Publications

Article

People Make It So Hard to Ditch Plastic Straws

By: Scott Duke Kominers

Rarely has a minor consumer product received more vilification than the plastic straw. As a symbol of human wastefulness and our careless disregard for the environment, straws are the near-perfect villain. You use a plastic straw once and toss it, but it stays with us... View Details

Keywords: Environmental Sustainability; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Consumer Behavior

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Blog

What's the Right Fit for You–An In-Person or Virtual Program?

sales & marketing and general management. Currently I am part of the Group CEO Office of the Petroleum & Chemicals Solution Group. This division focuses on securing stable supplies of energy View Details

03 Apr 2019
Book

Fintech's Game-Changing Opportunities for Small Business

predict their cash needs. These two activities could perhaps improve small business longevity and maybe turn around this worrisome trend in small business starts. But they also come with a set of questions that View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Banking; Financial Services

06 Oct 2015
First Look

October 6, 2015

retailer aims to maximize revenue from multiple products with limited inventory. As common in practice, the retailer does not know the expected demand at each price and must learn the View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

October 2006 (Revised August 2008)
Background Note

Performing Industry Research to Inform Investment Decisions

Conducting thorough research about an industry is often an important component of investment analysis. Written specifically for HBS MBA students, provides guidance on how to perform industry research to inform investment decisions. Provides detailed information about... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Investment; Supply and Industry; Research

24 Sep 2020
Research & Ideas

Financial Meltdowns Are More Predictable Than We Thought

research by Harvard Business School Professors Robin Greenwood and Samuel G. Hanson begs to differ. Financial crises, even ones as calamitous as the 2007-2008 banking meltdown, are surprisingly predictable to those who know the warning... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost; Financial Services

05 Jul 2006
Working Paper Summaries

Empirical Tests of Information Aggregation

Keywords: by Pai-Ling Yin; Technology; Web Services

13 May 2019
Research & Ideas

The Unexpected Way Whistleblowers Reduce Government Fraud

government, the different agencies, and ultimately the suppliers,” says Harvard Business School Assistant Professor Jonas Heese, one of the study’s authors. “What we document, at a very high level, is that while allegations can shake that... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz; Service; Construction

27 Jan 2015
First Look

First Look: January 27

The Effect of Service Quality and Competition on Demand By: Balasubramanian, Karthik, and David F. Drake Abstract—The use of electronic money transfer through cellular networks... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

14 Jun 2011
First Look

First Look: June 14

conflict between the old and the new. Successful CEOs first develop a broad, forward-looking strategic aspiration that sets ambitious targets both for innovation and core business growth. They then hold the... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

16 Apr 2013
First Look

First Look: April 16

considerations seem central in the demand for redistribution, and because in several settings (as in some ultimatum games) such preferences for fairness can lead to large (material) inefficiencies. In this... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

03 Jun 2008
First Look

First Look: June 3, 2008

objectives of a laptop computer targeted at children of the developing world with the escalating content demands from the marketplace and the non-profit OLPC Foundation. It also had to fit the project into... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

October 2012 (Revised August 2013)
Case

Global Unichip Corporation (A)

By: Willy Shih and Chen-Fu Chien

Global Unichip Corporation (GUC) is a design services company that acts as a front-end to TSMC, the world's largest semiconductor foundry. In so doing, it masked the complexity of the latest process technologies, and reduced the entry barriers for small firms to... View Details

25 Oct 2011
First Look

First Look: October 25

scale and influence in the technology industries that fall under the incidence of their assets. We also discuss some efficiency issues raised by the growing prominence of patent merchants. Download the paper:... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

07 Apr 2009
First Look

First Look: April 7, 2009

sold by knowledgeable associates, The Home Depot became a destination place for customers in need of anything from shovels to a new kitchen sink or supplies to use in recovering from a hurricane or flood. Disasters are thus both a source... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

25 Mar 2014
First Look

First Look: March 25

networks or manufacturers to procure goods across complex global supply chains. These standards-shaped by standard-setting organizations (SSOs) and participating engineers, academics, lawyers, View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

17 Jun 2008
First Look

First Look: June 17, 2008

organizational structure has become the norm in several industries, it has received little attention from academics and consultants. Garvin and Levesque set out to fill that gap in management thinking with... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

October 1987 (Revised October 1998)
Case

CVD, Inc. vs. A.S. Markham Corp. (A)

Describes the legal odyssey of two engineers who left their old employer to start a company that was directly competitive. The issues include employment contracts, technology licenses, antitrust, trade secrets, and confidential information. Provides a good opportunity... View Details

Keywords: Business Strategy; Human Resources; Contracts; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Intellectual Property; Ethics; Legal Liability; Business Startups; Monopoly