Publications

April 2020
Supplement

Cisco Systems and OpenDNS: Strategic Integration (B)

By: Andy Wu and David Wang

With more than 72,000 employees and revenues approaching the $50B mark, Cisco Systems is one of the largest information technology and networking firms globally. As the company grew and expanded into different lines of businesses, Cisco consistently looked outwards for... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Integration; Corporate Strategy; Change Management; Entrepreneurship; Organizational Culture; Information Technology Industry

10 Oct 2023
Research & Ideas

In Empowering Black Voters, Did a Landmark Law Stir White Angst?

states (the data excludes Texas) for 1956 through 1980. They use the information to create a database—the first time that such records have been systemically collected for this part US for the years covered by the study, they note. “One... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

Web

Latin America - Global

Hospital Garrahan. Contact Information fmiguel@hbs.edu Mariana Cal Associate Director, Research Jenyfeer Martínez Buitrago Senior Researcher Maria Martha Ruiz Melo Office Manager Karina Souza Senior Researcher Mexico City Staff Carla... View Details

2021
Working Paper

Studying the U.S.-Based Portfolio Companies of U.S. Impact Investors

By: M. Diane Burton, Gurveen Chadha, Shawn A. Cole, Abhishek Dev, Christina Jarymowycz, Leslie Jeng, Laura Kelley, Josh Lerner, Jaime R. Diaz Palacios, Yue (Cynthia) Xu and T. Robert Zochowski

Recent years have seen a dramatic increase in the reliance on market-based solutions to social and environmental problems around the world (Barman 2016; Horvath and Powell 2020). The growth of impact investing is a vivid example of this trend and, although there have... View Details

Keywords: Impact Investing; Impact Portfolio Companies; Investment; Social Issues; Environmental Sustainability; Investment Portfolio; Business Ventures; Analytics and Data Science; Performance; United States

Read Now

09 Dec 2002
Research & Ideas

Unilever—A Case Study

like knowledge and information can often be transferred more efficiently and effectively within a firm than between independent firms. There are several reasons for this, including the fact that much knowledge is tacit. Indeed, it is well... View Details

Keywords: by Geoffrey Jones; Consumer Products; Entertainment & Recreation; Food & Beverage; Manufacturing; Retail

08 Jul 2011
Working Paper Summaries

Delegation in Multi-Establishment Firms: Adaptation vs. Coordination in I.T. Purchasing Authority

Keywords: by Kristina McElheran

March – April 2009
Article

Market Research and Innovation Strategy in a Duopoly

By: Dominique Lauga and Elie Ofek

We model a duopoly in which ex-ante identical firms must decide where to direct their innovation efforts. The firms face market uncertainty about consumers' preferences for innovation on two product attributes and technology uncertainty about the success of their R&D... View Details

Keywords: Profit; Innovation and Management; Demand and Consumers; Duopoly and Oligopoly; Research and Development; Competitive Strategy

August 2013
Teaching Note

Nutricia Middle East: Measuring Sales Force Effectiveness

By: F. Asis Martinez-Jerez

Nutricia's Middle East and African region is transitioning from a trading to a customer focus. CEO Ernest Vandenbussche must decide how to market infant milk formula most effectively in a region where the information environment is much less rich than in other... View Details

Keywords: Globalized Firms and Management; Customer Relationship Management; Commercialization; Management Practices and Processes; Salesforce Management; Nutrition; Performance Evaluation; Information Management; Health Industry; Africa; Middle East

20 Aug 2007
Research & Ideas

HBS Cases: Using Investor Relations Proactively

"While the energy industry has been in the forefront of a demand for more information from a broad group of stakeholders, this demand is becoming more and more common across almost all firms. Thus, the oil companies are likely... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Energy; Utilities

2013
Working Paper

Span of Control and Span of Attention

By: Oriana Bandiera, Andrea Prat, Raffaella Sadun and Julie Wulf

Using novel data on CEO time use, we document the relationship between the size and composition of the executive team and the attention of the CEO. We combine information about CEO span of control for a sample of 65 companies with detailed data on how CEOs allocate... View Details

