Relationships →
- 03 Oct 2017
- Sharpening Your Skills
7 Effective Ways to Lead Teams
Managers of teams require communications skills, organizational capabilities, and a knack for judging how people might work together. Research from Harvard Business School investigates the challenges of team leadership. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 25 Sep 2017
- Research & Ideas
Why Politics is Failing America, and What Business Can Do To Help
How could a country that epitomized the success of modern democracy have fallen into such a state of failure? Michael Porter and Katherine Gehl find a rigged American political system that limits competition and works against the public interest. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 28 Aug 2017
- Research & Ideas
Should Industry Competitors Cooperate More to Solve World Problems?
George Serafeim has a theory that if industry competitors collaborated more, big world problems could start to be addressed. Is that even possible in a market economy? Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 25 Aug 2017
- Op-Ed
Op-Ed: After Charlottesville, Where Does a CEO's Responsibility Lie?
Donald Trump, the "business president," has recently had serious disagreements with some of the most powerful CEOs in the country. Gautam Mukunda discusses the responsibility of business leaders to themselves, their companies, and their country. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 18 Aug 2017
- Op-Ed
Op-Ed: Courageous Leader Triggers a Moral Revolt of CEOs Against Trump
CEOs are responsible to uphold their company’s mission and values, says Bill George. When these values are violated, even by the president of the United States, they are obliged to take a clear stand. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 31 Jul 2017
- HBS Case
It’s Hard to Fix the Family Business Without Offending the Family
Navigating complex relationships and understanding unwritten processes are among the many challenges of transitioning a family-owned business to the next generation. Len Schlesinger, Michael Raiche, and Roger Zhu discuss the dilemmas of a small Vietnamese restaurant in the case study “Pho Hoa Dorchester.” Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 17 Jul 2017
- Working Paper Summaries
The Relevance of Broker Networks for Information Diffusion in the Stock Market
How information is generated by market participants, shared, and incorporated into prices is one of the key questions for understanding how financial markets operate. This study finds that intermediaries play a large role in the acquisition and dissemination of private information, which they extract from order flow and, more generally, from interaction with clients.
- 17 Jul 2017
- Op-Ed
Op-Ed: As America Recedes from Global Leadership, Its CEOs are Stepping Up
CEOs and other business leaders are speaking loud and clear on global issues of monumental importance, says Bill George. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 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; 0 Comments.
- 04 May 2017
- Cold Call Podcast
Leading a Team to the Top of Mount Everest
In a podcast, Amy Edmondson describes how students learn about team communication and decision making by making a simulated climb up Mount Everest. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 26 Apr 2017
- Working Paper Summaries
Assessing the Quality of Quality Assessment: The Role of Scheduling
Accurate inspections enable companies to assess the quality, safety, and environmental practices of their business partners, and enable regulators to protect consumers, workers, and the environment. This study finds that inspectors are less stringent later in their workday and after visiting workplaces with fewer problems. Managers and regulators can improve inspection accuracy by mitigating these biases and their consequences.
- 26 Apr 2017
- Working Paper Summaries
Is the SEC Captured? Evidence from Comment-Letter Reviews
Evidence from analysis of comment-letter reviews suggests a nuanced relation between politically connected firms and oversight by the Securities and Exchange Commission. SEC capture, if it exists, may be less blatant or pronounced than previously thought.
- 03 Apr 2017
- What Do You Think?
How About Investing in Human Infrastructure?
As long as we’re talking about a trillion-dollar government-industry initiative on infrastructure, why not invest in humans as well as bridges? asks James Heskett. What do YOU think? Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 15 Feb 2017
- Op-Ed
What Africa Can Teach the United States About Funding Infrastructure Projects
John Macomber explains why the solution to America’s infrastructure woes may lie in finance models that have proven successful in several nations in Africa. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 03 Jan 2017
- Working Paper Summaries
Meet the Oligarchs: Business Legitimacy, State Capacity and Taxation
What role do people’s beliefs about the rich play in the determination of public policy? This study focuses on three policy domains: public-private sector meetings (assumed to be an important determinant of state capacity), demand for taxation of the top 1 percent, and business regulation. Results overall suggest that trust in business and government operate differently in people’s mind. While business legitimacy leads to a lower demand for regulation, this is not so clear-cut for trust in government.
- 22 Dec 2016
- Op-Ed
The Small Business Administration is a Model for How to Drive Economic Growth
Responding to a recent editorial in the Washington Post, Karen Mills argues that the Small Business Administration is an effective public-private partnership model that fuels economic growth, access, and opportunity for all Americans. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 30 Nov 2016
- Op-Ed
Where Could More Regulation Help Small Businesses? Online Lending.
The regulatory system overseeing the financial technology industry is a tangle of multiple agencies and inconsistent rules. Karen Mills and Brayden McCarthy propose a six-point plan to regulate online lending. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 08 Nov 2016
- Working Paper Summaries
Managers' Cultural Background and Disclosure Attributes
How does the cultural background of executives affect the way in which they communicate with investors? This paper examines the impact of cultural backgrounds of individual managers based on their ethnic heritage on their disclosure narrative during earnings conference calls. Among the findings, managers from individualistic cultures are likely to use a more positive tone, use greater self-reference, and make fewer apologies in the Q&A portion of the conference calls. The capital market reacts to disclosure style in a predictable way: optimistic tone is associated with a positive stock return following the call. However, market participants do not adjust their interpretation of disclosure tone for firm value based on the cultural background of the management team.
- 07 Nov 2016
- Research & Ideas
Corporate Tax Strategies Mirror Personal Returns of Top Execs
Top executives who are inclined to reduce personal taxes might also benefit shareholders in their companies, concludes research by Gerardo Pérez Cavazos and Andreya M. Silva. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
Fearing Fox News, Democratic-leaning Companies Delayed Negative Announcements
Jonas Heese and Vishal P. Baloria explore strategies used by companies to reduce the risk of potentially negative press, focusing on Fox News and the 2000 presidential election. Open for comment; 0 Comments.