Publications

December 2018
Article

Reserve Design: Unintended Consequences and the Demise of Boston's Walk Zones

By: Umut Dur, Scott Duke Kominers, Parag A. Pathak and Tayfun Sönmez

Admissions policies often use reserves to grant certain applicants higher priority for some (but not all) available seats. Boston’s school choice system, for example, reserved half of each school’s seats for local neighborhood applicants while leaving the other half... View Details

Keywords: Neighborhoods; Equal Access; School Choice; Affirmative Action; Desegregation; Marketplace Matching; Fairness; Local Range; Education; Policy

Read Now

2012
Chapter

The Small Worlds of Business Groups: Liberalization and Network Dynamics

By: Jon Brookfield, Sea-Jin Chang, Israel Drori, Shmuel Ellis, Sergio G. Lazzarini, Jordan I. Siegel and Juan Pablo von Bernath Bardina

Using comparative data from six major emerging economies — Brazil, Chile, Israel, Mexico, South Korea, and Taiwan — we examine how ownership networks in those societies responded to a roughly similar “ structural break ” of economic liberalization during the 1990s... View Details

Keywords: Emerging Economies; Ownership; Corporate Governance; Emerging Markets

11 Dec 2007
First Look

First Look: December 11, 2007

Thinking Locally? The Influence of Local Communities on Organizations Authors:Christopher Marquis and Julie Battilana Abstract We develop an institutional theory of how local communities continue to matter... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

14 Feb 2023
HBS Case

Is Sweden Still 'Sweden'? A Liberal Utopia Grapples with an Identity Crisis

Sweden has long seemed like a social-welfare capitalist dream come true, where companies and labor unions collaborate in harmony with government support. Swedish citizens are among the wealthiest in the world, and they enjoy publicly... View Details

Keywords: by Lane Lambert

January 2025 (Revised February 2025)
Background Note

A High-Tech Revolution with Chinese Characteristics: China's Drive Towards EV Supremacy

By: William C. Kirby, Daniel Fu and Matthew Ngai

This background note explains and documents the rise of China's EV industry. Moreover, it identifies the challenges facing it and posits several questions about the decisions needed to be made to sustain the industry's global dominance. Would Chinese producers be able... View Details

Keywords: State Capitalism; Electric Vehicles; Tesla; Renewable Energy; Global Strategy; Taxation; Technological Innovation; Industry Growth; Competition; Auto Industry; China; United States; Japan; European Union

12 Apr 2022
Book

Racism, Colonialism, and Britain's Legacy of Violence

Britain’s 20th century empire was the largest in human history, with a quarter of the world’s land and nearly 700 million people. Yet the empire drew its strength from violence. That’s the conclusion Harvard Business School Professor Caroline Elkins draws in her new... View Details

Keywords: by Avery Forman

July 2021
Case

Amazon HQ2

By: James K. Sebenius and Ben Cook

Amazon’s failed bid for a second headquarters location (“HQ2”) in Long Island City, New York offers many lessons for negotiators looking to avoid similar high-profile defeats in strategically important deals. The company’s project – which promised to bring billions of... View Details

Keywords: Buildings and Facilities; Negotiation; Public Opinion; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Problems and Challenges

Purchase

Web

Technology & Operations Management - Faculty & Research

compared to venture-backed businesses, SBIR-backed businesses pursue very different strategies. We use simple economic theories to motivate the SBIR program as a vehicle for the government to invest in small-scale, well-defined, but risky... View Details

January 2016
Case

Haiti Hope: Innovating the Mango Value Chain

By: Amy C. Edmondson and Jean-François Harvey

This case study examines a market-based approach to economic development through the eyes of NGO TechnoServe's project manager, implementing a US$9.5 million five-year public-private partnership between Coca-Cola, IDB, and USAID. The case ends at the beginning of the... View Details

Purchase

11 Apr 2024
In Practice

Why Progress on Immigration Might Soften Labor Pains

company and drawing upon native and foreign talent as befits their local situation. While the employment-based and family reunification pathways are distinct, the tight labor market makes them more alike. Whether it's very high- or... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

March 2017
Article

Land Institutions and Chinese Political Economy: Institutional Complementarities and Macroeconomic Management

By: Meg Rithmire

This article critically examines the origins and evolution of China’s unique land institutions and situates land policy in the larger context of China’s reforms and pursuit of economic growth. It argues that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has strengthened the... View Details

Keywords: China; Economic Reform; Land Politics; Macromanagement; Government and Politics; Macroeconomics; China

Read Now

Web

The Three Levels of CSV - Institute For Strategy And Competitiveness

HBS ISC Creating Shared Value CSV Creating Shared Value CSV Explained Emerging Topics CSV in Practice Published CSV Cases CSV Explained CSV Explained The Three Levels of CSV Adding a Social Dimension to Strategy Redefining Capitalism The New Role for View Details

November 2017 (Revised February 2019)
Case

Kurt Summers: Investing in Our Chicago (Abridged)

By: Joshua Margolis and Michael Norris

In 2016, Kurt Summers, the Chicago City Treasurer, considered his future in Chicago politics. With an unpopular governor and mayor soon up for reelection, should Summers consider running for higher office? Summers reflects on his time growing up in gang-controlled... View Details

Keywords: Personal Development; Career Journey; Career; Career Management; Leadership; Leadership Development; Government and Politics; Personal Development and Career; Public Administration Industry; United States; Chicago

Purchase

06 Feb 2012
Research & Ideas

Kodak: A Parable of American Competitiveness

process often sparks ideas that lead to creation of innovative new products, Shih explains. So when American companies allow the production of high-tech products like televisions and memory chips to disappear from the local landscape,... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Manufacturing

February 2019
Article

The Ethnic Migrant Inventor Effect: Codification and Recombination of Knowledge Across Borders

By: Prithwiraj Choudhury and Do Yoon Kim

Ethnic migrant inventors may differ from locals in terms of the knowledge they bring to host firms. We study the role of first-generation ethnic migrant inventors in cross-border transfer of knowledge previously locked within the cultural context of their home regions.... View Details

Keywords: Skilled Migration; Ethnic Migration; First-generation Migrant; Cultural Context; Knowledge Flows; Knowledge Reuse; Knowledge Recombination; Recombinant Creation; H1B Visas; Knowledge Sharing; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Knowledge Dissemination; Immigration; Ethnicity; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues