Publications

August 2012
Article

A Darker Side to Decentralized Banks: Market Power and Credit Rationing in SME Lending

By: Rodrigo Canales and Ramana Nanda

We use loan-level data to study how the organizational structure of banks impacts small business lending. We find that decentralized banks-where branch managers have greater autonomy over lending decisions-give larger loans to small firms and those with "soft... View Details

Keywords: Geographic Location; Customers; Financing and Loans; Credit; Organizational Structure; Banks and Banking; Governance Compliance; Competitive Strategy

September 2021
Case

Worldreader: Helping Readers Build a Better World

By: Marco Bertini, Elie Ofek and Julia Kelley

Founded in 2010, Worldreader was an international nonprofit organization that promoted reading to children around the world. For many years, Worldreader distributed e-readers to under-resourced communities and funded its operations primarily through philanthropic... View Details

November 2011 (Revised February 2012)
Case

Greater Minneapolis-St. Paul: Building on a Diversified Base

By: William W. George

Since the 1970s, the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan region (MSP) had outpaced the nation in job creation and income per capita. MSP's diversified base of industry clusters had enabled the region to adapt to economic downturns and an exodus of major corporate... View Details

Keywords: Industry Clusters; Employment; Organizations; Transformation; Economic Slowdown and Stagnation; Minneapolis; Saint Paul

Article

Four Ways to Build a Productive Sales Culture

By: Frank V. Cespedes and Steven Maughan

This article distinguishes sales efficiency (SE) initiatives (e.g., CRM, training, and KPI dashboards) from sales optimization (SO) decisions (e.g., aligning sales tasks with business strategy, customer selection, and deployment of sales resources across... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Sales

02 Aug 2010
Research & Ideas

Modern Indian Art: The Birth of a Market

categories assigned value? One of the first studies of value construction as a detailed process in new market categories has been written by Mukti Khaire, an assistant... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

February 2023 (Revised February 2024)
Case

Doing Business in Helsinki, Finland

By: Martin A. Sinozich, Lena Duchene, Tonia Labruyere and Daniela Beyersdorfer

This case examines the challenges and opportunities of doing business in Finland. It highlights Finland's economic transformation in the decades leading up to 2024 in the context of its history, culture, and politics. The case gives an overview of some of the main... View Details

Keywords: Business History; Business and Government Relations; Corporate Strategy; Research and Development; Foreign Direct Investment; Crisis Management; Culture; Environmental Sustainability; International Relations; Food and Beverage Industry; Finland; Europe

21 Apr 2016
Working Paper Summaries

The Perils of Building Democracy in Africa

Keywords: by Benjamin Marx, Vincent Pons, and Tavneet Suri

February 15, 2022
Article

How Managers Can Build a Culture of Experimentation

By: Frank V. Cespedes and Neil Hoyne

Testing in business presents qualitatively different challenges than those in clinical trials and most scientific research. There are very few opportunities for randomized control experiments in a changing, competitive market. Yet, change and competition make testing a... View Details

Keywords: Experimentation; Management; Decision Making

April 2017
Article

The Responsibilities and Role of Business in Relation to Society: Back to Basics?

By: Nien-he Hsieh

In this address, I outline a back-to-basics approach to specifying the responsibilities and role of business in relation to society. Three “basics” comprise the approach. The first is arguing that basic principles of ordinary morality, such as a duty not to harm,... View Details

Keywords: Business And Society; Corporate Responsibility; Harm; Human Rights; Institutions; Pareto Efficiency; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Moral Sensibility; Society; Rights

September 2016
Article

Whitened Résumés: Race and Self-Presentation in the Labor Market

By: Sonia K. Kang, K. A. DeCelles, András Tilcsik and Sora Jun

Using interviews, a laboratory experiment, and a résumé audit study, we examine racial minorities’ attempts to avoid anticipated discrimination in labor markets by concealing or downplaying racial cues in job applications, a practice known as "résumé whitening."... View Details

Keywords: Prejudice and Bias; Selection and Staffing; Job Search; Race

01 Oct 2024
Research & Ideas

How Politics Drives Business Decisions in a Polarized Nation

at Harvard Business School. “Political polarization can create distortions within the economy,” says Kempf, one of the coauthors of the new review. “Partisanship seems to be a really important determinant of... View Details

Keywords: by Jay Fitzgerald

15 Jul 2021
Interview

The Secret to Building a Higher-Performing Company—Amy Edmondson

By: Amy C. Edmondson and Jason Marc Campbell

Research shows that organizations with higher levels of psychological safety perform better on almost any metric or KPI than organizations with a low psychological safety score. Psychological safety is "a belief that one will not be punished or humiliated for speaking... View Details

Keywords: Psychological Safety; Organizations; Performance Effectiveness; Leadership

2008
Working Paper

A Darker Side to Decentralized Banks: Market Power and Credit Rationing in SME Lending

By: Rodrigo Canales and Ramana Nanda

We use loan-level data to study how the organizational structure of banks impacts small business lending. We find that decentralized banks—where branch managers have greater autonomy over lending decisions—give larger loans to small firms and those with "soft... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Structure; Financing and Loans; Industry Structures; Banks and Banking; Banking Industry; Mexico

19 Nov 2014
HBS Case

Marketing Marijuana

available shortly, Marketing Marijuana in Colorado, Harvard Business School marketing professor John A. Quelch and coauthor David Lane look at... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Food & Beverage

2012
Working Paper

Reaching for Yield in the Bond Market

By: Bo Becker and Victoria Ivashina

Reaching-for-yield—the propensity to buy riskier assets in order to achieve higher yields—is believed to be an important factor contributing to the credit cycle. This paper analyses this phenomenon in the corporate bond market. Specifically, we show evidence for... View Details

Keywords: Fixed Income; Reaching For Yield; Financial Intermediation; Insurance Companies; Insurance; Bonds; Assets; Risk Management; Investment Return; Investment Portfolio; Insurance Industry

SSRN

15 May 2009
Working Paper Summaries

Money or Knowledge? What Drives Demand for Financial Services in Emerging Markets?

Keywords: by Shawn Cole, Thomas Sampson & Bilal Zia; Financial Services

2023
Article

Building the Business Case for an Inclusive Approach to Digital Health Measurement with a Web App (Market Opportunity Calculator): Instrument Development Study

By: Mitchell Tang, Yashoda Sharma, Jennifer C. Goldsack and Ariel Dora Stern

Background: The use of digital health measurement tools has grown substantially in recent years. However, there are concerns that the promised benefits from these products will not be shared equitably. Underserved populations, such as those with lower education and... View Details

Keywords: Demographics; Product Development; Health Care and Treatment; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

March 2013 (Revised March 2014)
Case

Cummins, Inc.: Building a Home Community for a Global Company

By: Joseph L. Bower and Michael Norris

In 2010, Tom Linebarger, president and COO of Cummins, Inc., the Columbus, Indiana-based manufacturer of diesel engines, has to decide where to locate the company's new manufacturing line for high horsepower engines. He has three choices to decide from: Seymour,... View Details

Keywords: Manufacturing; Competitiveness; Competition; Education; Business and Community Relations; Manufacturing Industry; United States