Publications

2007
Book

The CEO Within: Why Inside Outsiders Are the Key to Succession Planning

By: Joseph L. Bower

With rising CEO turnover, companies are increasingly looking outside for qualified candidates. Sure, externally recruited CEOs bring fresh perspectives and connections. But they lack the in-depth knowledge of the company's culture and history that they need to succeed.... View Details

Keywords: Recruitment; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Leadership Development; Management Succession

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Research Summary

The Impact of CEO Incentives on Misreporting

Co-authored with Natasha Burns View Details

September 2006 (Revised May 2007)
Case

GE's Jeff Immelt: The Voyage from MBA to CEO

By: Christopher A. Bartlett and Andrew N. McLean

GE believes its ability to develop management talent is a core competency that represents a source of sustainable competitive advantage. Traces the development of a 25-year-old MBA named Jeff Immelt, who 18 years later is named as CEO of GE, arguably the biggest and... View Details

Keywords: Talent and Talent Management; Human Resources; Leadership Development; Leading Change; Business or Company Management; Energy Industry; Technology Industry

June 2025
Supplement

Transforming a Titan (B)

By: George Serafeim and Lena Duchene

After a global search the board appoints Marcel Cobuz—ex-LafargeHolcim executive with deep innovation experience—as TITAN’s first non-family CEO. Cobuz co-creates a four-pillar roadmap: sharpen the core cement portfolio, accelerate low-carbon products and aggregates,... View Details

Keywords: CEO Succession; CEO Role; Family Business; AI and Machine Learning; Green Technology; Multinational Firms and Management; Selection and Staffing; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Leadership; Strategic Planning; Business Strategy

05 Jul 2006
Working Paper Summaries

Governance and CEO Turnover: Do Something or Do the Right Thing?

Keywords: by Ray Fisman, Rakesh Khurana & Matthew Rhodes-Kropf

August 2016
Case

CEO Succession at Cisco (A): From John Chambers to Chuck Robbins

By: Boris Groysberg, J. Yo-Jud Cheng and Annelena Lobb

A smooth transition from former CEO John Chambers to new CEO Chuck Robbins had put Cisco in a position of strength. Looking back, the board reflected on what they had done well and what they might have done differently, and pondered whether another company might be... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Management Succession; Technology Industry

23 Jul 2001
Research & Ideas

Looking for CEOs in All the Wrong Places

At a recent gathering of chief executives in New York City, the CEOs of two companies shared pleasant dinner conversation. The first led a large, successful corporation; the second also served as a director of a telecommunications firm... View Details

Keywords: by Peter K. Jacobs; Employment

11 Apr 2023
Op-Ed

The First 90 Hours: What New CEOs Should—and Shouldn't—Do to Set the Right Tone

for a strategic plan, not a detailed document engraved in stone, but a clear sense of strategic direction and vision that will have excited them sufficiently to warrant entrusting you with the CEO role. Once you start implementing... View Details

Keywords: by John Quelch

14 Jan 2019
Op-Ed

These 4 CEOs Created a New Standard of Leadership

created sustained success. The Visionary: PepsiCo’s Indra Nooyi India-born Indra Nooyi immigrated to the United States in 1978 to study at Yale University. She joined PepsiCo in 1994 and rose rapidly through its ranks. When she was named View Details

Keywords: by Bill George; Health; Banking; Food & Beverage; Consumer Products

January 2020
Article

Compensation Consultants and the Level, Composition, and Complexity of CEO Pay

By: Kevin J. Murphy and Tatiana Sandino

We provide fresh evidence regarding the relation between compensation consultants and CEO pay. First, firms that employ consultants have higher-paid CEOs—this result is robust to firm fixed effects and matching on economic and governance variables. Second, while this... View Details

Keywords: Consultants; Benchmarking; Incentive Pay; Executive Compensation; Complexity; Motivation and Incentives; Governance

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2019
Working Paper

Compensation Consultants and the Level, Composition, and Complexity of CEO Pay

By: Kevin J. Murphy and Tatiana Sandino

We provide fresh evidence regarding the relation between compensation consultants and CEO pay. First, firms that employ consultants have higher-paid CEOs—this result is robust to firm fixed effects and matching on economic and governance variables. Second, while this... View Details

Keywords: Consultants; Benchmarking; Incentive Pay; Executive Compensation; Complexity; Motivation and Incentives; Governance

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24 Sep 2008
Working Paper Summaries

CEO and CFO Career Penalties to Missing Quarterly Analysts Forecasts

Keywords: by Rick Mergenthaler, Shiva Rajgopal & Suraj Srinivasan

October 2021 (Revised October 2022)
Case

The Opioid Settlement and Controversy Over CEO Pay at AmerisourceBergen

By: Suraj Srinivasan and Li-Kuan Ni

In 2020, AmerisourceBergen Corporation, a Fortune 50 company in the drug distribution industry, agreed to settle thousands of lawsuits filed nationwide against the company for its opioid distribution practices that critics alleged had contributed to the nationwide... View Details

2011
Working Paper

Do U.S. Market Interactions Affect CEO Pay? Evidence from UK Companies

By: Joseph J. Gerakos, Joseph D. Piotroski and Suraj Srinivasan

This paper examines the extent that interactions with U.S. markets impact the compensation practices of non-U.S. firms. Using a sample of large U.K. companies, we find that the total compensation of U.K. CEOs is positively related to the extent of the firm's... View Details

Keywords: Globalized Markets and Industries; Corporate Governance; Executive Compensation; Management Practices and Processes; Motivation and Incentives; United Kingdom; United States

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2007
Other Unpublished Work

Say on Pay Vote and CEO Compensation: Evidence from the UK

By: Fabrizio Ferri and David Maber

In this study, we examine the effect on CEO pay of new legislation introduced in the United Kingdom (UK) at the end of 2002 that requires publicly-traded firms to submit an executive remuneration report to a non-binding shareholder vote ("say on pay") at the annual... View Details

Keywords: Voting; Corporate Governance; Government Legislation; Executive Compensation; Performance Improvement; Business and Shareholder Relations; United Kingdom

2015
Working Paper

Are CEOs Born Leaders? Lessons from Traits of a Million Individuals

By: Renée Adams, Matti Keloharju and Samuli Knüpfer

What makes a CEO? We merge data on the traits of more than one million Swedish males, measured at age 18 in a mandatory military enlistment test, with data on their service as a CEO of any Swedish company decades later. CEOs have higher cognitive and non-cognitive... View Details

Keywords: Personal Characteristics; Management Teams

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September 2020
Case

The Reinvention of Kodak (A) Multimedia Case

By: Ryan Raffaelli

This case includes links to case supplement videos for students to view with the written case before class, and also supplement videos for faculty to use exclusively during class. View Details

Keywords: CEO; Leadership; Asset Management; Transformation; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Competitive Strategy

April 2002
Supplement

Spotfire Update: Reflections by Chris Ahlberg, CEO and Rock Gnatovich, President

CEO Chris Ahlberg and President Rock Gnatovich discuss and reflect on some of the critical issues that Spotfire faced at the time of the case. View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Problems and Challenges