Publications

2012
Article

The Excess Burden of Government Indecision

By: Francisco J. Gomes, Laurence J. Kotlikoff and Luis M. Viceira

Governments are known for procrastinating when it comes to resolving painful policy problems. Whatever the political motives for waiting to decide, procrastination distorts economic decisions relative to what would arise with early policy resolution. In so doing, it... View Details

Keywords: Saving; Risk and Uncertainty; Investment Portfolio; Decision Choices and Conditions; Retirement; Policy; Government and Politics

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12 Nov 2001
Research & Ideas

The Three Components of Family Governance

family informed about these. Help the family reach decisions and speak with one voice about its goals. Keep the board of directors informed about family views about the company and maintain a dialogue with the board about key business... View Details

2017
Working Paper

Task Selection and Workload: A Focus on Completing Easy Tasks Hurts Long-Term Performance

By: Diwas S. KC, Bradley R. Staats, Maryam Kouchaki and Francesca Gino

How individuals manage, organize, and complete their tasks is central to operations management. Recent research in operations focuses on how under conditions of increasing workload, individuals can increase their service time, up to a point, to complete work more... View Details

Keywords: Employees; Decision Making; Performance Effectiveness; Performance Productivity

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February 2000 (Revised August 2000)
Case

Boston.com

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Jon K Rust

How aggressively should an incumbent move when developing an online business that threatens its core product? With Internet competitors taking direct aim at the traditional print newspaper business model, the Boston Globe fought back with its own web initiative,... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Entrepreneurship; Decision Making; Change Management; Internet and the Web; Customer Relationship Management; Competitive Strategy; Publishing Industry; Information Technology Industry; United States

June 2018 (Revised April 2021)
Case

Valuing Snap After the IPO Quiet Period (A)

By: Marco Di Maggio, Benjamin C. Esty and Gregory Saldutte

Snap, the disappearing message app, went public at $17 per share on March 2, 2017, making its two 20-something founders the youngest self-made billionaires in the country. Over the next three weeks, 14 analysts made investment recommendations on Snap: two with buy... View Details

January 2008 (Revised July 2009)
Case

Forecasting the Great Depression

By: Walter A. Friedman

What is proper role of professional economic forecasting in financial decision making? The case presents excerpts from three leading economic forecasters on the eve of, and just after, the stock market crash of October 1929. The first set of excerpts is from Roger... View Details

Keywords: History; Mathematical Methods; Personal Development and Career; Forecasting and Prediction; Financial Crisis

09 May 2017
What Do You Think?

Should Management Be Primarily Responsible to Shareholders?

longer-term interests sufficiently well.” Not everyone spoke as one on the issue. Rob Jones, for example, commented that, “Theories abound, but owner still means owner Social and moral obligations make for fascinating discussion, but... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

20 Apr 2015
Research & Ideas

The 5 Strategy Rules of Bill Gates, Andy Grove, and Steve Jobs

figured out a way to make a more efficient processor that nevertheless wouldn't be compatible with Intel's previous architecture. After agonizing about the decision for a year, Grove chose to stick to the... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Computer

28 Sep 2009
Research & Ideas

Improving Accountability at the World Bank

for better accountability to project-affected communities, or in improving board accountability through greater transparency in decision making, more representative vote allocation, or better parliamentary scrutiny. Before elaborating, I... View Details

Keywords: by Alnoor Ebrahim

04 Jun 2020
Book

It’s Not About You: Why Leaders Need to Look Outward

missing link. Senz: How do these efforts intersect with corporate strategy and culture? Frei: When companies get bigger, leaders don't get to micromanage. Employees are making decisions that their bosses are... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz

April 2017 (Revised August 2020)
Case

The U-Turns of National Truck Stops

By: Nori Gerardo Lietz and Alexander W. Schultz

Raj Makam had spent months trying to restructure a 2006 investment he had made in National Truck Stops, Inc. (NTS) as a senior member of Oaktree Capital Management’s (Oaktree) Mezzanine finance business within their Corporate Debt platform. It was the first time they... View Details

Keywords: Mezzanine Financing; Corporate Debt; Bankruptcy; Real Assets; Financing and Loans; Borrowing and Debt; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Restructuring; Private Equity; Cost vs Benefits; Atlanta; New York (city, NY)

September 2016 (Revised March 2017)
Module Note

Strategy Execution Module 3: Using Information for Performance Measurement and Control

By: Robert Simons

This module reading explains how managers use information to control critical business processes and outcomes. The analysis begins by illustrating how managers use information to communicate goals and track performance. Then the focus turns to the choices that managers... View Details

Keywords: Management Control Systems; Implementing Strategy; Strategy Execution; Organization Process; Feedback Model; Innovation; Uses Of Information; Big Data; Benchmarking; Decision Making; Information; Performance Evaluation; Analytics and Data Science

01 Mar 2024
News

In My Humble Opinion: Role Model

One of four daughters of Pakistani immigrants, Salma Qarnain (MBA 2002) grew up in the midwestern “I” states of Iowa, Illinois, and Indiana before attending Stanford University. “It was my first experience feeling happy and comfortable in a place that had diversity,”... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna; acting; theater; diversity; career path; Performing Arts, Spectator Sports, and Related Industries; Arts, Entertainment

October 2022
Case

Ethena: A Go-to-Market Dilemma

By: Rembrand Koning and Stacy Straaberg

In November 2021, Roxanne Petraeus and Anne Solmssen, founders of Brooklyn-based software-as-a-service (SaaS) startup Ethena, were looking to expand their compliance training business. The founders hired Arnie Gullov-Singh, an outside revenue consultant, to advise on... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Judgments; Growth and Development Strategy; Business or Company Management; Business Strategy; Expansion; Segmentation; Technology Industry; United States; New York (state, US)

28 Apr 2011
Working Paper Summaries

When Smaller Menus are Better: Variability in Menu-Setting Ability and 401(k) Plans

Keywords: by David Goldreich & Hanna Halaburda

13 Nov 2023
Blog Post

HBS Veteran Spotlight: Lindsey Chrismon (MBA 2025)

orders or ensuring tasks are completed. It’s about understanding, empathy, and integrity. It is about building trust, not just as a leader, but as a fellow human being. Every decision I made, every action I took, was guided by the... View Details

21 Mar 2019
HBS Case

The Ferrari Way

car on the market, but the best combination of the two, which makes us the most thrilling. Our concept of performance includes pleasure.” While other sports car manufacturers try to make their cars as light... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Auto

April 2020 (Revised June 2022)
Technical Note

Quantitative Analysis in Marketing

By: Sunil Gupta

Marketing is a combination of art and science that requires both qualitative and quantitative analysis to arrive at effective decisions. This note highlights how quantitative analysis can help in the following marketing decisions: estimating market size, determining... View Details

Keywords: Quantitative Analysis; Marketing; Decision Making; Analysis