Publications

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August 2023 (Revised January 2025)
Case

The Gift Card Swap

By: David G. Fubini, William Fubini, Patrick Sanguineti and Amy Chambers

In this short vignette on ethics in consulting, Brenda Thompson, a new Associate at a prestigious consulting firm, learns that a fellow Associate is using the firm's meal expense benefits to pocket the difference between the maximum daily allowance and his actual... View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Decisions; Consulting Industry

Article

How Real Sales Learning Happens: In the Flow of Work

By: Yuchun Lee, Mark Magnacca and Frank V. Cespedes

Most learning in sales is through peer learning in task-specific contexts, and the effects are cumulative because modeling behavior is a big driver of how salespeople develop. This is very different from the experience in most training seminars, especially if the... View Details

Keywords: Sales; Learning; Training; Performance

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March 2019
Case

Wattpad

By: John Deighton and Leora Kornfeld

How to run a platform to match four million writers of stories to 75 million readers? Use data science. Make money by doing deals with television and filmmakers and book publishers. The case describes the challenges of matching readers to stories and of helping writers... View Details

May 2018
Case

Kaiser Permanente Colorado: Primary Care Plus

By: Robert S. Kaplan and Mahek A. Shah

A geriatrician in Kaiser Permanente’s Colorado region is concerned with the high and growing cost of treating the elderly population. She introduces a new care model, Primary Care Plus, using an interdisciplinary team of a primary care doctor, palliative care... View Details

Keywords: Primary Health Care; Elderly Patients; Integrated Practice Unit; Interdisciplinary Care; Health Care and Treatment; Age; Cost Management; Performance Improvement; Health Industry; United States; Colorado

2012
Other Unpublished Work

Measuring the Broadband Bonus in 20 OECD Countries

By: Shane Greenstein and Ryan McDevitt

This paper provides estimates of the economic value created by broadband Internet using measures of new gross domestic product and consumer surplus. The study finds that the economic value created in 30 OECD countries correlates roughly with the overall size of their... View Details

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2019
Chapter

Technology Adoption

By: Chris Forman, Avi Goldfarb and Shane Greenstein

Using examples from information technology adoption, we emphasize the role of costs, benefits, communications channels and dynamic considerations in the decision to adopt new technology. We discuss differences between adoption by consumers and adoption by firms. We... View Details

Keywords: Technology Adoption

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August 2013 (Revised November 2013)
Case

Gordon Brothers: Collateralizing Corporate Loans by Brands

By: Paul Healy and Maria Loumioti

The case explores the collateralization of intellectual property in a loan agreement between a highly leveraged apparel company and a large US bank. Leveraging intangibles in the credit market is a new practice that has significantly grown over the past few years.... View Details

Keywords: Intangible Assets; Accounting; Valuation; Finance; Restructuring; United States

September 2003
Case

Nelson Mandela, Turnaround Leader

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and Euvin Naidoo

Nelson Mandela was the first democratically elected president of South Africa. He had to shift the culture of a country after the end of the apartheid regime, which enforced separation of the races and stifled freedom of the press. He established more open dialogue,... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Government and Politics; Governance; Policy; Political Elections; Culture; Communication Intention and Meaning; Relationships; Leadership Style; Welfare; South Africa

July 2002 (Revised March 2003)
Case

Avon.com (A)

Avon has always sold its products through a large independent direct-selling organization. However, it is now considering whether it should sell directly to the consumer. The company's independent representatives number 500,000 in the United States alone. Yet, there... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Marketing Strategy; Internet and the Web; Salesforce Management; Marketing Channels; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry

05 Jun 2013
News

Resisting The Temptation To 'Win' When Investing

Revealing: The Power of Sharing

Drawing on over a decade and a half of original research, this talk offers a striking new perspective on a fundamental yet under-explored aspect of our lives: how we decide how much to reveal about ourselves and others as we move through the world—and how our... View Details

2007
Other Unpublished Work

Say on Pay Vote and CEO Compensation: Evidence from the UK

By: Fabrizio Ferri and David Maber

In this study, we examine the effect on CEO pay of new legislation introduced in the United Kingdom (UK) at the end of 2002 that requires publicly-traded firms to submit an executive remuneration report to a non-binding shareholder vote ("say on pay") at the annual... View Details

Keywords: Voting; Corporate Governance; Government Legislation; Executive Compensation; Performance Improvement; Business and Shareholder Relations; United Kingdom

05 Mar 2013
First Look

First Look: March 5

particularly useful for forecasting bond returns. We show that a significant decline in issuer quality is a more reliable signal of credit market overheating than rapid aggregate credit growth. We use these... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

October 1993 (Revised March 2023)
Case

Conflict on a Trading Floor (A)

By: Joseph L. Badaracco Jr. and Jerry Useem

A junior salesperson on FirstAmerica Bank's trading floor is assisting a top salesperson, Linda, on a deal to finance the construction of a new cruise ship for Poseidon Cruise Lines. While the terms of the deal are being worked out, he realizes Linda has taken... View Details

Keywords: Cost vs Benefits; Ethics; Values and Beliefs; Profit; Knowledge Use and Leverage

November 2015 (Revised May 2016)
Case

Aspiring Minds

By: Karim R. Lakhani, Marco Iansiti and Christine Snively

By 2015, India-based employment assessment and certification provider Aspiring Minds had helped facilitate over 300,000 job matches through its assessment tools. Aspiring Minds' flagship product, the Aspiring Minds Computer Adaptive Test (AMCAT), used machine learning... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Strategy; Higher Education; Technological Innovation; Employment; Technology Industry; India; China