Publications

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September 2013 (Revised February 2016)
Case

GlaxoSmithKline: Sourcing Complex Professional Services

By: Heidi K. Gardner and Silvia Hodges Silverstein

Pharmaceutical company GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) uses an innovative new approach to procuring outside legal counsel: it replaces relationship-based selection and law firms' traditional time-based billing with data-driven decision making and an online reverse auction. In... View Details

Keywords: Legal Industry; Procurement; Professional Service Firms; Pricing; Competition; Change Management; Supply Chain Management; Legal Liability; Business Processes; Legal Services Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry

27 Feb 2018
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, February 27, 2018

Review Firm Turnover and the Return of Racial Establishment Segregation By: Ferguson, John-Paul, and Rembrand Koning Abstract—Racial segregation between American workplaces is greater today than it was a generation ago. This increase has... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

March 2013 (Revised May 2013)
Case

Building Innovation at Terrapin Bright Green

By: Amy C. Edmondson, Sydney Ribot and Mary Saunders

Describes Terrapin Bright Green, an environmental consulting and strategic planning firm, and its approach for creating integrative, systematic solutions to green-building conundrums through consulting, research, and policy-related activities. Emphasis is placed on the... View Details

Keywords: Integrated Design; Entrepreneurs; Creative Industries; CONSULTING Firms; Energy; Design; Governance; Growth and Development; Innovation and Invention; Knowledge; Labor; Organizations; Problems and Challenges; Research; Strategy; Value; Consulting Industry; New York (city, NY)

31 Jan 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research: January 31, 2017

these estimates, firms choosing index-based benchmarks exhibit lower annual returns and ROA. Finally, reduced-form analyses suggest that the inefficient benchmarking is associated with governance-related frictions. Collectively, these... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

February 2009 (Revised September 2010)
Case

JWT China: Advertising for the New Chinese Consumer

By: Elisabeth Koll

This case analyzes the business strategy and expansion of JWT China from the late 1990s to 2008. As part of the world's fourth largest marketing communications network, JWT China grew into one of the largest integrated communications companies in China operating from... View Details

Keywords: Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Marketing Strategy; Consumer Behavior; Business and Government Relations; Business Strategy; Expansion; Advertising Industry; China

03 Dec 2014
News

The Internet of Things to bring a new economic boom

2024
Working Paper

Omnia Juncta in Uno: Foreign Powers and Trademark Protection in Shanghai's Concession Era

By: Laura Alfaro, Cathy Bao, Maggie X. Chen, Junjie Hong and Claudia Steinwender

We investigate how firms and markets adapt to trademark protection, an extensively utilized but under-examined form of IP protection to address asymmetric information, by exploring a historical precedent: China’s 1923 trademark law. Exploiting unique, newly digitized... View Details

Keywords: Trademark; Firm Dynamics; Intermediaries; Intellectual Property Institutions; Trademarks; Intellectual Property; Laws and Statutes; Outcome or Result; Organizational Change and Adaptation; China

SSRN

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01 Dec 2010
News

Money and Markets Dominate New Course Offerings

Subjects related to globalization and finance top the list of courses added this year to the elective curriculum for second-year MBA students. Notably, seven of the twelve new offerings are half-courses that require only fifteen sessions... View Details

Keywords: curriculum

21 Oct 2015
Research & Ideas

How to Predict if a New Business Idea is Any Good

In 2008, entrepreneur Brian Chesky and his two San Francisco roommates made the rounds of Silicon Valley VC firms with what they thought was a great idea: a website and mobile app that would allow homeowners to open their homes to... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Accommodations; Financial Services

24 Oct 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, October 24, 2017

firms and shareholders. Download working paper: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=51128 Harvard Business School Case 418-019 Sensing (and Monetizing) Happiness at Hitachi Inspired by research linking happiness and... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

December 2003 (Revised April 2004)
Case

Blockbuster Inc. & Technological Substitution (B): Confronting New Digital Formats

Investigates how the rise of digital video formats threatens to make videocassette technology obsolete; how this technological substitution might alter the economics and structure of the video rental and retail industries; and how Blockbuster Inc., the industry leader,... View Details

Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Decisions; Technological Innovation; Competition; Change Management; Service Industry; Motion Pictures and Video Industry

01 Oct 2001
News

New Economy Notables: Thomas S. Volpe

they love. I want them to have the nerve to pursue something that they are passionate about. Biggest disappointment What is, is. I don't look back, I just focus on what's coming next. Proudest moments Mostly personal moments with my family and my kids, but... View Details

Keywords: Young, Susan; Finance

2020
Working Paper

The Effects of Hierarchy on Learning and Performance in Business Experimentation

By: Sourobh Ghosh, Stefan Thomke and Hazjier Pourkhalkhali

Do senior managers help or hurt business experiments? Despite the widespread adoption of business experiments to guide strategic decision-making, we lack a scholarly understanding of what role senior managers play in firm experimentation. Using proprietary data of live... View Details

Keywords: Experimentation; Innovation; Search; New Product Development; Innovation and Invention; Organizational Design; Learning; Performance

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29 May 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, May 29, 2018

(BRFSS) data on 2.3 million U.S. respondents, and Eurobarometer data that cover multiple business cycles over four decades. This research provides a new perspective on the welfare cost of business cycles, with implications for growth... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

11 Jul 2005
Research & Ideas

The New International Style of Management

At Dell Beijing, Andy Klump (HBS MBA '03) was excelling at his job—selling computer hardware and services solutions to multinationals—when the company's 360-degree performance-review process underwent a change. As part of the new... View Details

Keywords: by Garry Emmons

01 Feb 2002
News

New Porter Prize Awarded in Japan

On December 6, four firms became the first recipients of the Porter Prize, a new award that recognizes innovation in Japanese companies. Matsui Securities Co., Ltd., and Mabuchi Motor Co., Ltd., were named... View Details

Keywords: awards

28 Feb 2019
News

New Program Will Develop Leaders of Innovative Ventures

committed $10 million from their family foundation to endow the new program. The gift is in honor of Tom’s 30th and 35th HBS Reunions. A collaboration between HBS and the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences... View Details

14 Aug 2018
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, August 14, 2018

economy. Success requires a continuous influx of new ideas, new challenges, and critical thought, and the interpersonal climate must not suppress, silence, ridicule, or intimidate. Not every idea is good,... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

October 2023
Article

Finding New Business and Developing Relevant Sales Capabilities

By: Frank V. Cespedes

There are few alternatives to growth for most companies. It’s the rare firm whose goal involves getting smaller and, for employees, there is a strong correlation between their company’s growth rate, promotion opportunities, and job satisfaction. But a growth strategy... View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development Strategy; Sales