Research Productivity - Publications - Faculty & Research

21 Oct 2015
Research & Ideas

How to Predict if a New Business Idea is Any Good

doesn’t influence the idea.” New research explores a fundamental question: How can you predict whether a business idea will succeed or flop? ©iStock They found that setting in a place close to home for Shu. As a doctoral student at the... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Accommodations; Financial Services

22 Feb 2021
Book

Reaching Today's Omnichannel Customer Takes a New Sales Strategy

Management That Works: How to Sell in a World That Never Stops Changing, Cespedes, a senior lecturer at Harvard Business School, offers research-based insight and context, and presents sales productivity not only as a core way to increase... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz

December 2017 (Revised January 2018)
Case

Alltech

By: David E. Bell and Natalie Kindred

Alltech was a Lexington, Kentucky–based producer of supplements for animal feed, with revenues of over $2 billion (projected to reach $3 billion in 2018), sales in 120 countries, 5,000 employees, and 100 manufacturing plants worldwide. For nearly four decades, Alltech... View Details

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09 Feb 2010
First Look

First Look: Feb. 9

under plausible assumptions regarding this altruism and the reaction of consumers to firms that demonstrate insufficient altruism, existing firms (or brands) can face a larger demand for new products than new entrants. Moreover, the... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

01 Jan 2005
News

Joseph J. O'Donnell, MBA 1971

publisher in Lowell whose products included Gideon Bibles. Another—which came his way via an Executive Education participant who was president of the Boston Bruins—was from a small company with about a million dollars in sales that... View Details

03 Dec 2020
Research & Ideas

Cut Payroll Costs with Transparency, Fairness, and Compassion

were instituted, the company’s most productive salespeople left the firm at a significantly higher rate (28 percent) than other agents. The result was a 6 percent sales decline. However, among those who stayed, their workloads did not... View Details

Keywords: by Boris Groysberg and Sarah Abbott

Web

Introducing One-Step Photography - Edwin H. Land & Polaroid | Harvard Business School

A RESEARCH & MANUFACTURING COMPANY Commercialization of the Polarizer Innovation and the War Effort A Rewarding Working Life INSTANT PHOTOGRAPHY The Idea of Instant Photography Research and Development,... View Details

11 Apr 2023
Blog Post

BTG Bioliquids: Creating Fast Pyrolysis Bio-Oil from Biomass Residue Streams

In January 2023, Professors Willy Shih and Mike Toffel led more than 40 HBS MBA students on site visits to witness the energy transition and innovative sustainable production activities throughout Denmark and the Netherlands, in their new... View Details

18 Dec 2017
Op-Ed

Why Employers Must Stop Requiring College Degrees For Middle-Skill Jobs

Credit: Pixsooz American companies have a problem. Over the past decade, they have begun to demand a bachelor’s degree in hiring workers for jobs that traditionally haven’t required one. This uptick in credentialing, or “degree inflation,” rested on the belief that... View Details

Keywords: by Joseph Fuller

01 Jul 2008
First Look

First Look: July 1, 2008

the customer knowledge gained from conducting market research at the front end of NPD affects which of these opportunities the firm should pursue. Pitfalls in analyzing the customer data are described, along with guidelines on how to... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

Web

HBS - Financials | Supplemental Financial Information

Unrestricted 8% Other 7% Special Initiatives 6% Research 5% Building Operations Consistent with the long-term goal of preserving the value of the endowment in real terms (after inflation) and generating a predictable stream of available... View Details

23 Jun 2008
Research & Ideas

Innovative Ways to Encourage Personal Savings

such a product exactly as it exists in other countries, you would likely be in violation of both state lottery laws and federal banking regulations. Fortunately, one can test the structure under sweepstakes laws. Preliminary results for... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Financial Services

Web

William R. Kerr | About

faculty chair of the Launching New Ventures program. Bill served as Unit Head of the Entrepreneurial Management unit from 2020-2023. Bill is a recipient of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation’s Prize Medal for Distinguished Research in... View Details

26 Sep 2011
HBS Case

HBS Cases: Lady Gaga

agency. Should the performer continue with the arena tour solo? Should she develop a small tour for smaller venues? Or should she cancel the concert series entirely? The case, which Elberse coauthored with Michael Christensen (HBS MBA '11) and which also benefited from... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Entertainment & Recreation; Music

25 Aug 2015
First Look

First Look Tuesday

announcement-leading to even greater use of the same production tool. Two controlled lab studies replicate our main findings and show that behavioral biases, not rational expectations, drive the effect. Our View Details

09 Jun 2008
Lessons from the Classroom

Monetizing IP: The Executive’s Challenge

directly competitive product, if the rival introduces an inferior substitute, it may damage consumers' perceptions and depress sales in the entire product category. As a result, intellectual property protection must be seen as not a... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Video Game; Web Services

01 Jun 2023
News

From Big Pharma to Startup

the life cycle of the company”—from proof of concept to platform and product development. It plans to focus first on creating oral versions of peptide hormone drugs used to treat rare endocrine and metabolic diseases. Although Goble is no... View Details

Keywords: April White

25 Aug 2003
Research & Ideas

Why IT Does Matter

people when a part or system is about to fail. Often, only the senior management team's imagination limits new IT-based opportunities. Our research suggests the following: New technologies will continue to give companies the chance to... View Details

Keywords: by F. Warren McFarlan & Richard L. Nolan

02 Aug 2017
What Do You Think?

Summing Up: Why Can’t Organizations Engage Their Employees?

Column Organizations around the globe are doing a poor job developing employees who are engaged—“emotionally invested in and focused on creating value for their organizations every day,” as the Gallup organization defines it. Worse yet, even though ample View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

06 Jan 2020
Research & Ideas

Motivate Your High Performers to Share Their Knowledge

the monetary incentives increased it by 13 percent. Combining the two interventions boosted the total by a small but statistically insignificant amount over the structured meetings alone. After the study period ended, however, something surprising happened. When the... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

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