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    Executive CompensationRemove Executive Compensation →

    New research on executive compensation from Harvard Business School faculty on issues including who really determines CEO salary packages, strategies for determining compensation, and the importance of limiting corporate excesses in encouraging executives to behave more responsibly toward society.
    Page 1 of 11 Results
    • 29 Jul 2022
    • Research & Ideas

    Will Demand for Women Executives Finally Shrink the Gender Pay Gap?

    by Kristen Senz

    Women in senior management have more negotiation power than they think in today's labor market, says research by Paul Healy and Boris Groysberg. Is it time for more women to seek better opportunities and bigger pay?

    • 30 Aug 2020
    • Working Paper Summaries

    Consumers Punish Firms that Cut Employee Pay in Response to COVID-19

    by Bhavya Mohan, Serena Hagerty, and Michael Norton

    In the wake of COVID-19, firms announced both employee furloughs and (typically small) CEO wage cuts. This research shows that firms’ treatment of employees matters far more to consumers than executive pay cuts.

    • 27 Jul 2020
    • Working Paper Summaries

    The Evolution of CEO Compensation in Venture Capital-Backed Startups

    by Michael Ewens, Ramana Nanda, and Christopher Stanton

    Resolving uncertainty related to market demand—so called “product-market” fit—marks a key inflection point in the compensation contract for CEOs of venture-capital backed firms.

    • 25 Sep 2019
    • Working Paper Summaries

    Corporate Purpose and Firm Ownership

    by Claudine Gartenberg and George Serafeim

    This study shows that corporate purpose varies greatly according to the nature of firm ownership, and these differences can be least partly explained by the choices and compensation of the CEOs. The greater the pay gap between CEOs and employees, the lower the sense of corporate purpose within the organization.

    • 17 Jan 2018
    • Research & Ideas

    If the CEO’s High Salary Isn't Justified to Employees, Firm Performance May Suffer

    by Dina Gerdeman

    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; 0 Comments.

    • 11 Aug 2017
    • Working Paper Summaries

    Rethinking Measurement of Pay Disparity and Its Relation to Firm Performance

    by Ethan Rouen

    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.

    • 26 Jan 2017
    • Working Paper Summaries

    Relative Performance Benchmarks: Do Boards Get It Right?

    by Paul Ma, Jee Eun Shin, and Charles C.Y. Wang

    Use of relative performance based (RPE) grants has been steadily increasing. Common wisdom is that such grants help induce costly effort from the CEO by shielding them from performance shocks that are outside of their control. This study raises questions about the use of index-based benchmarks in lieu of a narrower set of specific peers.

    • 30 Nov 2016
    • Working Paper Summaries

    The Stock Market and Bank Risk-Taking

    by Antonio Falato and David Scharfstein

    It is clear that risk-taking by financial institutions is one of the main causes of financial crises and severe recessions. Yet we know relatively little about what gives rise to such risk-taking in the first place. This paper presents evidence that a focus on short-term stock prices induces publicly-traded banks to increase risk relative to privately-held banks. The findings provide support for the view that compensation schemes should require management to hold stock for longer periods to mitigate their incentives to pump up short-term earnings and the short-term stock price.

    • 18 Nov 2015
    • Research & Ideas

    Who Really Determines CEO Salary Packages?

    by Carmen Nobel

    Every CEO is different, as is every company. So why does one executive compensation package tend to look just like another? The answer lies in the prevalence of interlocking directorates and the use of compensation consultants, according to research by Susanna Gallani. Open for comment; 0 Comments.

    • 01 Feb 2010
    • Research & Ideas

    The ‘Luxury Prime’: How Luxury Changes People

    by Sarah Jane Gilbert

    What effect does luxury have on human cognition and decision making? According to new research, there seems to be a link between luxury and self interest, an insight that may help curb corporate excesses. Roy Y.J. Chua discusses findings from his work conducted with Xi Zou of London Business School. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.

    • 21 Sep 2009
    • Research & Ideas

    Excessive Executive Pay: What’s the Solution?

    by Roger Thompson

    Now that the worst fears about economic meltdown are receding, what should be done about lingering issues such as over-the-top executive compensation? Does government have a role? Is it time we rethink corporate governance? HBS faculty weigh in. From the HBS Alumni Bulletin. Key concepts include: With White House support, congressional leaders are intent on shifting the balance of power in the boardroom away from management. Skeptics say more than two decades of well-meaning attempts to constrain ever-soaring corporate pay and to reform governance through legislation, regulation, and shareholder pressure have, for the most part, failed or even backfired. According to Professor Brian Hall, it is not a given that executive pay practices had a role in creating the financial crisis. Director independence on boards is a mixed blessing. Independence has a downside when directors don't understand the business, says Professor Jay Lorsch. We need to rethink corporate governance structure in fundamental ways for the 21st century, according to Professor Rakesh Khurana. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.

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