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• Case | HBS Case Collection | 2013 (Revised from original 2012 version)

  Integrated Assurance at Philips Electronics N.V.

  Robert G. Eccles and Daniela Saltzman

  Philips Electronics is a leader in integrated reporting. In 2010 it produced its third generation report. Since its first report in 2008, Philips' integrated reports and its integrated reporting website had grown in sophistication. In planning for its integrated report for 2011, the company is exploring the issues that will need to be addressed in order to produce an integrated report. KPMG is the company's auditor for both the financial and nonfinancial information contained in the integrated report, but these are covered by separate assurance opinions. Among the challenges of providing an integrated audit is getting the internal measurement and control systems for nonfinancial information to be of the same quality as for financial information. A further challenge is that the cultures of the finance function and those who work in sustainability are very different.

  Keywords: Accounting Audits; Reports; Organizational Culture;

  Citation:

  Eccles, Robert G., and Daniela Saltzman. "Integrated Assurance at Philips Electronics N.V." Harvard Business School Case 412-054, May 2013. (Revised from original January 2012 version.)

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• Article | Journal of Economics & Management Strategy | Spring 2013

  Salience in Quality Disclosure: Evidence from the U.S. News College Rankings

  Michael Luca and Jonathan Smith

  How do rankings affect demand? This paper investigates the impact of college rankings, and the visibility of those rankings, on students' application decisions. Using natural experiments from U.S. News and World Report College Rankings, we present two main findings. First, we identify a causal impact of rankings on application decisions. When explicit rankings of colleges are published in U.S. News, a one-rank improvement leads to a 1-percentage-point increase in the number of applications to that college. Second, we show that the response to the information represented in rankings depends on the way in which that information is presented. Rankings have no effect on application decisions when colleges are listed alphabetically, even when readers are provided data on college quality and the methodology used to calculate rankings. This finding provides evidence that the salience of information is a central determinant of a firm's demand function, even for purchases as large as college attendance.

  Keywords: Rank and Position; Demand and Consumers; Quality; Decisions; Newspapers; United States;

  Citation:

  Luca, Michael, and Jonathan Smith. "Salience in Quality Disclosure: Evidence from the U.S. News College Rankings." Journal of Economics & Management Strategy 22, no. 1 (Spring 2013): 58–77.

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• Case | HBS Case Collection | 2013 (Revised from original 2010 version)

  Baxter's Asia Pacific 'Talent Edge' Initiative

  Jordan Siegel, Mimi Xi and Christopher Poliquin

  This case examines whether multinationals have a potential competitive weapon in aggressively exploiting social schisms in host labor markets and in hiring and promoting senior managers from excluded groups.

  Keywords: Labor; Selection and Staffing; Groups and Teams;

  Citation:

  Siegel, Jordan, Mimi Xi, and Christopher Poliquin. "Baxter's Asia Pacific 'Talent Edge' Initiative." Harvard Business School Case 711-408, March 2013. (Revised from original October 2010 version.)

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