Keywords: Conferences; Analytics and Data Science; Leadership Style; Management Style; Managerial Roles; Time Management; Planning

SSRN

Read Now

03 Jan 2007
First Look

First Look: January 3, 2007

the results. Governance Information in Knowledge-Based Companies Author:Jay W. Lorsch Publication:Chap. 14 in Knowledge Creation and Management: New Challenges for Managers, edited by Kazuo Ichijo and Ikujiro Nonaka, 229-239 Oxford... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

December 2010
Article

Rating the Ratings: How Good are Commercial Governance Ratings?

By: Robert M. Daines, Ian D. Gow and David F. Larcker

Proxy advisory and corporate governance rating firms (such as RiskMetrics/Institutional Shareholder Services, GovernanceMetrics International, and The Corporate Library) play an increasingly important role in U.S. public markets. They rank the quality of firm corporate... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Governance; Markets; Rank and Position; Quality; Business and Shareholder Relations; Voting; Change; Information; Outcome or Result; United States

01 Dec 2023
News

Turning Point: Where Credit Is Due

Mongolian People’s Party, the ruling social democratic party, which has a rich history spanning over a century. Two years before my election, a public information transparency law went into effect. Out of curiosity, I researched the... View Details

Keywords: Executive, Legislative, and Other General Government Support; Government

February 2010 (Revised October 2010)
Case

YouTube: Time to Charge Users?

By: Anita Elberse and Sunil Gupta

In January 2010, YouTube, the world's largest online video aggregator, was still seeking to become profitable. Was the time right for Google, YouTube's parent company, to charge users seeking to upload content, as some analysts had suggested—and if so, who should be... View Details

Keywords: Digital Marketing; Business Model; Cost; Profit; Revenue; Consumer Behavior; Internet and the Web; Motion Pictures and Video Industry

Educators

27 Feb 2024
Research & Ideas

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

products. “At the moment, many companies aren’t disclosing data on their workforce diversity,” Nam explains. “Simply disclosing this information is enough to improve customer attitudes.” The research comes amid mounting concern that DEI... View Details

Keywords: by Shalene Gupta

Article

Repairing the Damage: The Effect of Price Knowledge and Gender on Auto-Repair Price Quotes

By: Meghan Busse, Ayelet Israeli and Florian Zettelmeyer

In this paper we investigate whether sellers treat consumers differently on the basis of how well informed consumers appear to be. We implement a large-scale field experiment in which callers request price quotes from automotive repair shops. We show that sellers alter... View Details

Keywords: Pricing; Price Discrimination; Automobiles; Field Experiment; Information; Fairness; Price; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Internet and the Web; Gender; Service Industry; Auto Industry

12 Sep 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, September 12, 2017

external shocks. A quantitative exercise of the Brazilian economy suggests this strategy to be effective for smoothing consumption and reducing the occurrence of default. The Better Is the Enemy of the Good By: Exley, Christine L., and Judd B. Kessler Abstract—In... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

01 Dec 2023
News

The Imposter Among Us

Drill In 1981, I was promoted to CIO of a Fortune 500 chemical company, with responsibility for both information systems and the nationwide telecommunications network. My background didn’t include any strength with telecommunications; in... View Details

Keywords: Business Schools & Computer & Management Training; Educational Services

2024
Working Paper

Using LLMs for Market Research

By: James Brand, Ayelet Israeli and Donald Ngwe

Large language models (LLMs) have rapidly gained popularity as labor-augmenting tools for programming, writing, and many other processes that benefit from quick text generation. In this paper we explore the uses and benefits of LLMs for researchers and practitioners... View Details

Keywords: Large Language Model; Research; AI and Machine Learning; Analysis; Customers; Consumer Behavior; Information Technology Industry; Information Technology Industry