Cold Start Problem - Publications - Faculty & Research

07 Jul 2008
Research & Ideas

Innovation Corrupted: How Managers Can Avoid Another Enron

for natural gas, and to create derivative supply contracts that could help customers manage the risks of demand volatility and price swings more effectively than before. In this way, Skilling and his colleagues solved a major contracting View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Energy; Utilities

16 Jul 2012
Research & Ideas

Are You a Strategist?

Leader Your Business Needs, Montgomery discusses when that disconnect happened, why it's a problem today, and how leaders can turn themselves back into strategists. (Read an excerpt from The Strategist.) According to Montgomery, the... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

17 Jan 2024
HBS Case

Psychological Pricing Tactics to Fight the Inflation Blues

use it, Ofek says. “It's not delivering a major benefit at this point,” he says. “However, it's kind of like a negative differentiator. If you don't do it, you start standing out, and then that creates a separate View Details

Keywords: by Jay Fitzgerald; Consumer Products; Retail

August 2019
Case

Volkswagen and Suzuki (A): A Match Made in Heaven?

By: Ranjay Gulati and Saloni Chaturvedi

The alliance between Volkswagen and Suzuki in 2009 was expected to help Volkswagen become the world’s largest carmaker and Suzuki gain expertise in fuel-efficient technologies. In addition, each promised to help the other in the two largest emerging markets. While... View Details

Keywords: Alliances; Problems and Challenges; Auto Industry

Citation

Educators

Purchase

14 Feb 2023
Research & Ideas

When a Vacation Isn’t Enough, a Sabbatical Can Recharge Your Life—and Your Career

A few years ago, DJ DiDonna seemed to have everything going for him. He had started a successful venture called the Entrepreneurial Finance Lab, which used psychometric factors to help banks issuing microloans in the developing world... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

25 Oct 2006
Op-Ed

Fixing Executive Options: The Veil of Ignorance

the vesting period—appears to vitiate many of the benefits of incentive alignment. How might option compensation be refashioned to deliver the benefits without the distortions? Perhaps the answer to these problems can be found with... View Details

Keywords: by Mihir Desai & Joshua Margolis

May 2024
Supplement

DRSi (B)

By: Richard S. Ruback and Royce Yudkoff

Pre-Abstract: Instructors should consider the timing of making videos available to students, as they may reveal key case details.

Abstract: In March of 2019, Jen Ransom Fuller purchased DRSi. DRSi, located in Bellevue, Washington, printed and reproduced... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Small Business; Cost vs Benefits; Decisions; Business Education; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Leadership Style; Leading Change; Business or Company Management; Problems and Challenges; Health Pandemics; Selection and Staffing; Employee Relationship Management; Production; Logistics; Safety; Washington (state, US); United States

Citation

Purchase

08 Sep 2009
Research & Ideas

The Height Tax, and Other New Ways to Think about Taxation

rich topic of study and an immensely powerful policy tool.” "The problem is this: The government can't tell whether it is easy or hard for a given person to earn income, because it can't measure 'ability.' What the government can... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

02 Apr 2024
Research & Ideas

Employees Out Sick? Inside One Company's Creative Approach to Staying Productive

workers each, running on tight schedules with little room for error. Yet the average daily worker absenteeism rate was 11 percent, and for any particular production line, the absence rate was 20 percent or higher at least one out of 11 days. “You need to solve the... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Fashion

12 May 2021
Book

The Hard Truth About Being a CEO

said he knew two things with certainty when he came onto a battleship: He was never going to get handed a cold cup of coffee, and he was never going to hear the whole truth. "You have to be open and candid and say, 'Look, tell me what you... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

29 Oct 2012
Research & Ideas

Are You Paying a Tip--or a Bribe?

should be careful about the extent to which they engage in informal exchanges both within and outside their organizations. "Once you start engaging in these informal tit-for-tat exchanges, it may increase your susceptibility to... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

07 Nov 2017
First Look

New Research and Ideas: November 7, 2017

and that this difference is associated with significant performance differentials. We propose three possible reasons for the managerial gap of founder CEO firms: a) informational problems preventing a clear understanding of the weakness... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

13 Feb 2020
Book

Open Your Organization to Honest Conversations

underlying reason why: Leaders often get stuck in echo chambers that merely reinforce their own ideas, says Harvard Business School Professor Michael Beer. Meanwhile, lower-level employees are often fully aware of the problems that plague... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

11 Apr 2024
In Practice

Why Progress on Immigration Might Soften Labor Pains

lack of talent and saying, “Gosh, we need to find more workers.” The unemployment rate is still less for computer programmers than it is for workers who take jobs in fast food restaurants, but both unemployment rates are at historic lows. Many organizations are View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

16 Sep 2008
First Look

First Look: September 16, 2008

right industry and time to start new ventures. Entrepreneurs with demonstrated market timing skill are also more likely to outperform industry peers in their subsequent ventures. This is consistent with the view that if suppliers and... View Details

12 Feb 2018
Research & Ideas

Customers at the Back of the Line Are Anxious—Can You Keep Them from Leaving?

—Buell explains in a new working paper, “Last Place Aversion in Queues.” "If I can’t look behind me and see someone else is willing to wait longer than me, I start to question whether waiting in line is worthwhile” Buell’s research... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Retail; Service

14 Feb 2023
HBS Case

Is Sweden Still 'Sweden'? A Liberal Utopia Grapples with an Identity Crisis

to expand its political platform, linking the migrants to a rising crime rate and other ills. “It’s a problem that’s playing out not just in Europe, but in the US as well,” Spar says of rising immigration numbers. “Sweden is an indicator... View Details

Keywords: by Lane Lambert

29 Nov 2022
Research & Ideas

Is There a Method to Musk’s Madness on Twitter?

consistent with trying to get that particular benchmark in line. We should definitely feel sympathy for all the people at Twitter who have gone through this. But at the same time, we shouldn’t be surprised that Musk has chosen to start... View Details

Keywords: by Christina Pazzanese, Harvard Gazette; Technology

02 Sep 2014
First Look

First Look: September 2

faced and an inability to respond effectively once they did. We focus particularly on the problems GM encountered in developing the relational contracts essential to modern design and manufacturing. We discuss a number of possible causes... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

13 Jan 2023
Research & Ideas

Are Companies Actually Greener—or Are They All Talk?

Most companies now account for social good in their financial reports in some way, but with regulation scattershot and evolving, it’s complicated for investors to assess so-called ESG reports. The disclosures, known as Environmental, Social, and Governance reports,... View Details