Publications

October 2001 (Revised November 2017)
Case

Japan: The Miracle Years

By: Louis T. Wells

Japan experienced rapid growth in the 1950s and 1960s while following a set of policies that differ from current policies in fashion. Although some observers believe that Japanese growth occurred in spite of the policies rather than because of them, several countries... View Details

Keywords: History; Policy; Economic Growth; Business and Government Relations; Growth and Development Strategy; Japan

17 Nov 2015
First Look

November 17, 2015

prowess, productivity, and ultimately prosperity. This chapter describes recent work in economics and management scholarship on how firms grow, with specific focus on questions surrounding the types of innovations that large and small... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

23 Aug 2016
First Look

August 23, 2016

Kotsantonis, Sakis, Christopher Pinney, and George Serafeim Abstract—The authors’ aim in this article is to set the record straight on the financial performance of sustainable investing while also correcting a number of other widespread... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

October 2014 (Revised March 2015)
Case

Integrated Reporting at Aegon

By: Robert G. Eccles, George Serafeim, Sydney Ribot and Michael Krzus

In 2011, Aegon adopted integrated reporting—a corporate reporting approach that sought to present company performance in a holistic light by considering medium- to long-term issues, stakeholder opinions, and the relationship between material financial and nonfinancial... View Details

2013
Working Paper

Improving Store Liquidation

By: Nathan Craig and Ananth Raman

Store liquidation is the time-constrained divestment of retail outlets through an in-store sale of inventory. The retail industry depends extensively on store liquidation, not only as a means for investors to recover capital from failed ventures, but also to allow... View Details

Keywords: Business Exit or Shutdown; Financial Condition; Operations; Retail Industry

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19 Feb 2007
Research & Ideas

Inexperienced Investors and Market Bubbles

"sticky"—funds that perform well attract considerable inflows, but funds that underperform receive only modest outflows. Thus, it's not clear that inexperienced managers were punished for the... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Financial Services

March 2011 (Revised June 2011)
Supplement

Arck Systems (E)

By: Ian Larkin

The Arck Systems series of cases describes the dilemmas faced by a senior sales manager in determining a sales compensation plan at an enterprise software company. The existing compensation plan is aggressive and highly rewards "star" performers. The cases track a... View Details

Keywords: Transformation; Framework; Compensation and Benefits; Organizational Design; Performance Evaluation; Salesforce Management; Motivation and Incentives; Software

Web

Introduction – The Human Relations Movement – Baker Library | Bloomberg Center, Historical Collections

hourly performance charts to interviews with thousands of employees. Harvard Business School’s role in the experiments represented a milestone in the dawn of the human relations movement and a shift in the study of View Details

28 Mar 2016
Research & Ideas

What's a Boss Worth?

We all have our boss horror stories. The underminer. The bad communicator. The credit hog. The snake. Then again, if we’re lucky, we’ve all had those amazing bosses as well—the supervisor who encourages all employees to take their work up to the next level; the View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Service

26 Sep 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, September 26, 2017

forthcoming Review of Financial Studies Managing the Family Firm: Evidence from CEOs at Work By: Bandiera, Oriana, Andrea Prat, Renata Lemos, and Raffaella Sadun Abstract—We present evidence on the labor supply of CEOs and on whether... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

2023
Working Paper

Design-Based Confidence Sequences: A General Approach to Risk Mitigation in Online Experimentation

By: Dae Woong Ham, Michael Lindon, Martin Tingley and Iavor Bojinov

Randomized experiments have become the standard method for companies to evaluate the performance of new products or services. In addition to augmenting managers’ decision-making, experimentation mitigates risk by limiting the proportion of customers exposed to... View Details

Keywords: Performance Evaluation; Research and Development; Analytics and Data Science; Consumer Behavior

SSRN

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13 Nov 2006
Research & Ideas

Science Business: What Happened to Biotech?

the industry, and what lessons managers might learn from an industry in structural disharmony. Sean Silverthorne: Biotech has not lived up to its expectations, either in providing outstanding returns for investors or improving R&D... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Biotechnology

2011
Article

The Dynamics of Warmth and Competence Judgments, and Their Outcomes in Organizations

By: Amy J.C. Cuddy, Peter Glick and Anna Beninger

Two traits-warmth and competence-govern social judgments of individuals and groups, and these judgments shape people's emotions and behaviors. This paper describes the causes and consequences of warmth and competence judgments; how, when, and why they determine... View Details

Keywords: Judgments; Organizations; Emotions; Behavior; Selection and Staffing; Performance Evaluation; Resource Allocation; Valuation; Competency and Skills; Information; Research

Find at Harvard

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01 Dec 2023
News

The Imposter Among Us

career, I recognized that I had more to offer than all-nighters. I also chose to work with people who shared my quest for balance. And I learned to tolerate the concept that mistakes are human. I now know that being the best version of my business self includes... View Details

Keywords: Business Schools & Computer & Management Training; Business Schools & Computer & Management Training

Program

Senior Executive Leadership Program—China

brand equity Measure, monitor, and communicate corporate performance while driving critical change Lead authentically and ethically at all levels and nurture a culture of accountability Build confidence in yourself as a leader,... View Details

10 Sep 2014
Research & Ideas

Become a Value Creator

argues that managers who adopt a value-creating mindset hold the key to becoming truly successful leaders. "Business is a team sport. It's soccer, not golf. Nobody plays by themselves and wins in business," Hall said during a... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

June 2012
Case

PV Technologies, Inc.: Were They Asleep at the Switch?

By: Frank V. Cespedes and Diane Badame

PV Technologies, Inc. is an industry-leading manufacturer of photovoltaic inverters used to convert the direct current output of solar panels into alternating current for the commercial power grid. In conjunction with a request for proposal, the company's largest... View Details

Keywords: Marketing Strategy; Customer Relationship Management; Competitive Strategy; Product Marketing; Energy Industry; Technology Industry; United States

02 Jan 2013
What Do You Think?

Should We Rethink the Promise of Teams?

accommodates contributions from both extroverts and introverts and reduces the influence of the former. Teams comprising both extroverts and introverts, particularly those with diverse backgrounds, have been shown to have a lot of creative potential if View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

February 1985 (Revised July 1986)
Case

Applichem (A)

Applichem has six plants in different countries making the same chemical product. The purpose of this case is to allow students to think about what costs are relevant to management in this process industry environment, about how to define a comparison of costs and... View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Multinational Firms and Management; Performance Productivity; Operations; Performance Improvement; Chemical Industry