Publications

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2017
Working Paper

Equality and Equity in Compensation

By: Jiayi Bao and Andy Wu

Equity compensation is widely used for incentivizing skilled employees, particularly in new technology businesses. Traditional theories explaining why firms offer equity suggest that workers with higher rank should receive compensation packages more heavily weighted in... View Details

Keywords: Inequality Aversion; Compensation; Stock Options; Scarcity; Experiment; Compensation and Benefits; Equity; Equality and Inequality; Perception

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February 2017 (Revised August 2018)
Case

Sarah Powers at Automated Precision Products

By: Jeffrey T. Polzer, Michael Norris, Julia Kelley and Kristina Tobio

In 2017, Sarah Powers, VP of Sales at an automation hardware firm, is trying to understand why some members of her sales team have been underperforming. She is tasked with analyzing her firm’s email and calendar data to try to find relationships between communications... View Details

Keywords: People Analytics; Sales Attainment; Communication Networks; Data; Human Resources; Business Processes; Sales; Communication; Analytics and Data Science; Analysis; Industrial Products Industry; Manufacturing Industry; United States

2014
Working Paper

Cleaning House: The Impact of Information Technology on Employee Corruption and Performance

By: Lamar Pierce, Daniel Snow and Andrew McAfee

This paper examines how firm investments in technology-based employee monitoring impact both misconduct and productivity. We use unique and detailed theft and sales data from 392 restaurant locations from five firms that adopt a theft monitoring information technology... View Details

Keywords: Management Practices and Processes; Information Technology; Ethics; Performance Productivity; Employees

SSRN

January 2015
Case

Burberry in 2014

By: Anita Elberse

In February 2014, Burberry's chief executive officer Angela Ahrendts is preparing to hand the reins of the English luxury fashion company to chief creative officer Christopher Bailey. Under their partnership, in place since 2006, Burberry's revenues have tripled to... View Details

Keywords: Management Succession; Luxury; Product Marketing; Brands and Branding; Manufacturing Industry; Fashion Industry; Great Britain

August 2010 (Revised August 2011)
Case

Richard Jenkins at SciMat

By: John J. Gabarro, Thomas J. DeLong and Jevan Soo

Written from the point of view of Richard Jenkins, the Executive Vice-President of Medical Devices at SciMat. Presents his reflections on the series of events leading to the firing of one of SciMat's general managers, Erik Peterson. A redisguised and updated version of... View Details

Keywords: Resignation and Termination; Managerial Roles; Situation or Environment; Perspective; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

November 2005
Background Note

Allemeier Commissioner

By: Henry B. Reiling and Kevin Wall

An employee who worked full time while pursuing an MBA wishes to deduct his tuition expenses in computing his federal income tax. The IRS denied the deduction as a violation of several of its policies interpreting the relevant statute. Are the expenses deductible? View Details

Keywords: Budgets and Budgeting; Policy; Taxation; Employees; Law

January 1992 (Revised April 1993)
Case

FBO, Inc.

By: Steven C. Wheelwright

FBO, Inc. is a fixed-base operator at a large metropolitan airport. The general manager must decide if the current pooling format is the appropriate way to staff the commercial refueling operations. If pooling is deemed inappropriate then the implementation of a... View Details

Keywords: Selection and Staffing; Labor Unions; Operations; Labor and Management Relations; Aerospace Industry

August 1983 (Revised June 1985)
Supplement

Milford Industries (B)

By: Robert J. Dolan and Benson P. Shapiro

Supplements the (A) case. A rewritten version of part of an earlier series. View Details

Keywords: Managerial Roles; Salesforce Management; Resignation and Termination; Performance Evaluation

17 Jan 2023
News

Money, Flexibility, Development? Figuring Out What Employees Really Value

14 Dec 2022
News

Abby Falik on Global Citizen Year and Finding Purpose

24 Mar 2022
News

To Better Support Working Parents, Talk to Them

16 Dec 2021
News

Avoid a One-Size-Fits-All Approach to Sales Coaching

13 Apr 2021
News

Managing a Top Performer Who Alienates Their Colleagues

01 Apr 2002
News

Underwater Options May Not Sink Incentives

During the bull market of the 1990s, stock grants and options formed increasingly large components of executive compensation. Now, however, with many options "underwater" as share values have declined well below the strike price, boards of directors are perplexed. Can... View Details

Keywords: Lisa Muelbroek; Li Jin; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services

18 Apr 2018
News

Into the Light

Energicity. “Modern life, as we know it, is impossible.” Poindexter has seen the human and economic costs of “energy poverty” firsthand in rural Ghana. There, her startup is working to bring solar power to communities where highly... View Details

01 Mar 2025
News

Forward Thinking

There was a time when human activity in outer space was a highly centralized, government-led endeavor, says Professor and Senior Associate Dean Matthew Weinzierl. But that era has passed: Over the past two decades, a calcified space bureaucracy has given way to a... View Details

Keywords: Alexander Gelfand; Illustrations by Franziska Barczyk; Space Research and Technology; Government

Web

Buildings & Cities - Business & Environment

Confronting Climate Change Buildings & Cities Cities are a key place to innovate to reduce greenhouse gases The world is currently undergoing the largest wave of urban growth in human history. More than half of the global population is... View Details

24 May 2023
Blog Post

Innovating, Funding, and Scaling Climate Solutions at Harvard Business School: Day Three of Harvard Climate Action Week

have the best people doing it. It’s all still a matter of human capital. We don’t have the human capital, or the scale of human capital, to mobilize $2.4 trillion or more... View Details

July–August 2025
Article

Case Study: Do We Reskill or Replace Our Workforce?

By: William Kerr

To remain competitive in the internet-of-things era, should the CEO of SolidTech Innovations, a fictional elevator company, invest a lot of money in reskilling its entire staff? The industry is moving from hardware to software in the form of smart, connected elevators.... View Details

Keywords: Training; Competency and Skills; Employees; Change Management; Leading Change