Publications
Publications
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- All HBS Web
(1,992)
- Faculty Publications (596)
- December 2015
- Background Note
Incentive Systems
By: Brian J. Hall
This note serves as a supplement to any course on incentive design within organizations. The note focuses on the principal difficulties in designing incentive systems, including the tradeoff between objective and subjective performance metrics, how to design incentive... View Details
- 2015
- Comment
In the Shadow of the Crowd: A Comment on 'Valve's Way'
There are many ways to exercise authority. Perrow (1986), in his review of March and Simon's Organizations (1958), offers a threefold classification of the ways authority can be exercised in organizations: (1) direct, "fully obtrusive" controls such as giving orders... View Details
- October 2015 (Revised October 2016)
- Case
Building Watson: Not So Elementary, My Dear! (Abridged)
By: Willy C. Shih
This case is set inside IBM Research's efforts to build a computer that can successfully take on human challengers playing the game show Jeopardy! It opens with the machine named Watson offering the incorrect answer "Toronto" to a seemingly simple question during the... View Details
- 2019
- Working Paper
Self-Interest: The Economist's Straitjacket
By: Robert Simons
This paper examines contemporary economic theories that focus on the design and management of business organizations. In the first part of the paper, a taxonomy is presented that describes the different types of economists interested in this subject—market economists,... View Details
Keywords: Self-interest; Economist; Moral Philosophers; Regulation; Capture; Organization Design; Economy Theory; Organization Theory; Management Theory; Commitment; Controls; Governance; Customers; Conflict of Interests; Business or Company Management; Competition; Organizational Design; Business Education; Agency Theory; Economics; Theory; Boundaries
- 2015
- Working Paper
A Normative Theory of Dynamic Capabilities: Connecting Strategy, Know-How, and Competition
By: Gary P. Pisano
The field of strategy has mounted an enormous effort to understand, define, predict, and measure how organizational capabilities shape competitive advantage. While the notion that capabilities influence strategy dates back to the work of Andrews (1971), attempts to... View Details
- September 2015
- Technical Note
The On-Demand Economy
By: Cynthia A. Montgomery, James Weber and Elizabeth Anne Watkins
This note describes the emerging on-demand economy, also referred to as the sharing economy. The note highlights several companies including Uber and Airbnb that exemplify this new mode of competition, a model that threatens to disrupt traditional firms. Uber provides... View Details
- September 2015
- Case
Connective Mobility
By: Nitin Nohria, Christopher Payton and Ali Huberlie
Keywords: Information Technology; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Design; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Organizational Culture; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Performance Productivity; Problems and Challenges; Management Practices and Processes; Business Divisions; Information Management; Information Technology Industry; Telecommunications Industry; United States
- September–October 2015
- Article
Facts and Figuring: An Experimental Investigation of Network Structure and Performance in Information and Solution Spaces
By: Jesse Shore, Ethan Bernstein and David Lazer
Using data from a novel laboratory experiment on complex problem solving in which we varied the structure of 16-person networks, we investigate how an organization's network structure shapes performance of problem-solving tasks. Problem solving, we argue, involves both... View Details
Keywords: Networks; Experiments; Clustering; Problem Solving; Exploration And Exploitation; Knowledge; Search; Collaboration; Collaboration Structures; Transparency; Communication; Communication Technology; Information; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Organizational Design; Organizational Structure; Performance Effectiveness; Theory; Information Industry; Information Technology Industry; Public Administration Industry; Technology Industry; Service Industry
- 2016
- Working Paper
Through the Grapevine: Network Effects on the Design of Executive Compensation Contracts
By: Susanna Gallani
Effective design of executive compensation contracts involves choosing and weighting performance measures, as well as defining the mix between fixed and incentive-based pay components, with a view to fostering talent retention and goal congruence. The variability in... View Details
