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- All HBS Web (257)
- 24 Jun 2013
- Research & Ideas
Is Your iPhone Turning You Into a Wimp?
What kind of a device are you using to read this article? And what does your body posture look like? Are you hunching over a smartphone screen, arms tightly at your side? Are you slouching over an iPad or laptop? Or are you stretched out comfortably in an office chair,... View Details
- 05 Nov 2012
- Research & Ideas
What Wall Street Doesn’t Understand About International Trade
Making the best international trading decisions may be as easy as taking a stroll around the local neighborhood. A recent research paper states that it's possible to predict whether a US firm will trade with any given country by studying the ethnic makeup of the nearby... View Details
Keywords: by Carmen Nobel
- 12 Mar 2012
- Research & Ideas
Crowded at the Top: The Rise of the Functional Manager
It's getting a little less lonely at the top. So says recent research that reports a dramatic change in the top management structure of large US firms. According to a survey of some 300 Fortune 500 companies, the number of managers reporting directly to the CEO has... View Details
Keywords: by Carmen Nobel
- 27 Oct 2011
- Research & Ideas
Horrible Boss Workarounds
On film, few characters are more obviously villainous than the extremely bad boss. There's Star Wars' Darth Vader (who manages a disrespectful underling by strangling him with his mind), Katharine Parker in Working Girl (who shamelessly steals ideas from the movie's... View Details
Keywords: by Carmen Nobel
- 14 Mar 2011
- Research & Ideas
Water, Electricity, and Transportation: Preparing for the Population Boom
By 2050, the Earth's population will likely exceed 9 billion people, up 30 percent from 6.9 billion today, according to projections from both the US Census Bureau and the United Nations. What's more, the population in the world's cities is expected to increase by 3... View Details
Keywords: by Carmen Nobel
- 31 Jan 2011
- Research & Ideas
Taking the Fear out of Diversity Policies
If you start a discussion about workplace diversity policies, don't be surprised if the hopeful topics of ethnic, racial, and gender heterogeneity lead to negative discussions about sexism, bigotry, and injustice. "Talking about and studying diversity is often... View Details
Keywords: by Carmen Nobel
- 24 Jul 2017
- Research & Ideas
People Have an Irrational Need to Complete 'Sets' of Things
Credit: Martin Barraud Here’s a tip for persuading people to finish more tasks, buy more products, or donate more money: Simply present assignments, requests, or items as arbitrary sets, rather than as individual units. New research reveals that people are... View Details
Keywords: by Carmen Nobel
- 29 Jun 2016
- Research & Ideas
The $1 Trillion Link Between Mental Health and Economic Productivity
In April, the World Health Organization released a groundbreaking study that established a definitive link between mental health and economic productivity. The findings were both depressing and hopeful. On the downside, depression and anxiety disorders cost the world... View Details
Keywords: by Carmen Nobel
- 31 Oct 2011
- Research & Ideas
The Most Powerful Workplace Motivator
Any parent can tell you that a surefire way to turn joy into rage is to offer your child a big candy bar—and then turn around and offer an even bigger one to his sister. Suddenly, a special treat turns into a great injustice. "Hey! How come she got more? That's not... View Details
Keywords: by Carmen Nobel
- 26 Jun 2017
- Research & Ideas
How Cellophane Changed the Way We Shop for Food
Advertisement for DuPont Cellophane from The Saturday Evening Post, 1950. E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company Advertising Department records (Accession 1803), Manuscripts and Archives Department, Hagley Museum and Library, Wilmington, Delaware Don’t feel bad if you... View Details
- 01 Jul 2015
- Research & Ideas
A Bank That Takes Parmesan as Collateral: The Cheese Stands a Loan
Since 1953, the regional bank Credito Emiliano has accepted curious collateral for small-business loans: giant wheels of Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese. Known locally as Credem, the bank is the subject of a new Harvard Business School case study, "Credem: Banking on... View Details
- 11 Oct 2017
- Research & Ideas
The House Wants to Squelch Voices of ‘Small’ Shareholders. Research Shows Those Voices Matter.
Source: iStock In June 2017, the US House of Representatives passed the Financial CHOICE Act, a 589-page bill designed to repeal many of the regulations in the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010. Buried on page 461 of the bill: a rule... View Details
Keywords: by Carmen Nobel
- 20 Jun 2016
- Research & Ideas
When Predicting Other People's Preferences, You're Probably Wrong
The Bachelor is a wildly popular reality dating game show on which 28 women compete for the hand of a single man. Along with flirting and fighting and engaging in feats of derring-do, many of the competitors spend ample time confessing insecurities to the camera.... View Details
- 13 Jul 2015
- Research & Ideas
‘Humblebragging’ is a Bad Strategy, Especially in a Job Interview
If you've spent any time on Twitter, then you're probably familiar with the "humblebrag"—a brag veiled in a complaint, so as to sound less blatantly like a brag. Here's an example from the Twitter account of Ari Fleischer, former White House press secretary: They just... View Details
Keywords: by Carmen Nobel
- 23 Mar 2015
- Research & Ideas
It’s Called ‘Price Coherence,’ and It’s Surprisingly Bad for Consumers
Consumers often have the following choice: Either buy something directly from a retailer, or buy it indirectly through an intermediary, which partners with the retailer to attract more buyers. Think purchasing a plane ticket straight from the airline versus on... View Details
- 23 Feb 2015
- Research & Ideas
How to Break the Expert’s Curse
Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw famously wrote, "He who can, does. He who cannot, teaches." But it's often more accurate to say, "He who can do can't teach." It's natural for novices to seek out experts for guidance. That's why many organizations adopt formal... View Details
- 01 Apr 2015
- Research & Ideas
The Slow, Steady Battle to Fix Cancer Care
After a cancer patient's first 30 days in the American medical system, the bills start stacking up—right next to the pile of paperwork explaining benefits. "It's very hard for patients to match these things up," says Dr. Thomas W. Feeley, who recently joined... View Details
- 15 Sep 2014
- Research & Ideas
Are the Most Talented Employees the Highest Paid? Yes—If They’re Bankers
Job seekers who want to be paid commensurate with their talent level might want to pursue a career in high finance. Recent research finds that the finance industry compensates employees largely according to how talented they are. Other high-paying industries? Not so... View Details
- 27 Oct 2014
- Research & Ideas
The Coffee Economy That Bloomed Out of Nowhere
Near the Guatemalan border in Mexico's Chiapas region, sandwiched between the Sierra Madres and the Pacific Ocean, there's a fertile pocket of land called the Soconusco. While once a hotbed of cacao production for the Aztecs and then the Spanish, the area was decimated... View Details
- 29 May 2014
- Research & Ideas
Research Symposium 2014
Speaking up at work; a manager's responsibility to capitalism; a strategy to fix the health care system. These were the presentation topics at the 2014 Faculty Research Symposium. At first blush, they may sound a bit disjointed. But a goal of the annual symposium is to... View Details