Publications

24 May 2018
Research & Ideas

Distance Still Matters in Business, Despite the Internet

be digitized, distribution is nearly free. Second, online interactions reduce the need for travel. The reduction in search costs on the internet follows directly from the other lower costs. If communication costs and transportation costs... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Transportation; Telecommunications; Shipping; Publishing; Technology

27 May 2014
First Look

First Look: May 27

distribution strategy for Glass, a wearable computer that projected information on a display viewable with an upward glance. Options, which were not mutually exclusive, included 1) continuing to sell Glass directly through online... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

Article

Power to the People

By: Eric D. Werker

Every nongovernmental organization has a mission statement. For example, CARE, one of the world's largest and best-funded NGOs, explains its mission as serving "individuals and families in the poorest communities in the world. Drawing strength from our global... View Details

Keywords: Mission and Purpose; Food; Service Operations; Inflation and Deflation; Experience and Expertise; Economic Slowdown and Stagnation; Knowledge; Poverty; Agribusiness; Diversity; Non-Governmental Organizations; Innovation and Invention; India

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October 2001 (Revised November 2001)
Background Note

Running and Growing the Small Company: Course Overview

Addresses challenges facing managers, presidents, and owners in generating and sustaining superior performance, especially as a company broadens its mix of goods and services, increases the volume of its sales, and enlarges the size of its workforce. The critical... View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Talent and Talent Management

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July 2017
Case

Magpie: Developing and Using Buyer Personas

By: Frank V. Cespedes

The founders of a start-up platform for publishers have developed preliminary personas of target customers and are evaluating the implications for initial target buyers, messaging, and marketing programs. The case is useful for discussing the process of developing... View Details

Keywords: Buying Process; Marketing; Sales; Distribution Channels; Segmentation; Entrepreneurship; Social Media; Consumer Products Industry; Fashion Industry; United States

31 May 2011
Research & Ideas

Japan Disaster Shakes Up Supply-Chain Strategies

important question, though," Shih says. "Should I distribute my suppliers around the world to avoid things like this? We don't know. But the shortages are starting to emerge, and over the next couple of months we'll see a... View Details

Keywords: by Dennis Fisher; Auto; Technology; Computer; Electronics

Web

Impact of the New Medium - Edwin H. Land & Polaroid | Harvard Business School

destination. In order to establish greater connection with their customers, the company decided to distribute directly to dealers. Those selling Land Cameras quickly learned the benefits of a system that could take a photograph and... View Details

10 Oct 2023
Blog Post

Policy Drivers for Environmental Justice: What Businesses Need to Know

Disadvantaged Communities (DACs): communities “marginalized, underserved, and overburdened by pollution.”[1] Environmental Racism: “racial discrimination in environmental policy making, corporate decision making, and/or practice which results in the inequitable View Details

14 Feb 2008
Working Paper Summaries

Laws vs. Contracts: Legal Origins, Shareholder Protections, and Ownership Concentration in Brazil, 1890-1950

Keywords: by Aldo Musacchio

2024
Working Paper

Warnings and Endorsements: Improving Human-AI Collaboration Under Covariate Shift

By: Matthew DosSantos DiSorbo and Kris Ferreira

Problem definition: While artificial intelligence (AI) algorithms may perform well on data that are representative of the training set (inliers), they may err when extrapolating on non-representative data (outliers). These outliers often originate from covariate shift,... View Details

Keywords: AI and Machine Learning; Decision Choices and Conditions

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2018
Working Paper

Forecasting Airport Transfer Passenger Flow Using Real-Time Data and Machine Learning

By: Xiaojia Guo, Yael Grushka-Cockayne and Bert De Reyck

Problem definition: In collaboration with Heathrow Airport, we develop a predictive system that generates quantile forecasts of transfer passengers’ connection times. Sampling from the distribution of individual passengers’ connection times, the system also produces... View Details

Keywords: Quantile Forecasts; Regression Tree; Copula; Passenger Flow Management; Data-driven Operations; Forecasting and Prediction; Data and Data Sets

SSRN

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November 2008 (Revised February 2009)
Case

Omron: Sensing Society

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and Ethan S Bernstein

"Leading profitable growth is only part of the goal. We cannot live without breathing, but we do not live in order to take a breath,” said Omron's President and CEO, Hisao Sakuta, in 2008. Omron, a $7B global supplier of sensors, control system components, advanced... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Transformation; Competitive Advantage; Leadership; Goals and Objectives; Globalized Firms and Management; Innovation and Invention; Values and Beliefs; Mission and Purpose; Electronics Industry

February 2008 (Revised May 2008)
Supplement

Lincoln Financial Group (C)

LFG reorganizes its business in order to improve customer intimacy. However, to implement the strategy, they need to effect significant changes in the skills of their salespeople. This case series straddles human resource management, corporate strategy, and sales... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Salesforce Management; Customer Focus and Relationships; Financial Services Industry

31 Oct 2023
News

Securing a Resilient Future for Senegal

private sector and employment; distribution of food kits and food stamps to more than a million households; and water and electricity payments for a portion of the population. It also included a financing and guarantee mechanism that... View Details

February 2011
Case

Jamie Turner at MLI, Inc.

By: John J. Gabarro and Colleen Kaftan

The case describes the evolution of an interpersonal mismatch between a previously successful manager, Jamie Turner, and his new boss, Pat Cardullo. Turner, a 32-year-old MBA graduate, has been recruited by Cardullo to be vice president of marketing and sales at Modern... View Details

Keywords: Communication; Interpersonal Relations; Superior ＆ Subordinate; Micro Organizational Behavior; Performance Management; Personal Strategy ＆ Style; Management Style; Conflict Management; Interpersonal Communication; Employee Relationship Management; Rank and Position; Performance; Communication Strategy; Personal Development and Career; Acquisition; Distribution Industry; Distribution Industry; San Diego; Chicago

05 Jun 2020
Research & Ideas

How Anchor Investors Help Impact Funds Succeed

evaluating impact funds. Additionally, anchor investors, on average, provide larger early investments than nonanchor investors. These larger investments provide efficiency to newly launching managers who might not have an embedded View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Financial Services

Web

2.3.1 Drug & Alcohol Policy - MBA

designed to ensure that we comply with the federal Drug-Free Workplace Act of 1988 and the Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act Amendments of 1989. The unlawful possession, use, or distribution of illicit drugs and alcohol by students,... View Details

September 2015
Article

Design and Implementation of a Privacy Preserving Electronic Health Record Linkage Tool in Chicago

By: Abel Kho, John Cashy, Kathryn Jackson, Adam Pah, Satyender Goel, Jorn Boehnke, John Eric Humphries, Scott Duke Kominers and et al.

Objective
To design and implement a tool that creates a secure, privacy preserving linkage of electronic health record (EHR) data across multiple sites in a large metropolitan area in the United States (Chicago, IL), for use in clinical... View Details

Keywords: Information; Customers; Safety; Rights; Ethics; Entrepreneurship; Health Care and Treatment; Health Industry; Chicago

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January 2008
Article

Innovation Killers: How Financial Tools Destroy Your Capacity to Do New Things

By: Clayton M. Christensen, Stephen P. Kaufman and Willy C. Shih

Most companies aren't half as innovative as their senior executives want them to be (or as their marketing claims suggest they are). What's stifling innovation? There are plenty of usual suspects, but the authors finger three financial tools as key accomplices.... View Details

Keywords: Investment; Innovation and Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Business and Shareholder Relations; Prejudice and Bias; Value Creation