Publications

December 2011 (Revised July 2013)
Background Note

Hypothesis-Driven Entrepreneurship: The Lean Startup

By: Thomas Eisenmann, Eric Ries and Sarah Dillard

Firms that follow a hypothesis-driven approach to evaluating entrepreneurial opportunity are called "lean startups." Entrepreneurs in these startups translate their vision into falsifiable business model hypotheses, then test the hypotheses using a series of "minimum... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Business Startups

Scott Duke Kominers is a Professor of Business Administration in the Entrepreneurial Management Unit; as well as a Faculty Affiliate of the View Details

October 1992 (Revised October 1994)
Case

Randall's Department Stores

By: Walter J. Salmon and Gwendolyn K. Ortmeyer

Discusses a well-known traditional department store that confronts a very difficult issue of whether to change its pricing policy from a high-low to an everyday pricing approach. Demands that the student formulate a plan of execution for changing the pricing, if... View Details

Keywords: Fluctuation; Price; Marketing Strategy; Strategic Planning

Teresa Amabile is the Edsel Bryant Ford Professor, Emerita, at Harvard Business School. Originally educated and employed as a chemist, Teresa received her Ph.D. in psychology from Stanford University. Her current research investigates how people approach and... View Details

Article

Cooks Make Tastier Food When They Can See Their Customers

By: Ryan W. Buell, Tami Kim and Chia-Jung Tsay

While existing theory suggests that increased contact between customers and employees diminishes efficiency, recent research demonstrates that when employees can see their customers, the beneficiaries of their efforts, the quality and efficiency of the service they... View Details

Keywords: Operational Transparency; Service Delivery; Service Operations; Service Management; Service Industry

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2012
Book

Auctions, Market Mechanisms, and Their Applications: Second International ICST Conference, AMMA 2011

By: Peter Coles, Sanmay Das, Sebastien Lahaie and Boleslaw Szymanski

This book constitutes the thoroughly refereed post-conference proceedings of the Second International ICST on Auctions, Market Mechanisms, and Their Applications (AMMA 2011) held in New York, August 22–23, 2011. The 22 revised full papers presented were carefully... View Details

Keywords: Internet; Market Design; Internet and the Web; Auctions; Information Management; Computer Industry

14 Sep 2017
News

Harvard Business School’s Latest Case Study Looks at American Politics and Finds a Rigged System

November 1991 (Revised April 1994)
Case

Taco Bell Corp.

By: Leonard A. Schlesinger and Roger H. Hallowell

John Martin, Taco Bell CEO, brings the company into line with its competitors through incremental change during the 1980s. In the early 1990s, he adopts breakthrough approaches to improve service levels while reducing prices, providing a distinct competitive advantage.... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Food; Competitive Advantage; Innovation and Management; Retail Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; United States

February 1996
Case

TRW's Information Services Division: Strategic Human Resource Management

By: Michael Beer and Gregory C. Rogers

Looks at a change effort initiated by a human resources manager within a division of TRW. The effort utilizes a change process to try to deal with some of the division's issues around organizational effectiveness, especially that of a long-term strategy. In so doing,... View Details

Keywords: Human Resources; Change Management; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Managerial Roles; Strategy; Problems and Challenges

26 Jan 2024
Blog Post

Access Real-World Employment Data from HBS Alumni with the Career Trends Tool

Negotiating a job offer in a new industry or function? Wondering if a change in location might impact your base salary? Joining a startup and wanting to benchmark your equity offer? Use the Career Trends tool in 12twenty, HBS’s recruiting... View Details

12 Dec 2017
First Look

New Research and Ideas, December 12, 2017

Organizational Behavior The Energizing Nature of Work Engagement: Toward a New Need-Based Theory of Work Motivation By: Green, Paul, Eli Finkel, Grainne Fitzsimons, and... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

March 2023
Case

Walmart's Live Better U

By: Boris Groysberg, Annelena Lobb and Kerry Herman

Walmart’s Live Better U (LBU) program, which allowed its frontline employees and managers to attend college at Walmart’s expense, had expanded and changed over the course of five years. How could Walmart better develop the program for its associates and use it to meet... View Details

Keywords: Talent and Talent Management; Compensation and Benefits; Higher Education

08 Jan 2012
News

Progress Principle: You're More Important Than You Think

December 2010
Article

Altruistic Dynamic Pricing with Customer Regret

By: Julio J. Rotemberg

A model is considered where firms internalize the regret costs that consumers experience when they see an unexpected price change. Regret costs are assumed to be increasing in the size of price changes and this can explain why the size of price increases is less... View Details

Keywords: Cost; Price; Change; Inflation and Deflation; Cost Management; Customers; Practice; Announcements; Forecasting and Prediction

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March 2016 (Revised May 2021)
Case

Michael Milken: The Junk Bond King

By: Tom Nicholas and Matthew G. Preble

Michael Milken, an investment banker who dominated the junk bond market in the 1980s, was sentenced to jail in 1990 after pleading guilty to a number of securities and tax-related felonies. In the preceding decade, Milken had helped usher in a new wave of leveraged buy... View Details

Keywords: Junk Bonds; High-yield Bonds; Financial Innovation; Shareholder Value; Bonds; Capital; Capital Structure; Cost of Capital; Crime and Corruption; Entrepreneurship; Ethics; Finance; Investment Banking; Leveraged Buyouts; Mergers and Acquisitions; Ownership; Private Equity; Restructuring; United States

Article

Whites See Racism as a Zero-Sum Game That They Are Now Losing

By: Michael I. Norton and Samuel R. Sommers

Although some have heralded recent political and cultural developments as signaling the arrival of a post-racial era in America, several legal and social controversies regarding "reverse racism" highlight Whites' increasing concern about anti-White bias. We show that... View Details

Keywords: Racism; Zero-sum Game; Bias; Affirmative Action; Prejudice and Bias; Race; Social Issues; United States

Samuel G. Hanson is the William L. White Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School, a Research Associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research, and a Faculty Affiliate of the Harvard Economics department. He teaches Finance 1... View Details

Keywords: asset management; banking; brokerage; federal government; financial services; investment banking industry

February 2009 (Revised July 2012)
Supplement

Jieliang Phone Home! (C)

By: Willy Shih, Ethan Bernstein and Nina Bilimoria

At Precision Electro-Tek's mobile phone manufacturing facility in southern China, thousands of operators - bright and capable young men and (mostly) women like Jieliang Hao are motivated to improve line productivity through small innovations for faster assembly and... View Details

Keywords: Globalization; Compensation and Benefits; Surveys; Innovation and Invention; Management Practices and Processes; Production; Performance Productivity; Groups and Teams; Labor and Management Relations; Behavior; Motivation and Incentives; Manufacturing Industry; Telecommunications Industry; China

February 2009 (Revised August 2021)
Supplement

Jieliang Phone Home! (B)

By: Willy Shih, Ethan Bernstein and Nina Bilimoria

At Precision Electro-Tek's mobile phone manufacturing facility in southern China, thousands of operators—bright and capable young men and (mostly) women like Jieliang Hao—are motivated to improve line productivity through small innovations for faster assembly and have... View Details

Keywords: Managing People; Motivation and Incentives; Behavior; Production; Innovation and Invention; Performance Productivity; Groups and Teams; Management Practices and Processes; Compensation and Benefits; Labor; Surveys; Decisions; Manufacturing Industry; China