Publications

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December 2022 (Revised May 2024)
Background Note

Brief Note on Staggered Boards

By: Lynn S. Paine and Will Hurwitz

This background note discusses the evolution, use, and prevalence of staggered boards. By comparison with unitary boards whose members are all elected annually for one-year terms, staggered boards are divided into subsets of directors, with one subset up for election... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Governance; Governing and Advisory Boards; Business History; Trends; Decision Choices and Conditions; United States

April 2020
Case

Cockpit Dynamics in Air France 447 and United 232

By: Amy C. Edmondson and Joshua Raymond

This case compares leadership and team dynamics between the cockpit crews in two renowned passenger airline crashes, twenty years apart: Air France 447 in 2009 and United 232 in 1989. The key dimensions of difference across the cases include organization and task... View Details

Keywords: Teams; Team Launch; Crisis Management; Groups and Teams; Leadership; Communication; Air Transportation Industry

February 2019 (Revised May 2019)
Case

Schneider Electric: Opening Up to External Innovation

By: Antonio Davila

Schneider Electric competes in tough but stable markets around energy management, automation, and control of infrastructures ranging from homes to production plants. New technologies and new approaches to serving markets are challenging the status quo. To take... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Venture Capital; Accelerator; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Disruptive Innovation; Innovation and Management; Innovation Strategy; Technological Innovation; Organizational Design; Energy Industry; Manufacturing Industry; France; United States

November 2017 (Revised February 2019)
Case

Kurt Summers: Investing in Our Chicago (Abridged)

By: Joshua Margolis and Michael Norris

In 2016, Kurt Summers, the Chicago City Treasurer, considered his future in Chicago politics. With an unpopular governor and mayor soon up for reelection, should Summers consider running for higher office? Summers reflects on his time growing up in gang-controlled... View Details

Keywords: Personal Development; Career Journey; Career; Career Management; Leadership; Leadership Development; Government and Politics; Personal Development and Career; Public Administration Industry; United States; Chicago

Article

Repairing the Damage: The Effect of Price Knowledge and Gender on Auto-Repair Price Quotes

By: Meghan Busse, Ayelet Israeli and Florian Zettelmeyer

In this paper we investigate whether sellers treat consumers differently on the basis of how well informed consumers appear to be. We implement a large-scale field experiment in which callers request price quotes from automotive repair shops. We show that sellers alter... View Details

Keywords: Pricing; Price Discrimination; Automobiles; Field Experiment; Information; Fairness; Price; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Internet and the Web; Gender; Service Industry; Auto Industry

March 2017
Article

Entrepreneurial Beacons: The Yale Endowment, Run-ups, and the Growth of Venture Capital

By: Y. Sekou Bermiss, Benjamin J. Hallen, Rory McDonald and Emily Cox Pahnke

This paper investigates the social context of entrepreneurship in organizational sectors. Prior research suggests that firm foundings are driven by collective patterns of activity—that is, by patterns of prior foundings—including support from related markets as well as... View Details

Keywords: Signals; Social Salience; Venture Capital; Higher Education; Organizations; Entrepreneurship; Investment

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2012
Article

Wider dem sauren Mund. Beiersdorfs U.S.-Geschaeft mit der Zahnpastamarke Pebeco

By: G. Jones and Christina Lubinski

This article examines the growth and ultimate demise of the toothpaste brand Pebeco, which was created by the German personal care company Beiersdorf in 1903. The brand was an enormous international success, becoming for a time the largest toothpaste brand in the... View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development; Market Entry and Exit; Problems and Challenges; Marketing Strategy; Markets; Change; Customers; Social Psychology; Science; Brands and Branding; Competitive Strategy; Consumer Products Industry; United States; Germany

October 2010 (Revised August 2012)
Case

Harvest: Organic Waste Recycling with Energy Recovery (A)

By: Deishin Lee, Baris Ata and Mustafa H. Tongarlak

This case describes the waste management industry and a clean technology solution for landfill diversion and renewable energy production. The (A) case focuses on the operational characteristics of waste management and waste to energy, as well as the characteristics of... View Details

Keywords: Renewable Energy; Logistics; Wastes and Waste Processing; Corporate Finance; Green Technology Industry; Utilities Industry; Energy Industry

March 2010 (Revised November 2010)
Case

Pandora Radio: Fire Unprofitable Customers?

By: Willy C. Shih and Halle Alicia Tecco

Pandora Radio is at a crossroads. Founder Tim Westergren has just been told by a well known VC to get rid of his unprofitable customers in order to get his costs down, but Westergren is not sure that such actions are consistent with his company's business model.... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Customer Satisfaction; Music Entertainment; Venture Capital; Profit; Growth and Development Strategy; Consumer Behavior; Internet; Media and Broadcasting Industry

July 2009 (Revised December 2009)
Case

Echoing Green

By: Julie Battilana, Thomas J. DeLong and James Weber

This case presents the leadership challenges that Cheryl Dorsey, the president of Echoing Green, faces in early 2009. Echoing Green is a fellowship program that seeks to improve society by identifying and supporting social entrepreneurs who launch organizations to... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Financial Crisis; Social Entrepreneurship; Leadership Style; Organizational Structure; Personal Development and Career; Social Enterprise

2009
Article

The Dynamics of Silencing Conflict

By: Leslie Perlow and Nelson Repenning

In many organizations, when people perceive a difference with another they often do not fully express themselves. Despite creating innumerable problems, silencing conflict is a persistent phenomenon. While the antecedents of acts of silence are well documented, little... View Details

Keywords: Interpersonal Communication; Management Style; Conflict Management; Societal Protocols

September 2007 (Revised February 2008)
Case

Partners in Health: The PACT Project

By: Richard M.J. Bohmer and Josh Friedman

Partners in Health is a Boston-based, not-for-profit that provides health care to people in some of the poorest regions of the world, including Haiti, Malawi, Rwanda, and Peru. In 1998, PIH established a program (PACT) in Boston to bring care to AIDS and TB patients... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Nonprofit Organizations; Non-Governmental Organizations; Developing Countries and Economies; Service Delivery; Health Industry