Business Improvement - Publications - Faculty & Research

19 Jul 2004
Research & Ideas

Why Innovations Sit on the Shelf

Continued success in diagnostic systems relies heavily on product innovation and software engineering. But Ludwig found that the DIS division had lost its edge—a key competitor had improved its own products so that they outperformed DIS's... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Beer, Russell Eisenstat & Derek Schrader

29 Apr 2013
Research & Ideas

Are First-Time Buyers Left Out of Real Estate’s Rebound?

interest tax deduction. Retsinas is a senior lecturer in real estate at Harvard Business School, director emeritus of Harvard University's Joint Center for Housing Studies, and former Federal Housing Commissioner. Q: What factors have... View Details

Keywords: Construction; Real Estate

04 Jan 2012
What Do You Think?

Income Inequality: What’s the Right Amount?

business and society." The right amount of income inequality may be hard to determine, but respondents to this month's column offered up a number of measures, some more straightforward than others. Comments suggesting that right... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett

17 Nov 2015
Lessons from the Classroom

How Activist Investors Became Respectable

(Editor's Note. Carl Icahn is in the news again. On Monday, SEC filings revealed the militant investor has sold his entire stake in eBay, after successfully pushing the company to spin off its PayPal operation. Harvard Business School... View Details

Keywords: by Joseph Fuller; Financial Services; Banking

05 Oct 2009
Research & Ideas

The Vanguard Corporation

In her new book SuperCorp, Rosabeth Moss Kanter argues that capitalism is near a crossroads. The old ways of doing business no longer work. Traditional leadership roles are breaking down. And the public is fed up with greedy executives... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

27 Dec 2015
Research & Ideas

The Most Popular Stories and Research Papers of 2015

Research that explores how children benefit from having a working mom blew away the field for most popular feature article on Harvard Business School Working Knowledge in 2015. With nearly 84,000 visits, twice the number of the second... View Details

22 Dec 2009
First Look

First Look: Dec. 22

Authors:Dale F. Gray, Robert C. Merton, and Zvi Bodie Publication:In Central Banking, Analysis, and Economic Policies. Central Bank of Chile, forthcoming Abstract This paper proposes a new approach to improve the way central banks can... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

30 Sep 2019
Book

Book Excerpt: Why a Volume on Race, Work, and Leadership

during financial crises. A handful of black entrepreneurs (e.g., Oprah Winfrey and Robert Smith) are among the wealthiest Americans, and though they represent the exception, their influence is nonetheless widespread as their businesses... View Details

23 Jul 2020
Research & Ideas

How Countries Use Financial Policy to Fight COVID-19

around the world could improve responses to the next global financial catastrophe. Work done recently by dozens of Harvard Business School students under Alberto Cavallo, the Edgerley Family Associate... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

14 Jul 2008
Research & Ideas

HBS Cases: Reforming New Orleans Schools After Katrina

school system—and to take action to improve it. There has been much work to do, as Harvard Business School's Stacey Childress details in two case studies. According to Childress, "The New Orleans public... View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert; Education

11 May 2011
Research & Ideas

Building a Better Board

directors. This can serve to cut down on the clubby board atmosphere. Outside recruitment has grown more common in recent years, in part because of improved governance and in part because the usual playing field of director candidates has... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

13 Mar 2012
First Look

First Look: March 13

MaterialsFonterra David E. Bell and Mary ShelmanHarvard Business School Case 512-003 In 2011, Fonterra, the world's largest processor and exporter of dairy products, needed to reposition its business to take... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

28 Aug 2012
First Look

First Look: August 28

likely attributable to improvements in comparability (i.e., better precision of across-firm information) than to changes in information quality specific to the firm (i.e., core information quality). If IFRS adoption View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

04 Apr 2022
Research & Ideas

Tech Hubs: How Software Brought Talent and Prosperity to New Cities

San Diego—brings “significant and long-lasting” benefits, including greater economic growth, global talent, and even more invention to these regions, write William Kerr, the D’Arbeloff Professor of Business Administration at Harvard View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

18 Nov 2021
Op-Ed

5 Principles for Scaling Change from IBM’s High School Innovation

students are graduates of Pathways in Technology Early College High School (P-TECH), an innovative six-year public high school program spearheaded by IBM that has improved college completion rates among disadvantaged youth and created a... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz

08 May 2013
Research & Ideas

A Company’s Evolving View of Gender Equity

1991 and 2009, a period when the growing number of highly educated women in the workforce tested widely held understandings about gender and professional work, write the authors, Harvard Business School professors Lakshmi Ramarajan and... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Accounting

24 Jul 2013
Op-Ed

Detroit Files for Bankruptcy: HBS Faculty Weigh In

departure of high-impact businesses and high-value taxpayers, disputes over dwindling resources, and disabling levels of obligations to pensioners and other contracts. Unfortunately, Detroit isn't alone. Stockton, California, and... View Details

Keywords: by John Macomber, Robert C. Pozen, Eric D. Werker & Benjamin Kennedy; Auto

17 Sep 2001
Research & Ideas

Let Customers Call the Shots

information, and even price. Consumers can shape the marketing interaction, making it more relevant for themselves, and this should lead to greater involvement and responsiveness. The hope is an improvement in marketing efficiency; while... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

12 Feb 2016
Op-Ed

The Real Jobs Tragedy in the US: We've Lost the Skills

by advances in communications and information technology and dramatic improvement in global logistics, fueled the outsourcing of jobs to emerging markets. More jobs disappeared as American companies opted for automation, which replaced... View Details

Keywords: by Joe Fuller and Matt Sigelman; Manufacturing; Electronics

21 Jul 2003
Research & Ideas

Don’t Get Buried in Customer Data—Use It

on," says Harvard Business School marketing professor Gerald Zaltman. A more strategic approach to data mining can provide the foundation for that decision-making architecture. Below, advice on how to use information about the... View Details

Keywords: by Jean Ayers

Publications