Publications

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July 1989 (Revised October 1992)
Case

Air Products and Chemicals, Inc.: MIS Reorganization (A)

As a part of the Management Information Services (MIS) Division's evolution, it was planned to distribute all systems development and applications (SD&S) activities and resources (assets and personnel) from the central MIS Division to the operating areas by October... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Decision Making

June 1977 (Revised May 1995)
Case

Railroads and the Beginnings of Modern Management

Consists of three selections by the most innovative of the early American railroad managers which describe the organizational structures and control systems they created. Questions to be asked are: why and how such managerial techniques were created, how well they... View Details

Keywords: Rail Transportation; Organizational Structure; Management Systems; Rail Industry; United States

11 May 2017
Working Paper Summaries

Coordination Frictions in Venture Capital Syndicates

Keywords: by Ramana Nanda and Matthew Rhodes-Kropf; Banking

23 Jan 2018
Working Paper Summaries

Transaction Costs and the Duration of Contracts

Keywords: by Alexander MacKay

2015
Working Paper

Do-gooders and Go-getters: Career Incentives, Selection, and Performance in Public Service Delivery

By: Nava Ashraf, Oriana Bandiera and Scott S. Lee

We study how career incentives affect who selects into public health jobs and, through selection, their performance while in service. We collaborate with the Government of Zambia to experimentally vary the salience of career incentives in a newly created health worker... View Details

Keywords: Motivation and Incentives; Health Industry; Zambia

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Research Summary

International business and political risk in West Africa

This project, based on confidential corporate archives, explores the response of foreign companies to political decolonization and the threat of expropriation in Ghana and Nigeria. Foreign companies in Ghana and Nigeria, especially those from Britain, had a... View Details

16 Oct 2013
News

Public Reporting, Consumerism, and Patient Empowerment

July 2013
Supplement

Interview with Bill Allen and Maria Pejter: A.P. Møller - Maersk Group

By: Boris Groysberg

In 2012, Bill Allen and Maria Pejter, of Maersk Group's Human Resources Department, sat down to consider some key aspects of Maersk's talent management strategy. In this video, Allen and Pejter discuss in some greater detail some of the challenges they faced as... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Development; Human Resource Management; Talent Management; Organizational Change And Transformation; Corporate Culture; Hiring; Employee Training; Strategy; Selection and Staffing; Talent and Talent Management; Training; Retention; Diversity; Denmark

June 1991 (Revised June 1993)
Case

Railroads and the Beginnings of Modern Management (Abridged)

By: Thomas K. McCraw

Consists of three selections by the most innovative of the early American railroad managers describing the organizational structures and control systems they created. Questions to be asked are: why and how such managerial techniques were created, how well they worked,... View Details

Keywords: Business History; Rail Transportation; Organizational Structure; Management Systems; Rail Industry; United States

December 2011
Article

Deposit Insurance and Subsidized Recapitalizations

By: Lucy White and Alan Morrison

The 2007–2009 financial crisis saw a vast expansion in deposit insurance guarantees around the world and yet our understanding of the design and consequences of deposit insurance schemes is in its infancy. We provide a new rationale for the provision of deposit... View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Banks and Banking; Insurance; Taxation; Business and Government Relations; Banking Industry

02 May 2013
Working Paper Summaries

Innovation, Reallocation, and Growth

Keywords: by Daron Acemoglu, Ufuk Akcigit, Nicholas Bloom & William Kerr

Program

Private Equity and Venture Capital

industries Structure and negotiate better deals Make better investment decisions by examining the influence of risk, earnings, and organizational change Move quickly to select... View Details

Keywords: Finance; Finance

July 2011
Article

Institutions and Inequality in Single Party Regimes: A Comparative Analysis of Vietnam and China

Despite the fact that China and Vietnam have been the world's two fastest growing economies over the past two decades, their income inequality patterns are very different. In this paper, we take a deep look at political institutions in the two countries, demonstrating... View Details

Keywords: Equality and Inequality; Developing Countries and Economies; Motivation and Incentives; Government and Politics; Policy; Power and Influence; Decision Making; Income; China; Viet Nam

March 2025 (Revised May 2025)
Case

Xfund and Sam Altman: Finding Harvard's Best Generative AI Founders

By: Suraj Srinivasan

On May 1, 2024, Xfund Managing Partners Patrick Chung and Brandon Farwell, hosted a high-stakes venture pitch session designed to select one startup for a minimum $100,000 investment. This “Xperiment Stake” competition, dedicated to startups in the Generative AI... View Details

Keywords: AI and Machine Learning; Venture Capital; Innovation Leadership; Technological Innovation; Business Startups; Competition; Technology Industry; United States

March–April 2014
Article

The Low-Risk Anomaly: A Decomposition into Micro and Macro Effects

By: Malcolm Baker, Brendan Bradley and Ryan Taliaferro

Low beta stocks have offered a combination of low risk and high returns. We decompose the anomaly into micro and macro components. The micro component comes from the selection of low beta stocks. The macro component comes from the selection of low beta countries or... View Details

Keywords: Low Volatility; Beta; Portfolio Construction; Market Efficiency; Capital Asset Pricing Model; Asset Management

December 2006 (Revised January 2007)
Case

Chief Timothy Adeola Odutola and Nigeria's Manufacturing Sector

By: Nitin Nohria, Anthony Mayo, Foluke Otudeko and Mark Benson

Chief Timothy Adeola Odutola was an important contributor to Nigeria's manufacturing sector, creating a multimillion-dollar conglomerate including three factories, a retail franchise, a cattle ranch, a 5,000-acre plantation, a sawmill, and an exporting business before... View Details

Keywords: History; Business Conglomerates; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Success; Leadership Style; Business History; Market Entry and Exit; Personal Development and Career; Business Startups; Manufacturing Industry; Nigeria

March 1990 (Revised October 1990)
Case

Liz Claiborne, Inc. and Ruentex Industries Ltd.

Describes Liz Claiborne, Inc.'s manufacturing and marketing strategy and details the significance of its supplier selection strategy. It begins to describe the company's relationship with Ruentex Industries Ltd., its largest supplier of piece goods. When used with... View Details

Keywords: Marketing Strategy; Supply Chain Management; Relationships; Cooperation; Apparel and Accessories Industry