Publications

The long-standing argument that focused operations outperform others stands in contrast to claims about the benefits of broader operational scope. Within the literature on corporate strategy, this tension between focus and breadth is reconciled by the concept of... View Details

Research Summary

Corporate Debt, Firm Size and Financial Fragility in Emerging Markets

By: Laura Alfaro

The post-Global Financial Crisis period shows a surge in corporate leverage in emerging markets and a number of countries with deteriorated corporate financial fragility indicators (Altman’s Z-score). Firm size plays a critical role in the relationship between... View Details

2012
Chapter

An Assessment of How Urban Crime and Victimization Affects Life Satisfaction

By: Carlos Medina and Jorge Tamayo

We use data for Medellín, Colombia, to assess the effect of the homicide rate, individual’s perception of security in their neighborhood of residence, and of the effect of their having been victimized, on life satisfaction. We find a negative effect of the homicide... View Details

Keywords: Security; Life Satisfaction; Crime and Corruption; Housing; Safety; Perception; Colombia

Register to Read

2013
Article

Prosocial Spending and Well-Being: Cross-Cultural Evidence for a Psychological Universal

By: Lara B. Aknin, Christopher P. Barrington-Leigh, Elizabeth W. Dunn, John F. Helliwell, Justine Burns, Robert Biswas-Diener, Imelda Kemeza, Paul Nyende, Claire Ashton-James and Michael I. Norton

This research provides the first support for a possible psychological universal: Human beings around the world derive emotional benefits from using their financial resources to help others (prosocial spending). In Study 1, survey data from 136 countries were examined... View Details

Keywords: Prosocial Spending; Psychological Universal; Prosocial Behavior; Well-being; Happiness; Spending; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Canada; Uganda; South Africa; India

April 2015
Article

Anxious and Egocentric: How Specific Emotions Influence Perspective Taking

By: Andrew R. Todd, Matthias Forstmann, Pascal Burgmer, Alison Wood Brooks and Adam D. Galinsky

People frequently feel anxious. Although prior research has extensively studied how feeling anxious shapes intrapsychic aspects of cognition, much less is known about how anxiety affects interpersonal aspects of cognition. Here, we examine the influence of incidental... View Details

Keywords: Anxiety; Egocentrism; Emotion; Perspective Taking; Risk and Uncertainty; Perspective; Emotions

January 2023
Case

Year Up: Measuring and Scaling Impact

By: Natalia Rigol, Benjamin N. Roth, Brian Trelstad and Sarah Mehta

Year Up, a non-profit that provides training and practical work experience to low-income young people, has for years prioritized impact measurement. By 2022, it had built a robust body of evidence demonstrating that its program yields higher earnings for participants.... View Details

Keywords: Demographics; Education; Jobs and Positions; Measurement and Metrics; Performance; Research; Social Enterprise; Growth Management; Education Industry; United States; Massachusetts; Boston

Educators

20 Feb 2017
Research & Ideas

Having No Life is the New Aspirational Lifestyle

“Conspicuous Consumption of Time: When Busyness and Lack of Leisure Time Become a Status Symbol,” co-written with Columbia marketing professor Silvia Bellezza and Georgetown... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

26 Sep 2013
Research & Ideas

Behind India’s Economic and Political Woes

thoughts on the rising price of onions in India? A: This is very bad news for the incumbent government, since the price of onions is a harbinger of electoral distress. It is a bellwether consumer price in India, given its status as a... View Details

Keywords: by Zeenat Potia

29 Aug 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, August 29

Positive By: Goranson, Amelia, Ryan S. Ritter, Adam Waytz, Michael I. Norton, and Kurt Gray Abstract— In people’s imagination, dying seems dreadful; however, these perceptions may not reflect reality. In two... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

08 Mar 2022
Research & Ideas

Representation Matters: Building Case Studies That Empower Women Leaders

Ten years before Harvard Business School published its first case study, activists across Europe celebrated the first International Women’s Day. They demanded, among other things, the right for women to hold public office and an end to... View Details

Keywords: by Colleen Ammerman and Boris Groysberg

March 2024
Article

Medicare Price Negotiation and Pharmaceutical Innovation Following the Inflation Reduction Act

