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New research on governance from Harvard Business School faculty on issues including governance policy, Boards and other governing institutions and the influence of shareholders and government regulators.
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Can Mark Zuckerberg Rebuild Trust in Facebook?

Bill George discusses his case study, "Facebook Confronts a Crisis of Trust," including why Zuckerberg handled the crisis as he did, the role of companies in protecting privacy, and the pros and cons of regulation. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

Fintech's Game-Changing Opportunities for Small Business

by Martha Lagace

In the new book Fintech, Small Business, & the American Dream, Karen Mills describes how technology is opening up new capital for entrepreneurs. Around the corner: The transformative benefits of AI and big data. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

Managed Ecosystems and Translucent Institutional Logics: Engaging Communities

by Elizabeth J. Altman, Frank Nagle, and Michael Tushman

Organizations increasingly rely on engagement with external communities of contributors. This paper explores transitions to a managed-ecosystem governance mode and its implications for strategy and innovation. To be successful, firms must develop the capabilities to shepherd communities, leverage without exploiting them, and share intellectual property rights.

How Wegmans Became a Leader in Improving Food Safety

Re: Ray A. Goldberg

Ray Goldberg discusses how the CEO of the Wegmans grocery chain faced a food safety issue and then helped the industry become more proactive. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

Everyone Knows Innovation is Essential to Business Success—Except Board Directors

by Michael Blanding

In a recent survey of 5,000 board members, innovation was not ranked high on their list of priorities. What are they not seeing? ask Boris Groysberg and Yo-Jud Cheng. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

SUMMING UP: Do We Need an Artificial Intelligence Czar?

by James Heskett

Having government oversee artificial intelligence development is either a sure way to kill a promising technology or the only way to keep our robot overlords at bay. James Heskett's readers debate. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

How Companies Can Increase Market Rewards for Sustainability Efforts

by Rachel Layne

There is a connection between public sentiment about a company and how the market rewards its corporate social performance, according to George Serafeim. Is your company undervalued? Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

Complex Disclosure

by Ginger Zhe Jin, Michael Luca, and Daniel Martin

This study shows that companies looking to hide unfavorable information might strategically be making contract terms unnecessarily complex, harming consumers and undermining the effectiveness of disclosure. These results highlight a role for regulation that would encourage simpler forms of disclosure.

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

by James Heskett

SUMMING UP: Executives fired fairly or unfairly over worker violence and harassment charges are about to seek new jobs. James Heskett's readers have widely divergent beliefs about whether they should ever be considered for new posts. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

A Simple Way for Restaurant Inspectors to Improve Food Safety

by Carmen Nobel

Basic tweaks to the schedules of food safety inspectors could prevent millions of foodborne illnesses, according to new behavioral science research by Maria Ibáñez and Michael Toffel. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

If the CEO’s High Salary Isn't Justified to Employees, Firm Performance May Suffer

by Dina Gerdeman

Researcher Ethan Rouen discovers that rank-and-file employees understand the boss deserves a big salary, but only when the number is fully explained. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

In the Wake of #MeToo, Should Corporate Boards Hire Compliance Officers?

by James Heskett

SUMMING UP—How can boards end sexual harassment in their organizations? James Heskett's readers propose remedies including this good first step: Put more women in leadership roles. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

What Are the Real Lessons of the Wells Fargo Case?

by James Heskett

SUMMING UP James Heskett's readers identify key failures in Wells Fargo's culture and leadership. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

Op-Ed: In Tackling #MeToo, Don’t Ignore Micro-Insults That Harm Women’s Careers

by Rosabeth Moss Kanter

The #MeToo movement is giving women power to speak out against sexual harassment, but Rosabeth Moss Kanter worries about less visible, but still harmful, "micro-insults" that undermine careers of women. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

An Invitation to Market Design

by Scott Duke Kominers, Alexander Teytelboym, and Vincent P. Crawford

Effective market design can improve liquidity, efficiency, and equity in markets. This paper illustrates best practices in market design through three examples: the design of medical residency matching programs, a scrip system to allocate food donations to food banks, and the recent “Incentive Auction” that reallocated wireless spectrum from television broadcasters to telecoms.

Op-Ed: Google Engineer Deserved to be Fired by the CEO

by Bill George

Was Google CEO Sundar Pichai right to fire engineer James Damore after his condemnation of the company's diversity initiatives? Of course, answers Bill George; treating colleagues as gender stereotypes rather than as individuals poisons the workplace. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

Summing Up: What Are the Limits of CEO Activism?

by James Heskett

Do CEOs have a responsibility to speak out when they encounter social injustice? James Heskett's readers offer a variety of viewpoints. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

Structural Transformation: A Competitiveness-based View

by Christian Ketels

A critical challenge for many economies is how to accelerate structural change when market forces alone seem insufficient. This paper explores the relationship between two approaches. The Structural Transformation framework argues for identifying and supporting target sectors in line with ‘latent’ competitive advantages. The competitiveness framework emphasizes the need to systematically strengthen competitive advantages, with new sectors the outcome rather than the driver of competitiveness upgrading.

Investors as Stewards of the Commons?

by George Serafeim

This paper lays out a framework suggesting that index investors and adequately funded asset owners are a potential mechanism to build and sustain pre-competitive collaborations for addressing environmental and social issues. With long time horizons and significant common ownership of companies within the same industry or supply chain, investors could serve as vehicles for the establishment and/or stability of collaborations between companies.

Rethinking Measurement of Pay Disparity and Its Relation to Firm Performance

by Ethan Rouen

Among this paper’s contributions is evidence that different types of pay disparity matter in different ways to firm employees, and that disparity created by pay that is unrelated to the economics of the firm negatively impacts employee satisfaction, with consequences for firm performance. The paper also gives investors and proxy advisors a roadmap to interpret pay ratios and pay disparity. This roadmap may help regulators and firms to, respectively, mandate and prepare more informative disclosures.