Publications

2016
Article

Organizational Decision-Making and Information: Angel Investments by Venture Capital Partners

By: Andy Wu

We study information aggregation in organizational decision-making for the financing of entrepreneurial ventures. We introduce a formal model of voting where agents face costly tacit information to improve their decision quality. Equilibrium outcomes suggest a... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurial Finance; Angel Investors; Organization Design; Voting; Group Decision-making; Information; Strategy; Organizations; Entrepreneurship; Decision Making; Financing and Loans

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Research Summary

Clinical Trials as a setting for Health Policy and Management Research

The clinical trial marketplace is in flux. A decade ago, pharmaceutical firms almost exclusively conducted the study of their novel drug compounds within major academic medical centers. But today, industry-sponsored clinical trials are increasingly using community... View Details

27 Feb 2024
Research & Ideas

Why Companies Should Share Their DEI Data (Even When It’s Unflattering)

attitudes toward a hypothetical e-commerce company and its commitment to DEI depending on what they learned about disclosure rules and the company’s method of sharing the information. They organized the test into five groups based on... View Details

Keywords: by Shalene Gupta

January 2011
Article

Let the Right One In: A Microeconomic Approach to Partner Choice in Mutualisms

By: Marco Archetti, Francisco Ubeda, Drew Fudenberg, Jerry R. Green, Naomi E. Pierce and Douglas W. Yu

One of the main problems impeding the evolution of cooperation is partner choice. When information is asymmetric (the quality of a potential partner is known only to himself), it may seem that partner choice is not possible without signaling. Many mutualisms, however,... View Details

Keywords: Microeconomics; Strategy; Partners and Partnerships; System; Problems and Challenges; Information; Economics; Theory; Cost; Decision Choices and Conditions; Cooperation

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18 Feb 2010
Working Paper Summaries

The Mirroring Hypothesis: Theory, Evidence and Exceptions

Keywords: by Lyra Colfer & Carliss Y. Baldwin

December 2019
Article

Communicating with Warmth in Distributive Negotiations Is Surprisingly Counterproductive

By: M. Jeong, J. Minson, M. Yeomans and F. Gino

When entering into a negotiation, individuals have the choice to enact a variety of communication styles. We test the differential impact of being “warm and friendly” versus “tough and firm” in a distributive negotiation, when first offers are held constant and... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation Style; Communication Strategy; Perception; Performance Effectiveness; Outcome or Result

03 Nov 2015
First Look

November 3, 2015

private school. Download working paper: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=50036 Discretion in Hiring By: Hoffman, Mitchell, Lisa B. Kahn, and Danielle Li Abstract—Who should make hiring decisions? We propose an empirical test... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

December 2008 (Revised January 2011)
Case

Arcadia Biosciences: Seeds of Change

By: Arthur A. Daemmrich, Forest L. Reinhardt and Mary Louise Shelman

Arcadia Biosciences is an entrepreneurial California agricultural biotech company seeking to earn carbon credits by modifying commodity crops for use in China and India. Eric Rey, Arcadia's CEO, faced a strategic inflection point in early September 2008. The company... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Growth and Development Strategy; Environmental Sustainability; Science-Based Business; Climate Change; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Biotechnology Industry; China; India; California

Educators

November 1991
Case

Magic Johnson: Endorsements ""After""...?

By: Stephen A. Greyser

On Thursday, November 7, 1991, Los Angeles Lakers star Earvin "Magic" Johnson announced his retirement from basketball in the wake of having tested positive for HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Magic Johnson was one of the most popular figures in sports, both... View Details

Keywords: Marketing Strategy; Value; Sports; Advertising; Alliances; Problems and Challenges; Decision Choices and Conditions; Brands and Branding; Consumer Products Industry; Sports Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry

Educators

30 Apr 2019
First Look

New Research and Ideas, April 30, 2019

2019 HarperBusiness The Business of Platforms: Strategy in the Age of Digital Competition, Innovation, and Power By: Cusumano, Michael A., Annabelle Gawer, and David B. Yoffie Abstract—The Business of Platforms explores the strategic,... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

July 2024 (Revised January 2025)
Case

Dynamic Pricing at Wendy's: Where's the Beef?

By: Elie Ofek, Alicia Dadlani and Martha Hostetter

In early 2024, Wendy’s new CEO announced on an earnings call that the company would install digital menus in its US locations so it could begin testing dynamic pricing—changing prices up or down in response to shifts in supply and demand – as well as allow engaging in... View Details

Keywords: Dynamic Pricing; Marketing Strategy; Price; Technology Adoption; Consumer Behavior; AI and Machine Learning; Customer Focus and Relationships; Policy; Food and Beverage Industry

Educators

21 Mar 2019
HBS Case

The Ferrari Way

opportunity to test drive one of Ferrari’s cars. “He drove it for a few hours and couldn’t sleep that night.” Despite its legendary success at defining its brand, it is also a company confronting modern realities. After nearly 80 years of... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Auto

01 Oct 2001
Research & Ideas

How To Make Restructuring Work for Your Company

question the status quo and consider alternative ways of doing business. This sense of "organizational unease" was encouraged by Humana's CEO-founder, who twice before had shifted the company's course to a brand-new industry. As the company's integrated... View Details

Keywords: by Stuart C. Gilson

05 May 2022
HBS Case

College Degrees: The Job Requirement Companies Seek, but Don't Really Need

formed OneTen, an organization whose goal over the next 10 years is to advance 1 million Black Americans by closing the opportunity gap. OneTen is pursuing a number of strategies to achieve its goal, including pushing companies to expand... View Details

Keywords: by Jay Fitzgerald

07 Jul 2008
Research & Ideas

Innovation Corrupted: How Managers Can Avoid Another Enron

growth and skyrocketing stock price made it difficult for most directors to challenge management's strategy and tactics. Still, board members understood that Enron was trying to move underperforming assets and potential investment losses... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Energy; Utilities

2008
Working Paper

Structural Closure and Exposure: Market Reactions to Announcements of Acquisitions and Divestitures

By: Mikolaj Jan Piskorski and Nitin Nohria

This paper develops an exchange-network perspective on corporate diversification and proposes two measures of corporate scope: structural closure and structural exposure. Structural closure focuses on exchanges of goods and services inside the firm... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Market Transactions; Diversification; Boundaries; Valuation