Publications

February 2019
Article

Bounded Ethicality and Ethical Fading in Negotiations: Understanding Unintended Unethical Behavior

By: McKenzie Rees, Ann E. Tenbrunsel and Max Bazerman

The business scandals in the past several decades led to the rising importance of ethics as a topic central to management scholarship. Behavioral scientists in particular were attracted to the topic in far greater numbers, and the study of ethical decision-making... View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Behavior; Negotiation; Situation or Environment; Perception

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February 2010
Supplement

Lending Club case exhibits (CW)

By: Peter Tufano

A new entrant in the nascent online peer lending space, Lending Club must decide whether or not to register with the SEC. Lending Club provided a platform through which individual borrowers could receive loans funded by individuals who chose to invest in them. The... View Details

Keywords: Internet and the Web; Financing and Loans

February 2010 (Revised December 2010)
Case

Lending Club

By: Peter Tufano

A new entrant in the nascent online peer lending space, Lending Club must decide whether or not to register with the SEC. Lending Club provided a platform through which individual borrowers could receive loans funded by individuals who chose to invest in them. The... View Details

Keywords: Financial Instruments; Price; Personal Finance; Financing and Loans; Financial Services Industry

August 2014
Article

What Makes Annuitization More Appealing?

By: John Beshears, James J. Choi, David Laibson, Brigitte C. Madrian and Stephen P. Zeldes

We conduct and analyze two large surveys of hypothetical annuitization choices. We find that allowing individuals to annuitize a fraction of their wealth increases annuitization relative to a situation where annuitization is an "all or nothing" decision. Very few... View Details

Keywords: Annuity; Pension; Retirement Income; Framing; Annuities; Retirement

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November 2013
Article

The Ergonomics of Dishonesty: The Effect of Incidental Posture on Stealing, Cheating, and Traffic Violations

By: Andy J. Yap, Abbie S. Wazlawek, Brian J. Lucas, Amy J.C. Cuddy and Dana R. Carney

Can the structure of our everyday environment lead us to behave dishonestly? Four studies found that expansive postures incidentally imposed by our ordinary living environment lead to increases in dishonest behavior. The first three experiments found that individuals... View Details

Keywords: Dishonesty; Embodiment; Human Factors; Nonverbal Behavior; Power; Design; Behavior; Crime and Corruption; Situation or Environment; Power and Influence

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Article

Predictions, Prophets, and Restarting Your Business

By: Frank V. Cespedes

The first task of crisis management is a reasonably accurate view of the current situation and how it might evolve. There are many predictions about so-called “new normal” as a result of the semi-enforced social distancing necessitated by the coronavirus. But most are... View Details

Keywords: Health Pandemics; Crisis Management; Strategic Planning

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October 1980 (Revised December 1986)
Case

Ernie Budding (A)

Details an instructor's attempt to motivate his section to raise its classroom performance standards. Outlines the situation when the section was performing well, the decline in standards, the action the professor took to revise the situation, and the final outcome. View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Performance Improvement; Outcome or Result; Standards; Education Industry

05 Jun 2013
Op-Ed

Corporate Leaders Need to Step Up on Climate Change

Green initiatives are ubiquitous these days, implemented with zeal at companies like Dupont, IBM, Walmart, and Walt Disney. The programs being rolled out—lighting retrofits, zero-waste factories, and carpool incentives—save money and provide a green glow. Most large... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Toffel & Auden Schendler

May 2021 (Revised August 2021)
Case

Airbnb During the Pandemic: Stakeholder Capitalism Faces a Critical Test

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Allison Ciechanover

As the COVID pandemic spread in early 2020, global travel ground to a halt. For Airbnb, the San Francisco-based platform for renting accommodations, the impact was both swift and severe as revenues plummeted more than 70% over the prior year. Responding to the sudden... View Details

Keywords: COVID-19 Pandemic; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Corporate Governance; Crisis Management; Leadership; Digital Platforms; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Mission and Purpose; Value Creation; Decision Making; Goals and Objectives; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Travel Industry; Tourism Industry; Service Industry; United States

December 1994
Case

Intel's Pentium: When the Chips Are Down (A)

By: Stephen A. Greyser and Norman Klein

Intel, the largest-selling manufacturer of microprocessor computer chips, finds itself in a brand-threatening situation when a flaw is revealed in its top-of-the-line Pentium chip. The story is front-page news for weeks. The company invested tens of millions of dollars... View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Engineering; Crisis Management; Brands and Branding; Production; Failure; Semiconductor Industry

September 2003 (Revised December 2003)
Case

Royal Caribbean Cruises Ltd.

By: F. Warren McFarlan and Valerie Massoni

Focuses on the current IT applications portfolio and plans for the world's second largest cruise line. An IT-intensive organization, it forces students to think through how IT resources should be allocated in this dynamic environment and what kind of management system... View Details

Keywords: Management Systems; Resource Allocation; Planning; Situation or Environment; Information Technology; Air Transportation Industry

Research Summary

"I Read Playboy for the Articles": Justifying and Rationalizing Questionable Preferences

When people behave in ways that might appear selfish, prejudiced or perverted, they engage a host of strategies designed to justify questionable behavior with rational excuses: “I hired my son because he’s more qualified.” “I promoted Ashley... View Details

Research Summary

Self-Disclosure and the Struggle to Negotiate Identities

Identity negotiation, the set of processes through which group members come to establish their identities within a group, has important implications for group interactions and productivity, particularly for diverse groups. When groups cannot make informed assumptions... View Details

March 2010 (Revised April 2012)
Case

Sheila Mason & Craig Shepherd (Abridged)

The case describes two individuals who have met and are in the process of starting a company together. Each is still at his/her former employer, and each has signed a different employment agreement that, on paper, may prohibit some of the contemplated acts—i.e.,... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Resignation and Termination; Intellectual Property; Law; Agreements and Arrangements

November 2008
Case

The StarNight Hotel Construction Bid: Real Time Competition on Schedule, Scope, and Cost

By: John D. Macomber

The case is intended for use with the HBS Educational Technology Group "Construction Bidding Simulation." Material that can be taught includes quantity survey methodology (from the case); analyzing preliminary estimated costs per building trade (from the discussion... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Construction; Cost; Contracts; Bids and Bidding; Real Estate Industry