Policy - Publications - Faculty & Research

02 Nov 2020
What Do You Think?

Is Antitrust Just a Quaint Notion in the Digital Age?

level the consumer seems to benefit What are the downsides for consumers?: no choice in platform content feed from ‘preferred’ sources, personal information, and pattern recognition issues to name a few. So governance and policy settings... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Retail; Technology; Telecommunications; Communications; Consumer Products; Service

19 Oct 2017
Research & Ideas

How Charitable Organizations Can Thwart Excuses for Not Giving

overweight the risks, punishing the charity simply for not being perfect. “People exaggerate a charity’s metrics to the extent that they use it as an excuse not to give at all,” she says. In her current study with Judd B. Kessler, a business economics and public View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

02 Jun 2011
Research & Ideas

Signing at the Top: The Key to Preventing Tax Fraud?

at the beginning of the form with signing at the end. In one experiment, they teamed up with an automobile insurance company, manipulating the signature line on the policy review forms that customers receive at the end of each year. The... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Accounting

06 Sep 2005
What Do You Think?

What are the Lessons of New Orleans?

"Perhaps there's too much policy and procedure in place and not enough thinking." For David Brewster, lessons included the "failure of strategic planning to consider the small, frontline detail . . . a matter of getting... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

18 Jun 2001
Lessons from the Classroom

Why Leaders Need Great Books

the policies of a large organization." Badaracco, talking about the course recently with about 80 HBS alumni during the school's reunion weekend in June, said The Moral Leader is unusual for HBS for several reasons. It began a number... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

31 May 2023
Research & Ideas

With Predictive Analytics, Companies Can Tap the Ultimate Opportunity: Customers’ Routines

method to plot when enough bikes are needed to cut congestion or improve bike traffic flow. The next step, Ascarza says, may be to study how people who are traveling as part of a routine would respond differently to policy... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Transportation

01 Jun 2020
What Do You Think?

Will Challenged Amazon Tweak Its Retail Model Post-Pandemic?

establish new policies for treating Prime members differentially in the next distribution crisis? Will we see Amazon go after its retail competitors by increasing its retail store network beyond Whole Foods and some high tech test stores?... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Retail

07 Jul 2014
Research & Ideas

Banning Big-box Stores Can Hurt Local Retailers

model that would help policy makers to predict the implications of entry regulations more accurately, and in particular the competitive implications of the different store formats." View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Retail

07 Apr 2011
What Do You Think?

When Should the Public Sector Take Over in a Meltdown?

Pennsylvania, when the company operating the Three Mile Island power station was found to be issuing information of questionable accuracy, then-Lieutenant Governor William Scranton, responsible for energy policy in the state, went to the... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett; Energy; Utilities

11 Feb 2008
Research & Ideas

Does Democracy Need a Marketing Manager?

citizen needs, developing policy and program solutions, informing interested citizens about themselves, and making themselves easily accessible. They should embrace reforms, such as lifelong voter registration, that remove barriers to... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

11 Mar 2001
Research & Ideas

Wired and Black: Focus on Careers

setting priorities for free time, to make sure important personal relationships and beloved activities don’t slip through the cracks. "It’s hard to do, because jobs are infringing," he said. Butler said he has a policy of... View Details

Keywords: by Carrie Levine

22 May 2020
In Practice

Post-COVID Health Care: More Screens, Less Red Tape?

care, but this does not have to be true if employees can purchase private insurance on exchanges. I believe that we will start to see more demand for this kind of policy in the coming months. Amitabh Chandra (@amitabhchandra2) is the... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost

05 May 2015
First Look

First Look: May 5

grocery bags has been strongly promoted as environmentally and socially conscious. In parallel, firms have joined policy makers in using a variety of initiatives to reduce the use of plastic bags. However, little is known about how these... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

31 Aug 2010
First Look

First Look: August 31

regulations in place for capital requirements for banks. Irwin Greff, President and CEO of the Southeast Bank, faces several decisions on how to proceed with these new policies that will surely shape the future of the bank. Purchase this... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

03 Jan 2007
First Look

First Look: January 3, 2007

Bureau's Longitudinal Business Database. The comprehensive micro-data allow us to study how both the entry rate and the distribution of entry sizes for new startups responded to changes in banking competition. Moreover, we distinguish the relative effect of the View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

03 Apr 2006
Research & Ideas

The Competitive Advantage of Global Finance

the ownership decisions and financial policies employed for Shanghai General Motors provide an opportunity to discuss the results from "The Costs of Shared Ownership" and "A Multinational Perspective on Capital Structure... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Financial Services

20 Aug 2018
Research & Ideas

Bargain Hunters Beware: A Store's 'Original Price' Might Not Be After All

on Amazon has a struck-out price, but if you look at the policy behind that price, it’s incredibly vague,” he says. Consumers have even brought class-action suits against retailers including JCPenney, Sears, Macy’s, and Kohl’s for their... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Advertising; Retail

10 Apr 2014
Research & Ideas

Book Excerpt--‘Accelerate: Building Strategic Agility for a Faster-Moving World’

enterprise. These processes include planning, budgeting, structuring jobs, staffing jobs, giving people time-tested policies and procedures to guide their actions, measuring their results, and problem solving when results do not fit the... View Details

Keywords: Re: John P. Kotter

06 Jan 2010
What Do You Think?

Is a Stringent Climate Change Agreement a Pot of Gold?

global warming or its causes. Carrying the hypothesis one step further, to the extent that climate change agreements change the rules governing national policies and actions (the "context"), they should represent opportunity. In... View Details