Meaningful Work - Publications - Faculty & Research

25 Apr 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research, April 25

completion times, our work highlights the tradeoffs between the time required to exercise discretion and the potential gains from doing so, which has implications for how discretion over scheduling should be delegated. Publisher's link:... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

06 Sep 2005
Research & Ideas

The Best Place for Retirement Funds

allocation rules, we wanted to look at what people were actually doing in their tax-deferred savings accounts. We had each worked with the Federal Reserve Board's Survey of Consumer Finances. This dataset turns out to be a wonderful... View Details

Keywords: by Ann Cullen

08 Sep 2015
First Look

September 8, 2015

and women alike rated power as one of the main consequences of professional advancement. Our findings reveal that men and women have different perceptions of what the experience of holding a high-level position will be like, with View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

19 Dec 2005
Research & Ideas

The Regional Slice of Your Global Strategy

maximizing regional opportunities. Ghemawat discusses five regional strategies while leaving the meaning of a "region" open for interpretation. This excerpt describes the challenges of designating a meaningful definition of... View Details

Keywords: by Pankaj Ghemawat

01 Apr 2008
First Look

First Look: April 1, 2008

Working PapersMental Accounting and Small Windfalls: Evidence from an Online Grocer Authors:Katherine L. Milkman, John Beshears, Todd Rogers, and Max H. Bazerman (revised March 2008) Abstract We study the effect of small windfalls on... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

26 Jul 2024
Research & Ideas

Why Great Ideas Get Stuck in Universities

“You’ve been working on this research your whole life and are convinced that it’s awesome. Then you decide to start a company, and while figuring it all out, you discover that it’s not the right technology for the problem. And then... View Details

Keywords: by Ben Rand; Biotechnology; Health

16 Nov 2020
Research & Ideas

Transitions of Power Are Difficult. What Joe Biden and Other Incoming Leaders Need to Know.

keep their eyes on the work to be done. Silverthorne: For new CEOs, what should their initial steps be in assuming power and laying out an agenda for action? Kanter: New CEOs need to be adequately informed. One thing that makes... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

30 Aug 2010
Research & Ideas

Turning Employees Into Problem Solvers

research team recently set out to better understand what managers can do to encourage employees to speak up about problems, and to investigate how managers can encourage employees to offer solutions. The team's working paper, "Speaking Up... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Health

03 Jun 2020
Research & Ideas

Who Guarantees Your Workplace Is Safe for Return?

Here are key requirements to ask of any service provider offering to certify your work setting as a healthy building. These best practices apply for employers, employees, and customers alike. Our research over many decades in public... View Details

Keywords: by John Macomber and Joseph Allen; Real Estate

15 Jul 2008
First Look

First Look: July 15, 2008

Working PapersInvestable Tax Credits: The Case of the Low Income Housing Tax Credit Authors:Mihir A. Desai, Dhammika Dharmapala, and Monica Singhal Abstract The Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) represents a novel tax expenditure... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

22 Apr 2002
Lessons from the Classroom

Entrepreneurship: It Can Be Taught

opposed to changing your character. One case that students consistently rate highly centers on a Harvard MBA who spent the first ten years of his career working at General Electric and other large companies and then eventually buying his... View Details

Keywords: by Staff

27 Sep 2004
Research & Ideas

IBM Finds Profit in Diversity

task forces' progress at various junctures to IBM's Worldwide Management Council. Gerstner and Childs followed up with the task force sponsors to ensure that the groups were gathering meaningful information and connecting it to the... View Details

Keywords: by David A. Thomas

24 Feb 2014
Research & Ideas

Busting Six Myths About Customer Loyalty Programs

surprising that many retailers have adopted loyalty programs as a convenient mechanism of meaningful differentiation. Ultimately, loyalty programs should offer incentives for shoppers to reduce their store switching by offering them... View Details

Keywords: by Marcel Corstjens & Rajiv Lal; Retail; Consumer Products

30 Nov 2018
What Do You Think?

What’s the Best Administrative Approach to Climate Change?

Summing Up: Should a 'Montreal Protocol' for Administering Global Warming Be Pursued? Climate change and how to manage it is a daunting subject. Nevertheless, several readers of this month’s column were willing to venture a model or two for administering a system... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Energy

04 Oct 2024
In Practice

Research-Based Advice for the Seasonally Overwhelmed and Schedule Challenged

more meaningful priorities at work and at home. As we begin the last quarter of 2024, Harvard Business School faculty experts provide research-based methods to deepen the quality of both View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

16 Apr 2001
Research & Ideas

Brand Power from Wedgwood to Dell: Part One

six visionary entrepreneurs through more than 250 years of history. All six built strong, meaningful brands and launched companies, often literally from scratch, which have endured to this day. The six include Josiah Wedgwood, the... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

17 Oct 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, October 17, 2017

2017 Boston: Harvard Business Review Press Entering StartUpLand: An Essential Guide to Finding the Right Job By: Bussgang, Jeffrey J. Abstract—Many professionals aspire to work for startups. Executives from large companies view them as... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

05 Jul 2006
Research & Ideas

Reinventing the Dowdy Savings Bond

In the family of investment products, a U.S. savings bond might be cast as boring old Uncle Ned, snoozing away in the corner after dinner. There's nothing wrong with that—but HBS professor Peter Tufano envisions a more meaningful role for... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Banking; Financial Services

30 Jun 2008
Research & Ideas

Rethinking Retirement Planning

is real. The idea is to provide meaningful choice, objective analysis, and a system that will work even if you make no choices at all." "I'm not saying it can't be done better," Merton says of... View Details