Publications

September–October 2024
Article

Where Data-Driven Decision-Making Can Go Wrong

By: Michael Luca and Amy C. Edmondson

When considering internal data or the results of a study, often business leaders either take the evidence presented as gospel or dismiss it altogether. Both approaches are misguided. What leaders need to do instead is conduct rigorous discussions that assess any... View Details

Keywords: Information; Analytics and Data Science; Analysis; Decision Making

Register to Read

April 2025
Article

Serving with a Smile on Airbnb: Analyzing the Economic Returns and Behavioral Underpinnings of the Host’s Smile

By: Shunyuan Zhang, Elizabeth Friedman, Kannan Srinivasan, Ravi Dhar and Xupin Zhang

Non-informational cues, such as facial expressions, can significantly influence judgments and interpersonal impressions. While past research has explored how smiling affects business outcomes in offline or in-store contexts, relatively less is known about how smiling... View Details

Keywords: Sharing Economy; Airbnb; Image Feature Extraction; Machine Learning; Facial Expressions; Prejudice and Bias; Nonverbal Communication; E-commerce; Consumer Behavior; Perception

January 2024 (Revised June 2024)
Case

Equal Justice Initiative: Mercy, Truth and Dignity

By: V. Kasturi Rangan, Gerald Chertavian and Brittany Logan

In 1989, the Equal Justice Initiative was established as a non-profit, public interest law firm by Harvard Law School graduate, Bryan Stevenson.

EJI provides legal assistance to condemned prisoners, people wrongly convicted or unfairly sentenced, children in... View Details

Keywords: Equality and Inequality; Nonprofit Organizations; Mission and Purpose; Growth and Development Strategy; Social Issues; Race

2023
Working Paper

Causes and Consequences of State Violence against Civilians: The Rohingya of Myanmar

By: C. Austin Davis, Paula Lopez-Pena, A. Mushfiq Mobarak and Jaya Wen

The Rohingya crisis is a severe, ongoing conflict involving large-scale violence and forced displacement, yet its causes are contested and its consequences lack systematic documentation. We marshal a variety of existing and original data to shed light on its drivers,... View Details

Keywords: War; Conflict and Resolution; Motivation and Incentives; Developing Countries and Economies; Myanmar

March 2023
Case

Moderna

By: Marco Iansiti, Karim R. Lakhani, Hannah Mayer, Kerry Herman, Allison J. Wigen and Dave Habeeb

This multimedia case follows the story of Moderna and its entry into vaccine development in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. In summer 2020, Stephane Bancel, CEO of biotech firm Moderna, faces several challenges as his company races to develop a vaccine for COVID-19.... View Details

Keywords: Health Pandemics; Research and Development; Digital Transformation; Health Testing and Trials; Biotechnology Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry

2022
Working Paper

The Regulation of Medical AI: Policy Approaches, Data, and Innovation Incentives

By: Ariel Dora Stern

For those who follow health and technology news, it is difficult to go more than a few days without reading about a compelling new application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to health care. AI has myriad applications in medicine and its adjacent industries, with... View Details

Keywords: AI and Machine Learning; Health Care and Treatment; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Technological Innovation; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

October 2021
Article

Can Self-Regulation Save Digital Platforms?

By: Michael A. Cusumano, Annabelle Gawer and David B. Yoffie

This article explores some of the critical challenges facing self-regulation and the regulatory environment for digital platforms. We examine several historical examples of firms and industries that attempted self-regulation before the Internet. All dealt with similar... View Details

Keywords: Self-regulation; Government Regulation; Digital Platforms; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms

March 2022
Article

Estimating the Effectiveness of Permanent Price Reductions for Competing Products Using Multivariate Bayesian Structural Time Series Models

By: Fiammetta Menchetti and Iavor Bojinov

Researchers regularly use synthetic control methods for estimating causal effects when a sub-set of units receive a single persistent treatment, and the rest are unaffected by the change. In many applications, however, units not assigned to treatment are nevertheless... View Details

Keywords: Causal Inference; Partial Interference; Synthetic Controls; Bayesian Structural Time Series; Mathematical Methods

September 2021
Article

Joint Problem-solving Orientation in Fluid Cross-boundary Teams

By: Michaela J. Kerrissey, Anna T. Mayo and Amy C. Edmondson

Using interviews, a national field survey, and an online laboratory study, we have examined teamwork in fluid cross-boundary teams. Across three studies, we qualitatively discovered and quantitatively explored "joint problem-solving orientation" as a new team factor.... View Details

Keywords: Problem Solving; Cross-boundary Teams; Groups and Teams; Problems and Challenges; Performance

July 2020
Case

PeopleAnswers (A): People Analytics

By: Daniel P. Gross and Christian Godwin

In the fall of 2009, founder and CEO Gab Goncalves has turned PeopleAnswers, Inc. from a fledgling startup to a steadily growing company of nearly 50 employees and $10 million recurring revenue. PeopleAnswers provides people analytics software which its clients use to... View Details

Keywords: People Analytics; Entrepreneurship; Strategy; Growth and Development; Human Resources; Selection and Staffing

2019
Working Paper

Design Rules, Volume 2: How Technology Shapes Organizations: Chapter 8 Rationalizing Flow Processes

By: Carliss Y. Baldwin

The purpose of this chapter is to examine the value structure of flow production processes and to explain why it is necessary to rationalize flow processes using the tools of systematic management. I first explain the problems facing managers of multi-step flow... View Details

Keywords: Flow Processes; Bottlenecks; Systematic Management; Production; Management; Problems and Challenges

Article

Medical Group Structural Integration May Not Ensure That Care Is Integrated, From The Patient's Perspective

By: Michaela J. Kerrissey, Jonathan Clark, Mark Friedberg, Wei Jiang, Ashley Kay Fryer, Molly Frean, Stephen Shortell, Patricia Ramsay, Lawrence Casalino and Sara J. Singer

Structural integration is increasing among medical groups, but whether these changes yield care that is more integrated remains unclear. We explored the relationships between structural integration characteristics of 144 medical groups and perceptions of integrated... View Details

Keywords: Integration; Health Care Delivery; Organization Structure; Organizational Structure; Health Care and Treatment; Perception; Perspective; Health Industry; United States

2016
Chapter

Wrong Paths to Right: Defining Morality With or Without a Clear Red Line

By: Ryann Elizabeth Manning and Michel Anteby

The extensive literature on organizational wrongdoing tends to assume that a clear red line divides the moral terrain. However, many organizations function not as moral orders, but as moral pursuits in which there is intentionally no explicit definition of right and... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Behavior; Organizational Theory; Sociology Of Ethics And Morality; Morality; Organizational Culture; Culture; Ethics; Africa; North and Central America