Publications

09 Mar 2015
Research & Ideas

Why Entrepreneurs Should Go Work for Government

problems—and along the way deal with challenges of knowing when to follow the established ways of government and when to break the mold. States and federal government, too, have been reaching out to designers, engineers, and entrepreneurs to help redo their operations.... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

06 Mar 2013
What Do You Think?

Who Should Manage Our Work Time?

Summing Up Who Will Save Us From Our Work Habits? We have a problem in the workplace. Some of it is being forced upon us by forces in society. Some of it is of our own making. But we face increasing challenges in managing our View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

02 Apr 2015
Research & Ideas

Digital Initiative Summit: The Business of Crowdsourcing

Gaining the community's trust is vital to building a successful business with crowdsourcing, agreed business leaders at the Digital Initiative Summit at Harvard Business School on March 30. When Tongal got its start in 2009, some members... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

02 Apr 2015
Research & Ideas

Digital Initiative Summit: Who Has the Power in the Music Industry?

The music industry likes power. Power chords, power ballads, even Towers of Power. The balance of power in the industry, however, has been completely upset with the advent and rapid proliferation of digital music. Who calls the shots... View Details

Keywords: Re: Felix Oberholzer-Gee; Music

February 2011
Case

oDesk: Changing How the World Works

By: Boris Groysberg, David A. Thomas and Jennifer M. Tydlaska

It is 2010, and Gary Swart, CEO of oDesk, is contemplating the next steps for his organization. Founded in 2004 in California, oDesk operates an online marketplace which matches Employers with Contractors. oDesk provides fact-based information on Contractors, including... View Details

Keywords: Recruitment; Leadership; Growth and Development Strategy; Digital Platforms; Marketplace Matching; Corporate Strategy; Internet and the Web; Consulting Industry

29 Jul 2019
Research & Ideas

How Companies Benefit When Employees Work Remotely

student Cirrus Foroughi and Barbara Larson, executive professor of management at Northeastern University. While digital technology has made workers more efficient and accessible than ever before, many companies have been slow to let... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz

27 Jul 2011
Research & Ideas

Customer Loyalty Programs That Work

The customer rewards cards that clutter wallets and clog key chains of many a shopper may soon be no more, as retailers move from physical to digital (read: mobile apps) forms of loyalty program member identification. It's a smart... View Details

Keywords: by Maggie Starvish; Retail

10 Aug 2020
Working Paper Summaries

Collaborating During Coronavirus: The Impact of COVID-19 on the Nature of Work

Keywords: by Evan DeFilippis, Stephen Michael Impink, Madison Singell, Jeffrey T. Polzer, and Raffaella Sadun

14 Oct 2013
Research & Ideas

Blockbuster! Why Star Power Works

of five characteristics. First, nerves of steel are critical: Any manager who executes a blockbuster strategy will have to be willing to make big moves that, if they don't work out as planned, could really hurt the company's bottom line.... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Entertainment & Recreation

23 Jul 2007
Research & Ideas

HBS Cases: How Wikipedia Works (or Doesn’t)

concept of "Enterprise 2.0"—a term coined by McAfee on the general idea of how Web 2.0 technologies can be used in business—popped up on Wikipedia, McAfee beamed. "I was bizarrely proud when my work rose to the level of inclusion in... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Publishing

28 Jul 2020
Research & Ideas

Racism and Digital Design: How Online Platforms Can Thwart Discrimination

inclusive design choices in a forthcoming article in the journal Marketing Intelligence Review. What follows is a condensed version: Build awareness. Digital platform builders must recognize how their design choices and algorithms can... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz; Travel; Entertainment & Recreation; Service

March 2017
Case

PharmAccess and the M-TIBA Platform: Leveraging Digital Technology in the Developing World

By: Kevin Schulman, Sashidaran Moodley and Anant Vasudevan

PharmAccess is an Amsterdam-based NGO working to support the development of the private health care market in Africa. This work is critical as over 50% of care is delivered through the private sector, but well-intentioned efforts to address global health through the... View Details

Keywords: Finance; Entrepreneurship; Health Care and Treatment; Online Technology; Health Industry; Africa; Kenya

14 Feb 2022
Research & Ideas

Curiosity, Not Coding: 6 Skills Leaders Need in the Digital Age

executive we interviewed said: "Leaders must go from trying to have all the answers to being comfortable with being uncomfortable." 5. Be present The leaders we talked to acknowledged just how complex and demanding work has become for... View Details

Keywords: by Linda A. Hill, Ann Le Cam, Sunand Menon, and Emily Tedards; Technology

30 Mar 2020
Research & Ideas

Readers Ask: I Need Tips for Working at Home

Shifting to remote work raises many questions for managers and employees, especially when it happens quickly as a result of a crisis. Prithwiraj “Raj” Choudhury, the Lumry Family Associate Professor of Business Administration in the... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz

02 Apr 2015
Research & Ideas

Digital Initiative Summit: Freeing Patient Data to Enable Innovation

to remedy the information-sharing glut that is slowing health care innovation and harming patient care, according to panelists discussing "Digital Health: Freeing Patient Data to Enable Innovation" at the Digital Initiative Summit held... View Details

Keywords: Re: Karim R. Lakhani; Health

November 2015
Case

Upwork: Reimagining the Future of Work

By: Feng Zhu, Rory McDonald, Marco Iansiti and Aaron Smith

Upwork, the world's largest freelance talent platform, was the result of a merger between the two leading online freelancing companies in 2014, Elance and oDesk. After the merger, the company operated as Elance-oDesk and continued to manage two online... View Details

Keywords: Platforms; Employment; Digital Platforms; Market Transactions; Business Processes; Information Technology; Internet and the Web; Job Search

May 27, 2022
Article

How 'Digital Nomad' Visas Can Boost Local Economies

By: Prithwiraj Choudhury

More and more companies are offering their employees the option to “work from anywhere,” whether in their home office, in another state, or even halfway around the globe. A growing group of remote professionals are taking the “anywhere” in work-from-anywhere to new... View Details

Keywords: Remote Work; COVID-19 Pandemic; Collaboration; Work-Life Balance; Human Resources; Collaborative Innovation and Invention