Publications

Program

Changing the Game

maximum results for your side Build advantage through better decision-making Recognize and overcome obstacles to rational decision-making Craft competitive and cooperative business strategies Predict the... View Details

Article

Household Bargaining and Excess Fertility: An Experimental Study in Zambia

By: Nava Ashraf, Erica Field and Jean Lee

We posit that household decision-making over fertility is characterized by moral hazard due to the fact that most contraception can only be perfectly observed by the woman. Using an experiment in Zambia that varied whether women were given access to contraceptives... View Details

Keywords: Partners and Partnerships; Health; Household; Gender; Zambia

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February 2024
Article

Representation and Extrapolation: Evidence from Clinical Trials

By: Marcella Alsan, Maya Durvasula, Harsh Gupta, Joshua Schwartzstein and Heidi L. Williams

This article examines the consequences and causes of low enrollment of Black patients in clinical trials. We develop a simple model of similarity-based extrapolation that predicts that evidence is more relevant for decision-making by physicians and patients when it... View Details

Keywords: Representation; Racial Disparity; Health Testing and Trials; Race; Equality and Inequality; Innovation and Invention; Pharmaceutical Industry

March 2024
Module Note

Navigating the Future: Managing Financial Forecasts

By: Mark Egan

This module note guides instructors on delivering a course module that focuses on understanding, developing, and using financial forecasts from a chief financial officer’s (CFO) perspective. The cases in the module equip students with an understanding of the techniques... View Details

Keywords: CFO; Forecasting; Corporate Finance; Forecasting and Prediction; Financial Management; Revenue; United States

Article

High School Curriculum and Financial Outcomes: The Impact of Mandated Personal Finance and Mathematics Courses

By: Shawn Cole, Anna Paulson and Gauri Kartini Shastry

Financial literacy and cognitive capabilities are convincingly linked to the quality of financial decision-making. Yet, there is little evidence that education intended to improve financial decision-making is successful. Using plausibly exogenous variation in exposure... View Details

Keywords: Financial Literacy; Cognitive Capability; Secondary Education; Personal Finance; Decision Making

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February 2003 (Revised August 2004)
Case

Flextronics: Deciding on a Shop Floor System for Producing the Microsoft Xbox

By: Jeffrey T. Polzer and Alison Berkley Wagonfeld

Jim McCusker must guide a group decision-making process aimed at getting input and buy-in from key people in California, Mexico, and Austria to choose a shop floor IT system for Flextronics. McCusker is Flextronics' account manager for the Microsoft Xbox project.... View Details

Keywords: Groups and Teams; Decision Making; Power and Influence; Geographic Location; Problems and Challenges; Leadership; California; Mexico; Austria

November 1998 (Revised February 1999)
Case

Microsoft Office: Finding the Suite Spot

By: Stefan H. Thomke and Steven Sinofsky

Describes a key decision-making process within Microsoft's Office products division. At a time when the PC software business has a great deal of uncertainty, Microsoft's management has to make a key decision regarding the future of software suites. A strengthening of... View Details

Keywords: Decisions; Applications and Software; Strategic Planning; Organizational Design; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Product Development; Managerial Roles; Growth and Development Strategy; Risk and Uncertainty; Goals and Objectives; Digital Platforms; Innovation and Management; Computer Industry; Information Technology Industry

Boards are facing a complex new reality as a result of Covid-19. The new environment is characterized by pressures and demands from various stakeholder groups, heightened expectations for societal engagement and corporate citizenship, and radical uncertainty... View Details

February 2022
Case

Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi (Abridged)

By: Linda A. Hill and Emily Tedards

In 2006, the Cleveland Clinic and Mubadala Investment Company partnered with a bold ambition to deliver world class healthcare in the United Arab Emirates. In 2015, after nearly a decade of planning and construction, Cleveland Clinic Abu Dhabi opened its doors. By... View Details

