Publications

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July 1979 (Revised August 2019)
Background Note

Note on Taxation

By: William J. Poorvu, Arthur I Segel, Glenn S. Miller, Michael D. Kummer, Charles F. Wu, Po Sit and Joseph M. Gerstel

Every real-estate transaction is affected by the tax consequences that result from its form and substance. Structuring a transaction without a thorough understanding of its tax considerations is likely to reduce the transaction's potential value. The failure to utilize... View Details

Keywords: Property; Taxation; Investment

June 2018
Case

Meridian Systems

By: Frank V. Cespedes and Michael J. Roberts

The Meridian Systems case focuses on a start-up in the restaurant point of sale (POS) systems market. In early 2018, Meridian is getting ready to roll out a POS system based on a new technology—a tablet-based, Wi-Fi-enabled POS system (the "tablet" system, or... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Sales; Strategy; Salesforce Management; Organizational Structure; Technological Innovation; Marketing Strategy

March 1998 (Revised December 2005)
Case

Beta Golf

By: William A. Sahlman, Michael J. Roberts and Laurence E. Katz

The Beta Group is a technology incubator in Menlo Park, CA that has successfully built a portfolio of businesses in the medical, consumer products, and industrial technology sectors by systematically matching proprietary technologies to unmet market needs. Beta has... View Details

Keywords: Business Strategy; Investment; Financial Strategy; Information Technology; Commercialization

June 30, 2020
Article

Scaling Up Behavioral Science Interventions in Online Education

By: Rene F. Kizilcec, Justin Reich, Michael Yeomans, Christoph Dann, Emma Brunskill, Glenn Lopez, Selen Turkay, Joseph J. Williams and Dustin Tingley

Online education is rapidly expanding in response to rising demand for higher and continuing education, but many online students struggle to achieve their educational goals. Several behavioral science interventions have shown promise in raising student persistence and... View Details

Keywords: Online Learning; Behavioral Interventions; Scale; Education; Online Technology; Performance Improvement

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August 2006 (Revised June 2007)
Case

Shapiro Global

By: Thomas J. DeLong, Michael Brookshire, Monica Haugen, Michelle Kravetz and Sarah Sommer

Su Yee Goh, a director in a Singapore office, considers a proposal by a pregnant female executive for an alternative work arrangement so that she could both continue to work and spend more time with her family. Goh wants to keep the executive at Shapiro Global, but is... View Details

Keywords: Disruption; Globalized Firms and Management; Employee Relationship Management; Retention; Work-Life Balance; Singapore

24 Jul 2012
First Look

First Look: July 24

PublicationsThe Need for Sector-Specific Materiality and Sustainability Reporting Standards Authors:Robert G. Eccles, Jr., Michael P. Krzus, Jean Rogers, and George Serafeim Publication:Journal of Applied Corporate Finance (forthcoming)... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

2022
Book

The Role of Innovation and Entrepreneurship in Economic Growth

By: Michael J. Andrews, Aaron Chatterji, Josh Lerner and Scott Stern

We live in an era in which innovation and entrepreneurship seem ubiquitous, particularly in regions like Silicon Valley, Boston, and the Research Triangle Park. But many metrics of economic growth, such as productivity growth and business dynamism, have been at best... View Details

Keywords: Productivity Growth; Production Technologies; Innovation and Invention; Entrepreneurship; Economic Growth; Competition; Organizational Design; Economic Slowdown and Stagnation

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12 Mar 2019
First Look

New Research and Ideas, March 12, 2019

emergent machine of the sovereign state. Yet such strategic interaction rarely yielded a decisive victory for either the secular state or for religion. By tracing how state-builders engaged religious institutions, elites, and attachments,... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

September 2011
Case

AXA Private Equity: The Diana Investment

By: Michael J. Roberts and William A. Sahlman

The case focuses on an investment made by AXA Private Equity, a French manufacturer of food ingredients. The investment is made at the height of the financial markets, and financed with significant debt. Soon thereafter, the financial crisis impacted the company's... View Details

Keywords: Private Equity; Ethics; Investment; Financial Crisis

17 Oct 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, October 17, 2017

2017 Boston: Harvard Business Review Press Entering StartUpLand: An Essential Guide to Finding the Right Job By: Bussgang, Jeffrey J. Abstract—Many professionals aspire to work for startups. Executives from large companies view them as... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

17 Jan 2012
First Look

First Look: January 17

PublicationsUncommon Service: How to Win by Putting Customers at the Core of Your Business Authors:Frances Frei and Anne Morriss Publication:Harvard Business Review Press, forthcoming An abstract is not available at this time.... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

2021
Conference Presentation

An Algorithmic Framework for Fairness Elicitation

By: Christopher Jung, Michael J. Kearns, Seth Neel, Aaron Leon Roth, Logan Stapleton and Zhiwei Steven Wu

We consider settings in which the right notion of fairness is not captured by simple mathematical definitions (such as equality of error rates across groups), but might be more complex and nuanced and thus require elicitation from individual or collective stakeholders.... View Details

Keywords: Algorithmic Fairness; Machine Learning; Fairness; Framework; Mathematical Methods

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30 Jun 2009
First Look

First Look: June 30

Working PapersWellsprings of Creation: How Perturbation Sustains Exploration in Mature Organizations (revised) Authors:David James Brunner, Bradley R. Staats, Michael L. Tushman, and David M. Upton Abstract Organizations struggle to... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

20 Apr 2010
First Look

First Look: April 20

supplement:http://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cb/product/310077-PDF-ENG Local Motors: Designed by the Crowd, Built by the Customer Michael I. Norton and Jeremy B. DannHarvard Business... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

2011
Working Paper

CEO Bonus Plans: And How to Fix Them

By: Kevin J. Murphy and Michael C. Jensen

Almost all CEO and executive bonus plans have serious design flaws that limit their benefits dramatically. Such poorly designed executive bonus plans destroy value by providing incentives to manipulate the timing of earnings, mislead the board about organizational... View Details

Keywords: Business Earnings; Competency and Skills; Cost of Capital; Executive Compensation; Risk Management; Performance Evaluation; Projects; Motivation and Incentives; Value

SSRN

2015
Other Teaching and Training Material

Entrepreneurship Reading: Partnering with Venture Capitalists

By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang and Michael J. Roberts

This reading takes a deep look at the venture capital (VC) industry in the United States. VCs have a unique perspective on opportunity evaluation, deal structure, new venture support, and exit strategy. Their work at all stages of the entrepreneurial life cycle offers... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Entrepreneurship