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- April 22, 2021
- Article
Shareholders Are Pressing for Climate Risk Disclosures. That's Good for Everyone
By: Caroline Flammer, Michael W. Toffel and Kala Viswanathan
Does shareholder activism induce firms to voluntarily disclose climate change risks? And how do markets respond to these disclosures? New research finds that the extent of climate-risk disclosure increases by approximately 4.6% for each environment-related proposal...
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- February 2021
- Case
Shareholder Activists and Corporate Strategy
By: David J. Collis and Caeden Brynie
This library case examines the rise of shareholder activism in recent years, particularly in the public eye, and analyzes its effects on corporate strategy, growth, and shareholder value. It looks at three contemporary targets of shareholder activism in particular—Bed...
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- May 2020
- Article
The Creation and Evolution of Entrepreneurial Public Markets
By: Shai Bernstein, Abhishek Dev and Josh Lerner
This paper explores the creation and evolution of new stock exchanges around the world geared towards entrepreneurial companies, known as second-tier exchanges. Using hand-collected novel data, we document the proliferation of these new stock exchanges that were...
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- March 2020 (Revised May 2020)
- Case
CIAM: Home-Grown Shareholder Activism in France
By: Charles C.Y. Wang, Tonia Labruyere and Vincent Dessain
The case discusses the strategy of CIAM, a French activist investment firm, involved in a case of a buy-out of minority shareholders in the telecommunications sector. Altice NV, an international telecommunications company based in the Netherlands that owned more than...
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- 2021
- Working Paper
Shareholder Activism and Firms' Voluntary Disclosure of Climate Change Risks
By: Caroline Flammer, Michael W. Toffel and Kala Viswanathan
This paper examines whether—in the absence of mandated disclosure requirements—shareholder activism can elicit greater disclosure of firms’ exposure to climate change risks. We find that environmental shareholder activism increases the voluntary disclosure of climate...
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Keywords:
Shareholder Activism;
Climate Risk;
Corporate Accountability;
Climate Change;
Corporate Disclosure;
Corporate Governance;
Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact;
Business and Shareholder Relations;
Risk and Uncertainty;
Natural Environment;
Environmental Sustainability;
Financial Services Industry;
United States
- March 2018
- Teaching Note
Making Target the Target: Boycotts and Corporate Political Activity (A) and (B)
By: Nien-hê Hsieh and Victor Wu
Through the challenges facing Target, the case examines the ways in which corporations can become involved in political and legislative debates and processes, ranging from campaign contributions to lobbying. In 2016, Target CEO Brian Cornell must determine how to...
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Keywords:
Public Opinion;
Social Issues;
Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact;
Mission and Purpose;
Problems and Challenges;
Laws and Statutes;
Rights;
Crisis Management;
Risk Management;
Media;
Political Elections;
Taxation;
Corporate Accountability;
Values and Beliefs;
Fairness;
Diversity;
Customers;
Communication;
Business and Government Relations;
Retail Industry;
United States
- January 2018
- Case
Trian Partners' Proxy Contest at Procter & Gamble
By: Suraj Srinivasan and Quinn Pitcher
In July 2017, activist hedge fund Trian Partners announced that it was launching a proxy fight at U.S. consumer goods giant Procter & Gamble. P&G would be the largest company ever subjected to a proxy fight, as Trian sought to have its CEO, Nelson Peltz, elected to the...
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- June 2017
- Article
The Social Trajectory of a Finance Professor and the Common Sense of Capital
By: Marion Fourcade and Rakesh Khurana
This paper traces the career of Michael Jensen, a Chicago finance PhD turned Harvard Business School professor to reveal the intellectual and social conditions that enabled the emergence and institutionalization of what we call the “neoliberal common sense of capital,”...
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- Article
The Error at the Heart of Corporate Leadership
By: Joseph L. Bower and Lynn S. Paine
Agency theory, a new model of governance promulgated by academic economists in the 1970s, is behind the idea that corporate managers should make shareholder value their primary concern and that boards should ensure they do. The theory regards shareholders as owners of...
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- April 2017 (Revised August 2018)
- Case
Making Target the Target: Boycotts and Corporate Political Activity
By: Nien-hê Hsieh and Victor Wu
Through the challenges facing Target, the case examines ways in which corporations can become involved in political and legislative debates and processes, ranging from campaign contributions to lobbying to political activism. In 2016, Target CEO Brian Cornell must...
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Keywords:
Boycott;
Corporate Political Activity;
Lobbying;
Lgbtq;
Campaign Contributions;
Campaign Finance;
Retail;
Shareholder Activism;
Public Opinion;
Social Issues;
Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact;
Mission and Purpose;
Problems and Challenges;
Laws and Statutes;
Rights;
Crisis Management;
Risk Management;
Media;
Political Elections;
Taxation;
Corporate Accountability;
Values and Beliefs;
Fairness;
Diversity;
Customers;
Communication;
Business and Government Relations;
Retail Industry;
United States
- 2016
- Working Paper
The Effect of Shareholder Litigation Risk on the Information Environment: The Case of Cross-Listed Firms
By: Anywhere Sikochi
I document the causal link between shareholder litigation risk and cross-listed firms’ information environment by exploiting a quasi-natural experiment in the form of a reduction in litigation risk resulting from the 2010 Supreme Court ruling in Morrison v. National...
