Luck - Publications - Faculty & Research

27 Oct 2016
News

Paying It Forward

Kundu is thrilled to be able to have such a significant and sustained impact on so many people. “I fully appreciate the opportunities I’ve had, and the good luck and good fortune,” he says. “Being born in the US, starting a company—all... View Details

Keywords: Margie Kelley

01 Sep 2005
News

Making History, Starting Over

British government to declare a state of emergency and place businesses on a three-day workweek to conserve electricity. It would take more than luck to grow a business in such conditions. By 1977, two of the founding partners had moved... View Details

Keywords: Roger Thompson; Finance

Profile

Brian T. Bedol

successful. It’s really a microcosm of running a business. You are also a big believer in serendipity. I think serendipity plays a huge role in all success. I’m not sure luck and serendipity are always interchangeable but being able to... View Details

05 Apr 2016
First Look

April 5, 2016

performance being attributed more to luck rather than skill and effort, which can create incentives to shift earnings toward lower-uncertainty periods. We show that the resulting opportunistic earnings management is concentrated in CEOs,... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthlorne

31 Mar 2014
Research & Ideas

Encouraging Niche Content in an Ad-Driven World

eyeballs," says Zhu, an assistant professor at Harvard Business School. "Content providers are serving advertisers rather than the audience, and consumers with niche preferences will be out of luck because the content they're... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Information; Publishing; Journalism & News

30 Jan 2018
First Look

January 30, 2018

Luck and Support for Classical Benefit-based Taxation By: Weinzierl, Matthew C. Abstract—U.S. survey respondents' views on distributive justice differ in two specific, related ways from what is conventionally assumed in modern optimal tax... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

01 Mar 2008
News

Reimagining China and India

What that means in China is that if I have to build a road and there are homes in the way, the people in the homes are out of luck. Whereas in India, the government is out of luck because the homeowners will go all the way to the Supreme... View Details

Keywords: Roger Thompson; Business Schools & Computer & Management Training; Educational Services; Management; Retail Trade

01 Aug 2005
Research & Ideas

How to Choose the Best Deal

other. Consider the experience of a friend who was recently shopping for a new car. He'd always had good luck with Fords and was inclined to stick with them, especially after driving the latest model. After some back and forth, the... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Wheeler

Web

Commencement 2017 Address | About

celebrate you, and we wish you good luck as you begin your next adventures. We encourage you to be mindful of your RESPONSIBILITY as leaders at a time when businesses must work to rebuild public trust. We remind you to REACH toward... View Details

13 Oct 2011
Lessons from the Classroom

Building a Business in the Context of a Life

are paving their own way," Kraus says. "But even if you're not an entrepreneur, you can still harness that ability to pave your own way by creating a plan and reassessing when bad luck shows up." Finding Your 'flow' Students learn about... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Education

09 Aug 2004
Research & Ideas

A Diagnostic for Disruptive Innovation

Would-be innovators know that one of their biggest challenges is systematically identifying the innovations with the greatest likelihood of creating disruptive growth. Pick the wrong one, and squander a year or more of focus and investment. The good news is that it... View Details

Keywords: by Scott D. Anthony, Mark W. Johnson & Matt Eyring

22 Mar 2017
Research & Ideas

What's the Ideal Frequency for a Sales Quota?

thus does not disturb current motivation,” the researchers write. “For high-performing salespeople, because they are more immune to the disutility of effort, even if they experienced bad luck earlier in the month, they would put in the... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

04 Feb 2015
What Do You Think?

Is There a Stanford-Google-Silicon Valley School of Management?

Henry Ellis added that wWhile Google is massive and profitable, "they have one product that makes all the money the primary key to their success is patience, determination, and luck, with luck being the spark." Questions about... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Education

01 Oct 1997
News

Doing Something Real

have gained some weight, lost some hair, seen the world take giant leaps forward and a few steps back. Many of us would never be remotely near where we are today had we not lucked into the HBS imprimatur and network of connections (not to... View Details

Keywords: Andrew Tobias (MBA '72)

01 Jun 2009
News

Cynthia Carroll

but this is a time when focusing on the short term is necessary. As a woman in a male-dominated industry, you stand out. Indeed, women have long been considered bad luck in mines! How do you make change happen? I like to believe that... View Details

Keywords: Garry Emmons; Management; Mining

29 Jul 2020
Blog Post

To New Beginnings: Reflecting on Transitioning Careers and Starting a Family while at HBS

my professors. I started business school at 29 years old, and I knew from the intense training schedule in the Army that flexible hours at school would work best for me to start our family. With hindsight being 20/20, I wish I’d known just how fantastic and... View Details

01 Mar 2008
News

One-on-One with Jim Breyer

Capital Association. When it comes to technology start-ups, Accel’s niche, Breyer ascribes the firm’s success to “a balance of people judgment, market intuition, as well as luck,” with luck sometimes claiming top billing. He candidly... View Details

Keywords: Roger Thompson; Finance; Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services; Professional Services

06 Sep 2016
First Look

September 6, 2016

document that firms report more negative discretionary accruals when financial markets are less certain about their future prospects. Stock-price responses to earnings surprises are moderated when firm-level uncertainty is high, consistent with performance being... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

22 Mar 2016
First Look

March 22, 2016

Acceptance of Morally Arbitrary Luck and Widespread Support for Classical Benefit-Based Taxation By: Weinzierl, Matthew C. Abstract—Public moral reasoning is shown to differ in three specific ways from what is conventionally assumed in... View Details