Publications

October 2023 (Revised February 2024)
Technical Note

Design and Evaluation of Targeted Interventions

By: Eva Ascarza and Ta-Wei (David) Huang

Targeted interventions serve as a pivotal tool in business strategy, streamlining decisions for enhanced efficiency and effectiveness. This note delves into two central facets of such interventions: first, the design of potent decision guidelines, or targeting... View Details

Keywords: Marketing; Customer Relationship Management; Analysis; Design; Business Strategy; Retail Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Technology Industry; Financial Services Industry; Telecommunications Industry

Educators

February 2010
Article

Conflict of Interest and the Intrusion of Bias

By: Don A. Moore, Lloyd Tanlu and Max Bazerman

This paper presents evidence of performance persistence in entrepreneurship. We show that entrepreneurs with a track record of success are much more likely to succeed than first-time entrepreneurs and those who have previously failed. In particular, they exhibit... View Details

Keywords: Conflict of Interests; Prejudice and Bias; Performance; Entrepreneurship; Market Timing; Competency and Skills; Perception; Business Startups; Resource Allocation

2014
Chapter

Firms and Global Capitalism

By: Geoffrey Jones

This chapter forms part of the two-volume Cambridge History of Capitalism, a definitive new reference work that traces the history of capitalism from its origins to the present day. The chapter focuses on the role of business enterprises as powerful actors in... View Details

Keywords: Political Economy; American History; Economic History; Business History; Labor History; Slavery; Numeracy And Quantification; Science And Technology Studies; History Of The Book; International Investment; International Business; International Marketing; Globalization; History

April 2010
Article

Performance Persistence in Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital

By: Paul A. Gompers, Josh Lerner, David Scharfstein and Anna Kovner

This paper presents evidence of performance persistence in entrepreneurship. We show that entrepreneurs with a track record of success are much more likely to succeed than first-time entrepreneurs and those who have previously failed. In particular, they exhibit... View Details

Keywords: Performance; Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Private Equity; Market Timing; Competency and Skills; Success; Business Startups

Read Now

May 2021
Article

Making Doctors Effective Managers and Leaders: A Matter of Health and Well-Being

By: Lisa Rotenstein, Robert S. Huckman and Christine K. Cassel

The COVID-19 crisis has forced physicians to make daily decisions that require knowledge and skills they did not acquire as part of their biomedical training. Physicians are being called upon to be both managers—able to set processes and structures—and leaders—capable... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Management; Leadership; Health Pandemics; Health Industry

October 2021
Background Note

How to Write an Action-Planning Memo

By: Ryan Raffaelli and Akshaya Varghese

The ability to communicate an action plan through writing is essential for advancing ideas, earning credibility, and garnering support. Research has shown that leaders who write formal plans are more likely to execute successfully—written plans help members of an... View Details

Keywords: Writing; Action Plan; Communication; Competency and Skills; Planning

Educators

17 Sep 2018
Research & Ideas

Welcome to Retirement. Who Am I Now?

retirement in different phases of our careers, they talked to millennials just starting out in the work world, workers inching closer to retirement age, late-career professionals entering retirement, and those who had already retired from those same companies. Amabile... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Entertainment & Recreation

2007
Text Book

The Moral Leader: Challenges, Tools, and Insights

By: Sandra J. Sucher

Successful leaders—at any level and in any arena—are inevitably presented with moral and ethical choices. This unique and innovative textbook is designed to encourage students and managers to confront those fundamental moral challenges, to develop skills in moral... View Details

Keywords: Competency and Skills; Decision Choices and Conditions; Judgments; Moral Sensibility; Leadership

05 Apr 2004
Research & Ideas

Six Ways to Build Trust in Negotiations

mean missing out on significant opportunities. For this reason, fostering trust on the fly is a critical skill for managers. As Kristen knew, the first step to inspiring trust is to demonstrate trustworthiness. All negotiators can apply... View Details

Keywords: by Deepak Malhotra

16 Dec 2015
Research & Ideas

What Happens When Zambian Schoolgirls Receive Negotiation Training

2009, Harvard Business School Professor Kathleen McGinn has developed keen insight into the exigent nature of such challenges. Her experiences there prompted her to study how teaching communication and negotiation skills at critical... View Details

Keywords: Re: Kathleen L. McGinn

August 2024
Article

Heuristics on Call: The Impact of Mobile-Phone-Based Business-Management Advice

By: Shawn Cole, Mukta Joshi and Antoinette Schoar

There is growing evidence that business training for micro-entrepreneurs can be effective. However, in-person training can be expensive and imposes costs on the target beneficiaries. This paper presents the results of a two-site randomized evaluation of a light-touch,... View Details

Keywords: Training; Entrepreneurship; Mobile and Wireless Technology; India; Philippines

January 2018
Article

Who Gets Hired? The Importance of Competition Among Applicants

By: Edward P. Lazear, Kathryn L. Shaw and Christopher Stanton

Despite seeming to be an important requirement for hiring, the concept of a slot is absent from virtually all of economics. Macroeconomic studies of vacancies and search come closest, but the implications of slot-based hiring for individual worker outcomes has not been... View Details

Keywords: Hiring; Selection and Staffing; Employment; Competency and Skills

Read Now

29 May 2007
First Look

First Look: May 29, 2007

Working PapersLeading and Creating Collaboration in Decentralized Organizations Authors:Heather M. Caruso, Todd Rogers, and Max Bazerman Download the paper: http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/07-090.pdf Extremeness Seeking: When and Why Consumers Prefer the Extremes... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

2015
Chapter

Design Thinking and Innovative Problem Solving

By: Srikant Datar and Caitlin N. Bowler

In 2012 we set out to answer two key questions. Can anyone, including MBAs and executives with superb analytical skills, learn to think more innovatively? If so, how might we go about developing these skills? Through close collaboration with individuals from major... View Details

Keywords: Design Thinking; Problem Solving; Innovation; Design; Innovation and Invention; Cognition and Thinking

2014
Book

Empire of Cotton: A Global History

By: Sven Beckert

The epic story of the rise and fall of the empire of cotton, its centrality to the world economy, and its making and remaking of global capitalism. Cotton is so ubiquitous as to be almost invisible, yet understanding its history is key to understanding the origins... View Details

Keywords: Economic Systems; Plant-Based Agribusiness; Globalized Markets and Industries; Society; Manufacturing Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry