Publications

January 2023 (Revised June 2023)
Case

Replika: Embodying AI

By: Shikhar Ghosh, Shweta Bagai and Marilyn Morgan Westner

Replika was a virtual AI companion that provided a way for people to process their emotions, build connections in a safe environment, and get through periods of loneliness. The chatbot fulfilled a user's need for a friend, romantic partner, or purely an emotional... View Details

Keywords: AI; AI and Machine Learning; Applications and Software; Human Needs; California

Ryan Raffaelli is the Marvin Bower Associate Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. He created and teaches the MBA course "Leadership: Execution and Action Planning" (LEAP) and serves... View Details

Keywords: publishing industry; advertising; consulting; information technology industry; grocery; nonprofit industry; retailing; consumer products; federal government

Forthcoming
Article

On the Economic Origins of Concerns Over Women’s Chastity

By: Anke Becker

This paper studies the origins and function of customs and norms that intend to keep women from being promiscuous. Using large-scale survey data from more than 100 countries, I test the anthropological theory that a particular form of preindustrial... View Details

Keywords: Infibulation; Female Sexuality; Paternity Uncertainty; Concern About Women's Chastity; Pastoralism; Economic Anthropology; History; Gender; Social Issues; Culture

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Program

General Management Program

member of the HBS alumni community—gaining exclusive access to our vast global alumni network and an array of resources that facilitate lifelong learning, growth, and success. Learn more. Admissions Criteria... View Details

November 1995 (Revised March 2004)
Case

Massachusetts General Hospital: CABG Surgery (A)

By: Steven C. Wheelwright and James Weber

A cross-functional team at Massachusetts General Hospital tries to reengineer the service delivery process (the "care path") for heart bypass surgery (CABG) in order to shorten hospital stays (and lower costs) while maintaining/enhancing the quality of care provided. View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Medical Specialties; Business Processes; Mission and Purpose; Product Positioning; Product Marketing; Management Practices and Processes; Customer Satisfaction; Service Delivery; Service Operations; Fair Value Accounting; Ethics; Pharmaceutical Industry; Health Industry; Massachusetts

21 Jan 2021
Video

Laila Tyabji

Laila Tyabji, Chairperson of Dastkar, an NGO supporting traditional Indian craftspeople, explains her start-up process without a background or experience in management and how it happened in an informal and organic way. View Details

May–June 2018
Article

Layoffs That Don't Break Your Company: Better Approaches to Workforce Transition

By: Sandra J. Sucher and Shalene Gupta

Today layoffs have become companies’ default response to the challenges created by advances in technology and global competition. Yet research shows that job cuts rarely help senior leaders achieve their goals. Too often, they’re done for short-term gain, but the cost... View Details

Keywords: Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Employees; Transition; Strategic Planning

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March 2001 (Revised April 2002)
Background Note

Word-of-Mouth Referral Module Note

Describes the power of word-of-mouth referral for service organizations. Illustrates a process to help students and/or managers calculate the value of word-of-mouth and develop ways to influence (i.e. increase) it. View Details

Keywords: Marketing Reference Programs; Service Industry

We test the effectiveness of self-help peer groups as a commitment device for precautionary savings, through two randomized field experiments among 2,687 microentrepreneurs in Chile. The first experiment finds that self-help peer groups are a powerful tool to... View Details

30 Aug 2021
Video

Busting HBS Myths: A Candid Conversation

9 AM – 9 AM EST, 31 Jan 2018
HBS Online

HBX Becoming A Better Manager

Master a process approach to management and move your organization forward. In Becoming a Better Manager youll learn to identify, analyze, design, and influence four critical organizational processes: decision-making, implementation, organizational learning, and change... View Details

Video

Ferrari Back on Track Tutorial

August 2002
Background Note

Customer Benefit Stack

By: Das Narayandas

Describes a process to understand customer benefits created in industrial markets using the metaphor of a customer benefit stack. View Details

Keywords: Customer Satisfaction; Customer Value and Value Chain; Marketing Strategy; Product Marketing; Manufacturing Industry

February 2008 (Revised April 2008)
Case

The Offshoring of America

By: Richard H.K. Vietor, Jan W. Rivkin and Juliana Seminerio

The movement from jobs in the United States to developing countries, in a process known as offshoring, has become quite a controversial topic. Managers not only need to decide which activities, if any, to move offshore, but where to move them. This case describes the... View Details

Keywords: Developing Countries and Economies; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Operations; Business Processes; United States

2021
Book

Sales Management That Works: How to Sell in a World That Never Stops Changing

By: Frank V. Cespedes

Selling is changing, but the impact on sales of megatrends like ecommerce, big data, and AI is often misunderstood and not supported by empirical data. Managers who fail to separate fact from hype will make decisions based on bad assumptions and, in a competitive... View Details

Keywords: Sales; Strategy; Salesforce Management; Change; Adaptation

November 2012
Case

Hillary Clinton & Partners: Leading Global Social Change from the U.S. State Department

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and Ai-Ling Jamila Malone

As U.S. Secretary of State, Hillary Rodham Clinton acted on a long-standing interest in public-private partnerships to elevate and activate an Office of Global Partnerships reporting directly to her. One major initiative that also addressed her interest in women's... View Details

Keywords: Collaboration; Partnerships; Global Collaboration; Innovation; Leadership; Leading Change

2008
Chapter

Cross-cultural Research in Organizational Behavior

By: Heidi K. Gardner and P. Christopher Earley

Globalization and regionalization of business have increasingly compelled researchers to integrate the concept of cultural variation into business research and practice. This chapter addresses how culture links to organizational phenomena at the individual, group, and... View Details

Keywords: Values and Beliefs; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Organizational Culture; Research; Behavior; Culture