Publications

May 2023 (Revised June 2023)
Supplement

Novartis (B): Reimagining Medicine

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell, Claudio Feser, Karolin Frankenberger and David Redaschi

This case unfolds around the first-ever approved personalized cancer treatment, how Novartis wrapped it into a new business model design, and how Novartis scaled it. Novartis — one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world — is, among other ventures,... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Business Model; Production; Business Strategy; Pharmaceutical Industry

November 2015
Article

Why Organizations Don't Learn: Our Traditional Obsessions—Success, Taking Action, Fitting In, and Relying on Experts—Undermine Continuous Improvement

By: F. Gino and B. Staats

For any enterprise to be competitive, continuous learning and improvement are key—but not always easy to achieve. After a decade of research, the authors have concluded that four biases stand in the way: we focus too heavily on success, are too quick to act, try too... View Details

Keywords: Organizations; Learning

Register to Read

1998
Working Paper

CEO Incentives and Firm Size

By: Brian Hall and George P. Baker

What determines CEO incentives? A confusion exists among both academics and practitioners about how to measure the strength of CEO incentives, and how to reconcile the enormous differences in pay sensitivities between executives in large and small firms. We show that... View Details

Keywords: Business Ventures; Motivation and Incentives; Executive Compensation; Size; Management Systems

07 Jun 2016
First Look

June 7, 2016

relevant work is scattered across multiple fields. This paper presents a unified picture of mirroring in terms of theory, evidence, and exceptions. First, we formally define mirroring and argue that it is an approach to technical problem... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

May 2023 (Revised June 2023)
Case

Novartis (A): Reimagining Medicine

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell, Claudio Feser, Karolin Frankenberger and David Redaschi

This case unfolds around the first-ever approved personalized cancer treatment, how Novartis wrapped it into a new business model design, and how Novartis scaled it. Novartis — one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world — is, among other ventures,... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Business Model; Leadership; Pharmaceutical Industry; Switzerland

Educators

September – October 2009
Article

U.S. Energy Policy: Overcoming Barriers to Acting

By: Max Bazerman

Energy policy is on everyone's mind these days. The U.S. presidential campaign focused on energy independence and exploration (drill, baby, drill), climate change, alternative fuels, even nuclear energy. But there is a serious problem endemic to America's energy... View Details

Keywords: Policy; Climate Change; Energy Sources; Government and Politics; Cognition and Thinking; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Problems and Challenges; Non-Renewable Energy; Economics; Natural Environment; Energy Industry; United States

Research Summary

Building Capabilities in Professional Service Firms

One of the most distinctive aspects of professional service firms is that the vast majority of the people who work in them are directly involved in serving clients. Long-term success in a professional service firm requires obtaining and developing the right... View Details

05 Nov 2010
Research & Ideas

The Work-Around Culture: Unintended Consequences of Organizational Heroes

"Work-around cultures" are pervasive in health care. Employees tend to work around obstacles, often feeling like a hero in the process, without solving the underlying problems. The reasons for these cultures are manifold, but... View Details

Keywords: by Anita Tucker; Health

09 Jun 2003
Research & Ideas

Incentives and Operational Excellence

go to theaters and count the number of ticket stubs. Smarter Pricing A completely different interorganizational control problem was solved by the Fortune 500 medical supply distributor, Owens & Minor,... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

2020
Working Paper

Design and Analysis of Switchback Experiments

By: Iavor I Bojinov, David Simchi-Levi and Jinglong Zhao

In switchback experiments, a firm sequentially exposes an experimental unit to a random treatment, measures its response, and repeats the procedure for several periods to determine which treatment leads to the best outcome. Although practitioners have widely adopted... View Details

Keywords: Switchback Experiments; Design; Analysis; Mathematical Methods

July–August 2020
Article

Make the Most of Your Relocation

By: Prithwiraj Choudhury

Although the COVID-19 crisis has halted travel in recent months, geographic mobility has become critical for managers and knowledge workers hoping to advance in today’s globalized economy, and that trend is unlikely to reverse. Geographic mobility can pay off... View Details

Keywords: Relocation; Mobility; Personal Development and Career; Geographic Location; Work-Life Balance

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

13 Feb 2008
Working Paper Summaries

Unconventional Insights for Managing Stakeholder Trust

Keywords: by Michael Pirson & Deepak Malhotra

July 2023
Article

Design and Analysis of Switchback Experiments

By: Iavor I Bojinov, David Simchi-Levi and Jinglong Zhao

In switchback experiments, a firm sequentially exposes an experimental unit to a random treatment, measures its response, and repeats the procedure for several periods to determine which treatment leads to the best outcome. Although practitioners have widely adopted... View Details

Keywords: Switchback Experiments; Design; Analysis; Mathematical Methods

2006
Working Paper

Too Motivated?

By: Eric J. Van den Steen

I show that an agent's motivation to do well (objectively) may be unambiguously bad in a world with differing priors, i.e., when people openly disagree on the optimal course of action. The reason is that an agent who is strongly motivated is more likely to follow... View Details

Keywords: Governance Controls; Employees; Wages; Measurement and Metrics; Outcome or Result; Performance; Agency Theory; Motivation and Incentives

SSRN

28 Sep 2015
Research & Ideas

Six Lessons from Mobile Money Ventures in Developing Countries

Lal says. “But 80 to 90 percent of mobile money operations are failures.” “If you don’t identify the right problem, the rest of it will not go anywhere” His research shows that companies are starting their market analyses in the wrong places. “Mobile money does not... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Financial Services; Telecommunications

January 2, 2020
Article

Medicare for All or Public Option: Can Either Heal Health Care?

By: Regina E. Herzlinger and James Wallace

The United States has serious health care problems: More than 27 million uninsured people, costs that are growing faster than income, and a staggering $37 trillion of unfunded liabilities in the Medicare program. Perhaps most alarming: The US ranks lowest among... View Details

Keywords: Healthcare; Public Option; Medicare; Health Care and Treatment; Insurance; Cost Management; Problems and Challenges; United States

March 2024
Supplement

Miracle Therapeutics (B)

By: Satish Tadikonda, William Marks and Wendi Yajnik

Supplements the (A) case. Following on the negotiations detailed in the Miracle Therapeutics (A) case, Beth Sharp and Jennifer Brilliant from Miracle Therapeutics face new challenges with their company's funding and intellectual property (IP) after several missteps.... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Financing and Loans; Intellectual Property; Problems and Challenges; Business or Company Management