Publications

2012
Working Paper

Risky Business: The Impact of Property Rights on Investment and Revenue in the Film Industry

By: Venkat Kuppuswamy and Carliss Y. Baldwin

Our paper tests a key prediction of property rights theory, specifically, that agents will respond to marginal incentives embedded in property rights when making non-contractible, revenue-enhancing investments (Grossman and Hart, 1986; Hart and Moore, 1990). Using rich... View Details

Keywords: Property Rights; Property; Rights; Investment; Contracts; Revenue; Motivation and Incentives; Motion Pictures and Video Industry; United States

SSRN

19 Mar 2013
First Look

First Look: March 19

negotiation have much in common. Specifically, both involve the interaction of motivated agents with distinct interests, perceptions, and values (especially in high-stakes contexts). As a result, robust strategy, creativity, and nimble... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

17 Aug 2020
Research & Ideas

What the Stockdale Paradox Tells Us About Crisis Leadership

of extreme economic, political, social, and meteorological instability. The Black Lives Matter protests that began in the United States in late May and spread worldwide have thrown another massive change agent into the equation.... View Details

Keywords: by Boris Groysberg and Robin Abrahams

Web

California - Global

autonomous AI agents designed to transform how businesses operate by taking on tasks traditionally performed by humans. With a mission to deploy one billion AI agents by the end of 2025, Agentforce... View Details

March 2025
Case

Harvey: AI for Lawyers

By: Suraj Srinivasan, Charles Krumholz and Radhika Kak

In early 2025, Winston Weinberg and Gabe Pereyra, co-founders of Harvey AI, reflected on the company’s meteoric rise as a pioneer in AI-powered legal technology. Since its founding in 2022, Harvey had transformed how lawyers approached research, drafting, and document... View Details

Keywords: Innovation Strategy; Business Startups; AI and Machine Learning; Technological Innovation; Growth and Development Strategy; Product Positioning; Legal Services Industry; Technology Industry; New York (city, NY); San Francisco; London

Purchase

July 2020 (Revised May 2021)
Case

Oxygen Esports

By: John R. Wells and Benjamin Weinstock

On May 4, 2020, a press release from Boston, Massachusetts, announced the launch of Oxygen Esports (Oxygen), a new organization that hoped to dominate the rising esports scene in New England. Oxygen was created from a merger between Helix eSports (Helix), an owner and... View Details

Keywords: Esports; Sports; Online Technology; Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Entrepreneurship; Strategy

Purchase

October 2008 (Revised January 2011)
Case

Lawrence Trinh: Venturing to Vietnam

By: Joshua D. Margolis and Rachel Gordon

Should Lawrence Trinh pursue his aspiration of working in Vietnam—and if so, what set of principles and practices should he adopt if he encounters corruption? These are questions that reverberate for many students who wish to work in emerging markets and other contexts... View Details

Keywords: Developing Countries and Economies; Ethics; Investment; Leadership Development; Emerging Markets; Personal Development and Career; Welfare; Financial Services Industry

2015
Working Paper

Customers and Investors: A Framework for Understanding Financial Institutions

By: Robert C. Merton and Robert T. Thakor

Financial institutions have both investors and customers. Investors, such as those who invest in stocks and bonds or private/public-sector guarantors of institutions, expect an appropriate risk-adjusted return in exchange for the financing and risk-bearing that they... View Details

Keywords: Financial Institutions

06 Sep 2007
Working Paper Summaries

The Excess Burden of Government Indecision

Keywords: by Francisco J. Gomes, Laurence J. Kotlikoff & Luis M. Viceira

12 Sep 2023
Research & Ideas

How Can Financial Advisors Thrive in Shifting Markets? Diversify, Diversify, Diversify

influencers such as attorneys, accountants, and insurance agents furthered expansion. Gaining 10 new clients from referrals is worth a 1-to-2 percent increase in assets under management and revenue, and 0.5 percent to 1 percent in... View Details

Keywords: by Ben Rand; Financial Services

01 May 2013
What Do You Think?

Why Isn’t ‘Servant Leadership’ More Prevalent?

Servant leadership is experienced so rarely because of trends in the leadership environment, the scarcity of human qualities required, demands that the practice places on the practitioner, and the very nature of the practice itself. As Tahir Quzi put it, "A... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett

August 2007 (Revised November 2010)
Case

Grand Central Publishing

By: Anita Elberse

In April 2007, Grand Central's publisher Jamie Raab and editor Karen Kosztolnyik were involved in a frantic bidding war for a proposed book on the life of cat Dewey, billed as the feline answer to the best-selling "Marley & Me: Life and Love with the World's Worst... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Product Launch; Bids and Bidding; Product Development; Publishing Industry

Purchase

06 Jun 2018
Research & Ideas

Cut Salaries or Cut People? The Best Way to Survive a Downturn

literature in economics on why firms tend not to cut people’s pay,” says Stanton, an applied economist who is an assistant professor in the Entrepreneurial Management Unit at HBS. “We can actually measure the consequences.” A ‘natural experiment’ The researchers... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

13 Jan 2012
Working Paper Summaries

The Impact of Modularity on Intellectual Property and Value Appropriation

Keywords: by Carliss Y. Baldwin & Joachim Henkel

09 Dec 2002
Research & Ideas

Unilever—A Case Study

powder, coinciding with the advent of the washing machine. In the same year, Lever's agreement with a New York agent to sell its soap everywhere beyond New England was abandoned and a new sales organization was established. Finally, in... View Details

Keywords: by Geoffrey Jones; Consumer Products; Entertainment & Recreation; Food & Beverage; Manufacturing; Retail

01 Dec 2023
News

Turning Point: Where Credit Is Due

growing up in far western Mongolia without the opportunities available to children in the capital. I was lucky, an outlier of an outlier. Mongolian students deserve a fair opportunity for higher education and the possibility to become the change View Details

Keywords: Executive, Legislative, and Other General Government Support; Government

2007
Book

From Higher Aims to Hired Hands: The Social Transformation of American Business Schools and the Unfulfilled Promise of Management as a Profession

By: Rakesh Khurana

Is management a profession? Should it be? Can it be? This major work of social and intellectual history reveals how such questions have driven business education and shaped American management and society for more than a century. The book is also a call for reform.... View Details

Keywords: Social History; Business Education; Moral Sensibility; Profit; Leadership; Managerial Roles; United States

2010
Working Paper

Beyond Agency Theory: The Hidden and Heretofore Inaccessible Power of Integrity (PDF file of Keynote Slides)

By: Michael C. Jensen and Werner Erhard

There is far too much concern today about the conflicts of interest between people; for example, conflicts of interest between agents and owners—historically a favorite topic of Jensen—and not enough attention paid to the damage caused by an individual's conflict of... View Details

Keywords: Moral Sensibility; Lawfulness; Production; Organizations; Performance Improvement; Agency Theory; Conflict of Interests; Trust; Competitive Advantage; Value Creation

2013
Comment

Fairness and Redistribution: Comment

By: Rafael Di Tella and Juan Dubra

In an influential paper, Alesina and Angeletos (2005)—henceforth, AA—argued that a preference for fairness could lead two identical societies to choose different economic systems. In particular, two equilibria might arise: one with low taxes and a belief that the... View Details

Keywords: Taxes; Beliefs; Economic Systems; Values and Beliefs; Fairness; Taxation