Publications

February 2016 (Revised May 2016)
Case

Astroscale, Space Debris, and Earth's Orbital Commons

By: Matthew Weinzierl, Angela Acocella and Mayuka Yamazaki

An engineer and technology entrepreneur, Nobu Okada, had turned a mid-life crisis into a bold—some would say quixotic—quest to prevent a tragedy of the commons at the global scale. Namely, Okada believed the accumulation of debris in near-Earth orbital space posed a... View Details

Keywords: Market Entry and Exit; Global Range; Entrepreneurship; Crisis Management; Wastes and Waste Processing; Economics; Aerospace Industry

16 Apr 2001
Research & Ideas

Strategy and the Internet

competitive advantage—by operating at a lower cost, by commanding a premium price, or by doing both. Cost and price advantages can be achieved in two ways. One is operational effectiveness—doing the same... View Details

Keywords: by Michael E. Porter

26 Sep 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, September 26, 2017

forthcoming Review of Financial Studies Managing the Family Firm: Evidence from CEOs at Work By: Bandiera, Oriana, Andrea Prat, Renata Lemos, and Raffaella Sadun Abstract—We present evidence on the labor... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

05 Feb 2007
Research & Ideas

Business and the Global Poor

Could you describe some of these entrepreneurial efforts? A: There is a lot of talk—both in this book and elsewhere—about the massive potential consumer market at the base of the economic pyramid. However,... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

28 Nov 2005
Research & Ideas

Unilever: Transformation and Tradition

research company. These businesses were the product of past rational calculations, and some remained profitable and successful operations, but by the 1970s times had changed. Unilever found itself burdened,... View Details

Keywords: by Geoffrey Jones; Consumer Products

28 Aug 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, August 28, 2018

through social learning) and costs (lower maximum solution quality due to a reduction in individual exploration for novel answers) relative to independent problem solving. In contrast to prior work, which... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

Web

Institute For Strategy And Competitiveness

is a nonprofit research, education, and policy organization founded by Michael Porter and based at Harvard Business School in Boston, Massachusetts. Our mission is to advance... View Details

April 2009 (Revised June 2010)
Case

Supply Chain Partners: Virginia Mason and Owens & Minor (A)

By: V.G. Narayanan and Lisa Brem

Virginia Mason Medical Center (VM) hired Owens & Minor (O&M) as its alpha vendor for medical/surgical supplies in 2004. By 2005, O&M was performing Just-in-Time and Low Unit of Measure services for VM, but they believed the pricing model in the industry was outdated.... View Details

Keywords: Activity Based Costing and Management; Price; Distribution; Supply Chain Management; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

March 2010
Article

Correcting for Cross-Sectional and Time-Series Dependence in Accounting Research

By: Ian D. Gow, Daniel Taylor and Gaizka Ormazabal

We review and evaluate the methods commonly used in the accounting literature to correct for cross-sectional and time-series dependence. While much of the accounting literature studies settings in which variables are cross-sectionally and serially correlated, we find... View Details

Keywords: History; Cost of Capital; Activity Based Costing and Management; Performance Evaluation; Cost Accounting; Time Management; Research; Mathematical Methods; Equity; Borrowing and Debt; Accounting Audits; Accounting Industry

Find at Harvard

April 2023
Article

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

Read Now

23 Dec 2002
Research & Ideas

Partnering and the Balanced Scorecard

Often overlooked in essays on leadership is the role of the organization's measurement and management system. Effective leaders, however, know that measurement and View Details

Keywords: by Robert S. Kaplan & David P. Norton

12 Feb 2019
First Look

New Research and Ideas, February 12, 2019

experts in the selection and development of early-stage ideas. Our context is the movie industry, in which customer appeal is difficult to predict and investment costs are... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

15 Nov 2010
Lessons from the Classroom

Connecting Goals and Go-To-Market Initiatives

indicates that while production efficiencies have enabled an average S&P 500 company to reduce the cost of goods sold by about 250 basis points over the past decade, SG&A (selling, general and... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Retail

Research Summary

Financial reporting quality and its consequences

Does reporting quality have real economic consequences? Professor Yu addresses this question in her research, which examines the channels through which reporting quality affects the behavior of economic agents, namely managers and investors. Her particular focus is... View Details

05 Sep 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, September 5, 2017

subsequently. Our results are consistent with theory on the active role firms can play in managing their reputational capital through anticipatory actions to avoid negative media coverage. Publisher's link:... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

July 2022 (Revised July 2022)
Case

A Soul and a Service: North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance

By: Tom Nicholas and John Masko

The North Carolina Mutual and Provident Association (the Mutual) was founded in 1898 as a for-profit entity selling life insurance catering to the Black community. The Mutual was entering a field crowded with established White-owned competitors that largely refused to... View Details

Keywords: Black Entrepreneurs; Insurance; History; Race; Prejudice and Bias; Entrepreneurship; Decision Choices and Conditions; Growth and Development Strategy; Insurance Industry; United States