Publications

2009
Working Paper

Operational Failures and Problem Solving: An Empirical Study of Incident Reporting

By: Julia Rose Adler-Milstein, Sara J. Singer and Michael W. Toffel

Operational failures occur in all industries with consequences that range from minor inconveniences to major catastrophes. Many organizations have implemented incident reporting systems to highlight actual and potential operational failures in order to encourage... View Details

Keywords: Communication Strategy; Legal Liability; Management Practices and Processes; Service Operations; Failure; Health Industry

14 Nov 2017
First Look

New Research and Ideas: November 14, 2017

experts to discuss how researchers can impact a broader audience, by lending their scientific expertise to pressing social issues, current events, and public debates. The landmark Brown v. Board of Education case, in which the Supreme... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

2003
Article

The Influence of Culture and Corporate Governance on the Characteristics that Distinguish Superior Analysts

By: Michael B. Clement, Lynn Rees and Edward Swanson

We identify characteristics of financial analysts that have been shown to be associated with relative forecast accuracy in the United States and examine these characteristics within 10 countries. We find that relative forecast accuracy is influenced by years of... View Details

Keywords: Forecasting and Prediction; Performance Evaluation

February 2017 (Revised March 2018)
Case

BIM: Finding New Ways to Grow

By: Michael Chu and Gamze Yucaoglu

BIM, Turkey’s giant retailer with a hard-discount model for the popular segments, must decide whether to launch a brand-new format challenging the modern supermarkets. Since its founding in 1995, BIM has adhered to a business model based on a relentless focus on costs... View Details

Keywords: Turkey; Decision; Emerging Markets; Private Sector; For-Profit Firms; Business Model; Business Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Growth and Development Strategy; Value Creation; Change Management; Decisions; Growth Management; Retail Industry; Turkey

Educators

January 2009
Case

Xi'an International University: The Growth of Private Universities in China

By: William C. Kirby, Michael Shih-ta Chen, Keith Chi-ho Wong and Tracy Manty

Huang Teng founded Xi'an International University (XAIU) as a private institute of higher education in 1992. Throughout its ensuing years, the school filled a niche and met the demand of students who did not test into one of China's public institutions. In 2008, it was... View Details

Keywords: Higher Education; Growth and Development Strategy; Private Ownership; Expansion; Education Industry; China

Educators

2008
Working Paper

Embracing Commitment and Performance: CEOs and Practices Used to Manage Paradox

By: Tobias Fredberg, Michael Beer, Russell Eisenstat, Nathaniel Foote and Flemming Norrgren

We tend to assume that great leaders must make difficult choices between two or more conflicting outcomes. In an interview study with 26 CEOs of top American and European companies (incl. IKEA, Campbell Soups, Nokia, H&M), we find that instead of choosing between... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Managerial Roles; Performance; Strategy; Management Practices and Processes; Decision Choices and Conditions

06 Apr 2010
First Look

First Look: April 6

activities increase the monitoring costs and the credit risk faced by banks and, in turn, raise the cost of debt for the borrower. Working Papers A New Model of Integrity: The Missing Factor of Production (PDF file of Keynote and... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

24 Feb 2023
Blog Post

My Classroom Experience During Harvard Business School’s Summer Venture in Management Program

When the email arrived – “HBS SVMP Decision Available Online” – it caught me by surprise. I took a breath and read the message: Accepted! As I planned my trip to attend HBS’s Summer Venture in Management Program, I saw scenes of Cambridge... View Details

September 2006 (Revised October 2007)
Case

BT Plc: The Broadband Revolution (A)

By: Michael L. Tushman, David Kiron and Adam M. Kleinbaum

In early 2003, CEO Ben Verwaayen and Chief Broadband Officer Alison Ritchie of BT Plc. are trying to transform the former British Telecom from a stodgy telephone company into a 21st century broadband company. Their efforts to focus the firm on broadband issues within... View Details

Keywords: Transformation; Innovation and Management; Management Teams; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Behavior; Telecommunications Industry; United Kingdom

Educators

15 Sep 2016
News

US political system risks economic competitiveness, study finds

28 Jun 2016
First Look

June 28, 2016

raise funds from outside investors. The relationship appears not to be causal but instead driven by selection effects across heterogeneous teams with varying degrees of inequality aversion. Publisher's link:... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

11 May 2010
First Look

First Look: May 11

Invention of Data Privacy in the United States and France Author:J. Gunnar Trumbull Publication:In The Voice of the Citizen Consumer, edited by K. Bruckweh. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2010 An abstract is unavailable at this... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

May 2024
Article

The Effect of Configural Processing on Mentalization

By: Katrina Fincher, Ting Zhang, Asteya Percaya, Adam Galinsky and Michael W. Morris

Eight studies (N = 2,561) reveal that how we perceptually process a person’s face affects our capacity to understand their mind. Studies 1A and B indicate this relationship functions via two separate pathways: (a) indirectly by increasing our sensitivity to the... View Details

Keywords: Perception; Cognition and Thinking

Article

Is a VC Partnership Greater Than the Sum of Its Partners?

By: Michael Ewens and Matthew Rhodes-Kropf

This paper investigates whether individual venture capitalists have repeatable investment skill and to what extent their skill is impacted by the VC firm where they work. We examine a unique dataset that tracks the performance of individual venture capitalists'... View Details

2009
Chapter

Evaluating the Impact of SA8000 Certification

By: Michael J. Hiscox, Claire Schwartz and Michael W. Toffel

SA 8000, along with other types of certification standards and corporate codes of conduct, represents a new form of private governance of working conditions, initiated and implemented by companies, labor unions, and non-governmental activist groups. Whether these codes... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Governance; Working Conditions; Standards; Performance Evaluation

Article

Memos to the President from a 'Council of Psychological Science Advisers'

By: Bethany A. Teachman, Michael I. Norton and Barbara A. Spellman

On September 15, 2015, President Obama issued an Executive Order recommending that executive departments and agencies use "behavioral science insights to better serve the American people." The articles in this special section were already in press when the order was... View Details

Keywords: Social Psychology; Government Administration; Public Administration Industry; United States

August 19, 2015
Article

The Slow Decay and Quick Revival of Self-deception

By: Zoe Chance, Francesca Gino, Michael I. Norton and Dan Ariely

People demonstrate an impressive ability to self-deceive, distorting misbehavior to reflect positively on themselves—for example, by cheating on a test and believing that their inflated performance reflects their true ability. But what happens to self-deception when... View Details

Keywords: Self-deception; Cheating; Self-enhancement; Positive Illusions; Motivated Reasoning; Perception; Behavior; Ethics

24 May 2011
First Look

First Look: May 24

PublicationsClusters and Competitiveness: Porter's Contribution Authors:Christian H.M. Ketels Publication:Chap. 10 in Competition and Competitive Advantage: The Ideas of Michael Porter, edited by Robert... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

October–December 2023
Article

A Practical Guide to Conversation Research: How to Study What People Say to Each Other

By: Michael Yeomans, Katelynn Boland, Hanne K. Collins, Nicole Abi-Esber and Alison Wood Brooks

Conversation—a verbal interaction between two or more people—is a complex, pervasive, and consequential human behavior. Conversations have been studied across many academic disciplines. However, advances in recording and analysis techniques over the last decade have... View Details

Keywords: Interpersonal Communication; Analytics and Data Science; Research