In the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, Harvard Business School (HBS) leadership urged faculty seeking to contribute to not overthink their engagement—to do what they could for whom they could. That hit home with HBS faculty member Euvin Naidoo. Naidoo set out to bring the best of HBS and Africa together to share expertise and thought leadership via a webinar series.
Strategy and Capital Markets, on June 18, featured Professors Siko Sikochi and Laura Alfaro, with guest speakers Faheen Allibhoy (MBA 2003, managing director, head of the JP Morgan Development Finance Institution) and Victor Williams (MBA 1998, head, corporate and investment banking, Africa regions, Standard Bank), moderated by Euvin Naidoo.
Based in Cairo, Afreximbank was founded in October 1993 as a specialized continental financial institution designed to address the low level of intra-African trade, the decline in financial flows to Africa, the worsening external debt situation of many African countries, and the sharp reduction in lending to Africa by international commercial banks. This case study explores how the Bank introduced the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) to improve the Bank’s performance management system. The goal was to transform the Bank’s bureaucratic culture and processes into one more attuned to the fast-paced and dramatic changes happening in Africa. The case examines how the BSC is being used to implement the Bank’s strategy and the issues arising from its implementation, and the case facilitates a discussion on whether the Bank had become entrepreneurial enough to keep pace with the continent’s thriving, emerging markets.
On August 7, 2018 Elon Musk, Chairman and CEO of Tesla tweeted that he was considering taking Tesla private and had secured funding. Weeks went by without details about a deal and speculation grew that Musk had misled investors. He soon abandoned the idea, but the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged him with violating securities laws by either knowingly or recklessly misleading investors. The lawsuit was settled with Musk agreeing to step down as Tesla chairman for three years while remaining as a director on the board and CEO. On November 7, 2018, Tesla announced the appointment of Robyn Denholm as Chair of the Tesla Board. Observers were cautiously optimistic that an independent chairman could ease longstanding governance concerns. Ms. Denholm was regarded as a good choice, but details about her role remained unclear and the jury was still out on her independence from Musk.
Anywhere (Siko) Sikochi is an assistant professor in the Accounting and Management unit, where he teaches the Financial Reporting and Control course in the MBA required curriculum. His research is directed at information disclosure, debt contracting, and credit risks associated with firm operations and organizational forms.
Professor Sikochi earned his PhD in business administration at the Penn State Smeal College of Business, where he taught financial accounting in the Executive MBA program. He previously received an MBA from the University of Virginia Darden School of Business. Before his graduate studies, Professor Sikochi worked at a branch of FTI Consulting and at Charles River Associates.
A native of Zimbabwe, Professor Sikochi came to the United States to attend Middlebury College, graduating with majors in economics and Russian. He is active in the EducationUSA United States Student Achievers Program, which helped him prepare for U.S. higher education. He is also engaged in the PhD Project, an organization with a mission to increase the diversity of U.S. business school faculty. He and his wife are parents of three children.
- Featured Work
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In the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, Harvard Business School (HBS) leadership urged faculty seeking to contribute to not overthink their engagement—to do what they could for whom they could. That hit home with HBS faculty member Euvin Naidoo. Naidoo set out to bring the best of HBS and Africa together to share expertise and thought leadership via a webinar series.
Strategy and Capital Markets, on June 18, featured Professors Siko Sikochi and Laura Alfaro, with guest speakers Faheen Allibhoy (MBA 2003, managing director, head of the JP Morgan Development Finance Institution) and Victor Williams (MBA 1998, head, corporate and investment banking, Africa regions, Standard Bank), moderated by Euvin Naidoo.
Based in Cairo, Afreximbank was founded in October 1993 as a specialized continental financial institution designed to address the low level of intra-African trade, the decline in financial flows to Africa, the worsening external debt situation of many African countries, and the sharp reduction in lending to Africa by international commercial banks. This case study explores how the Bank introduced the Balanced Scorecard (BSC) to improve the Bank’s performance management system. The goal was to transform the Bank’s bureaucratic culture and processes into one more attuned to the fast-paced and dramatic changes happening in Africa. The case examines how the BSC is being used to implement the Bank’s strategy and the issues arising from its implementation, and the case facilitates a discussion on whether the Bank had become entrepreneurial enough to keep pace with the continent’s thriving, emerging markets.
On August 7, 2018 Elon Musk, Chairman and CEO of Tesla tweeted that he was considering taking Tesla private and had secured funding. Weeks went by without details about a deal and speculation grew that Musk had misled investors. He soon abandoned the idea, but the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged him with violating securities laws by either knowingly or recklessly misleading investors. The lawsuit was settled with Musk agreeing to step down as Tesla chairman for three years while remaining as a director on the board and CEO. On November 7, 2018, Tesla announced the appointment of Robyn Denholm as Chair of the Tesla Board. Observers were cautiously optimistic that an independent chairman could ease longstanding governance concerns. Ms. Denholm was regarded as a good choice, but details about her role remained unclear and the jury was still out on her independence from Musk.
