Publications

2008
Working Paper

Structural Closure and Exposure: Formation of Structural Inequality in Managerial Labor Markets

By: Mikolaj Jan Piskorski

Positional advantages arise when actors obtain rewards attached to positions they occupy, but these rewards are not merited by their performance. Existing theory suggests that in competitive markets there should be no positional advantages. This paper proposes a model... View Details

Keywords: Compensation and Benefits; Jobs and Positions; Managerial Roles; Performance Improvement; Alignment; Competitive Advantage; Equality and Inequality

January 2008
Article

How to Change the World

By: Howard H. Stevenson

Alan Wilson has a decision to make. The CEO of his company, Grepter, wants him to relocate to Zurich, where he can gain valuable experience for a rise to the top. Karl, his best friend, hopes to lure him to a hedge fund that promises big money fast. Shiori, an enticing... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Values and Beliefs; Compensation and Benefits; Personal Development and Career; Power and Influence

Find at Harvard

September 2003 (Revised January 2005)
Case

Bridges to Excellence: Bringing Quality Health Care to Life

By: Richard M.J. Bohmer, Ingrid Marie Nembhard and Robert Galvin

General Electric launched Bridges to Excellence Diabetes Care Link, a program through which enrolled physicians receive bonuses of up to 10% of their salary for delivering quality care to diabetic patients covered by a participating employer or health plan. A day... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Motivation and Incentives; Programs; Ethics; Quality; Moral Sensibility; Service Delivery; Compensation and Benefits; Health Industry

26 Apr 2011
Op-Ed

HBS Faculty Comment on Environmental Issues for Earth Day

Earth Day focuses the world's attention on the both the dangers and opportunities facing the planet. But sustainability and the intersection between business and the environment are issues that need to be addressed all the time, as cities grow, resources diminish, and... View Details

Keywords: by Staff; Energy; Utilities

2023
Article

Conduit Incentives: Eliciting Cooperation from Workers Outside of Managers' Control

By: Susanna Gallani

Can managers use monetary incentives to elicit cooperation from workers they cannot reward for their efforts? I study “conduit incentives,” an innovative incentive design, whereby managers influence bonus-ineligible workers’ effort by offering bonus-eligible employees... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Behavior Modification; Peer Monitoring; Persistence Of Performance Improvements; Crowding Out; Implicit Incentives; Compensation; Healthcare; Social Pressure; Image Motivation; Incentives; Motivation; Performance; Behavior; Motivation and Incentives; Compensation and Benefits; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Organizational Culture; Health Industry; California

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September 2016 (Revised September 2017)
Case

Collage.com: Scaling a Distributed Organization

By: Christopher Stanton and Shikhar Ghosh

Kevin Borders and Joe Golden, co-founders and co-CEOs of Collage.com, must decide how to grow their custom photo-products startup in the face of fierce competition. From 2011 through 2016, the business evolved from a hobby to a startup with $22 million in revenue and... View Details

Keywords: Remote Work; Internet and the Web; Organizational Structure; Competitive Strategy; Employees; Business Startups; Growth and Development Strategy; Consumer Products Industry; Service Industry

December 2013 (Revised July 2015)
Case

VP Group: Vegpro Grows Beyond Kenya

By: Jose Alvarez and Natalie Kindred

In 2013, Kenyan horticulture producer and exporter VP Group is weighing potential expansion opportunities against the growing risks in its production and export markets. With $121 million in 2012 revenues, VP Group has grown rapidly in recent years by expanding its... View Details

May 1992 (Revised January 2000)
Case

Asea Brown Boveri

By: Robert L. Simons and Christopher A. Bartlett

In 1987, two European rivals--Asea AB of Sweden and BBC Brown Boveri Ltd. of Switzerland--merged to form Asea Brown Boveri. The new company employed 150,000 employees in 850 legal entities operating in 140 countries. The case describes the challenges facing Percy... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Globalization; Problems and Challenges; Leadership Style; Selection and Staffing; Organizational Structure; Reports

