Publications

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Research Summary

Distributed Innovation in Open Systems—The Role of Modularity

By: Carliss Y. Baldwin

Distributed innovation in open systems is an important trend in the modern global economy. As education levels rise and communication costs fall, more people have the means and motivation to innovate. Supply chains now stretch around the world as firms outsource... View Details

Forthcoming
Article

You've Got Mail! The Late 19th-Century U.S. Postal Service Expansion, Firm Creation, and Firm Performance

By: Astrid Marinoni and Maria P. Roche

This paper examines the impact of the expansion of the US Postal Service in the late 19th century on firm creation and performance. Utilizing newly digitized archival data on historic business establishments, post office locations, and road networks in California,... View Details

Keywords: Institutional Innovation; Knowledge Exchange; US Postal Service; Firm Performance; Infrastructure; Expansion; Government Administration; Communication; Business History; Entrepreneurship; Public Administration Industry; California

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19 Sep 2024
Research & Ideas

Global Talent, Local Obstacles: Why Time Zones Matter in Remote Work

messages, stayed the same. That one-hour loss of overlap represented a 19 percent reduction in opportunities to communicate synchronously during the typical workday—but the impact of that gap also depended... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

April 2010 (Revised September 2011)
Case

The Dannon Company: Marketing and Corporate Social Responsibility (A)

By: Christopher Marquis, Pooja Mehta Shah, Amanda Elizabeth Tolleson and Bobbi Thomason

At the end of 2009, The Dannon Company was considering pro actively communicating its CSR efforts to consumers. With the strong connection between Dannon's production of health foods and its commitment to health and nutrition-based CSR activities, communicating these... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Nutrition; Marketing Communications; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Risk and Uncertainty; Natural Environment; Food and Beverage Industry

15 Jun 2020
Research & Ideas

A Mass Crisis Can Overwhelm Health Care. Liberia Found a Solution.

country, Liberia, that was able to meet a similar, deadly threat by supplementing a health care system emerging from decades of civil strife with a cadre of less trained, but highly capable, community health workers. Could the Liberian... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Health

Article

Olfactory Cues from Romantic Partners and Strangers Moderate Women's Responses to Stress

By: Marlise Hofer, Hanne Collins, Ashley V. Whillans and Frances Chen

The scent of another person can activate memories, trigger emotions, and spark romantic attraction; however, almost nothing is known about whether and how human scents influence responses to stress. In the current study, 96 women were randomly assigned to smell one of... View Details

Keywords: Interpersonal Communication; Personal Characteristics; Perception

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July 2004 (Revised December 2004)
Case

Timberland: Commerce and Justice

By: James E. Austin, Herman B. Leonard and James Quinn

When Jeffrey Swartz became the third generation in his family to lead the Timberland Co., he pursued a strategy in which commerce and justice were "inextricably linked." Community involvement, environmental management, and global labor standards became not addenda to... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; For-Profit Firms; Innovation and Invention; Leadership Development; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Programs; Opportunities; Alignment; Business Strategy; Value

July 2012 (Revised July 2014)
Case

Warby Parker: Vision of a 'Good' Fashion Brand

By: Christopher Marquis and Laura Velez Villa

In its third year of existence and poised to double its workforce, Warby Parker attributed its success to an innovative approach in the eyewear industry and to the company culture that supported it. With a mission combining social and business goals, the company had... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Innovation; Business And Society; Social Responsiblity; Organizational Behavior; Social Entrepreneurship; Growth Management; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Brands and Branding; Organizational Culture; Marketing Strategy; Innovation and Invention; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Health Industry; United States

21 Sep 2010
First Look

First Look: September 21, 2010

http://www.people.hbs.edu/mnorton/norton%20ariely%20in%20press.pdf Working PapersThe Distinct Effects of Information Technology and Communication Technology on Firm Organization Authors:Nicholas Bloom, Luis Garicano, Raffaella Sadun,... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

September 2006 (Revised December 2007)
Case

Go Red For Women: Raising Heart Health Awareness

By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Marie Bell

In 2003, the $654 million American Heart Association (AHA) approached Cone, Inc. (a brand and communications agency) to develop a corporate sponsorship strategy that would raise $75 million over three years. Within 12 months, the AHA launched the highly successful Go... View Details

Keywords: Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Marketing Communications; Social Marketing; Nonprofit Organizations; Social and Collaborative Networks

September–October 2020
Article

When It's Time to Pivot, What's Your Story?: How to Sell Stakeholders on a New Strategy

By: Rory McDonald and Robert Bremner

To succeed, a new company must rally investors, staff, customers, and the media around a good story. But often that narrative turns out to be wrong, and entrepreneurs realize they need to change direction. How that shift is communicated can have a huge impact on a... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Business Model; Strategy; Change Management; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Communication Strategy; Business and Stakeholder Relations

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February 2015 (Revised August 2016)
Case

Nokia's Bridge Program: Redesigning Layoffs (A)

By: Sandra J. Sucher and Susan J. Winterberg

"Not another Bochum." Nokia Board Chairman Jorma Ollila was clear in the goals he set for the 2011 restructuring that Nokia's new CEO, Stephen Elop, had decided was necessary to address the dramatically changed competitive environment the company faced in smartphones... View Details

Keywords: Layoffs; Plant Closure; Outplacement; Shared Value; Business or Company Management; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Restructuring; Employee Relationship Management; Telecommunications Industry

Research Summary

Overview of Research

My research examines approaches to improving the performance of our health care delivery system with a primary focus on health information technology. Reflecting the interdisciplinary nature of my program, my dissertation draws upon theories and insights from... View Details

Research Summary

Integrated Care for Total Knee Replacement: Quality of Life, Quality of Movement, User Acceptability

This study provides an opportunity to focus on the challenge of cross-organizational coordination in the healthcare setting. It is structured as a randomized clinical trial involving seven European hospitals (in seven different countries). It is focused specifically... View Details

2015
Working Paper

Do-gooders and Go-getters: Career Incentives, Selection, and Performance in Public Service Delivery

By: Nava Ashraf, Oriana Bandiera and Scott S. Lee

We study how career incentives affect who selects into public health jobs and, through selection, their performance while in service. We collaborate with the Government of Zambia to experimentally vary the salience of career incentives in a newly created health worker... View Details

Keywords: Motivation and Incentives; Health Industry; Zambia

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17 Jan 2023
Cold Call Podcast

Nestlé’s KitKat Diplomacy: Neutrality vs. Shared Value

Keywords: Re: Geoffrey G. Jones; Consumer Products

05 Nov 2012
Research & Ideas

What Wall Street Doesn’t Understand About International Trade

research. What's more, firms that correlate their international trading activity with the local ethnic community significantly outperform those that don't—a fact that has escaped notice of financial analysts. The findings could help Wall... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

02 Jul 2024
Book

Five Essential Elements to Build the Capital You Need to Lead

global executive and coaching experience—explains how people can use these five Cs to find their own “treasure,” that personal or professional achievement that spells success in their own eyes and have greater impact in the world. The... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

November 2020 (Revised February 2021)
Case

Wes Hall and the BlackNorth Initiative

By: Shikhar Ghosh, Marilyn Morgan Westner and Reza Satchu

Wes Hall founded Kingsdale Advisors and built it into one of Canada’s leading shareholder services and advisory firms. Influenced by the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement and a series of social injustices—specifically the death of George Floyd in police custody—Hall... View Details

Keywords: Racism; Cultural Entrepreneurship; Social Entrepreneurship; Diversity; Race; Social Issues; Ethics; Canada; North America