- Journal Articles
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- Working Papers
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- Hauptmann, Clarissa, and Anywhere Sikochi. "Corporate Leadership and Creditor Recovery Rates: Evidence from Executive Gender." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 20-087, February 2020. View Details
- Eliner, Liran, Anywhere Sikochi, and Suraj Srinivasan. "Going Local: The Effects of a Local Presence by Global Rating Agencies." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 20-083, February 2020. View Details
- Alhusaini, Badryah, Rick Laux, Henock Louis, and Anywhere Sikochi. "Does the Non-Repatriation of Foreign Cash Negatively Affect U.S. Firms' Operations? Evidence from Product Market Competitiveness." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 17-049, December 2016. View Details
- Sikochi, Anywhere. "The Effect of Shareholder Litigation Risk on the Information Environment: The Case of Cross-Listed Firms." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 17-048, December 2016. View Details
- Cases and Teaching Materials
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- Sikochi, Siko, and Hayley (Le) Ma. "LULA: Transforming Transport and Mobility (C)." Harvard Business School Supplement 120-092, March 2020. (Revised July 2020.) View Details
- Sikochi, Siko, and Hayley (Le) Ma. "LULA: Transforming Transport and Mobility (B)." Harvard Business School Supplement 120-091, March 2020. (Revised July 2020.) View Details
- Sikochi, Siko, and Hayley (Le) Ma. "LULA: Transforming Transport and Mobility (A)." Harvard Business School Case 120-090, March 2020. (Revised July 2020.) View Details
- Kaplan, Robert S., Siko Sikochi, and Josh Steimle. "Performance Management at Afreximbank." Harvard Business School Case 120-029, March 2020. (Revised July 2020.) View Details
- Sikochi, Siko, and Suraj Srinivasan. "Tesla, Inc. in 2018." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 119-101, May 2019. View Details
- Sikochi, Anywhere (Siko). "Steinhoff International and the Stock Exchange." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 119-014, May 2019. View Details
- Sikochi, Siko, and Paul Healy. "Revenue Recognition at HBP." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 119-015, December 2018. View Details
- Sikochi, Siko, Suraj Srinivasan, and Quinn Pitcher. "Tesla, Inc. in 2018." Harvard Business School Case 119-013, November 2018. (Revised January 2020.) View Details
- Healy, Paul, and Siko Sikochi. "Revenue Recognition at HBP." Harvard Business School Case 119-029, August 2018. (Revised July 2020.) View Details
- Sikochi, Siko, and Austin Lim. "Steinhoff International and the Stock Exchange." Harvard Business School Case 118-066, February 2018. (Revised October 2019.) View Details
- Sikochi, Siko, and Suraj Srinivasan. "Fair Value Accounting Controversy at Noble Group (A) and (B)." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 118-063, January 2018. (Revised March 2018.) View Details
- Sikochi, Siko, Suraj Srinivasan, and Quinn Pitcher. "Fair Value Accounting at Noble Group (B)." Harvard Business School Supplement 118-062, January 2018. (Revised August 2018.) View Details
- Sikochi, Siko, Suraj Srinivasan, and Quinn Pitcher. "Fair Value Accounting at Noble Group (A)." Harvard Business School Case 118-034, November 2017. (Revised August 2018.) View Details
- Research Summary
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Professor Sikochi studies the implications of the choices firms make in regard to voluntary disclosure, debt contracting, and credit risks for their operations and organizational structure.
In his investigation of the legal separation of parent companies and their subsidiaries, which is often driven by overseas operations, Professor Sikochi has shown that such a separation increases the recovery risk of the parent company’s creditors, resulting in a higher cost of debt for the parent company.
Professor Sikochi’s interest in cross-listed firms—those that invest in overseas financial markets, commonly to fund investments in their home countries—is the basis for another study. In examining the effect of shareholder litigation risk on cross-listed firms’ information environments, he has documented higher information asymmetry for cross-listed firms following a significant U.S. Supreme Court ruling. This finding suggests that shareholder litigation risk is a significant factor in shaping these firms’ information environments.
- Teaching
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Professor Sikochi teaches the required first-year MBA course Financial Reporting and Control. He is also a guest instructor in the second-year MBA elective course Doing Business in Africa.
- Awards & Honors
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Lifetime membership in the International Honor Society Beta Gamma Sigma.
Recipient of a 2015 Clement-Dawkins Travel Scholarship.
Recipient of a W. Edward and Kay M. Hastings Graduate Scholarship, 2012 and 2015.
Recipient of a 2015 Edward and Susan Wilson Graduate Scholarship in Business.
Selected as an American Accounting Association/Deloitte Foundation/J. Michael Cook Doctoral Consortium Fellow in 2015.
Recipient of a KPMG Foundation Doctoral Scholarship, 2011-2015.
Recipient of a 2014 American Accounting Association Diversity Section Doctoral Travel Scholarship.
Recipient of the 2014 William A. and Joan L. Schreyer Graduate Scholarship.
Recipient of a 2014 Peter E. Liberti and Judy D. Olian Scholarship.
Recipient of a 2013 J. Kenneth and Nancy N. Jones Graduate Scholarship.
Recipient of a 2012 Frank P. and Mary Jean Smeal Endowment Fund Scholarship.
Recipient of the 2017 FARS Excellence in Reviewing Award from the Financial Accounting and Reporting Section (FARS) of the American Accounting Association.
- Additional Information
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- Areas of Interest
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- In The News
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