Publications

May 2000 (Revised August 2001)
Case

Telecom Italia Takeover (A)

By: Michael D. Watkins, James K. Sebenius and Ann Leamon

After two months at the helm of Telecom Italia, Franco Bernabe is confronted by a hostile takeover bid from a much smaller rival. He has a few days in which to maneuver. The case describes the background of Italian telecoms and of the bid itself. Also presents the... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation Process; Mergers and Acquisitions; Leadership Style; Telecommunications Industry; Italy

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

08 Oct 2013
First Look

First Look: October 8

differentiate "quality FDI" in several different ways. First, we look at the possibility that the effects of FDI differ by sector. Second, we differentiate FDI based on objective qualitative industry characteristics including... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

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

15 Sep 2016
News

US political system risks economic competitiveness, study finds

May 2022
Article

Complex Disclosure

By: Ginger Zhe Jin, Michael Luca and Daniel Martin

We present evidence that unnecessarily complex disclosure can result from strategic incentives to shroud information. In our lab experiment, senders are required to report their private information truthfully, but can choose how complex to make their reports. We find... View Details

Keywords: Disclosure; Experiments; Naiveté; Overconfidence; Corporate Disclosure; Policy; Information; Complexity; Strategy; Consumer Behavior

January 2019 (Revised July 2019)
Case

New Balance: Managing Orders and Working Conditions

By: Michael W. Toffel, Eileen McNeely and Matthew Preble

New Balance Athletics, Inc., a major U.S.-based athletic footwear and apparel brand, sources most of its footwear products from independent suppliers whose factories are located in China, Indonesia, and Vietnam. Monica Gorman, vice president of responsible leadership... View Details

Keywords: Footwear; Athletic Footwear; Manufacturing; CSR; Sustainability; Quality Management; Supply Chains; Operations; Management; Production; Working Conditions; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Labor and Management Relations; Supply Chain Management; Supply Chain; Order Taking and Fulfillment; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Consumer Products Industry

Educators

June 2012 (Revised January 2013)
Case

Great Western Hospital: High-risk Pregnancy Care

By: Michael E. Porter, Emma Stanton and Samuel Takvorian

Great Western Hospital (GWH) is a community hospital in Wiltshire, South West England and one of England's largest maternity providers; responsible for delivering over 9,000 babies per year. The case discusses the efforts of Dr. Harini Narayan, consultant obstetrician... View Details

Keywords: Health Care; Health Care and Treatment; Medical Specialties; Service Delivery; Risk Management

Educators

22 Dec 2015
First Look

December 22, 2015

demand, and supporting infrastructures, including business ecosystems) and, when feasible, the wider institutional, regulatory, and even cultural context that conventional International business literature takes as a datum. This is examined conceptually and View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

Article

Product Quality and Entering Through Tying: Experimental Evidence

By: Hyunjin Kim and Michael Luca

Dominant platform businesses often develop products in adjacent markets to complement their core business. One common approach used to gain traction in these adjacent markets has been to pursue a tying strategy. For example, Microsoft pre-installed Internet Explorer... View Details

Keywords: Tying; Platform Strategy; Google; Product; Quality; Digital Platforms; Strategy; Market Entry and Exit

Article

Households' Willingness to Pay for 'Green' Goods: Evidence from Patagonia's Introduction of Organic Cotton Sportswear

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell, Michael Crooke, Forest L. Reinhardt and Vishal Vasishth

To shed light on individuals' willingness to pay for "green" goods (i.e., goods that are supposed to have lower adverse environmental impacts either in production or in use), we study data from the introduction by Patagonia, Inc., of organic cotton sportswear in the... View Details

Keywords: Spending; Consumer Behavior; Environmental Sustainability; Consumer Products Industry

Article

The Right and Wrong Way to Do ‘CEO Activism’

By: Aaron K Chatterji and Michael W. Toffel

CEO activism—where leaders take public stands on controversial social and political issues that aren’t related to their company’s bottom line—has become increasingly common. CEO activism has attracted favorable media attention, but has also resulted in backlash and... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Social Issues; Communication Strategy; Performance Effectiveness

13 Apr 2020
News

A Way Forward for Small Businesses

30 Jun 2009
First Look

First Look: June 30

Working PapersWellsprings of Creation: How Perturbation Sustains Exploration in Mature Organizations (revised) Authors:David James Brunner, Bradley R. Staats, Michael L. Tushman, and David M. Upton Abstract Organizations struggle to... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

2008
Working Paper

Variance-Seeking for Positive (and Variance-Aversion for Negative) Experiences: Risk-Seeking in the Domain of Gains?

By: Jolie Mae Martin, Gregory M. Barron and Michael I. Norton

In contrast to research which has conflated losses with negative experiences and gains with positive experiences, we argue that because reference points are set by memories of extremely good and bad experiences, most outcomes are seen as losses in positive domains and... View Details

Keywords: Change; Experience and Expertise; Marketing; Research; Risk and Uncertainty; Loss; Perspective

08 Sep 2016
News

Airbnb adopts new anti-discrimination policies: Do they go far enough?

March–April 2015
Article

Why We Think We Can't Dance: Theory of Mind and Children's Desire to Perform

By: Lan Nguyen Chaplin and Michael I. Norton

Theory of Mind (ToM) allows children to achieve success in the social world by understanding others' minds. A study with 3–12 year olds, however, demonstrates that gains in ToM are linked to decreases in children's desire to engage in performative behaviors associated... View Details

Keywords: Theory Of Mind; Self-Esteem; Behavior; Attitudes; Performance; Cognition and Thinking

September 2011
Case

AXA Private Equity: The Diana Investment

By: Michael J. Roberts and William A. Sahlman

The case focuses on an investment made by AXA Private Equity, a French manufacturer of food ingredients. The investment is made at the height of the financial markets, and financed with significant debt. Soon thereafter, the financial crisis impacted the company's... View Details

Keywords: Private Equity; Ethics; Investment; Financial Crisis

Educators

2000
Working Paper

The Drivers of National Innovative Capacity: Implications for Spain and Latin America

By: Michael E. Porter, Jeffrey L. Furman and Scott Stern

In the past decade, both academic scholars and policymakers have focused increasing attention on the central role that technological innovation plays in economic growth. There are at least two distinct reasons for this increased interest. First, though economists have... View Details