United Way - Publications - Faculty & Research

28 Aug 2007
First Look

First Look: August 28, 2007

Peter Brooks, and Patrick Kalaher Abstract Many recent studies highlight the need to rethink the way we manage innovation. Traditional approaches, based on the assumption that the creation and pursuit of new ideas is best accomplished by... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

23 Jul 2001
Research & Ideas

How the Giants of Enterprise Seized the Future

others. Result: Carnegie Steel became the low cost, high quality producer of a commodity vital to the creation of the modern world. Carnegie sold his company to J.P. Morgan, who used it as the fulcrum for United States Steel, in 1901.... View Details

Keywords: by Richard S. Tedlow

22 Sep 2003
Research & Ideas

How Businesses Can Respond to AIDS

2002, according to UNAIDS, the Joint United Nations Program on HIV/AIDS Recognizing The Threat What should responsible organizations do to counter the epidemic for their employees and their business? For a start, they must pool knowledge... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

10 Mar 2015
Research & Ideas

The Surprising Winners and Losers in the Retail Revolution

brick and clicks are Home Depot and Pet Smart. What did Home Depot do right? Rajiv Lal: Home Depot thought about the challenges facing their business very strategically. They've gone category by category and asked: What is the best way to... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Retail

02 Nov 2009
Research & Ideas

Shareholders Need a Say on Pay

"Say on Pay Vote and CEO Compensation: Evidence from the UK," Ferri and coauthor David Maber (HBS DBA '09), assistant professor at University of Southern California, analyzed the provision, which has been available to United... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Financial Services

10 Jan 2005
Research & Ideas

Motivation and the Cross-Sector Alliance

underlying framework that compels such partnerships as between a food bank in Mexico and a supermarket in the United States, providing insights into the DNA of a successful collaboration that are broadly applicable. Our excerpt from the... View Details

Keywords: by James Austin, Ezequiel Reficco & SEKN research team

09 Oct 2019
Research & Ideas

For Better Ideas, Bring the Right People to the Brainstorm

administration in the Strategy Unit at Harvard Business School, “whether that means talking to customers about where the pain points are or talking to clients about new opportunities.” Good entrepreneurs use these kinds of conversations... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

11 Mar 2014
First Look

First Look: March 11

draws on theories of entrepreneurship and history to explore the ways in which historical processes play an integral role in entrepreneurship. It builds off the plea by Joseph Schumpeter for an active exchange between historical... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

21 Nov 2005
Research & Ideas

The Geography of Corporate Giving

for constituencies external to the firm. We feel that understanding the reasons why corporations act in certain ways will empower local nonprofits and other beneficiaries of corporations' social activities. Q: Give some examples of how... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

15 Sep 2003
Lessons from the Classroom

HBS Cases: Developing the Courage to Act

courses were general and descriptive ("Economic Resources of the United States," "Railroad Organization and Finance") and taught primarily through lectures from the economist's point of view. The situation remained... View Details

Keywords: by David A. Garvin

26 Feb 2018
Research & Ideas

The Airbnb Effect: Cheaper Rooms for Travelers, Less Revenue for Hotels

and less than 1 percent of total housing units across all cities. And Airbnb didn't have much effect on hotel occupancy rates overall. Since Airbnb bookings occurred especially when hotels were already near full capacity, a large share of... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Travel

15 Sep 2008
Research & Ideas

The Coming Transformation of Social Enterprise

nation's social enterprise organizations. Today, the United States has more than 1.4 million non-profit organizations, and they account for 5 percent of GDP. Annual contributions have grown faster than the economy for years, and experts... View Details

Keywords: by Roger Thompson

08 Feb 2011
First Look

First Look: Feb. 8

development, would likely conclude that business schools inside and outside of the United States exhibit more similarities than differences. Yet the uniqueness of the American business school lies not so much in the widely imitated... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

26 Oct 2009
Lessons from the Classroom

The New Deal: Negotiauctions

negotiations and auctions are the only two ways in which assets get sold in any market economy. There's a deep literature on each of these mechanisms but very little on the interplay between the two—that messy, murky middle ground where... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna

21 Dec 2009
Research & Ideas

Good Banks, Bad Banks, and Government’s Role as Fixer

month. So we've got a long way to go. And we need to get securitization going because that's what drives loan volume. Q: Why has loan securitization been slow to recover? A: We had a terrible system of securitization where everything was... View Details

Keywords: by Roger Thompson; Banking; Financial Services

01 Feb 2012
What Do You Think?

Is Support for Small Business Misplaced?

small business. (Because of outsourcing) It is big networks made up of small partners. And the way to make this type of enterprise thrive does not really follow either model (big or small). It is a third way." The importance of small... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

19 Jul 2004
Research & Ideas

Why Innovations Sit on the Shelf

organization strategy to enable the different functions to work together to bring products to market more quickly. As Ludwig grappled with a way to jumpstart change at DIS, he began to suspect that people throughout the View Details

Keywords: by Michael Beer, Russell Eisenstat & Derek Schrader

22 May 2020
In Practice

Post-COVID Health Care: More Screens, Less Red Tape?

The coronavirus crisis forced health care providers to mobilize in ways few could have predicted six months ago, revealing not only the system’s weaknesses but its profound ingenuity. Within weeks, providers worldwide set up drive-through... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost

15 May 2019
Research Event

The Unconventional Capitalism That Shapes Business History

can become real. And there are real consequences. When Deng Xiaoping began to plan the re-opening of China in 1978, he assembled five geriatric fake capitalists in a big meeting to get it all started. The close reading of historical documents, and unconventional View Details

Keywords: by Geoffrey G. Jones; Education

13 Jun 2005
Research & Ideas

Rescuing Products with Stealth Positioning

companies that use stealth positioning adopt a covert approach. They conceal the true nature of their products by affiliating them with a different category. This is a powerful strategy for marketers when a category is in some way... View Details

Keywords: by Youngme Moon

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