Publications

November 2002
Case

Siemens ShareNet: Building a Knowledge Network

By: Alan D. MacCormack, Sven Volpel and Kerry Herman

Describes the development of ShareNet, an innovative knowledge management system used by a division of Siemens. ShareNet attempts to capture the knowledge and experience of Siemen's many dispersed sales and marketing units around the globe, making it available to all.... View Details

Keywords: Cost Management; Investment Return; Revenue; Knowledge Acquisition; Knowledge Management; Sales

Educators

I received my first degree in Economics in 1990 from the Universidad de Buenos Aires, Argentina and a D.Phil in Economics from Oxford University in 1996. After a short stay in Argentina I joined Harvard Business School in July 1997, where I... View Details

Keywords: broadcasting; state government

January 2016
Case

SAP SE: Autism at Work

By: Gary P. Pisano and Robert D. Austin

This case describes SAP's "Autism at Work" program, which integrates people with autism into the company's workforce. The company has a stated objective of making 1% of its workforce people with autism by 2020. SAP's rationale for the program is based on the belief... View Details

Keywords: Software; Human Resource Management; Diversity Management; Germany; Selection and Staffing; Innovation and Management; Applications and Software; Recruitment; Diversity; Information Technology Industry; Germany

Educators

09 May 2019
News

The Most Anxious Generation Goes to Work

01 Jun 2013
News

Minding The Gap

09 Nov 2017
News

Why Global Success Depends On Separating Language & Culture

12 Aug 2009
Working Paper Summaries

Culture Clash: The Costs and Benefits of Homogeneity

Keywords: by Eric J. Van den Steen

Summer 2013
Other Article

The Roots of Our Tax Debates

By: Matthew C. Weinzierl

Our fiscal debates are endlessly frustrating. The outlines of a compromise seem clear, yet both sides remain incapable of agreement. But is the proper balance between spending less and taxing more really so obvious? A look at what underlies the political wars over... View Details

Keywords: Values and Beliefs; Debates; Taxation; Budgets and Budgeting; United States

2024
Working Paper

Priors, Experiments, Learning and Persuasion in (Bayesian) Entrepreneurial Finance

By: Ramana Nanda

At the heart of entrepreneurial finance lies a persuasion challenge: regardless of the strength of an entrepreneur’s belief in the potential of their idea, they typically need to convince investors to provide the financial capital required for its... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurial Finance; Business Startups; Communication Intention and Meaning; Prejudice and Bias

SSRN

Winter 2020
Article

Goodfellows: Men's Role and Reason in the Fight for Gender Equality

By: Debora L. Spar

The essay attempts to make the case for including—even embracing—men in the fight for gender equality. If men believe in equality, then expanding that belief to explicitly include women is not a leap of logic or an act of charity. It is instead a basic extension of a... View Details

Keywords: Gender; Diversity; Equality and Inequality

Register to Read

2024
Working Paper

Lost in Transmission

By: Thomas Graeber, Shakked Noy and Christopher Roth

For many decisions, people rely on information received from others by word of mouth. How does the process of verbal transmission distort economic information? In our experiments, participants listen to audio recordings containing economic forecasts and are paid to... View Details

Keywords: Information Trnasmission; Word Of Mouth; Word-of-Mouth; Narratives; Reliability; Knowledge Sharing; Spoken Communication; Cognition and Thinking

May 2011 (Revised January 2012)
Supplement

OPOWER: Increasing Energy Efficiency through Normative Influence (B)

By: Maarten W. Bos, Amy J.C. Cuddy and Kyle Todd Doherty

The case profiles OPOWER, an energy efficiency software company that applies Cialdini's principles of social influence to successfully encourage consumers to reduce their energy usage. OPOWER was co-founded in 2008 by two young Harvard graduates, Dan Yates and Alex... View Details

Keywords: Energy Conservation

2009
Working Paper

Technology Innovation and Diffusion as Sources of Output and Asset Price Fluctuations

By: Diego A. Comin, Mark Gertler and Ana Maria Santacreu

We develop a model in which innovations in an economy's growth potential are an important driving force of the business cycle. The framework shares the emphasis of the recent "new shock" literature on revisions of beliefs about the future as a source of fluctuations,... View Details

Keywords: Business Cycles; Economic Growth; Asset Pricing; Technological Innovation; Mathematical Methods; System Shocks; Technology Adoption

Article

Don't Stop Believing: Rituals Improve Performance by Decreasing Anxiety

By: Alison Wood Brooks, Julianna Schroeder, Jane Risen, Francesca Gino, Adam D. Galinsky, Michael I. Norton and Maurice Schweitzer

From public speaking to first dates, people frequently experience performance anxiety. And when experienced immediately before or during performance, anxiety harms performance. Across a series of experiments, we explore the efficacy of a common strategy that people... View Details

Keywords: Behavior; Performance; Emotions

January 2024
Teaching Note

Frank Cornelissen: The Great Sulfite Debate (A) & (B)

By: Tiona Zuzul

Teaching Note for HBS Case Nos. 724-391 and 724-398. In 2018, artisanal Italian vineyard Frank Cornelissen was one of the world’s leading natural wine vineyards. Its founder, Frank Cornelissen, faced weather related conditions that forced him to have to decide between... View Details

2019
Book

Creative Construction: The DNA of Sustained Innovation

By: Gary P. Pisano

Creative Construction tackles the myth that larger enterprises are inherently incapable of transformative innovation and are doomed to be disrupted by nimble start-ups. If larger enterprises seem incapable of transformative innovation, it is due to how we design... View Details

Keywords: Innovation and Invention; Business Growth and Maturation; Innovation Strategy; Organizational Culture; Management Systems; Creativity; Leading Change

Research Summary

Overview

Given the difficulty of directly debiasing cognitive and social biases, Ariella's research focuses on how environments can be structured to reduce biased behaviors and outcomes. Ariella is currently pursuing two main strands of research: the first is a focus on... View Details

October 2020
Article

What Goes Down When Advice Goes Up: Younger Advisers Underestimate Their Impact

By: Ting Zhang and Michael S. North

Common wisdom suggests that older is wiser. Consequently, people rarely give advice to older individuals—even when they are relatively more expert—leading to missed learning opportunities. Across six studies (N=3,445), we explore the psychology of advisers when they... View Details

Keywords: Advice; Expertise; Knowledge Sharing; Experience and Expertise; Age; Perception

November 2016 (Revised March 2018)
Background Note

Note on the Impact of Millennials on the Food System

By: José B. Alvarez, James Weber and Natalie Kindred

In 2016, the millennial generation (those age 19 to 35 in 2016), the largest generation by population in the U.S., was entering its prime home buying, family forming, earning and spending years. This generation was showing different beliefs and behaviors than previous... View Details

Keywords: Millennials; Consumer Packaged Goods; Food; Age; Consumer Behavior; Agribusiness; Demographics; Values and Beliefs; Consumer Products Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; United States

Educators