Publications

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2015
Working Paper

Materiality in Corporate Governance: The Statement of Significant Audiences and Materiality

By: Robert G. Eccles and Tim Youmans

Under the prevailing ideology of "shareholder primacy" most boards of directors believe that they are prevented from considering stakeholders other than shareholders in determining material issues and materiality for strategy and reporting. New research is showing that... View Details

Keywords: Governing and Advisory Boards; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Corporate Governance; Business and Shareholder Relations

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November 1996
Case

Del Webb Corporation (C), The

By: Jay W. Lorsch and Samanta Graff

Dion and the other Del Webb directors were open to having Industrial Equity Pacific (IEP) and Webcott Holdings representation on the board. The IEP representative was perceived as reserved and lacking in sophistication. Cotter of Webcott, however, struck the directors... View Details

Keywords: Crisis Management; Management Succession; Strategic Planning; Governing and Advisory Boards; Horizontal Integration; Conflict Management

October 2002 (Revised January 2003)
Case

Hermitage Fund, The: Media and Corporate Governance in Russia

William Browder, the top executive of the Hermitage Fund, the best-performing international equity fund over the last five years, attributed much of his funds' strong returns to its focus on shareholder activism and corporate governance. In 2001, he was putting this... View Details

Keywords: Media; Corporate Governance; Investment Activism; Financial Services Industry; Russia

June 2003 (Revised June 2003)
Background Note

M & A Legal Context: Basic Framework for Corporate Governance

By: Carliss Y. Baldwin, Constance E. Bagley and James Quinn

Students are introduced to the basic framework for corporate governance. Begins by describing the complex role of the modern corporation, then proceeds by discussing the fiduciary duties to which a board of trustees is bound (duty of care, duty of loyalty, etc.), and... View Details

Keywords: Framework; Corporate Governance

April 1995
Supplement

Cooper Industries' Corporate Strategy (B)

By: David J. Collis and Elizabeth Wynne Johnson

Brings students up to date regarding a recent decision by the chairman. View Details

Keywords: Governing and Advisory Boards; Decisions; Corporate Strategy

January 2013 (Revised March 2013)
Case

Beth Stewart: Navigating the Boardroom

By: Boris Groysberg and Deborah Bell

After rising through the ranks of Corporate America, Beth Stewart has become a corporate director on the board of General Growth Properties. Stewart is struggling with how to address her mounting concerns over the financial health of the growing large publically traded... View Details

Keywords: Career Management; Women Executives; Women And Leadership; Boards Of Directors; Board Dynamics; Career Planning; Independent Directors; Leadership; Corporate Governance; Governing and Advisory Boards; Interpersonal Communication; Leadership Style; Personal Development and Career; Work-Life Balance; Real Estate Industry; United States

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

Keywords: Corporate Governance; Mission and Purpose; Governing and Advisory Boards; Business and Shareholder Relations; Performance; Measurement and Metrics

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06 Jan 2012
Op-Ed

Where Green Corporate Ratings Fail

climate-change regulation. Would IBM still be ranked the #1 American company in Newsweek's Green Rankings if the assessment took seriously the fact that IBM is a board member of the US Chamber of Commerce? Rankings could also account for... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Toffel & Auden Schendler; Information; Publishing

July 2013 (Revised October 2013)
Supplement

United Rentals (B)

By: Jay W. Lorsch and Kathleen Durante

In April 2012, Jenne Britell, the Chairman of the board of directors of United Rentals, Inc. (NYSE: URI) was preparing her notes for an upcoming stockholders' meeting. It was a meeting unlike most other meetings she had chaired. Stockholders were about to vote on a... View Details

Keywords: Boards Of Directors; Board Committees; Chairman; Governing and Advisory Boards; Corporate Governance; Construction Industry; North America

12 Feb 2008
Working Paper Summaries

The Small World of Investing: Board Connections and Mutual Fund Returns

Keywords: by Lauren H. Cohen, Andrea Frazzini & Christopher Malloy; Financial Services

May 2011
Article

Race at the Top: How Companies Shape the Inclusion of African Americans on Their Boards in Response to Institutional Pressures

By: Clayton S. Rose and William T. Bielby

Drawing on institutionalist theory, we conceptualize the racial composition of the boards of directors of large American companies as shaped in response to social and political norms. We use new longitudinal and cross-sectional data to test hypotheses about factors... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Governing and Advisory Boards; Race; Mathematical Methods; Government and Politics; Public Ownership; United States

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30 Jul 2001
What Do You Think?

What’s the Future of Corporate Governance?

parentheses are mine.) Shann Turnbull suggests that the world of corporate governance will benefit from the establishment of "a new type of corporate information and control architecture." In fact,... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

2005
Chapter

The Professionalization of Corporate Directors

By: Martin Lipton and Jay W. Lorsch

Keywords: Management Teams; Governing and Advisory Boards

2002
Book

Searching for a Corporate Savior: The Irrational Quest for Charismatic CEOs

By: Rakesh Khurana

Corporate CEOs are headline news. Stock prices rise and fall at word of their hiring and firing. Business media debate their merits and defects as if individual leaders determined the health of the economy. Yet we know surprisingly little about how CEOs are selected... View Details

Keywords: Managerial Roles; Selection and Staffing; Personal Characteristics; Experience and Expertise; Investment Activism; Corporate Strategy

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05 May 2003
Research & Ideas

Sharing the Responsibility of Corporate Governance

or breakup of the corporation has become inevitable. Thus, the CEO who asserted, "I have a duty to maximize value for my shareholders. I can't let my own sense of right and wrong get in the way," is just plain wrong as a matter... View Details

Keywords: by Carla Tishler

January 2020 (Revised July 2020)
Case

BlackRock: Linking Purpose to Profit

By: Aiyesha Dey

The case revolves around the actions that Barbara Novick, co-founder and Vice-Chair of Blackrock, and Michelle Edkins, Global Head of Investment Stewardship, would need to take in response to the controversial CEO letters from Laurence (Larry) Fink, Chairman and CEO of... View Details

2008
Chapter

Corporate Honesty and Business Education: A Behavioral Model

By: Rakesh Khurana and Herbert Gintis

Since the mid-1970s neoclassical economic theory has dominated business school thinking and teaching in dealing with the nature of human motivation. However valuable in understanding competitive product and financial markets, neoclassical economic theory employs an... View Details

Keywords: Business Education; Ethics; Managerial Roles; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Organizational Culture; Business and Shareholder Relations; Mathematical Methods; Behavior