Publications

November 1994
Case

Dow Corning and the Breast Implant Controversy (A)

By: Willis M. Emmons III, Monica Brand and Greg Keller

In early 1994, Dow Corning Corp. debates whether to participate in a proposed $4.2 billion product liability settlement. Specifically, the firm must decide whether to contribute $2 billion to end a class action suit filed by women suffering from connective tissue... View Details

Keywords: Safety; Ethics; Health Disorders; Government Legislation; Crime and Corruption; Legal Liability; Risk and Uncertainty; Business Strategy; Communication Strategy; Lawsuits and Litigation; Health Industry; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry

Educators

21 Aug 2020
Blog Post

Pursuing a JD/MBA Joint Degree

people that I have gotten to know. JD/MBAs come from all areas of life with prior experiences as business consultants, finance professionals, social entrepreneurs, community organizers, political activists, veterans, corporate managers,... View Details

21 Apr 2021
Research & Ideas

The Pandemic Conversations That Leaders Need to Have Now

When our team reached out to 600 CEOs during the pandemic’s early stages to ask them about their greatest concerns, many cited communication with employees. While the right communication strategy has been... View Details

Keywords: by Boris Groysberg, Robin Abrahams, and Katherine Connolly Baden

Profile

Katie Sadler

art scene. Above all, the community is unparalleled; I still go back to my high school, Forest Hills Northern, to visit my old teachers. What has changed about your understanding of leadership? While it’s important to have an opinion,... View Details

Web

A Commitment to Sustainability | About

A Commitment to Sustainability We are addressing the challenges and opportunities of sustainability leadership through campus operations and community engagement. Harvard Office of Sustainability 53 % Reduction in waste, CY 2023 54 %... View Details

22 Feb 2018
Book

The New History of American Capitalism

communicate reality. Timothy Mitchell, for example, explores how the parameters of economic expertise shape the questions the discipline investigates, while others have scrutinized how data and statistics come to represent the... View Details

Keywords: Manufacturing

12 Mar 2006
Research & Ideas

New Research Explores Multi-Sided Markets

running on microprocessors; NTT DoCoMo, Japan's leading mobile phone operator and creator of the pioneering i-mode mobile Internet platform, has expanded i-mode from communications and mobile Internet content to mobile payment systems and... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Technology

Article

Surviving Radical Technological Change through Dynamic Capability: Evidence from the Typesetter Industry

Recent work in the field of management has focused on "dynamic capability," the ability of a firm to develop new capabilities in response to shifts in its external environment, as a significant source of competitive advantage. This paper enhances our understanding of... View Details

Keywords: Management; Technology; History; Competition; Competency and Skills; Investment; Technological Innovation; Business Ventures; Geographic Location; Knowledge Acquisition; Competitive Advantage; Change

Read Now

November–December 2021
Article

Does Gender Matter? The Effect of Management Responses on Reviewing Behavior

By: Davide Proserpio, Isamar Troncoso and Francesca Valsesia

We study the effect of management responses on the reviewing behavior of self-identified female and male reviewers. Using data from Tripadvisor, we show that after hotels begin to respond to reviews, the probability that a negative review comes from a self-identified... View Details

Keywords: Word Of Mouth; Online Reviews; Management Responses; E-commerce; Gender; Prejudice and Bias; Digital Platforms; Customers

SSRN

July 2021 (Revised August 2021)
Supplement

Airbnb Emerges from the Pandemic: Lessons for Stakeholder Governance (B)

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Allison M. Ciechanover

As the COVID pandemic spread in early 2020, global travel ground to a halt. For Airbnb, the San Francisco-based platform for renting accommodations, the impact was both swift and severe as revenues plummeted more than 70% over the prior year. Responding to the sudden... View Details

Keywords: Business and Stakeholder Relations; Corporate Governance; Crisis Management; Leadership; Two-Sided Platforms; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Mission and Purpose; Value Creation; Decision Making; Goals and Objectives; Travel Industry; Tourism Industry; Service Industry; United States

August 2018 (Revised July 2020)
Case

Revenue Recognition at HBP

By: Paul Healy and Siko Sikochi

In early 2014, Paul Bills, CFO of Harvard Business Publishing (HBP), sat down with David Wan, the company’s CEO, to discuss budget preparations for the coming year. Bills noted that the performance of Corporate Learning, one of HBP’s three business units, would be... View Details

Keywords: Accrual Accounting; Budgets and Budgeting; Revenue Recognition; Financial Reporting; Publishing Industry; Education Industry; United States

Educators

March 2014
Teaching Note

The Weather Company

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Ai-Ling Jamila Malone

New CEO David Kenny transformed The Weather Company in less than two years from a primary identity as a cable television channel to a multi-platform digital company innovating in the uses of weather data. He assesses progress and considers strategic choices and... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Strategic Change; Technology; Digital; Weather; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Digital Platforms; Change Management; Leading Change; Growth and Development Strategy; Information Industry; Service Industry; Media and Broadcasting Industry

January 2013 (Revised April 2015)
Case

Affinity Labs: Valuing Customer Growth

By: Joseph B. Lassiter III and Elizabeth Kind

In November 2006, Chris Michel left Military.com, which he founded in 1999, to start Affinity Labs, a global network of online communities. That month, Michel raised a Series A round of venture funding and established a partnership with Monster, which he had sold... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Demand and Consumers; Partners and Partnerships; Social and Collaborative Networks; Online Technology

Educators

July 2011
Article

Kidney Paired Donation

By: C. Bradley Wallis, Kannan P. Samy, Alvin E. Roth and Michael A. Rees

Kidney paired donation (KPD) was first suggested in 1986, but it was not until 2000 when the first paired donation transplant was performed in the U.S. In the past decade, KPD has become the fastest growing source of transplantable kidneys, overcoming the barrier faced... View Details

Keywords: Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Health Care and Treatment; Growth and Development Strategy; Success; Problems and Challenges; Programs; System; United States