Publications

SSRN

Read Now

October 2008
Article

Evaluating the CEO

By: Stephen P. Kaufman

This article includes a one-page preview that quickly summarizes the key ideas and provides an overview of how the concepts work in practice along with suggestions for further reading. After Kaufman became a CEO, he was struck by how perfunctory the board was in its... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Governing and Advisory Boards; Leadership; Managerial Roles; Performance Evaluation; Motivation and Incentives

2008
Working Paper

Cultural Notes on Chinese Negotiating Behavior

By: James K. Sebenius and Cheng (Jason) Qian

Western businesses negotiating with Chinese firms face many challenges, from initiating and smoothing communication to establishing long-lasting relationships and mutual trust, and from bargaining and drafting agreements to securing their implementation. Chinese... View Details

Keywords: Interpersonal Communication; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Negotiation Process; Negotiation Style; Perception; Societal Protocols; China

Read Now

09 May 2017
What Do You Think?

Should Management Be Primarily Responsible to Shareholders?

Summing Up How Do We Encourage CEOs to Manage for Sustainability? Important forces encourage short-term perspectives among managers as well as investors today. These include governance biases, tax policies, faster turnover among leaders, View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

15 Apr 2015
Research & Ideas

Why Americans Voted for an Income Tax

Roosevelt in the 1930s: "With the enactment of the Income Tax Law of 1913, the Federal Government began to apply effectively the widely accepted principle that taxes should be levied in proportion to ability to pay View Details

Keywords: by Matthew C. Weinzierl

September–October 2021
Article

Frontiers: Can an AI Algorithm Mitigate Racial Economic Inequality? An Analysis in the Context of Airbnb

By: Shunyuan Zhang, Nitin Mehta, Param Singh and Kannan Srinivasan

We study the effect of Airbnb’s smart-pricing algorithm on the racial disparity in the daily revenue earned by Airbnb hosts. Our empirical strategy exploits Airbnb’s introduction of the algorithm and its voluntary adoption by hosts as a quasi-natural experiment. Among... View Details

Keywords: Smart Pricing; Pricing Algorithm; Machine Bias; Discrimination; Racial Disparity; Social Inequality; Airbnb Revenue; Revenue; Race; Equality and Inequality; Prejudice and Bias; Price; Mathematical Methods; Accommodations Industry

SSRN

02 Oct 2006
Research & Ideas

Negotiating in Three Dimensions

Business School and a principal of Lax Sebenius LLC, a negotiation strategy firm. He also serves on the Executive Committee of the Program on Negotiation at Harvard Law School. David A. Lax, a former faculty... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

November 1995 (Revised February 2017)
Case

Luna Pen (A)

By: Kathleen McGinn and Michael Wheeler

Discusses the negotiation of a possible trademark infringement involving a German conglomerate and a Taiwanese trading firm. View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Law; Negotiation Tactics; Decision Choices and Conditions; Gender; Culture; Trademarks; Power and Influence; Germany; Taiwan

31 Mar 2022
Op-Ed

Navigating the ‘Bermuda Triangle’ in Professional Services

drive costs down and benefit from specialization because of its high volume of activities. "With growth, the way a firm is managed has to change, and that change is not easy." Among View Details

Keywords: by Ashish Nanda

August 2005 (Revised December 2005)
Case

Coach K: A Matter of the Heart

By: Scott A. Snook, Leslie A. Perlow and Brian DeLacey

Successful college basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski faces the decision whether to accept a lucrative offer to coach a professional basketball team or continue to coach at Duke University. Provides a context for discussing various styles of power, influence, and... View Details

Keywords: Power and Influence; Strategic Planning; Decisions; Personal Development and Career; Interpersonal Communication; Management Teams; Goals and Objectives; Decision Choices and Conditions; Sports Industry; North Carolina

January–February 2020
Article

Consumer Reactions to Drip Pricing

By: Shelle Santana, Steven Dallas and Vicki Morwitz

This research examines how drip pricing—a strategy whereby a firm advertises only part of a product’s price upfront and then reveals additional mandatory or optional fees/surcharges as the consumer proceeds through the buying process—affects consumer choice and... View Details

