog Post

Climate Stories: Water Series - Episode #18: Tom Ferguson (MBA 2014) Venture Capitalist and Water Evangelist

effectively to influence federal and state legislation.” Tom conceded that water has its own idiosyncratic complexities that make it harder to provide market-based support in the same way that energy and... View Details

25 May 2011
HBS Case

QuikTrip’s Investment in Retail Employees Pays Off

benefits including health insurance, performance bonuses, and paid vacation—all relatively rare in the industry. Blueprint For Transformation The QuikTrip (QT) case, taught in the MBA course Coordinating... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Retail

June 2009
Case

Executive Remuneration at Royal Dutch Shell (A)

By: Jay W. Lorsch and Kaitlyn Simpson

The remuneration committee at Shell decided to exercise their discretionary power to award five top executives a bonus for 2008, even though they had not met the necessary performance measures under the compensation plan. Proxy advisors RiskMetrics and the British... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Governance; Governance Controls; Executive Compensation; Performance Evaluation; Business and Shareholder Relations; Energy Industry

1998
Working Paper

Some Evidence on the Optimal Welfare State Based on Subjective Data

By: Rafael Di Tella and Robert MacCulloch

It is often difficult to evaluate all the costs and benefits of the welfare state. This paper suggests an alternative approach based on surveys of citizen satisfaction with welfare programs. In the first part of the paper we estimate the level of unemployment benefits... View Details

Keywords: Personal Characteristics; Employment; Surveys; Programs; Government and Politics; Age; Income; Residency; Welfare; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Cost vs Benefits; Satisfaction; United Kingdom

September 2010 (Revised December 2022)
Case

Recruiting Andrew Yard (A)

By: Brian J. Hall, Nicole S. Bennett and Sara del Nido

This case describes a compensation negotiation between a global HR director and a candidate for a high-level executive position. The situation becomes awkward when the candidate feels insulted because he is given a monetary incentive to join the company more quickly... View Details

Keywords: Communication Strategy; Interpersonal Communication; Executive Compensation; Negotiation; Negotiation Style; Emotions