Governance
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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?
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.
- 09 May 2018
- Research & Ideas
A Simple Way for Restaurant Inspectors to Improve Food Safety
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.
- 17 Jan 2018
- Research & Ideas
If the CEO’s High Salary Isn't Justified to Employees, Firm Performance May Suffer
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.
- 03 Jan 2018
- What Do You Think?
In the Wake of #MeToo, Should Corporate Boards Hire Compliance Officers?
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.
- 01 Nov 2017
- What Do You Think?
What Are the Real Lessons of the Wells Fargo Case?
SUMMING UP James Heskett's readers identify key failures in Wells Fargo's culture and leadership. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.
- 31 Oct 2017
- Op-Ed
Op-Ed: In Tackling #MeToo, Don’t Ignore Micro-Insults That Harm Women’s Careers
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.
- 19 Sep 2017
- Working Paper Summaries
An Invitation to Market Design
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.
- 14 Sep 2017
- Op-Ed
Op-Ed: Google Engineer Deserved to be Fired by the CEO
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.
- 06 Sep 2017
- What Do You Think?
Summing Up: What Are the Limits of CEO Activism?
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.
- 05 Sep 2017
- Working Paper Summaries
Structural Transformation: A Competitiveness-based View
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.
- 22 Aug 2017
- Working Paper Summaries
Investors as Stewards of the Commons?
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.
- 11 Aug 2017
- Working Paper Summaries
Rethinking Measurement of Pay Disparity and Its Relation to Firm Performance
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.
- 07 Aug 2017
- Working Paper Summaries
Governance Through Shame and Aspiration: Index Creation and Corporate Behavior in Japan
By exploiting the unique features of Japan’s JPX-Nikkei 400 index, this paper examines how membership in a stock index serves as a source of prestige that can motivate managers and influence corporate governance norms. Findings are important for understanding non-pecuniary mechanisms to induce meaningful changes in corporate behavior.
- 19 Jul 2017
- Research & Ideas
Why Government 'Nudges' Motivate Good Citizen Behavior
Research by John Beshears and colleagues finds that psychological nudges can be a cost-effective way for governments to get citizens to do the right thing. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.
- 13 Jul 2017
- Working Paper Summaries
Catering Through Disclosure: Evidence from Shanghai-Hong Kong Connect
The researcher studies firms’ use of disclosure to build investor confidence when they operate in a market where the institutions that support the supply of credible information are weak.
- 31 May 2017
- Working Paper Summaries
Stock Price Synchronicity and Material Sustainability Information
This paper seeks to understand and provide evidence on the characteristics of emerging accounting standards for sustainability information. Given that a large number of institutional investors seek sustainability data and have committed to using it, it is increasingly important to develop a robust accounting infrastructure for the reporting of such information.
- 09 May 2017
- What Do You Think?
Should Management Be Primarily Responsible to Shareholders?
SUMMING UP Opinions among James Heskett's readers are divided over a critical corporate governance question: Should management put the shorter-term interests of shareholders over the longer-term needs of the company? Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.
- 08 Mar 2017
- Op-Ed
Op-Ed: Can the Proposed American Health Care Act Improve on 'Obamacare'?
Politics aside, the primary question to be asked about the newly proposed American Health Care Act is this: Will it improve choice, cost, and outcomes for health care consumers? Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.
- 14 Dec 2016
- Working Paper Summaries
The State of Small Business Lending: Innovation and Technology and the Implications for Regulation
New online fintech competitors have entered the small business lending space, filling a gap in small-dollar loans. More than 70 percent of small businesses seek loans in amounts under $250,000 and more than 60 percent want loans under $100,000. Gaps in regulation of the alternative small business lending market create issues of oversight and concerns about predatory lending. The paper first describes the current market for small business lending, including the new disruptors, and presents strategic alternatives for existing banks to partner with fintech entrants and compete in the new environment. The authors then describe the current regulatory environment with its large number of agencies, each with overlapping authority and mandates, and provide a set of recommendations for regulatory activity that will protect borrowers and investors in this space. These recommendations address concerns about systemic risk while trying to avoid dampening innovation that is filling the gap in small business access to credit.
Complex Disclosure
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.