Publications

04 Sep 2001
Research & Ideas

Governing the Family-Run Business

overdue by others. The family had the wisdom to address the ensuing family conflict and expose the weaknesses of its existing governance system: the family council was not consulted about the board's issues... View Details

19 Nov 2015
Blog Post

Why We Recruit: Education Pioneers

Why We Recruit is a series of interviews with our recruiting partners to discuss everything from their experience of working with HBS to what they want students to know. Each week, we will release a new... View Details

Keywords: Nonprofit / Government

November 2007 (Revised December 2008)
Background Note

China Rising: An Economic Snapshot

"China Rising: An Economic Snapshot" provides readers with an overview of China's economic transformation, relying on economic data from a variety of sources. It is organized into three sections: (1) "The Big Picture" explores macroeconomic indicators, as well as those... View Details

Keywords: Developing Countries and Economies; Macroeconomics; Microeconomics; Local Range; Globalized Economies and Regions; Business and Government Relations; China

05 Jul 2006
Working Paper Summaries

What’s Law Got to Do with It: A Systems Approach to Management

Keywords: by Constance E. Bagley; Legal Services

2022
Book

Decision Leadership: Empowering Others to Make Better Choices

By: Don A. Moore and Max H. Bazerman

When we think of leaders, we often imagine lone, inspirational figures lauded for their behaviors, attributes, and personal decisions, and leadership books often reinforce that view. However, this approach ignores a leader’s mission to empower others. Applying decades... View Details

Keywords: Empowerment Leadership; Leadership; Employees; Decision Making; Management Style

October 2007 (Revised November 2007)
Case

Barclays Global Investors and Exchange Traded Funds

By: Luis M. Viceira and Alison Berkley Wagonfeld

Provides an overview of the Exchange Traded Funds (EFT) industry and highlights the leadership role that Barclays Global Investors (BGI) has played in this developing asset class. BGI launched its first ETFs under the iShares brand name in 2000, and by mid-2007 BGI was... View Details

Keywords: History; Venture Capital; Asset Management; Stocks; Investment Funds; Leading Change; Expansion; Competitive Strategy; Capital Markets; Global Strategy; Financial Strategy; Banking Industry; Financial Services Industry; Asia; Europe

March 2008 (Revised July 2009)
Case

U.S. Subprime Mortgage Crisis: Policy Reactions (A)

By: Laura Alfaro and Renee Kim

By March 2008, the U.S. Government and the U.S. Federal Reserve Board had taken various policy measures over the last few months to tackle the subprime mortgage crisis that threatened to drag the economy into a recession. The Bush administration approved a fiscal... View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Inflation and Deflation; Central Banking; Mortgages; Policy; Business and Government Relations; United States

Forthcoming
Article

Subordinating Humanism: How Colliding Beliefs About a Living Wage Shape Personal Fulfillment and 'Professional-Class' Identities in Working-Class Jobs

By: Lumumba Seegars, Serenity S. Lee, Erin M. Reid and Lakshmi Ramarajan

In a society dominated by market-based ideology and management practices that prioritize financial considerations, some organizations are shifting toward humanistic ideology and practices that emphasize human welfare. To examine this transformation in pay-setting, we... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Culture; Moral Sensibility; Wages; Welfare; Performance Expectations; Identity; Employee Relationship Management; Management Practices and Processes

06 Nov 2016
News

A SEAL And A Harvard Professor Walk Into A Room...

2009
Working Paper

Systemic Risk and the Refinancing Ratchet Effect

By: Amir E. Khandani, Andrew W. Lo and Robert C. Merton

The confluence of three trends in the U.S. residential housing market-rising home prices, declining interest rates, and near-frictionless refinancing opportunities-led to vastly increased systemic risk in the financial system. Individually, each of these trends is... View Details

Keywords: Equity; Mortgages; Interest Rates; Price; Housing; Risk and Uncertainty; United States

Read Now

23 Feb 2009
Research & Ideas

Creative Entrepreneurship in a Downturn

readily identifiable. I am more interested in isolating the opportunities that arise organically and will be developed through private initiatives. Here, I think it is critical to systematically identify what I would call "downturn... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

25 Mar 2014
First Look

First Look: March 25

ties can lead to less timely investments. Further examination shows that the reduced timeliness of connected funds is driven by a reluctance to withdraw holdings prior to weak investee performance. We interpret this as agency View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

June 2013
Article

Opting-in: Participation Bias in Economic Experiments

By: Robert Slonim, Carmen Wang, Ellen Garbarino and Danielle Merrett

Assuming individuals rationally decide whether to participate or not to participate in lab experiments, we hypothesize several non-representative biases in the characteristics of lab participants. We test the hypotheses by first collecting survey and experimental data... View Details

Keywords: Participation Bias; Laboratory Experiments; Prejudice and Bias; Research

Read Now

12 Feb 2025
Video

Strengthening Carbon Claims via the Voluntary Carbon Markets Integrity Initiative (VCMI): A Conversation with Mark Kenber

26 Aug 2020
Blog Post

Two sides, same coin: How I left the Bay Area as an operator and returned as an investor

prior experience) to make full use of the resources at HBS, such as the Rock Venture Partners Program and the Rock Accelerator, to explore and develop their interest in venture capital and entrepreneurship,... View Details

February 1999
Case

Lifeline Systems, Inc. (B)

By: H. Kent Bowen and Marilyn Matis

In 1997, Lifeline Systems continues to grow its service business to $32 million, 56% of the company's total revenues. More local hospital Lifeline programs turn over their monitoring service to Lifeline Central, expanding the company's subscriber base by 30%. The... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Information Technology; Expansion; Cost Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Partners and Partnerships; Change; Customer Relationship Management; Service Operations; Age; Investment; Health Industry; Technology Industry; Cambridge; Boston

October 2016 (Revised October 2017)
Case

Misaki Capital and Sangetsu Corporation

By: Ian Gow, Charles C.Y. Wang, Naoko Jinjo and Nobuo Sato

Japan’s corporate culture has traditionally prioritized the interests of stakeholders such as customers, employees, and suppliers over those of shareholders. After a decades-long economic slump, Japan’s government has revitalized efforts to improve corporate governance... View Details

Keywords: Activist Investing; Constructivist Investing; Japan; Valuation; Stock Screens; Return On Equity; Investment; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Corporate Governance; Financial Strategy; Business and Shareholder Relations; Japan

December 2005 (Revised March 2007)
Case

Innovation and Collaboration at Merrill Lynch

By: Boris Groysberg and Ingrid Vargas

In the spring of 2005, Candace Browning, head of Global Securities Research and Economics at Merrill Lynch, led about 500 Merrill Lynch analysts worldwide in a collaborative effort to produce innovative research, most of them accustomed to working independently in... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Groups and Teams; Management Teams; Decision Making; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Negotiation; Mathematical Methods; Strategy; Human Resources; Motivation and Incentives; Banking Industry; Financial Services Industry

May 2019
Article

Who Consumes Firm Disclosures? Evidence from Earnings Conference Calls

By: Anne Heinrichs, Jihwon Park and Eugene F. Soltes

Using a set of proprietary records, we examine who consumes quarterly earnings conference calls and under which circumstances the calls are consumed. While there is significant interest in calls by institutional investors and sell-side analysts, we find that investors... View Details

Keywords: Disclosure; Conference Calls; Firm News; Corporate Disclosure; Business Earnings; Situation or Environment