Publications

September 2023
Article

(Not) Paying for Diversity: Repugnant Market Concerns Associated with Transactional Approaches to Diversity Recruitment

By: Summer R. Jackson

In a 20-month ethnographic study, I examine how a technology firm, ShopCo (a pseudonym), considered 13 different recruitment platforms to attract racial minority engineering candidates. I find that when choosing whether to adopt recruitment platforms focused on racial... View Details

Keywords: Technology Adoption; Recruitment; Race; Organizational Change and Adaptation

March–April 2023
Article

The New-Collar Workforce

By: Colleen Ammerman, Boris Groysberg and Ginni Rometty

Many workers today are stuck in low-paying jobs, unable to advance simply because they don’t have a bachelor’s degree. At the same time, many companies are desperate for workers and not meeting the diversity goals that could help them perform better while also reducing... View Details

Keywords: Diversity; Recruitment; Social Issues; Higher Education; Competency and Skills

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April 2021
Article

Today's Surgeon Compensation Models Fall Short: Aligning Incentives to Create More Equitable and Value-based Compensation Models

By: Susanna Gallani, Mary Witkowski, Lauren Haskins, Haley Jeffcoat, Vinita Mujumdar and Frank Opelka

Modern medicine is undergoing a transformation that involves innovative surgical approaches, increased medical treatment options, clinical care pathways that require collaboration beyond hospital walls, and health data captured by electronic health records and other... View Details

Keywords: Physician Compensation; Surgeons; Health Care and Treatment; Business Model; Compensation and Benefits

2017
Working Paper

Self-Employment Dynamics and the Returns to Entrepreneurship

By: Eleanor W. Dillon and Christopher T. Stanton

Small business owners and others in self-employment have the option to transition to paid work. If there is initial uncertainty about entrepreneurial earnings, this option increases the expected lifetime value of self-employment relative to pay in a single year. This... View Details

Keywords: Self-employed; Small Business; Business Earnings; Entrepreneurship; Ownership; Compensation and Benefits

March 2014
Article

Cheating More for Less: Upward Social Comparisons Motivate the Poorly Compensated to Cheat

By: Leslie K. John, George Loewenstein and Scott Rick

Intuitively, people should cheat more when cheating is more lucrative, but we find that the effect of performance-based pay rates on dishonesty depends on how readily people can compare their pay rate to that of others. In Experiment 1, participants were paid 5 cents... View Details

Keywords: Dishonesty; Social Comparison; Pay Secrecy; Motivation and Incentives; Fairness; Decision Making; Compensation and Benefits

July 14, 2002
Article

Add CEO Salaries to The Corporate Reform List

By: Jay W. Lorsch

Keywords: Management; Compensation and Benefits; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms

May 1985
Supplement

Milford Industries (A1)

By: Robert J. Dolan

Presents the salesforce performance data of the Milford (A) case in a format suitable for spreadsheet analysis using a personal computer. View Details

Keywords: Managerial Roles; Salesforce Management; Resignation and Termination; Performance Evaluation

October 1991 (Revised June 1992)
Case

Nigel Andrews and General Electric Plastics (A)

Describes some critical challenges involved in creating employee empowerment. In the context of General Electric's efforts to debureaucratise the company, employees were encouraged to become more "self-confident". This effort, called "Workout," was introduced all over... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Change Management; Organizational Culture; Employees; Manufacturing Industry; United States

21 Nov 2019
Blog Post

The Power of Business in the Energy Transition

economy. Representatives from resource producers such as RioTinto and Shell discussed their work to engrain sustainable practices in their operations, as well as serve as a source of expertise to execute... View Details

Keywords: Manufacturing; Energy / Cleantech

01 Sep 2017
News

Inbox: From Das’s Desk

When most MBA students attend HBS, there is a general feeling that the contract they sign is to spend 18 months getting world-class exposure to cases and principles of business and management and then leave with a license to practice... View Details

Keywords: Das Narayandas; HBX; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services; Business Schools & Computer & Management Training; Educational Services

Profile

Janina Motter

As a high school student in Florida, Janina Motter “got interested in chemistry and studio art. I went to Stanford where I could pursue a high-quality education in whatever interested me.” There, Janina found herself exposed to the more interdisciplinary View Details

January 2025
Case

Shifting Winds: DEI in Corporate America

By: Clayton S. Rose, Maisie Wiltshire-Gordon and David Lane

In the 2020s, intense and conflicting social and political pressures challenged organizational leaders around the world. Prominent among these were powerful competing views on workplace diversity, equity, and inclusion programs (DEI) in the United States. Public... View Details

21 Nov 2011
Lessons from the Classroom

The New Challenge of Leading Financial Firms

A worldwide economic crisis. Intense scrutiny from board members, customers, and government regulators. Expanding global markets. Public protests aimed squarely at your industry. Running a financial institution, never easy to begin with, has quickly become one of the... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Financial Services

March 1999 (Revised August 2005)
Case

Steady Earner, Inc.

By: Henry B. Reiling and Mark Pollard

An employee is permitted to choose any one of three stock option plans. The first involves options that are in the money and must be exercised within 10 years. The second involves options that are at the money and must be exercised within 10 years. The third involves... View Details

Keywords: Employee Stock Ownership Plan; Taxation; Stock Options

February 2000 (Revised March 2004)
Case

Venture Law Group (A)

By: Thomas J. DeLong, Ashish Nanda and Scott D Landry

Craig Johnson, Venture Law Group's (VLG) chairman, founded VLG in 1993 with a goal of "zero voluntary turnover." In late 1998, Johnson faces the departure of three important partners, prompting himself to ask what VLG can do in the midst of an "economic hurricane" that... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Customer Relationship Management; Partners and Partnerships; Retention; Legal Services Industry

October 1981
Background Note

Note on Rewards Systems

By: Michael Beer

Looks at rewards in general, and pay in particular, and studies the conditions that may enhance or detract from employee satisfaction and organizational effectiveness. View Details

Keywords: Compensation and Benefits; Wages; Organizations; Performance Effectiveness; Motivation and Incentives; Satisfaction

February 1989
Background Note

Note on Attracting Stakeholders

By: Amar Bhide and Howard H. Stevenson

Acquiring resources--or to put it more broadly, attracting stakeholders--is a basic entrepreneurial task. While every enterprise needs employees, customers, suppliers, and financiers who are willing to risk their time and money, attracting these "stakeholders" to an... View Details

Keywords: Business Ventures; Customers; Entrepreneurship; Investment; Human Resources; Organizational Design; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Risk and Uncertainty