Keywords: Organization Behavior; Culture; Alignment; Organizational Effectiveness; Purpose; Impact; Leadership Development; Diversity; Collaboration; Co-creation; Learning Organizations; Empowerment; Teams; Team Dynamics; Teamwork; Team Effectiveness; Trust; Talent; Talent Development And Retention; Psychological Safety; Organizational Evolution; Coaching; Board; Analytics; Innovation; Data; Data Visualization; Digital Technology; Digital; Customer Experience; Experimentation; Change Management; Data-driven Decision-making; Debates; Ecosystem; Partnership; Telemedicine; Sustainability; Global Organizations; Local; Hospital; Healthcare; United Arab Emirates; Health Care and Treatment; Partners and Partnerships; Globalization; Quality; Organizational Culture; Mission and Purpose; Innovation and Management; Information Technology; Joint Ventures; Leadership; Performance Effectiveness; Abu Dhabi; United Arab Emirates

1965
Article

Group Decision Making: A Report of an Experimental Study

By: Joseph L. Bower

When a group of people must decide on some one action, such as where shall we go out to dinner, or in an investment club which stock shall we buy, how do the individual members come to a decision that affords the best resolution of the question at hand for the group as... View Details

Keywords: Groups and Teams; Decision Making; Conflict Management

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15 Dec 2010
Working Paper Summaries

Cognitive Barriers to Environmental Action: Problems and Solutions

Keywords: by Lisa L.Shu & Max H. Bazerman

July 1991 (Revised August 1991)
Case

Philip Morris Companies, Inc. (B)

By: Samuel L. Hayes III

Looks at the company's plans for a new debt offering under the Rule 415 shelf underwriting provision--in this instance from the vantage point of the lead investment banker for the deal. The decision-maker must assess the risks of the issuer, the tone of the market, the... View Details

Keywords: Risk Management; Stocks; Initial Public Offering; Consumer Products Industry; United States

March 2013
Article

The Unintended Consequences of Ownership Transfer Planning

By: Josh Baron and Marion McCollom Hampton

The article discusses the challenges of passing down family businesses across generations, highlighting complexities in executive succession and estate planning. It emphasizes how emotional factors, complicated family dynamics, and unintended consequences influence... View Details

Keywords: Estate Planning; Family Business; Family and Family Relationships; Management Succession; Family Ownership; Manufacturing Industry; Financial Services Industry; Education Industry; Fashion Industry

Article

The Performer's Reactions to Procedural Injustice: When Prosocial Identity Reduces Prosocial Behavior

By: Adam M. Grant, Andrew Molinsky, Joshua D. Margolis, Melissa Kamin and William Schiano

Considerable research has examined how procedural injustice affects victims and witnesses of unfavorable outcomes, with little attention to the “performers” who deliver these outcomes. Drawing on dissonance theory, we hypothesized that performers' reactions to... View Details

Keywords: Interpersonal Communication; Judgments; Fairness; Outcome or Result; Behavior; Identity; Power and Influence

Research Summary

Overview

By: John Beshears

In his research, Professor Beshears shows how managers can influence the behavior of customers and employees by changing the decision-making environment to call attention to a decision, to use psychological framing to shape assessments of options, or to help... View Details

Keywords: Behavioral Economics; Consumer Finance; Household Finance; Health Care; Organizational Economics; Decision Making; Economics; Negotiation; Behavioral Finance

William J. Poorvu

William Poorvu is the Class of 1961 Adjunct Professor in Entrepreneurship, Emeritus at Harvard Business School. He taught and was responsible for the real estate courses there for 35 years. He was the school's first adjunct professor, its first adjunct professor... View Details

December 2020 (Revised January 2022)
Supplement

Michael Ku and Global Clinical Supply at Pfizer Inc.: Bringing Hope to Patients (B)

By: Linda A. Hill and Emily Tedards

In 2011, Michael Ku became Pfizer’s Vice President of Global Clinical Supply (GCS) after the company had undergone three large-scale mergers and acquisitions. As Ku and his new leadership team set out to build a proactive, end-to-end, digital and physical clinical... View Details

Keywords: Digital Technology; Customer-centricity; Innovation; Customer Focus; Talent; Talent Management; Leadership; Innovation and Invention; Transformation; Organizational Culture; Customer Focus and Relationships; Change Management; Talent and Talent Management; Supply Chain; Mission and Purpose