Publications

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Much of what we believe about the best ways to compensate and motivate the sales force is based on theory and lab experiments. But in the past decade, researchers have been moving out of the lab and into the field, analyzing companies' sales and pay data, and... View Details

03 Jan 2016
Research & Ideas

NFL Black Monday: How Much Do Coaches Really Matter?

that perform poorly (suffering from the performance gap) and good teams that under-perform (suffering from the opportunity gap). In both cases, teams need quality coaches to improve their on-field performance. Teams planning changes on Black Monday can learn a lot from... View Details

Keywords: by Boris Groysberg & Abhijit Naik; Sports

February 2018
Case

Qualtrics (A)

By: Doug J. Chung and James M. Lattin

Qualtrics was an online survey research platform and since the beginning, the company had relied entirely on an inside sales model—sales done remotely without face-to-face contact with clients. The low-cost inside sales model, along with an emphasis on a strong sales... View Details

Keywords: Sales Strategy; Inside Sales Model; Sales; Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; Organizational Change and Adaptation

30 Nov 2015
News

Five Ways to Give Better Gifts (Backed by Science)

11 Mar 2013
News

Harvard Survey: U.S. Competitiveness at a Crossroads

14 Jun 2013
News

Wheelies: The Ask and You Shall Receive Edition

Research Summary

Managing Financial Reporting and the Effect on Firms' Costs of Capital

Amy P. Hutton's research investigates the impact of capital market forces and firm contracts on financial reporting and disclosure policies. Specifically, her research examines how managers use financial reporting to convey a firm's strategy, and the effect of... View Details

July 2020
Article

Exploring the Effect of Environmental Orientation on Financial Decisions of Businesses at the Bottom of the Pyramid: Evidence from the Microlending Context

By: Anton Shevchenko, Xiaodan Pan and Goran Calic

Existing research has accumulated substantial evidence on the effect that an environmental orientation has on businesses' economic performance. Yet this research does not cover small businesses from bottom‐of‐the‐pyramid (BOP) markets. In fact, despite increasing... View Details

Keywords: Micro-lending; Environmental Sustainability; Financing and Loans; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Small Business

09 Apr 2001
Research & Ideas

The Manager’s Guide to Communicating with Customers Collection

what shoppers do. This observational work is the bread and butter of Paco Underhill, a consultant whose market research firm, Envirosell (New York City), has been studying retail shopper behavior for 20 years. Teach a kid to hammer, and... View Details

Keywords: by Richard Bierck; Retail

November 2006 (Revised March 2008)
Case

The Harvard Stem Cell Institute

By: William A. Sahlman

Describes a set of issues confronting the leaders of the Harvard Stem Cell Institute, an innovative cross-university effort to accelerate scientific discovery and translation in the domain of stem cells. Covers a wide range of topics, including understanding how... View Details

Keywords: Talent and Talent Management; Higher Education; Entrepreneurship; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Intellectual Property; Research and Development; Genetics; Biotechnology Industry; Health Industry; Massachusetts

November 2021 (Revised January 2022)
Case

Nicole M. Jones and The Hangar℠: Delta Air Lines' Global Innovation Center

By: Linda A. Hill and Emily Tedards

In 2016, Nicole M. Jones was hired to lead The Hangar, Delta Air Lines’ new innovation center in Atlanta, Georgia. Delta’s leadership had intended for The Hangar to catalyze a new approach to innovation at the company. After conducting three months of research on... View Details

Keywords: Innovation Lab; Breakthrough Innovation; Biometric Technology; Innovation and Invention; Leadership; Innovation and Management; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Innovation Strategy; Technological Innovation; Georgia (state, US)

November 1997 (Revised July 1999)
Case

Guidant: Cardiac Rhythm Management Business (A)

By: Steven C. Wheelwright and Mikelle Eastley

Examines the choices Guidant must make in research and development spending and new product development. More specifically, CEO Jay Graf considers the payoffs and tradeoffs of using product development skills that he learned in CPI's core business when applied to a... View Details

Keywords: Marketing Strategy; Product Marketing; Product Development; Business or Company Management; Management Skills; Research and Development; Business Strategy; Communication; Product Design; Market Design; Organizational Design; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

June 2012
Article

Racial Colorblindness: Emergence, Practice, and Implications

By: Evan P. Apfelbaum, Michael I. Norton and Samuel R. Sommers

We examine the pervasive endorsement of racial colorblindness-the belief that racial group membership should not be taken into account or even noticed-as a strategy for managing diversity and intergroup relations. Despite research demonstrating that race is perceived... View Details

Keywords: Management; Strategy; Law; Practice; Race; Research; Social Issues; Diversity

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12 Oct 2011
Research & Ideas

Creating Online Ads We Want to Watch

viewer's attention cannot be purchased by an advertiser but must be gained by the ad. Thus, he is helping advertisers to make online video ads so riveting that users want to watch them. His experimental research looks at the emotional... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Consumer Products

Research Summary

Overview

By: Isamar Troncoso

Professor Troncoso's research explores problems related to digital marketplaces and AI applications in marketing, and combines toolkits from econometrics, causal inference, and machine learning. She has studied how different platform design choices can lead to... View Details

Research Summary

Political Economy of Business Development

In an ongoing research stream, Professor Fabbe is studying the political economy of business development in fragile societies. Her newest project in this research stream explores the opportunities for complementarities and joint ventures between Syrian and Turkish... View Details

May 2014
Article

I'm Sorry About the Rain! Superfluous Apologies Demonstrate Empathic Concern and Increase Trust

By: A.W. Brooks, H. Dai and M.E. Schweitzer

Existing apology research has conceptualized apologies as a device to rebuild relationships following a transgression. As a result, apology research has failed to investigate the use of apologies for outcomes for which individuals are obviously not culpable (e.g.,... View Details

Keywords: Superfluous Apology; Apology; Benevolence-based Trust; Empathy; Stochastic Trust Game; Trust; Emotions; Societal Protocols

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2013
Chapter

Privacy Breach Analysis in Social Networks

By: Frank Nagle

Over the past 5–10 years, online social networks have rapidly expanded, and as of March 2012 the largest online social network, Facebook, had over 901 million active members. The wealth of information users post in their social network profiles, as well as the... View Details

Keywords: Crime and Corruption; Social and Collaborative Networks; Social Media; Cybersecurity; Analytics and Data Science