Keywords: Drip Pricing; Pricing; Consumer Protection; Hidden Fees; Price; Consumer Behavior; Perception

March 1998 (Revised October 2015)
Case

Hamptonshire Express

By: V. G. Narayanan and Ananth Raman

Presents a series of problems that face a newspaper publisher, including inventory level, effort level, subsidy for unsold inventory, and commission for sales. Each problem is accompanied by one or more spreadsheets. Students must make various operational decisions. View Details

Keywords: Marketing Channels; Motivation and Incentives; Performance; Operations; Problems and Challenges; Decision Making; Sales; Demand and Consumers; Media and Broadcasting Industry; Media and Broadcasting Industry; United States

December 2008
Case

The Financial Crisis of 2008

By: J. Gunnar Trumbull

This case presents excerpts from the speeches of observers to the 2008 financial crisis, including former and current central bankers, a private banker, and a Nobel-prize winning economist. They present different interpretations of the causes of the financial crisis... View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Financial Management; Policy; History; Perspective

January 2021 (Revised October 2021)
Case

eToro: Building the World's Largest Social Trading Network

By: Elie Ofek and Danielle Golan

Social trading platform eToro was preparing for the launch of its expanded offering in the U.S. The company faced critical decisions regarding product-market fit, go-to-market strategy, positioning and monetization. Moreover, it faced the challenge of how best to make... View Details

Keywords: Social Trading Platform; Investment; Social and Collaborative Networks; Marketing Strategy; Expansion; Digital Platforms

January–February 2019
Article

Case Study: When Two Leaders on the Senior Team Hate Each Other

By: Boris Groysberg and Katherine Connolly Baden

In this fictional case, the CEO of a sports apparel manufacturer is faced with an ongoing conflict between two of his top executives. Specifically, the head of sales and the CFO are at each other’s throats and the tension is having a ripple effect on their teams and... View Details

Keywords: Interpersonal Conflict; Management Teams; Conflict Management

Register to Read

December 1997 (Revised October 1999)
Case

Citibank: Performance Evaluation

By: Robert L. Simons and Antonio Davila

Citibank has introduced a new, comprehensive performance-scorecard system. A regional president struggles with a tough decision: how to evaluate an outstanding branch manager who has scored poorly on an important customer satisfaction measure. This case provides a... View Details

Keywords: Performance Evaluation; Balanced Scorecard; Business Strategy; Customer Satisfaction; Performance Expectations; Decisions; Motivation and Incentives; Quality; Banking Industry

August 2023 (Revised February 2024)
Case

DexAI

By: Jo Tango and Christina Wallace

During a challenging fundraising environment, the DexAI founders received two term sheets with nearly identical economic terms but very different legal ones. The entrepreneurs had to navigate: representations and warranties (their personal guarantees that the company's... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital Term Sheet; Term Sheet; Term Sheets; Founders; Legal Aspects Of Business; Seed Financing; Founders' Agreements; Venture Capital; Entrepreneurship; Financing and Loans; Intellectual Property; Entrepreneurial Finance; Contracts; Business Startups; Agreements and Arrangements

24 Jul 2017
Research & Ideas

People Have an Irrational Need to Complete 'Sets' of Things

the idea of completing a set, even if it means working harder or spending more money—with no additional reward other than the satisfaction of completion and the relief of avoiding an incomplete set. Imagine arriving at your boss’s summer... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

July 2018
Article

Personality Traits of Entrepreneurs: A Review of Recent Literature

By: Sari Pekkala Kerr, William R. Kerr and Tina Xu

We review the extensive literature since 2000 on the personality traits of entrepreneurs. We first consider baseline personality traits like the Big-5 model, self-efficacy and innovativeness, locus of control, and the need for achievement. We then consider risk... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurs; Venturing; Personality Traits; Characteristics; Big-5; Risk Attitudes; Goals; Skills; Entrepreneurship; Personal Characteristics; Goals and Objectives; Competency and Skills; Success; Demographics; Research