Publications

SSRN

01 Jun 2006
News

Getting on Board

Membership on a corporate or advisory board seems like a natural fit for MBAs with solid managerial skills and career experience. But according to the experts, unless you are a prominent CEO, finding a seat at the boardroom table today... View Details

Keywords: Deborah Blagg; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services; Management

24 Jun 2022
Blog Post

On Pride and Community

Nicolle Richards (MBA 2023) serves as one of the two co-presidents of PRIDE, the LGBTQ+ club at HBS. She grew up in Vienna, Austria and lived in San Francisco and Nairobi, Kenya before coming to business school. Nicolle is passionate... View Details

August 2011 (Revised February 2012)
Background Note

A Note on Water

By: Robert G. Eccles, Amy C. Edmondson, George Serafeim and Sarah E. Farrell

This note provides background on the complex issues regarding the supply and consumption of water and how this natural resource is at increasing risk, resulting in significant economic, political and environmental issues. View Details

Keywords: Economics; Government and Politics; Demand and Consumers; Supply and Industry; Risk and Uncertainty; Natural Environment; Pollutants; Environmental Sustainability

01 Dec 2009
News

One Man Crime Wave

languages. To many writers, critics, and fans, “JDM” lives on as an underappreciated master, a born storyteller who served up riveting, best-selling adventure tales that feature penetrating social commentary and sharp insights into human... View Details

Keywords: Garry Emmons; fiction writing; Arts, Entertainment; Publishing Industries (except Internet); Information

June 2002
Case

Vans: Skating on Air

By: Youngme E. Moon and David Kiron

Vans is best known for selling footwear and apparel to skateboarders, surfers, and other alternative sports athletes. In April 2002, Gary Schoenfeld, the CEO, is facing a number of challenges. With respect to footwear, he must decide what to do about two product lines... View Details

Keywords: Brands and Branding; Product Launch; Demand and Consumers; Product Development; Value Creation; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Retail Industry; California

01 Oct 2015
News

Banking on Trust

development. “We catalyzed demand for change, crowd-sourced solutions, and implemented them in transparent ways,” she notes. Her perspective was broadened when her HBS classmate and husband, Scott Rockafellow (MBA 1990), launched a... View Details

25 Aug 2022
News

Up on the Corner

an empty lot. To the east stands a vacant building; to the north, a liquor store with iron bars on its windows. In short, it could be any corner in any struggling neighborhood in the United States. Yet for Dlodlo, it might as well be the... View Details

Keywords: Alexander Gelfand; photographed by Melissa Golden; Real Estate

November 2011
Case

Comfort Class Transport: Does Customer Service Need an Overhaul?

By: Michael J Roberts and Paul E. Morrison

The general manager of a chauffeured limousine transport company is concerned about underperformance at the company's customer service call center. The eight-person call center handles almost all customer interaction including discussing company services with... View Details

Keywords: Capacity Utilization; Supply ＆ Demand; Operations Management; Customer Service; Management; Demand and Consumers; Service Operations; Order Taking and Fulfillment; Performance Capacity; Customer Satisfaction; Transportation Industry

30 Sep 2020
Blog Post

Reflecting on my service

dependably meeting the demands of the high stakes and high pressure environment. More than just surviving, the Marines taught me how to thrive in the intensity and ambiguity that defined the pandemic. The military propelled me View Details

August 2014 (Revised August 2015)
Supplement

Opening the Valve: From Software to Hardware (B)

By: Ethan Bernstein, Francesca Gino and Bradley Staats

Valve, one of the world's top video game software companies, has also become an iconic example of an organization with virtually no hierarchy. A 400-person organization, Valve's unique organizational form (described in detail in the case and accompanying employee... View Details

Article

Populism and the Return of the 'Paranoid Style': Some Evidence and a Simple Model of Demand for Incompetence as Insurance against Elite Betrayal

By: Rafael Di Tella and Julio J. Rotemberg

We present a simple model of populism as the rejection of “disloyal” leaders. We show that adding the assumption that people are worse off when they experience low income as a result of leader betrayal (than when it is the result of bad luck) to a simple voter choice... View Details

Keywords: Populism; Corruption; Betrayal; Incompetence; Voting; Attitudes

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10 Jul 2020
News

Telework boom weighs on Asia's fast-growing office market

01 Dec 2023
Blog Post

8 FAQs on the MBA Application

is useful as you finalize your applications in the next few weeks! We also encourage you to check out the FAQs webpage and our Pep Talk video series. Top 5 Questions We Get from Applicants 1. Does HBS have a preference between the GMAT... View Details

02 May 2005
Research & Ideas

Four VCs on Evaluating Opportunities

Entrepreneurs have to have a clear sense of the opportunity and how to build the business. But the best ones are willing to reexamine their assumptions and are willing to veer left or right or pivot all the way around when the data... View Details

Keywords: by Lauren Barley

08 Nov 2022
Research & Ideas

How Centuries of Restrictions on Women Shed Light on Today's Abortion Debate

Efforts to restrict women’s sexual behavior date back centuries in virtually every region of the world. Now, the end of Roe v. Wade in the United States has returned such limitations on women to the contemporary spotlight. Yet, the desire... View Details

Keywords: by Kara Baskin

20 Apr 2022
Blog Post

How HBS Prepared Me to Lead a Company on Day One

A few months after graduating from HBS, I drove my Buick halfway across the country and moved to a state I’d never visited. When I arrived in Oklahoma, I became CEO of a union heating and air business. I soon discovered that HBS prepared me to lead a business I knew... View Details

March 2021 (Revised January 2023)
Background Note

The Pandemic's Impact on the U.S. Food System

By: José B. Alvarez and Natalie Kindred

This note is intended not as a comprehensive account but as a starting point for discussion about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the U.S. food system. Written in late 2020, the note describes, in part through the voices of industry leaders, how the pandemic... View Details

Keywords: COVID-19 Pandemic; Agribusiness; Risk and Uncertainty; Risk Management; Leadership; Change Management; Safety; Health; Health Pandemics; Disruption; Adaptation; Supply Chain; Supply Chain Management; Consumer Behavior; Retail Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Transportation Industry; United States

2017
Government Testimony

Passenger Right to Record—Petition for Rulemaking

By: Benjamin Edelman and Mike Borsetti

We ask DOT to affirm that passengers have the right to record what they lawfully see and hear on and around aircraft. We explain why such recordings are in the public interest, and we present the troubling experiences of passengers who have tried to record but have... View Details

Keywords: Aviation; Consumer Protection; Recording; Video; Audio; Privacy; Social Media; Air Transportation; Rights; Contracts; Air Transportation Industry

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November 2019 (Revised April 2021)
Technical Note

Rechargeable Batteries, 2017: Gigafactory Wars in the Offing?

By: John R. Wells and Benjamin Weinstock

In 2017, the global market for rechargeable lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries was 126 gigawatt-hours (GWh) valued at $37 billion, growing by $10 billion in two years. Once confined largely to consumer electronics and appliances, the rapid increase in demand was spurred by... View Details