Labor Productivity - Publications - Faculty & Research

01 Dec 2008
News

A U.S. Turnaround?

objective was met. Our space research gave rise to Silicon Valley, and U.S. industrial strength was enhanced by technology innovation derived from products created for our satellite program. By 1980, however, Europe, helped by the... View Details

Keywords: Byron Wien; Computer and Electronic Product Manufacturing; Computer and Electronic Product Manufacturing; Computer and Electronic Product Manufacturing; Computer and Electronic Product Manufacturing; Computer and Electronic Product Manufacturing; Computer and Electronic Product Manufacturing; Computer and Electronic Product Manufacturing; Computer and Electronic Product Manufacturing

Forthcoming
Article

Loss of Peers and Individual Worker Performance: Evidence From H-1B Visa Denials

By: Prithwiraj Choudhury, Kirk Doran, Astrid Marinoni and Chungeun Yoon

We study how restrictive immigration policies that result in the unexpected loss of co-workers affect the performance of skilled migrants employed in organizations. Specifically, we examine the impact of the loss of team members on their co-workers’ performance in... View Details

Keywords: Immigration; Performance Productivity; Employees; Human Capital; Ethnicity; Groups and Teams

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16 Jun 2003
Research & Ideas

Researchers Contribute Globalization of Markets Papers

"Although Levitt's article was primarily concerned about the globalization of the product market, this paper expands the domain to three areas—the labor market, the financial market, and the View Details

Keywords: by Working Knowledge editors

01 Jun 2012
News

Good as Our Word

set itself apart from the pack with uncompromising integrity and accuracy, especially in the rating of structured finance products such as asset-backed securities. Although Becker never spoke with Kroll directly while writing the case,... View Details

Keywords: Maggie Starvish; Bond rating; Securities, Commodities, and Other Financial Investments; Finance

01 Sep 2018
News

An SUV Built for African Roads—by African Workers

production facility that are different from typical original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). And the vehicle’s design allows for an efficient production process at low volumes and with manual labor. Because... View Details

Keywords: Amy Yee

05 May 2017
News

Barnes & Noble Names Demos Parneros CEO

challenge is the sales performance; that’s no secret,” Parneros told the Times. “We’ve got to figure out ways to change things up a little bit and increase traffic.” Parneros told the Times that he sees strengths in the company’s expansion in educational View Details

10 Oct 2005
Research & Ideas

Homers: Secrets on the Factory Floor

industries, the concept of a homer might take on other forms (e.g., an office worker typing a personal letter on his or her computer while at work). Q: Since the practice of employees using company time and resources to create personal View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Manufacturing

25 Sep 2000
Research & Ideas

More Than the Sum of Its Parts: The Impact of Modularity on the Computer Industry

drives. CB: Ultimately, though, the power of modularity does not lie simply in the creation of financial option value and the ensuing impact on competition. Modularity also helps simplify complex systems and divvy up complex tasks so that individuals and companies can... View Details

Keywords: by Staff; Consumer Products; Consumer Products; Consumer Products

01 Sep 2020
News

Good Odds

manufactured goods go to waste in the production process, Philip Behn says, because items come out too thick, too thin, or otherwise not perfect. “So we put our own private label on them and now we sell broken pretzel bits.” As much as 15... View Details

Keywords: Jen McFarland Flint; food industry; Food Manufacturing; Manufacturing

01 Apr 2000
News

New Exhibit Highlights Turning Point for American Business

enterprises. While the south corridor's exhibit items focus on these industries, materials hung in the north corridor depict aspects of modern marketing, displaying advertising materials for products and services such as bicycles,... View Details

Keywords: Nancy O. Perry

05 Oct 2022
News

Inside the Chip Shortage

Photo via Digital Chosun Photo via Digital Chosun The shortage of semiconductors that has hamstrung the automotive industry since 2020 isn’t over yet, and Renesas CEO Hidetoshi Shibata (MBA 2001) predicts the shortage will continue well into the middle of 2023,... View Details

Keywords: Computer and Electronic Product Manufacturing; Computer and Electronic Product Manufacturing

12 Dec 2018
News

Lesson Plan

long-standing tradition of being one of the state’s few Democratic pockets outside Pittsburgh and Philadelphia, with a history of labor unrest and unionization dating back to the 19th and early 20th centuries. That energy carried workers... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna; photographed by Chris Sorensen

01 Dec 2014
News

3-Minute Briefing: Nagisa Manabe (MBA 1991)

way that many brands would never experience. I was an investment banker before I went to HBS, and then I went into marketing. I never thought that a course in production and operations management would have anything to do with my life.... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna

04 Jan 2012
What Do You Think?

Income Inequality: What’s the Right Amount?

productivity flourishes where income disparity exists to a greater extent." Susan Rushworth offered "food for thought" in citing research that led her to conclude that "the faster the economy grew (as measured by GDP),... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett

02 Feb 2016
First Look

February 2, 2016

decompose the productivity decrease that arises from taxation, we estimate that 40% is due to the lower net wage and the remaining 60% to tax aversion. This tax aversion affects labor supply more on the... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

22 Jan 2018
Sharpening Your Skills

Why You Are Unhappy at Work

importance of being supportive. Hazard Warning: The Unacceptable Cost of Toxic Workers A productive workplace can be easily disrupted by one unruly employee. Here's what companies can do to detox the problem-makers. If the CEO’s High... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

01 Mar 2004
News

Toy Story

products — and such cheerleading is literally paying off. One company that has certainly ridden — and perhaps created — the wave of increased interest in the market is LeapFrog, the developer of the LeapPad system, a computerized device... View Details

Keywords: Susan Young; toys; Amusement, Gambling, and Recreation Industries; Arts, Entertainment

01 Feb 2002
News

When a Rainy Day Comes: The Economics of Happiness

attempting to mitigate or stave off recessions. In addition to enjoying a more satisfying life, which presumably is every government’s goal for its people, a “happy” population is likely to be more productive than a disgruntled one — also... View Details

Keywords: Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services

01 Jun 2024
News

The Exchange: Chance Encounters

remotely and how productive they were. It was striking to see that people thought they were much more productive at home. But they also used real numbers to measure View Details

Keywords: Jen McFarland Flint

04 Jan 2021
What Do You Think?

How Do We Sustain Organization Diversity?

the benefit of others.” Profit is what remains after market forces for factors of production have done their work. My words, not Wittenberg’s. As Wittenberg points out, in an unregulated market for labor or... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

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