Publications

September–October 2023
Article

A Rising Tide Lifts All Boats: The Effects of Common Ownership on Corporate Social Responsibility

By: Mark R. DesJardine, Jody Grewal and Kala Viswanathan

Common owners face an incredible investment challenge: managing systematic risk. Because common owners hold shares in multiple firms across an industry, an action (or inaction) by one firm that affects industry peers is felt more severely by common owners than by... View Details

Keywords: Common Ownership; Environmental Sustainability; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Institutional Investing; Corporate Governance; Risk and Uncertainty; Investment Return

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2018
Working Paper

The Digital Commons: Tragedy or Opportunity? A Reflection on the 50th Anniversary of Hardin's Tragedy of the Commons

By: Frank Nagle

On the 50th anniversary of Garrett Hardin’s “The Tragedy of the Commons,” this article considers the benefits and potential downsides of the digital commons, which emerged well after Hardin wrote his seminal article. Unlike the physical world Hardin wrote about, the... View Details

Keywords: Digital Commons; Economics; Society; Transformation; Opportunities

SSRN

2016
Article

Recursive Mentalizing and Common Knowledge in the Bystander Effect

By: Kyle A. Thomas, Julian De Freitas, Peter DiScioli and Steven Pinker

The more potential helpers there are, the less likely any individual is to help. A traditional explanation for this bystander effect is that responsibility diffuses across the multiple bystanders, diluting the responsibility of each. We investigate an... View Details

Keywords: Bystander Effect; Diffusion Of Responsibility; Volunteer's Dilemma; Common Knowledge; Theory Of Mind; Behavior; Theory

July 9, 2019
Article

Common Knowledge, Coordination, and Strategic Mentalizing in Human Social Life

By: Julian De Freitas, Kyle A. Thomas, Peter DiScioli and Steven Pinker

People often coordinate for mutual gain, such as keeping to opposite sides of a stairway, dubbing an object or place with a name, or assembling en masse to protest a regime. Because successful coordination requires complementary choices, these opportunities raise the... View Details

Keywords: Coordination; Common Knowledge; Theory Of Mind; Bystander Effect; Knowledge; Cooperation

21 Dec 2011
Research & Ideas

The Most Common Strategy Mistakes

Book excerpt from Understanding Michael Porter: The Essential Guide to Competition and Strategy. Joan Magretta: What are the most common strategy mistakes you see? Michael... View Details

Keywords: by Joan Magretta

December 1996
Case

Common Fund Hedge Fund Portfolio, The

By: Andre F. Perold and William T. Spitz

The Common Fund, a nonprofit consortium of educational institutions, is deciding whether to create a fund of hedge funds for its members, and if it does, which hedge fund managers to select. View Details

Keywords: Measurement and Metrics; Investment Funds

June 2017
Article

The Social Trajectory of a Finance Professor and the Common Sense of Capital

By: Marion Fourcade and Rakesh Khurana

This paper traces the career of Michael Jensen, a Chicago finance PhD turned Harvard Business School professor to reveal the intellectual and social conditions that enabled the emergence and institutionalization of what we call the “neoliberal common sense of capital,”... View Details

Keywords: Executive Pay; The Firm; Michael Jensen; Neo-Liberalism; Shareholder Value; Agency Theory; Corporate Governance; Executive Compensation; Business and Shareholder Relations; Transformation

June 1994 (Revised March 1995)
Background Note

New Product Commercialization: Common Mistakes

By: V. Kasturi Rangan

Addresses the common mistakes made in new product development and launch. Many times customers' and suppliers' perceptions of the degree of product/market innovation do not match. One of them may view the innovations as a "breakthrough," but the other may view it only... View Details

Keywords: Product Development; Product Launch; Problems and Challenges

December 2006 (Revised March 2007)
Case

Common Agricultural Policy and the Future of French Farming

By: J. Gunnar Trumbull, Vincent Marie Dessain and Elena Corsi

Presents the history and evolution of the EU Common Agricultural Policy, from early price supports to the 2003 decision to "decouple" payments to European farmers. Explores the logic behind agricultural supports, with a focus on the economic, political, and cultural... View Details

Keywords: History; Agreements and Arrangements; Price; Policy; Trade; Agribusiness; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; France; European Union

22 Jun 2013 - 23 Jun 2013
Conference Presentation

Positive Risk and the Innovation Commons

By: Carliss Y. Baldwin

Research Summary

Competing on a Common Platform

Why have over 100 firms joined the Eclipse Foundation to collectively produce an open source platform and tools for software application development? What are they trying to accomplish? This research analyzes IBMs divestment of the Eclipse Java Integrated Development... View Details

7 Mar 2013
Keynote Speech

Positive Risk and the Innovation Commons

By: Carliss Y. Baldwin

Keywords: Innovation ＆ Entrepreneurship; Entrepreneurship; Innovation and Invention

September 2013
Article

Converging to the Lowest Common Denominator in Physical Health

By: Leslie K. John and Michael I. Norton

Objective: This research examines how access to information on peer health behaviors affects one's own health behavior. Methods: We report the results of a randomized field experiment in a large corporation in which we introduced walkstations (treadmills... View Details

Keywords: Information; Behavior; Decision Choices and Conditions; Health; Health Industry

Winter 2021
Article

How Would-Be Category Kings Become Commoners

By: Rory McDonald and Keith Krach

Category creation is the holy grail in business, but more often than not, the very companies that establish lucrative new markets don’t end up being the category kings. Why? Many executives undermine their own ventures’ standing by misinterpreting and misfiring on... View Details

Keywords: New Markets; Innovation and Invention; Innovation Strategy; Business Model

January 2022
Background Note

Common Prosperity? China Shifts Left

By: William C. Kirby and Noah B. Truwit

Since the founding of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, the ruling Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has been mistrustful of entrepreneurs and the private sector that operates outside the government’s authority. In its first decades under Mao Zedong, the CCP... View Details

Keywords: Market Reform; Gdp; Government Administration; Government and Politics; Private Sector; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Economy; Globalized Economies and Regions; Entrepreneurship; Business and Government Relations; Globalized Markets and Industries; Social Issues; Society; Economic Growth; China

04 Aug 2011
What Do You Think?

How Dangerous Is Common Sense to Managers?

Summing Up Does Common Sense Impede Change? Common sense is the decision-maker's friend when the decision has to be made rapidly, with a minimum... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

January 2011
Case

A Slice of the Pie: Ruby Collins and Tenants in Common

By: John D. Macomber and Kristian Peterson

A securitized small real estate investment vehicle fails and the many individual owners have to decide how to manage or dispose of the asset. This case follows Ruby Collins, a small investor, through the logic of Section 1031 Like Kind Exchanges as well as the... View Details

Keywords: Financial Instruments; Investment; Risk Management; Ownership Stake; Partners and Partnerships; Valuation; Real Estate Industry

March 2002
Case

AOL, Cisco, Yahoo!: Building the Internet Commons

By: James E. Austin

Since the spring of 2001, AOL, Cisco, and Yahoo! had collaborated on ways to improve the effectiveness of using the Internet to benefit society. Each company considered itself strongly committed to philanthropy, making significant charitable donations, and fostering a... View Details

Keywords: Internet and the Web; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Business and Community Relations; Information Technology Industry; Web Services Industry