Publications

Educators

Policies that mandate calorie labeling in fast-food and chain restaurants have had little or no observable impact on calorie consumption to date. In three field experiments, an alternative approach was tested: activating consumers’ self-control by having servers... View Details

07 Mar 2016
HBS Seminar

Scott Stern, MIT Sloan School of Management

02 Jan 2024
Research & Ideas

10 Trends to Watch in 2024

The lightning-fast ascent of generative AI isn’t the only sea change on the horizon for businesses in the new year. The global economy is in flux as war, climate change, trade issues, and infrastructure problems demand attention. Many companies continue to struggle to... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

August 2019 (Revised April 2021)
Case

Zillow Offers: Winning Online Real Estate 2.0

By: Luis Viceira, Marco Di Maggio and Allison Ciechanover

Founded in 2005, Zillow had become the leading online real estate and home-related marketplace. The brand was recognized as a trusted resource for players in the real estate market, providing information and transparency on home prices. Revenue, which was historically... View Details

Keywords: Real Estate; Corporate Culture; Intermediation; Brokerage; Startup; Evaluating Business Investments; Property; Information Technology; Business Model; Expansion; Business Startups; Real Estate Industry; Media and Broadcasting Industry; United States

Educators

Purchase

January 1987
Article

Posterior Implementability in a Two-person Decision Problem

By: Jerry R. Green and Jean-Jacques Laffont

When a decision rule is implemented using a Bayesian incentive compatible mechanism in which the messages are publicly observable, the players' information is augmented by their observation of each others' strategies. In this paper we study the set of Bayesian... View Details

Keywords: Incentives; Commitment; Mechanism Design; Decision Making; Information

February 2015
Other Article

Evaluating the Impact of the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative on Breast-feeding Rates: A Multi-state Analysis

By: Summer Sherburne Hawkins, Ariel Dora Stern, Christopher F. Baum and Matthew W. Gillman

Objectives: Despite the passage of state laws promoting breast feeding, a formal evaluation has not yet been conducted to test whether and/or what type of laws may increase breast feeding. The enactment of breastfeeding laws in different states in the USA creates a... View Details

Keywords: Race; Nutrition; Laws and Statutes; United States

Web

Faculty & Advisors | MBA

Therapeutics (acquired by Vertex Pharmaceuticals), Korro Bio, Akouos (NASDAQ: AKUS), Gemini Therapeutics (NASDAQ: GMTX), Inipharm, and PACT Pharma. She was previously an investment professional at 5AM Ventures where she helped found IDEAYA Biosciences (NASDAQ: IDYA)... View Details

Research Summary

Thin Slices of Groups [Under Review]

In this paper with Jeff Polzer, Lisa Kwan, Wannawiruch Wiruchnipawan, and Marina Miloslavsky, we extend research on “thin slices” by testing and determining that perceivers are able to accurately judge the effectiveness of small, task-performing groups... View Details

2015
Article

Regulator Leniency and Mispricing in Beneficent Nonprofits

By: Jonas Heese, Ranjani Krishnan and Frank Moers

We posit that nonprofits that provide a greater supply of unprofitable services (beneficent nonprofits) face lenient regulatory enforcement for mispricing in price-regulated markets. Consequently, beneficent nonprofits exploit such regulatory leniency and exhibit... View Details

Keywords: Nonprofit Organizations; Business Earnings; Fairness; Governance Compliance

December 2004 (Revised July 2005)
Case

Extend Fertility

By: Myra M. Hart and Sylvia Sensiper

Focuses on the search for opportunity, the generation and evaluation of business concepts, creation of a business plan, and the start-up process. Follows experienced entrepreneur Christy Jones as she combines her business skills and personal experience to generate new... View Details

Keywords: Opportunities; Business Plan; Entrepreneurship; Personal Development and Career; Social Issues; Gender; Business Startups; Biotechnology Industry

Educators

December 2007
Article

On the Robustness of the Winner's Curse Phenomenon

By: B. Grosskopf, Yoella Bereby-Meyer and M. H. Bazerman

We set out to find ways to help decision makers overcome the "winner's curse," a phenomenon commonly observed in asymmetric information bargaining situations, and instead found strong support for its robustness. In a series of manipulations of the "Acquiring a Company... View Details

06 May 2024
Research & Ideas

The Critical Minutes After a Virtual Meeting That Can Build Up or Tear Down Teams

communication technology, language, status, and task design. “What we discovered was great variation in what happened when they disconnected after meetings.” Among both global teams, the research team also had the chance to observe what... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

Forthcoming
Article

Punitive but Discerning: Reputation Can Fuel Ambiguously-Deserved Punishment, but Does Not Erode Sensitivity to Nuance

By: Jillian J. Jordan and Nour Kteily

The desire to appear virtuous can motivate people to punish wrongdoers, a desirable outcome when punishment is clearly deserved. Yet claims that “virtue signaling” is fueling a culture of outrage suggest that reputation concerns may inspire even potentially unmerited... View Details

Keywords: Outrage; Signaling; Ideology; Moralistic Punishment; Reputation; Moral Sensibility

March 2023
Article

Learning to Successfully Hire in Online Labor Markets

By: Marios Kokkodis and Sam Ransbotham

Hiring in online labor markets involves considerable uncertainty: which hiring choices are more likely to yield successful outcomes and how do employers adjust their hiring behaviors to make such choices? We argue that employers will initially explore the value of... View Details

Keywords: Selection and Staffing; Analysis; Decision Choices and Conditions

Purchase

2015
Working Paper

Customers and Investors: A Framework for Understanding Financial Institutions

By: Robert C. Merton and Robert T. Thakor

Financial institutions have both investors and customers. Investors, such as those who invest in stocks and bonds or private/public-sector guarantors of institutions, expect an appropriate risk-adjusted return in exchange for the financing and risk-bearing that they... View Details

Keywords: Financial Institutions

17 May 2017
Research & Ideas

Minorities Who 'Whiten' Job Resumes Get More Interviews

United States. Some of the resumes included information that clearly pointed out the applicants’ minority status, while others were whitened, or scrubbed of racial clues. The researchers then created email accounts and phone numbers for the applicants and View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

April 2022
Teaching Note

Tempur Sealy International (A, B & C)

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Daniel Fisher

Teaching Note for HBS Case Nos. 718-422, 718-423, and 718-424. The cases explore the long-term relationship between Tempur Sealy (TPX, a mattress manufacturer) and Mattress Firm (MFRM, a bedding retailer and TPX's largest customer). For almost 20 years, the firms... View Details

Purchase

February 2018
Article

Structural GARCH: The Volatility-Leverage Connection

By: Robert F. Engle and Emil N. Siriwardane

During the financial crisis, financial firm leverage and volatility both rose dramatically. Consequently, institutions are being asked to reduce leverage in order to reduce risk, though the effectiveness depends upon the role of capital structure in volatility. To... View Details

Keywords: Leverage; Credit Risk; Crisis Management; Equity; Volatility; Credit; Risk Management; Financial Crisis

2017
Working Paper

Homophily in Entrepreneurial Team Formation

By: Paul A. Gompers, Kevin Huang and Sophie Q. Wang

We study the role of homophily in group formation. Using a unique dataset of MBA students, we observe homophily in ethnicity and gender increases the probability of forming teams by 25%. Homophily in education and past working experience increases the probability of... View Details

Keywords: Groups and Teams; Diversity; Familiarity; Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Performance

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