By: Matthew Vogel, Pragya Kakani, Amitabh Chandra and Rena M. Conti

The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) requires Medicare to negotiate lower prices for some medicines with high Medicare spending. Using historical data from public and proprietary sources to apply the IRA's negotiation criteria retrospectively, we identify all drugs that... View Details

Keywords: Policy; Government Legislation; Health Care and Treatment; Negotiation; Price; Pharmaceutical Industry

Article

Earnings and Ratings at Google Answers

By: Benjamin Edelman

I analyze all questions and answers from the inception of the Google Answers service through November 2003, and I find notable trends in answerer behavior: more experienced answerers provide answers with the characteristics askers most value, receiving higher ratings... View Details

Keywords: Service Delivery; Opportunities; Behavior; Value; Jobs and Positions; Wages; Business Earnings

23 Jan 2018
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, January 23, 2018

volatility. Using our model we quantify how capital injections impact the risk of financial institutions and estimate firm-specific precautionary capital needs. In addition, the longstanding observation that volatility is more responsive... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

2009
Article

Social Structure Shapes Cultural Stereotypes and Emotions: A Causal Test of the Stereotype Content Model

By: P. Caprariello, A.J.C. Cuddy and S.T. Fiske

The stereotype content model (SCM) posits that social structure predicts specific cultural stereotypes and associated emotional prejudices (Fiske et al., 2002). No prior evidence at a societal level has manipulated both structural predictors and measured both... View Details

Keywords: Competency and Skills; Mathematical Methods; Emotions; Personal Characteristics; Prejudice and Bias; Status and Position; Culture; Competition

21 Jun 2010
Research & Ideas

Strategy and Execution for Emerging Markets

strategies to the unique contexts of emerging markets—and instill in their organizations an organizational openness to experiments. Zain's One Network and Microsoft's FonePlus are only two examples of successful emerging market... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

January 2006 (Revised March 2010)
Case

Peer-to-Peer File Sharing and the Market for Digital Information Goods

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell, Andres Hervas and Jordan Mitchell

We study competitive interaction between two alternative models of digital content distribution over the Internet: peer-to-peer (p2p) file sharing and centralized client-server distribution. We present microfoundations for a stylized model of p2p file sharing where all... View Details

Keywords: Price; Profit; Distribution; Competition; Internet and the Web; Information Infrastructure

Educators

2016
Working Paper

Entrepreneurs and the Co-Creation of Ecotourism in Costa Rica

By: Geoffrey Jones and Andrew Spadafora

Between the 1970s and the 2000s, Costa Rica became established as the world’s leading ecotourism destination. This working paper suggests that although Costa Rica benefited from biodiversity and a pleasant climate, the country’s preeminence in ecotourism requires more... View Details

Keywords: Tourism; Latin America; Business History; Sustainable Strategy; Sustainability; Nonprofit; Entrepreneurs; Environment; Entrepreneurship; History; Environmental Sustainability; Tourism Industry; Costa Rica

SSRN

May 2019
Article

Corporate Debt, Firm Size and Financial Fragility in Emerging Markets

By: Laura Alfaro, Gonzalo Asis, Anusha Chari and Ugo Panizza

The post-Global Financial Crisis period shows a surge in corporate leverage in emerging markets and a number of countries with deteriorated corporate financial fragility indicators (Altman’s Z-score). Firm size plays a critical role in the relationship between... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Debt; Firm Size; Financial Fragility; Emerging Market; Organizations; Borrowing and Debt; Financial Condition; Emerging Markets; System Shocks

April 2013
Article

Gendered Races: Implications for Interracial Marriage, Leadership Selection, and Athletic Participation

By: Adam D. Galinsky, Erika V. Hall and Amy J.C. Cuddy

Six studies explored the overlap between racial and gender stereotypes and the consequences of this overlap for interracial dating, leadership selection, and athletic participation. Two initial studies, utilizing explicit and implicit measures, captured the stereotype... View Details

Keywords: Stereotypes; Attraction; Prejudice and Bias; Leadership; Race; Attitudes; Family and Family Relationships; Sports; Gender; United States