Business Performance - Publications - Faculty & Research

15 Apr 2008
First Look

First Look: April 15, 2008

paper: http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/08-090.pdf Cases & Course MaterialsChina Rising: An Economic Snapshot Harvard Business School Note 308-064 "Rising China: An Economic Snapshot" provides readers with an overview of... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

22 Aug 2005
Research & Ideas

Balancing the Future Against Today’s Needs

ventures aimed to grow the company from its core HMO business into the consumer health organization market, Phanstiel threw out a system in which managers' variable compensation was largely based on overall company View Details

Keywords: by Paul Michelman

03 Mar 2003
Research & Ideas

The Basics of Consumer Marketing in Asia

Consumer product makers looking to sell in Asia cannot expect the relative homogeneity they find in the U.S. or European countries, according to the panelists at the "Consumer Marketing in Asia" panel at the HBS Asia Business... View Details

Keywords: by Julie Jette

21 Nov 2005
Research & Ideas

The Geography of Corporate Giving

level provides important lessons for executives, policymakers, and the groups who benefit. But such knowledge also suggests more work to be done in order to learn how global business trends, such as industry consolidation and... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

15 Apr 2002
Research & Ideas

In the Virtual Dressing Room Returns Are A Real Problem

comparisons based on independent performance evaluations. (Although for online purchases, as for catalog purchases, brand names help consumers infer certain aspects of quality or fit, especially for consumers making repeat purchases.)... View Details

Keywords: by Jan Hammond & Kristin Kohler; Apparel & Accessories; Fashion; Consumer Products; Manufacturing; Retail

16 Dec 2015
Research & Ideas

Why ‘Sleep on It’ No Longer Sounds Like Great Advice

that waking fresh and clearheaded makes us better able to see decisions in a clearer light. “It’s somewhat like moving information from short-term to long-term storage” That’s certainly what Uma R. Karmarkar, an assistant professor in the Marketing unit at Harvard... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Retail

27 Jul 2015
Research & Ideas

The ‘Promotion’ That Makes You Feel Bad

the strategy shifted, and they happened to be on the favored side of that strategy” Harvard Business School Associate Professor Tsedal Neeley and her research colleagues call this "unearned status gain," which can cause problems for those... View Details

Keywords: by Roberta Holland

18 Sep 2000
Research & Ideas

Big Deals: Financing Large-Scale Investments

Pick up most business magazines these days and you'll probably find an article on some venture capital transaction involving millions of dollars. From HBS Associate Professor Benjamin Esty's perspective, however, these deals are small... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna

05 Nov 2021
Op-Ed

How to Tap the Talent Automated HR Platforms Miss

As the global staffing shortage grinds on, corporate recruiters everywhere are relying on their online hiring platforms and automated systems to deliver the candidates they need. Too often, these tools will fail them, sidelining many qualified workers in the process.... View Details

Keywords: by Joseph B. Fuller

17 Mar 2022
Research & Ideas

Navigating Tradeoffs: How Purpose Becomes a Company's ‘Lighthouse in the Storm’

Every business leader faces difficult tradeoffs when working to make a company both profitable and purposeful. But leaders who articulate a company’s deep purpose can tap into that broader vision to help them navigate short-term decisions... View Details

Keywords: by Ranjay Gulati

30 Jan 2017
Research & Ideas

Vanguard, Trian And The Problem With 'Passive' Index Funds

M. Viceira, the George E. Bates Professor and senior associate dean for International Development at Harvard Business School. “That raises the question, who is exercising control in these corporations?” In traditional mutual funds,... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Financial Services

20 Mar 2013
Research & Ideas

How CEOs Sustain Higher-Ambition Goals

At a recent Harvard Business School conference, dozens of CEOs committed to the idea of working toward "higher-ambition" goals that go beyond just short-term shareholder value. Inspired by the book Higher Ambition: How Great Leaders... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

06 Nov 2000
Research & Ideas

The Determinants of Corporate Venture Capital Success

parent's strategic focus." The Xerox Corporation originated as a photography-paper business called the Haloid Company. 3 The Haloid Company's entrance into what would later become its principal business... View Details

Keywords: by Paul Gompers & Josh Lerner

16 Jan 2019
Research & Ideas

What Football Firings Teach Managers About Staying Relevant

among NFL coaches now support this idea. We examined this link between tenure and job performance among business managers, finding that some are able to maintain job View Details

Keywords: by Boris Groysberg, Evan M.S. Hecht, and Abhijit Naik; Sports

03 Apr 2006
Research & Ideas

The Competitive Advantage of Global Finance

As waves of globalization wash across the business world, tremendous new opportunities for financing and investment present themselves to savvy enterprises. In a new casebook, HBS professor Mihir A. Desai discusses the numerous challenges... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Financial Services

31 Aug 2009
Research & Ideas

Why Competition May Not Improve Credit Rating Agencies

contributed to the financial turmoil that followed. This performance has come under tremendous scrutiny by lawmakers and regulators, who are debating ways to reform the ratings industry. One prominent suggestion: increased competition.... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Financial Services

01 Mar 2004
Lessons from the Classroom

Mission to Mars: It Really Is Rocket Science

one in which your product had to operate 100 million miles from Earth and perform under a range of conditions which were hard to predict in advance), it was impossible to know up front exactly what form a faster, better, cheaper approach... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

03 Jan 2007
First Look

First Look: January 3, 2007

Bureau's Longitudinal Business Database. The comprehensive micro-data allow us to study how both the entry rate and the distribution of entry sizes for new startups responded to changes in banking competition. Moreover, we distinguish the... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

29 May 2001
Research & Ideas

Race Does Matter in Mentoring

to become a major product family. His success in that position propelled him to a series of other assignments, including a temporary one in strategic planning, that eventually landed him a promotion to vice president and general manager, with profit-and-loss... View Details

Keywords: by David A. Thomas

05 Feb 2008
First Look

First Look: February 5, 2008

transfer in security markets. We focus on connections between mutual fund managers and corporate board members via shared education networks. We find that portfolio managers place larger bets on firms they are connected to through their network and View Details