Publications

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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

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Profile

Era Jain

no time or pursuing them was too risky for me, professionally. Being part of the HBS community is like Being surrounded by highly accomplished people with diverse experiences, filled with humility and gratitude. I am grateful to be a part... View Details

07 Apr 2022
Blog Post

Product Management at HBS: Roll Up Your Sleeves and Learn by Doing

Weston Ruths is enrolled in the MS/MBA: Engineering Sciences Program Class of 2022, and is a member of HBS Section D. After graduating from Rice University in 2016 with a degree in Computer Science, he joined the Marine Corps and served as the View Details

December 2022
Article

'Just Letting You Know…': Underestimating Others' Desire for Constructive Feedback

By: Nicole Abi-Esber, Jennifer E. Abel, Juliana Schroeder and Francesca Gino

People often avoid giving feedback to others even when it would help fix a problem immediately. Indeed, in a pilot field study (N=155), only 2.6% of individuals provided feedback to survey administrators that the administrators had food or marker on their faces.... View Details

Keywords: Feedback; Helping; Prosocial Behavior; Misprediction; Relationships; Interpersonal Communication; Perspective

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

Web

Historical Data & Sources - Business History

Download Data Set in Excel Coca-Cola: Countries with Bottlers Courtesy of the Coca-Cola Company, Heritage Communications Map created by John Regan, MBA 2016 Download Data Set in Excel Coffee Exports by Country FAO (Food and Agricultural... View Details

10 Oct 2023
Blog Post

Policy Drivers for Environmental Justice: What Businesses Need to Know

Disadvantaged Communities (DACs): communities “marginalized, underserved, and overburdened by pollution.”[1] Environmental Racism: “racial discrimination in environmental policy making, corporate decision... 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

2010
Book

Different: Escaping the Competitive Herd

By: Youngme Moon

Every few years a book-through a combination of the author's unique voice, storytelling ability, spirit, and insight-simply breaks the mold. Youngme Moon's DIFFERENT is that kind of book, a book for "people who don't read business books...," a book that feels like an... View Details

Keywords: Communication Intention and Meaning; Entrepreneurship; Innovation and Invention; Marketing; Creativity; Competition