Publications

16 Jul 2013
Working Paper Summaries

Visualizing and Measuring Enterprise Architecture: An Exploratory BioPharma Case

Keywords: by Robert Lagerstrom, Carliss Baldwin, Alan MacCormack & David Dreyfus

2021
Working Paper

An Empirical Study of Time Allotment and Delays in E-commerce Delivery

By: M. Balakrishnan, MoonSoo Choi and Natalie Epstein

Problem definition: We study how having more time allotted to deliver an order affects the speed of the delivery process. Furthermore, we seek to predict orders that are likely to be delayed early in the delivery process so that actions can be taken to avoid delays.... View Details

Keywords: Logistics; E-commerce; Mathematical Methods; AI and Machine Learning; Performance Productivity

SSRN

September 2017 (Revised February 2023)
Case

Intermountain Healthcare: Pursuing Precision Medicine

By: Richard G. Hamermesh, Kathy E. Giusti, Robert S. Huckman and Julia Kelley

Headquartered in Salt Lake City, Intermountain Healthcare operates 23 hospitals and hundreds of clinics in Utah and Idaho and provides insurance to approximately 850,000 patients through its insurance arm, SelectHealth. In 2013, Intermountain, known for its commitment... View Details

Keywords: Precision Medicine; Healthcare; Innovation; Cancer; Cancer Research; Health Care; Technology; Health Care and Treatment; Innovation Leadership; Disruptive Innovation; Entrepreneurship; Decision Choices and Conditions; Health Industry; Insurance Industry; Utah; United States; North America

June 2005
Case

Billy Beane: Changing the Game

Describes how Billy Beane, general manager of the Oakland A's baseball team, employs statistical methodologies to select who is undervalued in the marketplace. Examines why few teams have imitated his organization's successful strategy. Explores threats to Oakland's... View Details

Keywords: Resource Allocation; Competitive Advantage; Sports; Sports Industry; California

01 May 2013
What Do You Think?

Why Isn’t ‘Servant Leadership’ More Prevalent?

Servant leadership is experienced so rarely because of trends in the leadership environment, the scarcity of human qualities required, demands that the practice places on the practitioner, and the very nature of the practice itself. As... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett

September 2013 (Revised November 2015)
Case

Living Proof: Are We a Technology Company or a Beauty Company?

By: Willy Shih

Jon Flint came up with the idea of a science-based beauty company while talking with his hairdresser about the problems with typical hair and skin care products. Together with a small team that included Professor Robert Langer of MIT, he committed to assemble a team... View Details

06 Nov 2012
First Look

First Look: November 6

Republic of Geneva), and other immigrant founders who guided the nation to prosperity. Their expertise with liquid capital far exceeded that of native-born plantation owners Washington, Jefferson, and Madison, who well understood the View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

March 29, 2021
Editorial

Research: A Little Recognition Can Provide a Big Morale Boost

By: Shibeal O'Flaherty, Michael Sanders and A.V. Whillans

As organizations large and small face the twin challenges of increasingly strained budgets and burned out workforces, what can managers do to keep employees engaged—without breaking the bank? In this piece, the authors share new research on the power of symbolic awards... View Details

Keywords: Motivation; Psychology; Work; Employees; Motivation and Incentives; Social Psychology

Find at Harvard

March 2000 (Revised January 2001)
Case

Microsoft's Vega Project: Developing People and Products

By: Christopher A. Bartlett and Meg Wozny

With a focus on Matt MacLellan and his careful development as a project manager under his boss and mentor, Jim Kaplan, the case describes the evolution of Microsoft's human-resource philosophies and policies and illustrates how they work in practice to provide the... View Details

Keywords: Human Resources; Competitive Advantage; Retention; Personal Development and Career; Organizational Design; Information Technology; Motivation and Incentives; Leadership Development

2023
Working Paper

The Subjective Expected Utility Approach and a Framework for Defining Project Risk in Terms of Novelty and Feasibility—A Response to Franzoni and Stephan (2023), ‘Uncertainty and Risk-Taking in Science’

By: Jacqueline N. Lane

In their Discussion Paper, Franzoni and Stephan (F&S, 2023) discuss the shortcomings of existing peer review models in shaping the funding of risky science. Their discussion offers a conceptual framework for incorporating risk into peer review models of research... View Details

Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Research; Resource Allocation; Perception

SSRN

2021
Working Paper

Multi-location Workers in Multinational Firms? Tradeoffs in Contextual Specialization of Employees and Organizational Outcomes

By: Hise O. Gibson, Ryan W. Buell and Prithwiraj Choudhury

We study how “contextual specialization,” the act of focusing workers’ organizational tasks within a particular locational context, and “contextual non-specialization,” the practice of diversifying workers’ organizational tasks among multiple locational contexts,... View Details

Keywords: Talent and Talent Management; Performance; Experience and Expertise; Selection and Staffing; Strength and Weakness; Personal Development and Career

2013
Working Paper

Management: Theory and Practice, and Cases

By: Richard L. Nolan

This working paper reports on a major Harvard Business School project designed to enhance MBA and practicing executives in case learning. The work is built on the foundation of HBS field cases employing the monomyth "hero's journey" classic story structure along... View Details

Keywords: Innovation; CIO; CEO; Hero's Journey; Monomyth; Management; Practice; Cases; Theory; Innovation and Invention

SSRN

2020
Case

Building Transparency within the Sustainable Apparel Coalition: The Road to Successful Pre-Competitive Collaboration

By: Andrew J. Hoffman

The Sustainable Apparel Coalition (SAC) was founded in 2010 to develop a common set of sustainability standards for the apparel, footwear, and home textile industries. The organization was an example of pre-competitive collaboration, a strategy in which companies... View Details

Keywords: Environmental Sustainability; Cooperation; Social Issues; Governing and Advisory Boards; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Performance Evaluation; Apparel and Accessories Industry

Research Summary

Overview

Over the last decade, technology companies like Amazon, Google, and Netflix have pioneered data-driven research and development processes centered on massive experimentation. However, as companies increase the breadth and scale of their experiments to millions of... View Details

December 2020
Article

Multinational Firms and the Politics of International Trade in Multidisciplinary Perspective

By: Grace A. Ballor and Aydin B. Yildirim

From the technical analyses of wide ranges of scholars to the public discourse backlashes against globalization, there is a huge volume of work historicizing, quantifying, and problematizing the complex role of multinational corporations (MNCs) in international trade.... View Details

Keywords: Multinational Corporations; International Trade; Big Business; Economic Governance; Global Value Chains; Trade Policy; Corporate Regulation; Multinational Firms and Management; Trade; Policy; Governance; Globalization

Find at Harvard

26 Nov 2018
Book

Make Your Employees Feel Psychologically Safe

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

2012
Book

Strategic IQ: Creating Smarter Corporations

By: John R. Wells

In today's world, only the smartest survive. The competitive landscape is littered with graves of well-known firms whose revenues, profits and stock prices rose for decades until they suddenly imploded.
In fast-changing business environments, firms must adapt... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Change Management; Competition; Business Growth and Maturation; Adaptation; Corporate Strategy; Decision Making; Innovation and Invention