Publications

June 2020
Article

How Scheduling Can Bias Quality Assessment: Evidence from Food Safety Inspections

By: Maria Ibanez and Michael W. Toffel

Accuracy and consistency are critical for inspections to be an effective, fair, and useful tool for assessing risks, quality, and suppliers—and for making decisions based on those assessments. We examine how inspector schedules could introduce bias that erodes... View Details

Keywords: Assessment; Bias; Inspection; Scheduling; Econometric Analysis; Empirical Research; Regulation; Health; Food; Safety; Quality; Performance Consistency; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms

Web

Managing the Future of Work

combines insights and lessons from business, government, and individual decision making to explore the data and ideas that should drive the next wave of immigration policy and business practice. Reports... View Details

10 Feb 2016
News

Gap Year: Harvard And Stanford Help Boomers Find A Second Act With Purpose

March 2007 (Revised August 2014)
Case

Survey Masters LLC (A)

By: William J. Bruns

Partners in a service firm are reviewing results for 2006, wondering whether large or small projects are more profitable. Present reports make small projects look more profitable. However, activity-based accounting reveals that large projects are more profitable and... View Details

Keywords: Activity Based Costing and Management; Financial Reporting; Cost vs Benefits; Financial Strategy; Service Industry

16 Jul 2024
Op-Ed

Corporate Boards Are Failing in Their No. 1 Duty

Ask board members their most important duty, and they will likely say it is appointing and overseeing the CEO. Yet many boards fail to make appropriate choices, often because they don’t prepare candidates for the challenges they will... View Details

Keywords: by Bill George

April 2007 (Revised August 2014)
Case

Foreign Direct Investment and South Africa (A)

By: Eric Werker

Incoming and outgoing foreign direct investment in an environment of politics, geography, globalization, and history. Since the end of apartheid, South Africa had undertaken substantial economic reforms in order to attract more foreign direct investment, but it was... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Macroeconomics; Foreign Direct Investment; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Business and Government Relations; Africa; South Africa

November 2018
Case

The National Hockey League

By: Robert F. Higgins, John Masko and James Weber

In 2015, National Hockey League (NHL) commissioner Gary Bettman was weighing two major decisions: whether to expand the league to a new city, and whether to conclude a digital media rights deal with Major League Baseball Advanced Media (MLBAM). Expansion required a... View Details

Keywords: NHL Expansion; Digital Media Rights; Sports; Expansion; Media; Decisions; Sports Industry; Canada

25 Jul 2016
Working Paper Summaries

Bias in Official Fiscal Forecasts: Can Private Forecasts Help?

Keywords: by Jeffrey A. Frankel and Jesse Schreger

21 Sep 2010
First Look

First Look: September 21, 2010

access pushes decisions down, as it allows for superior decentralized decision making without an undue cognitive burden on those lower in the hierarchy. Better communication... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

Program

Audit Committees in a New Era of Governance

challenges and career decisions Who Should Attend Current or potential audit committee members on boards of publicly listed companies, board chairs, and chief executive officers Chief financial officers, general counsels, and risk... View Details

14 Sep 2023
Research & Ideas

Working Moms Are Mostly Thriving Again. Can We Finally Achieve Gender Parity?

employment. There are also caveats: Economists are weighing in on the exact nature of women’s new jobs—whether they’re lower-paying or fall outside of a woman’s chosen field. In addition, other employment changes either instituted or reinforced during the pandemic—such... View Details

Keywords: by Kara Baskin

07 Dec 2009
Research & Ideas

Government’s Positive Role in Kick-Starting Entrepreneurship

government in making it a success. "Particularly during the early years, the government played a critical role in shaping Silicon Valley," especially spending and funding from the U.S. Department of Defense, writes HBS professor... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Technology

Web

Strategy - Faculty & Research

mission to revolutionize financial services in Latin America. Starting with a 14-person team and a prepaid card linked to a digital app, Ualá rapidly expanded into a comprehensive financial services platform. By early 2022, it served over... View Details

09 Jan 2024
In Practice

Harnessing AI: What Businesses Need to Know in ChatGPT’s Second Year

Also Like: How Will the Tech Titans Behind ChatGPT, Bard, and LLaMA Make Money? Is AI Coming for Your Job? How Should Artificial Intelligence Be Regulated—if at All? Feedback or ideas to share? Email the Working Knowledge View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Information Technology

April 2019
Article

Shooting the Messenger

By: Leslie John, Hayley Blunden and Heidi Liu

Eleven experiments provide evidence that people have a tendency to “shoot the messenger,” deeming innocent bearers of bad news unlikeable. In a preregistered lab experiment, participants rated messengers who delivered bad news from a random drawing as relatively... View Details

Keywords: Judgment; Communication; Sense-making; Attribution; Disclosure; Interpersonal Communication; Perception; Judgments; Motivation and Incentives

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Teaching Interest

Large-Scale Investment (LSI, MBA Elective Curriculum)

By: Benjamin C. Esty

Large-Scale Investment (LSI) is a case-based course about project finance that is designed for second-year MBA students. Project finance involves the creation of a legally independent project company financed with nonrecourse debt for the purpose of investing in a... View Details

Keywords: Project Finance; Corporate Finance; Corporate Governance; Valuation; Capital Budgeting

February 2020 (Revised August 2020)
Case

San Francisco Ballet: On 'Pointe' for the Future

By: Rohit Deshpandé and Nicole Tempest Keller

The SF Ballet was regarded as one of the top ballet companies in the world. It had an enviable earned revenue percentage of almost 50% and had an internationally recognized ballet school. However, by 2019 the Ballet faced a number of challenges. Ballet was a European... View Details

Keywords: Arts; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Demographics; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Strategic Planning; Social Enterprise; Cultural Entrepreneurship; United States; San Francisco

January 2008 (Revised March 2008)
Case

Glass Egg Digital Media

Glass Egg is an outsource games development firm in Vietnam. They are able to offer brand-name publishers-Microsoft EA, Atari-significant cost savings in the development of art assets for their video games. However, the firm's management find themselves at a point at... View Details

Keywords: Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Growth and Development Strategy; Marketing Strategy; Demand and Consumers; Product Development; Organizational Structure; Entertainment and Recreation Industry