Affordances - Publications - Faculty & Research

15 Oct 2001
Research & Ideas

Rethinking E-Leadership

can't be bothered with the details of their business is crazy. —Robert Hargrove in E-Leader Updated advice: Leaders must constantly push the boundaries of established ways of doing business—but they must also know which established practices need to be preserved. They... View Details

Keywords: by Melissa Raffoni

13 Aug 2014
Lessons from the Classroom

Managing the Family Business: Entrepreneurs Needed for Long-Run Success

unproven, borrow resources they can't afford to buy, and build buyers' interest in their activity. Others may see them as risk takers, but good entrepreneurs are actually good at getting other folks to take risks. You need some people... View Details

Keywords: by Michael J. Roberts

23 Mar 2016
Research & Ideas

Researchers Prove C-Suite Gender Gap—but Can’t Explain It

whatever unobservable differences that exist [between men and women] are likely to be smaller than a sample of all employees,” Keloharju says. “Because they are executives, both the men and the women tend to earn more than the rest of the population, so they all can... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

12 Dec 2012
Research & Ideas

Book Excerpt: Strength in Numbers

studied, example of this phenomenon is listener-supported public radio. It is costly for public radio stations to coordinate their viewers so that they all contribute at a sufficient level, and stations put considerable effort into raising funds. With a reasonably... View Details

Keywords: Re: Gunnar Trumbull

06 Aug 2018
Research & Ideas

Supersmart Manufacturing Tools are Lowering Prices on TVs, Bulbs, and Solar Panels

afford to, as it was too expensive, and the technology was getting too complicated and specialized. A company that specializes in making tools, on the other hand, can spread those costs over multiple customers. The latest generation... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Manufacturing; Electronics

31 May 2016
HBS Case

Who Owns Space?

some of the costs and labor of low-orbit efforts so it could once again afford to dream big. Enter Jeff Bezos and Blue Origin. “We often think of business as motivated by quarterly earnings and short-term thinking,” Weinzierl says. “And... View Details

Keywords: Re: Matthew C. Weinzierl; Aerospace

05 Dec 2012
What Do You Think?

Should Managers Bother Listening to Predictions?

Summing Up Can Managers Afford to Ignore Predictions in Planning? There is a healthy skepticism when it comes to the reliability of predictions as a basis for planning. Donald Kortalon, commenting on this month's column, cites a number of... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

13 Aug 2024
Op-Ed

Can AI Save Physicians from Burnout?

content. In 2022, Amazon introduced Amazon Clinic, a virtual health care service using AI to provide affordable treatment for common conditions. In October 2023, 10,000 clinicians and staff at the Permanente Medical Group started using AI... View Details

Keywords: by Susanna Gallani, Lidia Moura, and Katie Sonnefeldt; Health

08 Apr 2016
Research & Ideas

How to Hire a Millennial

General Electric isn’t moving to Boston’s waterfront for the views, however breathtaking they may be. In the increasingly fierce battle for millennial talent, GE’s decision to uproot its long-time headquarters from suburban Connecticut is nothing less than a... View Details

Keywords: by Joseph Fuller

30 Apr 2001
Research & Ideas

Entering the Age of Alliances

staff and given assignments at Merck's research facilities. Through its network of associated colleges, UNCF affords Merck access to bright minority students with an interest in science, and these students are in turn provided access to... View Details

Keywords: by James Austin

19 Nov 2013
First Look

First Look: November 19

paper analyzes the effect of a woman's electoral victory on women's subsequent political participation. Using the regression discontinuity afforded by close elections between women and men in India's state elections, we find that a woman... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

29 Sep 2015
Research & Ideas

Work 3.0: Redefining Jobs and Companies in the Uber Age

affords them greater control over service quality and customer experience, in return for which they accept the added costs of being employers. Hornet's nest The decision by some marketplaces-for-services to treat their workers as... View Details

Keywords: by Andrei Hagiu; Transportation; Web Services

22 Feb 2022
Research & Ideas

When Will the Hot Housing Market Finally Start to Cool?

they going to stay there, and will that be a more permanent change in those local markets? I think that remains to be seen. One of the big issues is regulatory policies. Notwithstanding the desire to have more affordable housing, there... View Details

Keywords: by Christine Pazzanese, Harvard Gazette

20 Jul 2020
Op-Ed

It's Time for a Bipartisan Health Plan for Employers and Employees

under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) or Medicaid.) Some contend that the Public Option’s low-cost premiums are falsely achieved by shifting Medicare’s costs to private insurers, but Medicare’s massive scale—61.2 million enrollees—delivers... View Details

Keywords: by Regina E. Herzlinger and Richard J. Boxer; Health; Insurance

10 Aug 2015
Research & Ideas

Why a Federal Rule on CEO Pay Disclosure May Get You In Trouble With Customers

reason that if a firm could afford to pay its CEO an eight-figure salary, it could also afford to manufacture higher-quality products than a firm that paid its CEO a six-figure salary? With that in mind,... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Retail

22 Dec 2016
Op-Ed

The Small Business Administration is a Model for How to Drive Economic Growth

the key decisions facing the next president’s administration, from Dodd-Frank reform to the anticipated overhaul of the Affordable Care Act. If you ask small business owners what they need to grow and thrive, they will talk about lower... View Details

Keywords: by Karen Mills

05 Jun 2013
Op-Ed

Corporate Leaders Need to Step Up on Climate Change

is too vast for any single business: Solving climate change means we must switch to mostly carbon-free energy sources by 2050 or find a way to affordably capture carbon dioxide emissions, both monumental tasks. “Green business as... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Toffel & Auden Schendler

25 Oct 2017
Research & Ideas

Will Machine Learning Make You a Better Manager?

have to be, say, United Airlines to take advantage of these tools. Managers can now purchase off-the-shelf products that can mine Twitter or Yelp and develop a detailed analysis of how sentiment is changing in real time. “It has basically reduced the barrier between... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Information Technology

23 Sep 2014
First Look

First Look: September 23

714-510 Health City Cayman Islands Narayana Health (NH) had been successfully delivering affordable high quality tertiary care to the masses in India through its chain of hospitals for over a decade. To encourage the adoption of the NH... View Details