Publications

Article

Eliminating Unintended Bias in Personalized Policies Using Bias-Eliminating Adapted Trees (BEAT)

By: Eva Ascarza and Ayelet Israeli

An inherent risk of algorithmic personalization is disproportionate targeting of individuals from certain groups (or demographic characteristics such as gender or race), even when the decision maker does not intend to discriminate based on those “protected”... View Details

Keywords: Algorithm Bias; Personalization; Targeting; Generalized Random Forests (GRF); Discrimination; Customization and Personalization; Decision Making; Fairness; Mathematical Methods

2007
Other Unpublished Work

Influence and Inefficiency in the Internal Capital Market

By: Julie Wulf

I model inefficient resource allocations in M-form organizations due to influence activities by division managers that skew capital budgets in their favor. Corporate headquarters receives two types of signals about investment opportunities: private signals that can be... View Details

Keywords: Capital Budgeting; Investment; Knowledge Acquisition; Managerial Roles; Resource Allocation; Power and Influence

February 1992
Background Note

Resources: The Essence of Corporate Advantage

By: Cynthia A. Montgomery

Introduces the idea that a firm's resources are at the heart of corporate advantage. Identifies six characteristics of a resource that together describe its potential for creating value for the firm. View Details

Keywords: Resource Allocation; Competitive Advantage; Value Creation

05 Jul 2006
Working Paper Summaries

Do Managers’ Heuristics Affect R&D Performance Volatility? A Simulation Informed by the Pharmaceutical Industry

Keywords: by Francesca Gino & Gary P. Pisano; Pharmaceutical

Teaching Interest

Finance Reporting and Control

Financial Reporting and Control (FRC) is a course about how leaders can design and use performance measurement systems to build more effective organizations. Throughout their careers, business leaders are required to... View Details

August 2017 (Revised January 2020)
Case

PFA Pension: Expansion of Alternatives Portfolio

By: Victoria Ivashina, Federica Gabrieli and Jérôme Lenhardt

PFA Pension was the biggest commercial pension provider in Denmark. At the end of 2015, the company had decided to boost its investments into the alternative asset class, an area where it was lagging behind its competitors. The aim was to privilege direct investments... View Details

Keywords: Asset Management; Private Equity; Investment; Denmark; Europe

December 15, 2015
Article

Don't Turn Your Sales Team Loose Without a Strategy

By: Frank V. Cespedes and Steve Thompson

When formulating a strategy, markets and segments are typically important categories. But only customers buy. Hence, for most firms, de facto strategy and much resource allocation are the aggregate result of the deals their salespeople close. However, few firms clarify... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Salesforce Management

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03 Feb 2010
Working Paper Summaries

Accountability and Control as Catalysts for Strategic Exploration and Exploitation: Field Study Results

Keywords: by Robert L. Simons

03 Oct 2013
HBS Seminar

Yanbo Wang, Boston University

2009
Working Paper

Taking a 'Deep Dive': What Only a Top Leader Can Do

By: Howard H. Yu and Joseph L. Bower

Unlike most historical accounts of strategic change inside large firms, empirical research on strategic management rarely uses the day-to-day behaviors of top executives as the unit of analysis. By examining the resource allocation process closely, we introduce the... View Details

Keywords: Leading Change; Management Practices and Processes; Resource Allocation; Business Processes; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Organizational Structure

SSRN

May 2009
Article

Synchronicity and Firm Interlocks in an Emerging Market

By: Tarun Khanna and Catherine Thomas

Stock price synchronicity has been attributed to poor corporate governance and a lack of firm-level transparency. This paper investigates the association between different kinds of firm interlocks, control groups, and synchronicity in Chile. A unique data set... View Details

Keywords: Stocks; Price; Corporate Governance; Governance Controls; Governing and Advisory Boards; Resource Allocation; Emerging Markets; Ownership Stake; Chile

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October 1985 (Revised February 1986)
Supplement

CompuServe (A1)

By: James L. Heskett

This addendum to CompuServe (A) describes how resources were allocated. View Details

Keywords: Resource Allocation; Information Technology Industry

February 2015 (Revised December 2016)
Case

Poseidon Carlsbad: Desalination and the San Diego County Water Authority

By: John Macomber

Extreme drought conditions in California have significant impacts on the ability of the San Diego County Water Authority to provide adequate water for current users. Water shortfalls also could curtail the economic development of one of the fastest growing regions in... View Details

Keywords: Risk Management; Partners and Partnerships; Resource Allocation; Public Sector; Private Sector; Environmental Sustainability; Policy; Infrastructure; Green Technology Industry; Utilities Industry; California

Article

Non-verifiability, Costly Renegotiation, and Efficiency

By: Jerry R. Green and J. J. Laffont

We study the implications of the non verifiability of information for the allocation of resources and the bearing of risk in a two party relationship. We consider a two step approach. In step one the two parties define a non contingent contract which will be executed... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation

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April 2019 (Revised October 2021)
Case

The Rohingya Refugee: Past, Genocide, Future

By: Reshmaan N. Hussam

In August 2017, the Myanmar military commenced a brutal pogrom of the Rohingya minority in Rakhine State, Myanmar. The genocidal campaign marked the most recent and decisive of a series of ethnic cleansing efforts fueled by contention around race, religion, and... View Details

Keywords: War; Ethnicity; Race; Religion; Identity; Change; Resource Allocation; Social Issues; Myanmar; Africa; Bangladesh

October 2016 (Revised February 2019)
Case

PTC: A Transformation to IoT

By: Rajiv Lal and Sarah McAra

In the 2010s, PTC, a leading provider of software for discrete manufacturers, faced maturing markets and changing customer needs as smart, connected products took hold—the rise of the Internet of Things (IoT). PTC saw a first mover advantage in entering the IoT space... View Details

Keywords: Internet Of Things; IoT; Smart; Connected Products; Business Organization; Transformation; Customer Relationship Management; Innovation Strategy; Technological Innovation; Leading Change; Marketing; Product Development; Service Operations; Strategy; Competition; Technology Industry

Teaching Interest

Financial Reporting and Control

By: Suraj Srinivasan

Financial Reporting and Control (FRC) covers topics about how managers can design and use performance measurement systems for external reporting and internal management to build more effective organizations. Throughout their careers, business leaders are required to... View Details

Keywords: Financial Reporting

Article

The Use of Broker Votes to Reward Brokerage Firms' and Their Analysts' Research Activities

By: David A. Maber, Boris Groysberg and Paul M. Healy

In traditional markets, the price mechanism directs the flow of resources and governs the process through which supply and demand are brought into equilibrium. In the investment-research industry, broker votes perform these functions. Using detailed clinical data from... View Details