October 1996
Teaching Note

International Sourcing at Intercon TN

By: Roy D. Shapiro and Marie-Therese M. Flaherty

Teaching Note for (9-688-055). View Details

Keywords: Multinational Firms and Management; Supply Chain; Selection and Staffing; Business Subsidiaries; Production; Manufacturing Industry; Japan

01 Oct 1996
News

"Service-Profit Chain" Links Members of Service Management Unit

the newest member of the Service Management unit, joined the faculty last year. In research that covers human resources and operations management, she has studied the impact of processes on organizations.... View Details

Keywords: Susan Young

May 2024
Supplement

DRSi (A)

By: Richard S. Ruback and Royce Yudkoff

In March of 2019, Jen Ransom Fuller purchased DRSi. DRSi, located in Bellevue, Washington, printed and reproduced architectural plans and drawings. Fuller planned to use her first year of ownership to learn the business and to run it in much the same way as the seller.... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Small Business; Cost vs Benefits; Decisions; Business Education; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Leadership Style; Leading Change; Business or Company Management; Problems and Challenges; Health Pandemics; Selection and Staffing; Employee Relationship Management; Production; Logistics; Safety; United States; Washington (state, US)

01 Dec 2003
News

Acing Reality

head; she smacked him back, splitting his lip” (September 18, 2003). But the rewards were substantial. The pair accepted a check for $1 million on The Early Show, and several weeks later Lehmkuhl, an actor, landed a cameo on the television series Frasier. Arndt has... View Details

Keywords: Broadcasting (except Internet); Information

29 Jan 2021
News

Holding Business to Account

Boston to meet with me,” she recalls with some amazement. “And I suddenly realized the power, the reach we had as shareholders.” Aiyer demonstrated to Albertsons that unfair employment practices were a financial liability, and the company... View Details

16 Apr 2013
News

A Walkabout to the Ocean

Merkl: Managing water resources for a sustainable future. Photo Courtesy of Andreas Merkl They say all rivers lead to the sea. If that is true, then it's only fitting that Andreas Merkl (MBA 1989) should find himself today at the helm of... View Details

Keywords: Ocean; Funds, Trusts, and Other Financial Vehicles; Finance; Administration of Environmental Quality Programs; Government

May 2017
Case

Vicki Fuller: Chief Investment Officer of New York State's $150+ Billion Employee Pension Fund

By: Steven Rogers and Valerie Mosley

Vicki Fuller traveled from a four-room tenement bordering Chicago’s infamous Cabrini-Green housing projects to speaking at conferences around the world and typically holding court wherever she went. As a teenager, she helped raise her siblings. As a Wall Street... View Details

Web

Workshops & Technical Talks - Research Computing Services

Training Training Workshops & Technical Talks 11ms See below for trainings, reference materials, and resources at Harvard and beyond. R R workshop materials (e.g., Intro to R; R Regression models) from Harvard's Institute for Quantitative... View Details

Web

Harvard and the Legacy of Slavery | About

committee has painstakingly and methodically researched a painful truth: “During the 17th and 18th centuries, the sale and trafficking of human beings—in slavery—and the industries rooted in the labor of enslaved women, men, and children... View Details

03 Mar 2010
What Do You Think?

To What Degree Does “Identity” Affect Economic Performance?

Summing Up Is "identity" a victim of competitiveness? A recent study of organizational behavior published by Timothy Kieningham and Lerzan Toksoy shows that employees' perceptions of their employers' levels of commitment to them track their own levels of... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett

May 2022
Article

When Harry Fired Sally: The Double Standard in Punishing Misconduct

By: Mark Egan, Gregor Matvos and Amit Seru

We examine gender differences in misconduct punishment in the financial advisory industry. We find evidence of a “gender punishment gap”: following an incident of misconduct, female advisers are 20% more likely to lose their jobs and 30% less likely to find new jobs... View Details

Keywords: Financial Advisers; Brokers; Gender Discrimination; Consumer Finance; Financial Misconduct And Fraud; FINRA; Financial Institutions; Employees; Crime and Corruption; Gender; Prejudice and Bias; Personal Finance; Financial Services Industry