Publications

Find at Harvard

September 2011
Article

The Labor Illusion: How Operational Transparency Increases Perceived Value

By: Ryan W. Buell and Michael I. Norton

A ubiquitous feature of even the fastest self-service technology transactions is the wait. Conventional wisdom and operations theory suggests that the longer people wait, the less satisfied they become; we demonstrate that due to what we term the labor illusion, when... View Details

Keywords: Internet and the Web; Perception; Valuation; Service Delivery; Consumer Behavior; Performance Effectiveness; Customer Satisfaction; Service Industry

2016
Teaching Note

Advanced Leadership Pathways: Raymond Jetson's MetroMorphosis and the Effort to Transform Baton Rouge

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter, Tessa Natanay Hamilton and Ai-Ling Jamila Malone

Teaching Note for Case 315-057. Building on his successes as a politician and preacher in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Rev. Raymond Jetson sought to empower Baton Rouge citizens to innovate solutions for their community challenges. After stepping down as the head of the... View Details

Keywords: Social Entrepreneurship; Nonprofit Organizations; Business and Community Relations; Problems and Challenges; Leadership; Louisiana; Baton Rouge

2010
Book

The American Bourgeoisie: Distinction and Identity in the Nineteenth Century

By: Julia Rosenbaum and Sven Beckert

What precisely constitutes an American bourgeoisie? Scholars have grappled with the question for a long time. Economic positions—the ownership of capital, for instance—most obviously defines this group. Control of resources cannot explain, however, the emergence of... View Details

Keywords: Literacy; Income; Identity; Culture; Economics; United States

Find at Harvard

March 2004 (Revised April 2005)
Case

International Rivers Network and the Bujagali Dam Project (A)

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Aldo Sesia

In the summer of 2002, the International Rivers Network (IRN), an environmental NGO located in Berkeley, California, was engaged in what appeared to be the last hours of a three year campaign to stop a $582 million dam and hydropower project at Bujagali Falls in... View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Corporate Disclosure; Project Finance; Investment; Environmental Sustainability; Projects; Developing Countries and Economies; Energy Industry; Uganda

06 Jun 2016
Blog Post

Meet the HBS Africa Business Club

The Africa Business Club (ABC) provides services and resources for African students, students who have worked in Africa, and any student with a professional or cultural interest in Africa. We also promote the engagement of the African... View Details

2010
Other Unpublished Work

Top Executive Background and Corporate M&A: The Case of Former Investment Bankers

By: Francois Brochet and Kyle Welch

We study the M&A activity of firms with top executives whose employment history includes experience in a Wall Street firm, especially those with investment banking background ("IB executives"). In terms of strategy, controlling for firm-level effects, we document that... View Details

Keywords: Managerial Roles; Reputation; Investment Banking; Financial Reporting; Mergers and Acquisitions; Social and Collaborative Networks; Goodwill Accounting; Power and Influence; Banking Industry

23 Oct 2019
Blog Post

How to Talk Gooder in Business and Life

more people suffer from being too nervous during their conversations than being too confident. I hope a large part of this course will help students find the right balance between speaking and listening—between confidence and humility—striking that balance should... View Details

15 Sep 2011
Research & Ideas

High Ambition Leadership

What is welcome and all too rare? Leaders who care about building great institutions, not just profits. What sets these leaders apart in their practice and outlook? Harvard Business School's Michael Beer in his new book, Higher Ambition: How Great Leaders Create... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

Forthcoming
Chapter

Racism, Causal Explanations, and Affirmative Action

By: Theresa K. Vescio, Amy Cuddy, Faye Crosby and Kevin Weaver

BOOK ABSTRACT: In recent decades, research in political psychology has illuminated the psychological processes underlying important political action, both by ordinary citizens and by political leaders. As the world has become increasingly engaged in thinking about... View Details

Keywords: Prejudice and Bias; Race; Complexity

June 2014
Case

Making Progress at IDEO

By: Teresa M. Amabile and Katrina Flanagan

This case focuses on different types of client relationships at IDEO, the value of these relationships for IDEO and clients, and the implications for IDEO designers' everyday experience of work. As new types of client work have shifted away from the more classic design... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Motivation and Incentives; Employees; Customer Focus and Relationships; Service Industry

07 Aug 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, August 8, 2018

recollection of how Howard revolutionized the field of negotiation and how those insights are now affecting broader areas of the social science. Raiffa received the 1999 Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Association for... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

April 13, 2021
Article

Misinformation about Science in the Public Sphere

By: Dietram A. Scheufele, Andrew J. Hoffman, Liz Neely and Czerne M. Reid

This is an introduction to a special issue on a colloquium of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine titled, “Advancing the science and practice of science communication: Misinformation about science in the public sphere.” This event was the... View Details

Keywords: Knowledge Dissemination; Communication Strategy; Science; Information

2012
Working Paper

Why Every Company Needs a CSR Strategy and How to Build It

By: Kash Rangan, Lisa Chase and Sohel Karim

The authors argue for a strategic and pragmatic, rather than ideological, approach to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) that contrasts sharply with the prevailing Shared Value framework offered by Porter and Kramer (HBR; Jan.-Feb. 2011). We assert that, despite... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Corporate Strategy; Values and Beliefs; Profit; Practice

November 2005 (Revised May 2007)
Case

Leading Change at Simmons (A)

By: Tiziana E. Casciaro, Amy C. Edmondson, Stacy McManus and Kate Roloff

Explores the challenge of managing large-scale organizational change at Simmons, an old and established company that manufactures and distributes mattresses. The new CEO, Charlie Eitel, hired to turn the organization's performance around, considers whether to implement... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Motivation and Incentives; Leading Change; Employee Relationship Management; Manufacturing Industry; Consumer Products Industry; United States

26 Jun 2020
Video

Peter Vundla

Peter Vundla, who co-founded the first Black-owned advertising agency in South Africa, describes how while working in advertising during the last years of the apartheid regime, he sought to educate White people... View Details

November 2011
Case

Celeritas, Inc.: Leadership Challenges in a Fast-Growth Industry

By: Michael Beer and Ingrid Vargas

In 2011, Celeritas is a leading data communications company in the crowded, highly competitive, and ever-evolving enterprise-network optimization market. Having experienced rapid growth since its founding in 2003, Celeritas has recently seen sales decline and has begun... View Details

Keywords: Technology; Morale; Conflict; Organizational Change; Team Building; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Information Technology; Leadership; Communication; Groups and Teams; Attitudes; Conflict and Resolution; Information Technology Industry; Communications Industry

February 2016
Teaching Note

Advanced Leadership Pathways: Raymond Jetson's MetroMorphosis and the Effort to Transform Baton Rouge

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Tessa Natanay Hamilton and Ai-Ling Jamila Malone

Building on his successes as a politician and preacher in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Rev. Raymond Jetson sought to empower Baton Rouge citizens to innovate solutions for their community challenges. After stepping down as the head of the Louisiana Family Recovery Corps,... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Health ＆ Wellness; Communities; Community Impact; Farm; Agriculture; Leading Change; Change Management; Social Entrepreneurship; Business and Community Relations; Louisiana

October 2011 (Revised December 2022)
Background Note

Ethical Analysis: Moral Disengagement

By: Sandra J. Sucher and Celia Moore

Moral disengagement is a process that enables people to engage in negative behaviors, from small misdeeds to great atrocities, without believing that they are causing harm or doing wrong. When Conrad Black, the fallen Canadian mogul convicted of multiple counts of... View Details

Keywords: Moral Sensibility; Social Psychology; Values and Beliefs