- July 2015 (Revised April 2016)
- Case
Lomography: Analog in a Digital World
By: John T. Gourville, Karol Misztal and Emer Moloney
In spite of the world's move to digital photography, in 2013 Lomography continues to design and offer analog (film) cameras to a loyal following of artistic photographers. Now it must decide whether to stick to its traditional offerings, to expand into artistic lenses... View Details
- Article
Real Effects of Relational Contracts
By: Steven Blader, Claudine Gartenberg, Rebecca Henderson and Andrea Pratt
How important are factors such as "firm culture" and "employee engagement" in driving firm performance? Increasing evidence from a wide range of fields suggests that productivity differs widely across firms, even after the inclusion of careful controls for factors such... View Details
- March 2015
- Supplement
McKinsey & Co. - Protecting its Reputation (A) and (B)
By: Jay W. Lorsch and Emily McTague
The presentation supplement is designed to be used in conjunction with the case "McKinsey & Co. - Protecting its Reputation (A) and (B)," HBS No. 414-021 and 414-022. View Details
- March 2015 (Revised May 2018)
- Case
JPMorgan Chase: Tapping an Overlooked Talent Pool
By: Boris Groysberg and Katherine Connolly
By the spring of 2014, the pilot had come to an end for JPMorgan Chase's ReEntry Program, a program designed for women coming back to the workforce after a period of time away. Mary Callahan Erdoes, CEO of Asset Management, and her team had to evaluate whether or not... View Details
- 2015
- Chapter
From Periphery to Core: A Process Model for Embracing Sustainability
By: Luciana Silvestri and Ranjay Gulati
There is a growing call for business enterprises to adopt sustainability principles and practices, yet many established organizations continue to struggle in their quest to embrace them. In this chapter, we analyze how organizations that relegate sustainability to the... View Details
- 2015
- Chapter
Leading Proactive Punctuated Change
By: Michael Tushman, Charles O'Reilly and Bruce Harreld
This chapter focuses on leading proactive punctuated change. Based on the institutional and organizational change literatures and our extended involvement with IBM between 1999 and 2008, we suggest that proactive punctuated change can be effectively managed through an... View Details
- 2015
- Book
Leading Sustainable Change: An Organizational Perspective
The business case for acting sustainably is becoming increasingly compelling—reducing our global footprint to sustainable levels is the defining issue of our times, and it is one that can only be addressed with the active participation of the private sector. However,... View Details
- January 2015
- Case
Marie Trellu-Kane at Unis-Cité: Establishing Youth Service in France
By: Julie Battilana, Michel Anteby and Anne-Claire Pache
Marie Trellu-Kane is trying to decide how Unis-Cité should respond to French President Jacques Chirac's announcement in 2005 of a new national voluntary civil service program. Since 1994, Trellu-Kane and her co-founders had been creating and overseeing a civil service... View Details
- January 2015 (Revised September 2015)
- Supplement
Sanford C. Bernstein Goes to Asia (B)
By: Linda A. Hill and Allison J. Wigen
This case supplements "Sanford C. Bernstein Goes to Asia." Updates readers on Ghislain de Charentenay's first full year as director of Asian Research at Sanford C. Bernstein in Hong Kong and actions taken by the firm in FY2013. View Details
- Winter 2015
- Article
When One Size Doesn't Fit All: Evolving Directions in the Research and Practice of Enterprise Risk Management
By: Anette Mikes and Robert S. Kaplan
Enterprise risk management (ERM) has become a crucial component of contemporary corporate governance reforms, with an abundance of principles, guidelines, and standards. This paper portrays ERM as an evolving discipline and presents empirical findings on its current... View Details
- November 2014 (Revised March 2016)
- Background Note
Mental Health and the American Workplace
By: John A. Quelch and Carin-Isabel Knoop
Mental illness has been described as an epidemic affecting nearly a quarter of all Americans in their lifetimes, often during their most productive working years. Managers who can design organizations that maximize mental health can minimize these risks and boost... View Details
Keywords: Public Health; Productivity; Competitiveness; Stress Management; Depression; Absenteeism; Presenteeism; Work Culture; Business or Company Management; Work-Life Balance; Performance Productivity; Organizational Culture; Medical Specialties; Health Care and Treatment; Health Industry; United States