Happy End Problem - Publications - Faculty & Research

29 Nov 2021
Research & Ideas

How Bonuses Get Employees to Choose Work Over Family

perks like bonuses, commissions, or stock options tied to hitting certain goals. But managers may not realize that these incentives could contribute to employee dissatisfaction, burnout, and personal problems at home. “The more our... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Kim Raczka

27 Sep 2010
Research & Ideas

Customer Experts Lose Influence When Teams are Pressured

It's a common problem: A work team tackles a high-pressure project for a client, but along the way something goes wrong with team dynamics and the client ends up feeling shortchanged. Even though team members initially recognize and value... View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert

Web

Behavioral Finance & Financial Stability

model, monetary expansion cannot end secular stagnation in an economy and may have "beggar-thy-neighbor" effects, while large fiscal interventions can eliminate secular stagnation and also carry positive externalities. See Gauti's other... View Details

17 Jan 2023
In Practice

8 Trends to Watch in 2023

As 2023 begins, businesses and employees face an uncertain economy and labor market, as the twin dilemmas of inflation and interest rates weigh on forecasts. Harvard Business School faculty share the top trends that they believe will shape the workplace and markets... View Details

Keywords: by Avery Forman

Web

Profiles - MBA

conjunction with Sequoia Capital, wherein the team presented a thesis with opportunities for tangible exponential growth. Professional goals: Long-term, I see myself as an operator, working on a product that applies technology to bring about social or civic change. I... View Details

06 Sep 2011
Research & Ideas

Cheese Moving: Effecting Change Rather Than Accepting It

with a decidedly un-mousy message. I Moved Your Cheese: For Those Who Refuse to Live as Mice in Someone Else's Maze is like Who Moved My Cheese? in that the new business fable also stars a cast of mice. But the similarity ends there. “In... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

04 Sep 2013
What Do You Think?

How Relevant is Long-Range Strategic Planning?

governance problem . The problem is that network governance is not taught in business schools or any other faculties." How can strategic planning be adapted to changing needs? What will it take? What do... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

04 Sep 2001
Research & Ideas

Is Government Just Stupid? How Bad Decisions Are Made

its stance on specific issues. Why do we judge government by one standard and the private sector by another? In this book, we argue that the way citizens and government currently think about real-world problems is dangerously narrow. We... View Details

Keywords: by Max H. Bazerman, Jonathan Baron & Katherine Shonk

07 Jul 2008
Research & Ideas

Innovation Corrupted: How Managers Can Avoid Another Enron

for natural gas, and to create derivative supply contracts that could help customers manage the risks of demand volatility and price swings more effectively than before. In this way, Skilling and his colleagues solved a major contracting View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Energy; Utilities

09 Mar 2003
Research & Ideas

Six Keys to Building New Markets by Unleashing Disruptive Innovation

Established companies historically have struggled when trying to create new markets. Success seems fleeting and unpredictable. Recent research indicates these problems are systemic. Most companies that are started fail. Of those that... View Details

Keywords: by Clayton M. Christensen, Michael E. Raynor & Scott D. Anthony

Web

Skydeck - Alumni

special correspondent on PBS NewsHour —talks about his new book, Hotel Scarface , and the lasting allure of 1980s Miami Living the Quantitative Life What Paul Grana (MBA 2009) has learned from eight years of personal data tracking Skydeck Live: The View Details

September 1999 (Revised April 2000)
Case

drugstore.com

By: Richard L. Nolan

On a clear day in August 1999 in the new headquarters of drugstore.com, against a backdrop of the Blue Angels flying in formation over Lake Washington practicing for their hydroplane Seafare Cup performance, Peter Neupert was pleased with his company's IPO performance.... View Details

Keywords: Business Growth and Maturation; Internet and the Web; Problems and Challenges; Business Startups; Retail Industry

Citation

Educators

Purchase

22 Feb 2024
Blog Post

It’s Time to Build: Why the MS/MBA Is Right for You!

fundamentals of what it takes to build a company alongside a cohort of 30 other technically minded individuals (a subset of the broader HBS class), then use the program as a launchpad for joining a startup or maybe launching something yourself. Plus, you View Details

04 Jan 2017
What Do You Think?

How Much Bureaucracy is a Good Thing in Government and Business?

Meetings are longer, more frequent, and involve more people. Everyone seems to want a voice in a decision. And when the leader finally decides, it is only at the end of a long time delay to accommodate rules, “due process,” imposed by... View Details

Keywords: by James L. Heskett

10 Feb 2022
Research & Ideas

Why Are Prices So High Right Now—and Will They Ever Return to Normal?

sectors should eventually return to normal, Cavallo says. “The problem right now is that demand is increasing in a context of limited supply,” Cavallo says. “So, if there are no more supply disruptions, I don't see why we won't get back... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

03 Oct 2005
Research & Ideas

The Truck Driver Who Reinvented Shipping

a second-hand truck for $120. This purchase set McLean on his lifelong career in the transportation industry. McLean soon began hauling dirt, produce, and other odds and ends for the farming community in Maxton, where reliable... View Details

Keywords: by Anthony J. Mayo & Nitin Nohria; Manufacturing; Transportation; Aerospace

01 Dec 2023
News

Thinking Ahead

intermediate fix—even more pressing. “An open problem is whether you can train a generative AI model from scratch on your own data, preserve privacy, and still have good utility,” says Neel. Differential privacy—the practice of... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna; Illustrations by Chris Gash; News, Library, Internet, and Other Services; Information

01 Sep 2023
News

Solving for Z

With nearly 20 years of experience as a senior human resources executive, Matthew Breitfelder (MBA 2002) has seen a lot of change in the corporate talent space. But what’s happening now looks like a tectonic generational shift. From his perch as global head of human... View Details

Keywords: Alexander Gelfand; Illustrations by Doug Chayka; Administration of Human Resource Programs; Government

01 Dec 2023
News

Joint Venture

patients experience chronic pain post-surgery and one-third of patients who could benefit from the surgery are ineligible due to other health factors such as obesity and chronic illness. “It’s a problem that isn’t going away,” notes... View Details

Keywords: Shoshi Parks

May 2013 (Revised March 2014)
Case

Benetton Group S.p.A., 2012

By: John R. Wells and Galen Danskin

On May 31, 2012, after 36 years on the Milan Stock Exchange, Benetton was officially delisted and taken private by Edizione, the Benetton family's holding company. Since 2000, Benetton shareholders had seen its market value fall from $4.3 billion to $720 million at the... View Details