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- 2016
- Working Paper
Shareholder Activism on Sustainability Issues
By: Jody Grewal, George Serafeim and Aaron Yoon
Shareholder activism on sustainability issues has become increasingly prevalent over the years, with the number of proposals filed doubling from 1999 to 2013. We use recent innovations in accounting standard setting to classify 2,665 shareholder proposals that address...
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Keywords:
Sustainability;
Activism;
Activist Investors;
Activist Shareholder;
Corporate Social Responsibility;
Environment;
Corporate Performance;
Corporate Accountability;
Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact;
Performance;
Environmental Sustainability;
Corporate Governance;
Business and Shareholder Relations;
Investment Activism
- January 2016 (Revised January 2019)
- Supplement
The Allergan Board Under Fire (B)
By: Lynn S. Paine, Suraj Srinivasan, John C. Coates and David Lane
In 2014, the Allergan Inc. board of directors received a surprise takeover offer from Valeant Pharmaceuticals in alliance with hedge fund activist Bill Ackman's Pershing Square Capital Management. In the unprecedented arrangement between an acquirer and a hedge fund...
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Keywords:
Allergan, Inc.;
Valeant;
Ackman;
Pershing Square;
Tender Offer;
Activist Investors;
Business Models;
R＆d;
Board Of Directors;
Securities Litigation;
Acquisition Strategy;
Takeover Defenses;
Hedge Funds;
Shareholder Rights;
Proxy Contest;
Shareholder Special Meetings;
Legal Issues In Contested Takeovers;
Corporate Governance;
Investment Activism;
Business and Stakeholder Relations;
Business Model;
Business and Shareholder Relations;
Valuation;
Pharmaceutical Industry
- August 2015 (Revised September 2015)
- Case
Shareholder Activists and Corporate Strategy
By: David Collis and Ashley Hartman
By 2015, there had been an upsurge in activist shareholders arguing for radical changes in companies' corporate strategies. Personalities like Carl Icahn, Bill Ackman, and Daniel Loeb were feared and loathed in some quarters, celebrated in others. With nearly $120...
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Keywords:
Scope;
Activist Investors;
Spin-offs;
Synergy;
Diversification;
Consolidation;
Hedge Fund;
Corporate Strategy
- February 2015
- Case
CLP: Powering Asia
By: George Serafeim, Rebecca Henderson and Dawn Lau
Richard Lancaster, taking over from Andrew Brandler, was the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of CLP Holdings Ltd., one of the leading power companies in Asia, with operations in China, Southeast Asia, Taiwan, Australia, and India, and an energy portfolio spanning coal,...
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- 2014
- Working Paper
Activist Directors: Determinants and Consequences
By: Ian D. Gow, Sa-Pyung Sean Shin and Suraj Srinivasan
This paper examines the determinants and consequences of hedge fund activism with a focus on activist directors, i.e., those directors appointed in response to demands by activists. Using a sample of 1,969 activism events over the period 2004–2012, we identify 824...
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- 2014
- Working Paper
The Role of the Corporation in Society: An Alternative View and Opportunities for Future Research
By: George Serafeim
A long-standing ideology in business education has been that a corporation is run for the sole interest of its shareholders. I present an alternative view where increasing concentration of economic activity and power in the world's largest corporations, the Global...
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Keywords:
Corporate Social Responsibility;
Corporate Governance;
Environment;
Environmental And Social Sustainability;
Sustainability;
Sustainability Reporting;
Sustainability Research;
Sustainability Targets;
Corporate Performance;
Corporate Accountability;
Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact
- 2014
- Chapter
Can For-Profit Corporations Be Good Citizens? Perspectives from Four Business Leaders
By: Nien-he Hsieh
This chapter serves an epilogue, turning to ask practitioners how they would answer the question, "Can for-profit corporations be good citizens?" In reflecting on their answers, the chapter puts forward an account that grounds the purpose and responsibilities of...
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- March 2014 (Revised May 2014)
- Teaching Note
The TELUS Share Conversion Proposal
By: Lucy White and Benjamin C. Esty
On February 21, 2013, TELUS announced a proposal to convert the firm's non-voting shares into voting shares on a one-to-one basis, thereby eliminating the firm's dual class structure. Shareholders were scheduled to vote on the proposal at the firm's annual general...
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Keywords:
Proxy Contest;
Proxy Battle;
Proxy Advisor;
Iss;
Glass Lewis ＆ Co.;
Hedge Fund;
Short Selling;
Share Lending;
Telecommunications;
Voting Rights;
Empty Voting;
Equity Decoupling;
Share Unification;
Dual Class Shares;
Canada;
Exchange Ratio;
Shareholder Activism;
Shareholder Votes;
Investment Activism;
Public Equity;
Capital Structure;
Investment Return;
Corporate Governance;
Corporate Finance;
Ownership Stake;
Business and Shareholder Relations;
Valuation;
Telecommunications Industry;
Canada;
British Columbia;
United States;
New York (city, NY)
- 2016
- Working Paper
Consequences to Directors of Shareholder Activism
By: Ian D. Gow, Sa-Pyung Sean Shin and Suraj Srinivasan
Using a comprehensive sample for 2004–2012, we examine the impact of shareholder activist campaigns on the careers of directors of targeted firms. We find that activism is associated with directors being almost twice as likely to leave—and performance-sensitivity of...
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