Systems Thinking - Publications - Faculty & Research

April 1992 (Revised September 1993)
Case

Poland--1989

Describes the political and economic situation in Poland in 1989, following the country's first democratic elections and the subsequent establishment of a Solidarity-led government. After examining the legacies left by 40 years of Communist rule, the case lays out the... View Details

Keywords: Sovereign Finance; Economic Systems; Government and Politics; Poland

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2015
Working Paper

Online Word of Mouth and Product Review Disagreement

By: Frank Nagle and Christoph Riedl

Studies of online word of mouth have frequently posited―but never systematically conceptualized and explored―that the level of disagreement between existing product reviews can impact the volume and the valence of future reviews. In this study we develop a theoretical... View Details

Keywords: Online Word Of Mouth; Online Communities; Viral Marketing; Online Product Reviews; Quality; Internet and the Web; Consumer Behavior; Marketing Reference Programs; Social and Collaborative Networks; Digital Marketing; Analytics and Data Science

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11 Jan 2011
First Look

First Look: Jan. 11

http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-0470634251.html Thinking Too Little to Thinking Too Much: A Continuum of Decision Making Authors:Dan Ariely and Michael I. Norton Publication:Wiley... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

22 Jun 2009
Research & Ideas

“Too Big To Fail”: Reining In Large Financial Firms

it fails, that will lead to a systemic problem.' Same with AIG, Fannie and Freddie, and Citibank. But not with Lehman, although I think in retrospect they may believe they made a mistake on that one." To... View Details

Keywords: by Roger Thompson; Banking; Financial Services

01 Apr 2008
First Look

First Look: April 1, 2008

does not, by itself, create a performance drag. Radically Simple IT Authors:David M. Upton and Bradley R. Staats Publication:Harvard Business Review 86, no. 3 (March 2008): 118-124 Abstract Many managers think that developing and rolling... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

02 Jan 2024
Research & Ideas

10 Trends to Watch in 2024

The lightning-fast ascent of generative AI isn’t the only sea change on the horizon for businesses in the new year. The global economy is in flux as war, climate change, trade issues, and infrastructure problems demand attention. Many companies continue to struggle to... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

March 2011
Article

Zoom In, Zoom Out

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter

Zoom buttons on digital devices let us examine images from many viewpoints. They also provide an apt metaphor for modes of strategic thinking. Some people prefer to see things up close, others from afar. Both perspectives have virtues. But they should not be fixed... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Cognition and Thinking; Perspective; Leadership; Opportunities; Decisions

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08 Aug 2023
Research & Ideas

Black Employees Not Only Earn Less, But Deal with Bad Bosses and Poor Conditions

positive work culture, and a healthy work-life balance. “When we think about racial gaps in the United States, we tend to mostly measure relative income levels.” At a time when many companies are looking to recruit and retain more people... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

27 Feb 2007
First Look

First Look: February 27, 2007

http://www.hbsp.harvard.edu/b01/en/common/item_detail.jhtml?id=207039 Vipp A/S Harvard Business School Case 607-052 Rapidly growing Vipp sells highly differentiated (and expensive) "designer" versions of a product that most buyers View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

Web

Live from Klarman Hall - Alumni

changed by AI and the core processes of sciences, like biology and physics, can be accelerated to where we could get a hundred years of development in a decade? What is likely to change? What will remain the same? How should we think... View Details

TeachingInterests

Decision Making Under Uncertainty

By: David E. Bell

Many of the decisions we face are made complicated by having uncertain consequences: how should I set my inventory when I don’t know what demand will be, should I refinance my mortgage when rates might go lower, how big a bet shall I make in a new business, and so... View Details

04 Jun 2007
Research & Ideas

Is Health Care Making You Better—or Dead?

self-serving this system is. Q: What strikes me about this book, and I think anyone who's going to read it, is the tone. You're actually calling players in the health care View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Health

17 Feb 2022
Blog Post

The Fifth Year of Short Intensive Programs (SIPs) at HBS

some guests and students joining virtually. We took a closer look at three: the American Dream and the US System of Higher Education, Business Opportunities in the Plant-Based Economy, and the Spiritual Lives of Leaders. In the American... View Details

July 2003
Article

Probabilistic Representation of Complexity

By: Nabil I Al-Najjar, Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Emre Ozdenoren

We study individuals' behavior in an environment that is deterministic, but too complex to permit tractable deterministic representation. Under mild conditions, behavior is represented by a unique probabilistic model in which the agent's inability to think through all... View Details

Keywords: Complexity; Behavior; Problems and Challenges; Risk and Uncertainty; Planning

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09 May 2011
Research & Ideas

Moving From Bean Counter to Game Changer

Early Warning System that conveyed the bank's "risk view." Management started using these tools to frame important debates, such as the evaluation of divisional heads' performance at quarterly business reviews. The View Details

Keywords: by Kim Girard; Banking

01 May 2012
First Look

First Look: May 1

thinking about CSR and the privately optimal level of such activities. Download the paper: http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/12-091.pdf Delegation in Multi-Establishment Firms: Evidence from I.T. Purchasing Authors: Kristina McElheran... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

13 Oct 2015
Blog Post

LGBTSA Spotlight: Alterrell Mills

accounting: fast-paced, fully immersive, and case-based. Why did you decide to get involved with the LGBT Student Association? As a member of the black and LGBT community, I know the importance of belonging to a community that provides a support View Details

17 May 2017
Research & Ideas

Minorities Who 'Whiten' Job Resumes Get More Interviews

obvious disconnect between the companies’ pro-diversity messages and the actual acceptance of diverse applicants, yet she doesn’t believe employers are using these messages as a way to trap and weed out minorities that do apply. “I don’t View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

17 May 2010
Research & Ideas

What Brazil Teaches About Investor Protection

development agencies toward reforming the legal system or improving the court system. There is nothing wrong with that, but what if the real agents of change were the corporations themselves—their founders or their current shareholders?... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Banking; Financial Services

March 2025 (Revised March 2025)
Case

Good for the Seller, Good for the Buyer and Good for Society: Sampo-yoshi, Sustainability and Trust at ITOCHU

By: Sandra J. Sucher and Bethelehem Y Araya

In 2024, ITOCHU CEO Masahiro Okafuji was at a crossroads. As the thirteenth CEO since ITOCHU’s founding in 1858, he had fueled the company’s growth since 2011 by bringing ITOCHU’s founding philosophy of Sampo-yoshi (good for the seller, good for the buyer and... View Details

Keywords: Sustainability; Trust; Profit; Growth and Development Strategy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Mission and Purpose; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Environmental Sustainability; Japan

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