Publications

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2016
Working Paper

Managing Reputation: Evidence from Biographies of Corporate Directors

By: Ian D. Gow, Aida Sijamic Wahid and Gwen Yu

We examine how corporate directors manage reputation through disclosure choices in biographies in proxy statements filed with the SEC. Directors are more likely to withhold information about directorships at firms that experienced adverse events. Withholding such... View Details

Keywords: Director Monitoring; Strategic Disclosure; Management; Corporate Disclosure; Reputation

SSRN

March 2015
Teaching Note

McKinsey & Co.—Protecting its Reputation (A) and (B)

By: Jay Lorsch and Emily McTague

McKinsey & Co—Protecting its Reputation (A&B) is a field case written from the perspective of the Firm's Managing Director Dominic Barton. The two cases describe the actions McKinsey & Co took to protect the firm's reputation after the Rajat Gupta matter.
The... View Details

Keywords: Consulting Firms; Leadership & Corporate Accountability; Leadership And Change Management; Leadership And Managing People; Leading A Global Business; Corporate Culture; Professional Service Firms; Professional Service Firm; Leadership; Corporate Accountability; Corporate Governance; Organizational Culture; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Consulting Industry; United States

04 Mar 2014
Working Paper Summaries

Consequences to Directors of Shareholder Activism

Keywords: by Ian D. Gow, Sa-Pyung Sean Shin & Suraj Srinivasan

July 2014 (Revised October 2014)
Supplement

McKinsey & Co. - Protecting its Reputation (B)

By: Jay Lorsch and Emily McTague

On Tuesday March 15, 2011, all 1,200 global Partners of McKinsey & Co. gathered at the Gaylord National Hotel & Convention Center near Washington, DC for their annual Partners' conference. The atmosphere was tense as Partners, in addition to their normal agenda,... View Details

Keywords: Board; McKinsey; CONSULTING Firms; Risk; Risk Assessment; Partnerships; Insider Trading; Confidentiality; Personal Investing; Reputation; Corporate Accountability; Corporate Governance; Management Practices and Processes; Risk Management; Construction Industry; United States; California

17 Oct 2024
Research & Ideas

The Reputation Risks of Sharing Fake News

The paper, “Partisans Neither Expect Nor Receive Reputational Rewards for Sharing Falsehoods Over Truth Online,” was led by Isaias Ghezae, a doctoral student in social psychology at Harvard University, co-led by Jordan, and coauthored by... View Details

Keywords: by Avery Forman

July 2014 (Revised October 2014)
Case

McKinsey & Co. - Protecting its Reputation (A)

By: Jay Lorsch and Emily McTague

On Tuesday March 15, 2011, all 1,200 global Partners of McKinsey & Co. gathered at the Gaylord National Hotel & Convention Center near Washington, DC for their annual Partners' conference. The atmosphere was tense as Partners, in addition to their normal agenda,... View Details

Keywords: Board; McKinsey; Consulting Firms; Risk; Risk Assessment; Partnerships; Insider Trading; Confidentiality; Personal Investing; Reputation; Corporate Accountability; Corporate Governance; Management Practices and Processes; Risk Management; Consulting Industry; United States; California

10 Nov 2016
Working Paper Summaries

Managing Reputation: Evidence from Biographies of Corporate Directors

Keywords: by Ian D. Gow, Aida Sijamic Wahid, and Gwen Yu

February 2014
Article

Accountability of Independent Directors—Evidence from Firms Subject to Securities Litigation

By: Francois Brochet and Suraj Srinivasan

We examine which independent directors are held accountable when investors sue firms for financial- and disclosure-related fraud. Investors can name independent directors as defendants in lawsuits, and they can vote against their re-election to express displeasure over... View Details

Keywords: Independent Directors; Litigation Risk; Class Action Lawsuits; Director Accountability; Reputation; Boards Of Directors; Corporate Governance; Debt Securities; Corporate Accountability; Lawsuits and Litigation

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Find at Harvard

Program

Preparing to Be a Corporate Director

opportunities in corporate board service. You will gain a greater understanding of the role and responsibilities of corporate directors and the challenges you can expect to face in that role. By completing this program, you will signal... View Details

13 Sep 2006
Op-Ed

Rising CEO Pay: What Directors Should Do

political dynamite and damages the reputation of American business. The only existing pressure to keep CEO pay "reasonable" other than the directors' consciences is a concern about shareholder reaction to excess compensation,... View Details

Keywords: by Jay W. Lorsch

October 2012 (Revised February 2013)
Case

Jim Johnson's Re-election to the Goldman Sachs Board

By: Suraj Srinivasan and Kelly Baker

The case presents the opposition by a leading institutional investor in Goldman Sachs to the re-election of Jim Johnson to the board of directors of the company. The investor, Sequoia Fund, opposes the re-election citing Jim Johnson's prior track record as the CEO of... View Details

Keywords: Board Of Directors; Corporate Governance; Director Elections; Goldman Sachs; Reputation; Institutional Investing; Governing and Advisory Boards; Corporate Accountability; Banking Industry; New York (city, NY)

June 2025
Article

What Board-level Control Mechanisms Changed in Banks Following the 2008 Financial Crisis? A Descriptive Study

By: Shelly Li, Shivram Rajgopal, Suraj Srinivasan and Yu Ting Forester Wong

Following the 2008 financial crisis, the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission (FCIC) identified major shortcomings in bank board governance, contributing to systemic risk management failures. This study adapts a management control framework and empirically examines... View Details

Keywords: Board Of Directors; Management Control; Governing and Advisory Boards; Governance Controls; Risk Management; Change Management; Banks and Banking; Financial Crisis

SSRN

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04 Jun 2018
What Do You Think?

Are There Conditions Under Which Directors Should Consider Hiring a CEO Fired Elsewhere for Inappropriate Behavior?

David Wittenberg wrote that a board that would automatically disqualify such fired managers might be playing it too safe. “When a board of directors identifies a candidate with the right skills, personality and track record, it should be... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

March 2011 (Revised December 2019)
Case

Wealth Management Crisis at UBS (A)

By: Paul M. Healy

The case describes the challenges that UBS faced as a result of the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) investigation for tax fraud, that claimed that UBS had helped some 52,000 U.S. residents hide billions of dollars in untaxed assets in secret Swiss accounts between... View Details

March 2004 (Revised January 2008)
Case

Samsung Electronics Company: Global Marketing Operations

By: John A. Quelch

Samsung's global marketing director is assessing how to build the global brand reputation of the company further and upgrade the company's worldwide brand image. To show how to build a global brand. View Details

Keywords: Global Range; Globalized Firms and Management; Brands and Branding; Reputation