Publications

April 2008
Exercise

Exercise: Customer-Operator Letter Writing

By: Frances X. Frei

The exercise involves having students write letters to an organization of their choice describing their operating experience at a detailed level. The companies' responses are paired with the students' letters and the entire collection is made available to the class.... View Details

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Customer Satisfaction; Customer Value and Value Chain; Knowledge Sharing; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Performance Improvement

2015
Book

How Culture Shapes the Climate Change Debate

By: Andrew J. Hoffman

Though the scientific community largely agrees that climate change is underway, debates about this issue remain fiercely polarized. These conversations have become a rhetorical contest, one where opposing sides try to achieve victory through playing on fear, distrust,... View Details

Keywords: Climate Change; Culture; Values and Beliefs; Knowledge Dissemination

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2012
Chapter

Problem Solving and Search in Networks

By: David Lazer and Ethan Bernstein

This chapter examines the role that networks play in facilitating or inhibiting search for solutions to problems at both the individual and collective levels. At the individual level, search in networks enables individuals to transport themselves to a very different... View Details

Keywords: Network Organizations; Search; Problem Solving; Individual; Individuals And Teams; Collective; Cognitive Search; Network Search; Search Typology; Networks; Social and Collaborative Networks; Theory; Knowledge Sharing

Article

The Sciences of Design: Observations on an Emerging Field

By: S. Purao, C. Y. Baldwin, A. Hevner, V. Storey, J. Pries-Heje and B. Smith

he boundaries and contours of design sciences continue to undergo definition and refinement. In many ways, the sciences of design defy disciplinary characterization. They demand multiple epistemologies, theoretical orientations (e.g. construction, analysis or... View Details

Keywords: Design; Engineering; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Research; Science; Boundaries; Value

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February 1991 (Revised April 1994)
Background Note

Value of Information

By: David E. Bell

Gives some simple examples to illustrate the concept of the value of information in decision making. Both perfect and imperfect information are considered. View Details

Keywords: Knowledge; Value; Decision Making

Educators

Conference Presentation

Different Patterns of Performance improvement for explicit and tacit knowledge: An empirical test

By: Amy C. Edmondson, Ann Winslow, Richard Bohmer and Gary P. Pisano

Keywords: Performance Improvement; Knowledge

June 2023
Article

The Salary Taboo: Privacy Norms and the Diffusion of Information

By: Zoë Cullen and Ricardo Perez-Truglia

The limited diffusion of salary information has implications for labor markets, such as wage discrimination policies and collective bargaining. Access to salary information is believed to be limited and unequal, but there is little direct evidence on the sources of... View Details

Keywords: Search Costs; Privacy; Norms; Compensation; Financial Industry; Field Experiment; Knowledge Dissemination; Equality and Inequality; Gender; Compensation and Benefits; Societal Protocols

August 2017 (Revised August 2018)
Case

Busbud: Building a Data Company

By: Srikant M. Datar, Alistair Croll and Caitlin N. Bowler

The case features the work of LP Maurice (HBS '08) as he decides to take on the fragmented bus travel industry and launch an online business that aggregates and shares bus schedules for routes around the world. His first challenge: finding that the data he needs is... View Details

Keywords: Data Science; Analytics and Data Science; Business Startups; Knowledge Acquisition; Customers; Measurement and Metrics; Transportation Industry

Educators

February 2016
Teaching Note

Advanced Leadership Pathways: David Weinstein and Write the World

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Tessa Natanay Hamilton and Ai-Ling Jamila Malone

Following a successful career as a lawyer, Chief Administrative Officer of Fidelity Investments, and law school instructor, David Weinstein became a 2011 Advanced Leadership Fellow at Harvard University. During his Advanced Leadership Fellowship he conceived an idea to... View Details

Keywords: Student Evaluation; Feedback; Online; Leadership; Change Management; Social Enterprise; Entrepreneurship; Education; Leadership Development; Knowledge Sharing; Performance Evaluation; Secondary Education; Middle School Education

June 2010
Article

The Circulation of Ideas across Academic Communities: When Locals Re-import Exported Ideas

By: Julie Battilana, Michel Anteby and Metin Sengul

The circulation of ideas across academic communities is central to academic pursuits and has attracted much past scholarly attention. As North American-based scholars with European ties, we decided to examine the impact of Organization Studies in North American... View Details

Keywords: Knowledge Dissemination; Organizational Structure; Learning; Archives; Civil Society or Community; North and Central America; Europe

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October 2003 (Revised December 2015)
Supplement

The BCPC Internet Strategy Team: Jan Trow

By: Amy C. Edmondson and Laura Feldman

Accompanies The BCPC Internet Strategy Team: An Exercise and provides unique background information on one of the team members. View Details

Keywords: Decision Making; Knowledge Sharing; Groups and Teams; Behavior; Perspective; Strategy; Cooperation; Telecommunications Industry

01 Jan 2014
News

To Spot Financial Trouble Early, Use Three Circles: A conversation with Blythe McGarvie of Harvard Business School

June 2024
Teaching Note

Dirk Nowitzki: Changing the Game

By: Boris Groysberg, Katherine Connolly Baden and Robin Abrahams

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 420-031. NBA Superstar Dirk Nowitzki was unsure whether the 2018-19 season would be his last as an NBA player. He had not faced such uncertainty since 1998, when he had navigated a difficult decision regarding the timing of his move to... View Details

Keywords: Problems and Challenges; Practice; Retirement; Work-Life Balance; Success; Knowledge Acquisition; Knowledge Sharing; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Growth and Development; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Performance; Sports Industry; United States

2003
Chapter

Market Solutions to Privacy Problems?

By: J. A. Deighton

Keywords: Knowledge Management; Information Management; Markets; Rights

2020
Working Paper

Draw Near to Go Far: The Role of Convergence in Capitalizing on Exploration

By: Carolyn Fu

Organizations are often advised to engage heavily in exploration in order to succeed – to cast a wide net for diverse solutions that are superior to what they currently exploit. However, what is the organization to do when the fruits of its exploration are inconsistent... View Details

Keywords: Problems and Challenges; Learning; Knowledge Acquisition; Decision Choices and Conditions

September 2018
Article

Rumors and Refugees: How Government-Created Information Vacuums Undermine Effective Crisis Management

By: Melissa Carlson, Laura Jakli and Katerina Linos

Although more than 800,000 displaced people arrived in Greece by sea in 2015, fewer than 5 percent applied for asylum in this first country of arrival. Instead, they either traveled northward informally or remained in Greece in legal limbo. The resultant chaotic... View Details

Keywords: Refugees; Governance Compliance; Knowledge Dissemination; Policy; Crisis Management; Communication; Greece

May 1997
Teaching Note

Product Development Foundations, Instructor's Note

By: Marco Iansiti

As emphasized in the course overview, excellence in product development is built on three foundations: the activities aimed at generating, retaining, and integrating knowledge. They form the critical building blocks for the conceptualization and implementation of any... View Details

Keywords: Knowledge Management; Product Launch; Infrastructure; Product Development

August 2021
Teaching Note

IBM Watson at MD Anderson Cancer Center

By: Shane Greenstein and Mel Martin

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 621-022. View Details

Keywords: Decision Making; Technological Innovation; Innovation Strategy; Knowledge Management; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Operations; Failure; Information Technology; Applications and Software; Health Care and Treatment; Product Development; Health Industry; Information Technology Industry; Technology Industry; United States; Houston; Texas