Publications

17 Jan 2011
Research & Ideas

Being the Boss

your boss. That's not the deal. You have to figure out the sources of power you have to influence the boss. You also have to see the boss as human and fallible in all the ways that you're human and fallible, and figure out how to deal... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

22 Mar 2012
News

To Build Trust, Competence is Key

January 23, 2023
Article

Digital Public Health Interventions at Scale: The Impact of Social Media Advertising on Beliefs and Outcomes Related to COVID Vaccines

By: Susan Athey, Kristen Grabarz, Michael Luca and Nils Wernerfelt

Public health organizations increasingly use social media advertising campaigns in pursuit of public health goals. In this paper, we evaluate the impact of about $40 million of social media advertisements that were run and experimentally tested on Facebook and... View Details

Keywords: COVID-19 Pandemic; Public Health; Vaccines; Social Media; Advertising; Power and Influence; Health Care and Treatment

Seth Neel is an Assistant Professor housed in the Department of Technology and Operations Management (TOM) at HBS, and a Faculty Affiliate in Computer Science at SEAS. He is Principal Investigator of the Trustworthy AI Lab in Harvard's new View Details

05 Nov 2021
Op-Ed

Is the Business World Finally Ready for the Wisdom of Shibusawa?

Eiichi Shibusawa continues to gain influence in Japan—even though he died almost a century ago. Japan’s government announced earlier this year that the 19th century business leader would be the face on 10,000 yen ($90) bank notes—the highest value denomination in... View Details

Keywords: by Geoffrey Jones and Rei Morimoto; Financial Services; Retail

23 Sep 2011
News

Environmental policy globalisation means better reporting

Article

Guilt Enhances the Sense of Control and Drives Risky Judgments

By: Maryam Kouchaki, Christopher Oveis and F. Gino

The present studies investigate the hypothesis that guilt influences risk-taking by enhancing one's sense of control. Across multiple inductions of guilt, we demonstrate that experimentally induced guilt enhances optimism about risks for the self (Study 1), preferences... View Details

Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Behavior; Emotions

August 2023 (Revised January 2024)
Supplement

Arla Foods: Data-Driven Decarbonization (A)

By: Michael Parzen, Michael W. Toffel, Amram Migdal and Susan Pinckney

Arla implemented a data-based price incentive system to measure, track, and influence climate friendly changes to reduce CO2 emissions across the world’s fourth largest dairy cooperative. View Details

Keywords: Dairy Industry; Business Earnings; Earnings Management; Environmental Accounting; Agribusiness; Animal-Based Agribusiness; Acquisition; Mergers and Acquisitions; Decision Making; Decisions; Voting; Environmental Management; Climate Change; Environmental Regulation; Environmental Sustainability; Green Technology; Pollution; Moral Sensibility; Values and Beliefs; Financial Strategy; Price; Profit; Revenue; Food; Geopolitical Units; Global Strategy; Ownership Type; Cooperative Ownership; Performance Efficiency; Performance Evaluation; Problems and Challenges; Natural Environment; Science-Based Business; Business Strategy; Commercialization; Cooperation; Corporate Strategy; Food and Beverage Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Europe; United Kingdom; European Union; Germany; Denmark; Sweden; Luxembourg; Belgium

November 1989 (Revised June 1993)
Case

Managing Xerox's Multinational Development Center

Describes a manager's role in developing a staff group responsible for enhancing the efficiency of Xerox's worldwide logistics and inventory management systems. Illustrates a range of management strategies for upward and lateral influence in a complex organizational... View Details

Keywords: Multinational Firms and Management

February 1986 (Revised June 1988)
Supplement

Donna Dubinsky and Apple Computer, Inc. (E)

Presents a description of two management style assessment questionnaires that were completed by Donna Dubinsky: the Influence Style Questionnaire and the Leadership Practices Inventory. Dubinsky's results are summarized and presented in two exhibit graphs. This data... View Details

Keywords: Management Style; Computer Industry; United States

March 2000 (Revised July 2000)
Background Note

Power to Persuade, The

Presents tools for undertaking five core persuasion tasks: 1) mapping the influence landscape, 2) shaping perceptions of interests, 3) shaping perceptions of alternatives, 4) gaining acceptance for tough decisions, and 5) persuading at a distance. View Details

Keywords: Management Skills; Power and Influence

2013
Working Paper

How Do Risk Managers Become Influential? A Field Study in Two Financial Institutions

By: Matthew Hall, Anette Mikes and Yuval Millo

This paper, based on a five-year longitudinal study at two UK-based banks, documents and analyzes the practices used by risk managers as they aim to gather and establish influence in their organizations. Specifically, we examine how influence-seeking risk managers (1)... View Details

Keywords: Experience and Expertise; Decision Making; Risk Management; Strategic Planning; Power and Influence; Business Strategy; Banking Industry

26 May 2003
Research & Ideas

What Your Competition is Telling You

competitors can help grow the market for your products and services, thereby boosting your sales at a time when, with the U.S. slowdown entering its third year, new revenue is exceedingly hard to find. Moreover, the presence of a competitor can also View Details

Keywords: by David Stauffer

March 1994 (Revised January 1995)
Case

Cardinal Health, Inc.

By: Jay W. Lorsch

Robert D. Walter, chairman and CEO of Cardinal Health, Inc., responds to questions regarding Cardinal's board and its influence on the acquisition of and merger with Whitmire Distribution. View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Governing and Advisory Boards; Power and Influence; Management Teams; Distribution Industry; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Health Industry

January 1996
Background Note

Creativity and Innovation in Organizations

By: Teresa M. Amabile

Creativity, the production of new and useful ideas by individuals or teams, can appear in many forms and many functions within firms of all kinds--from entrepreneurial start-ups to well-established enterprises. This note describes the varieties of creativity in... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Entrepreneurship; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Organizational Design; Situation or Environment; Creativity

January 2023 (Revised June 2024)
Case

Elon Musk at Tesla

By: George Serafeim and Amram Migdal

This case gives an overview of Elon Musk’s career arc through the lens of the 2003 founding of Tesla and its growth through 2022. Background information is included on Tesla’s unique strategic decisions, its operational and reputational struggles and successes, and the... View Details

An interview with Susan Athey and Michael Luca about the mutual influence between economics and the tech sector.

View Details

July 2010
Article

Workplace Peers and Entrepreneurship

By: Ramana Nanda and Jesper B. Sorensen

We examine whether the likelihood of entrepreneurial activity is related to the prior career experiences of an individual's co-workers, using a unique matched employer-employee panel dataset. We argue that coworkers can increase the likelihood that an individual will... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Personal Development and Career; Perception; Opportunities; Motivation and Incentives; Power and Influence

Article

The Global Rise of Democracy: A Network Account

By: Magnus Thor Torfason and Paul Ingram

We examine the influence of an interstate network created by intergovernmental organizations (IGOs) on the global diffusion of democracy. We propose that IGOs facilitate this diffusion by transmitting information between their member states and by interpreting that... View Details

Keywords: International Relations; Networks; Society; Transformation; Power and Influence; Country; Globalization