Publications

September 2018 (Revised November 2018)
Case

Careem: Base Camp or Mountain Peak? Designing an OS for Scaling

By: Shikhar Ghosh, Gamze Yucaoglu and Alpana Thapar

This case focuses on designing a fast growing organization. It is part of a two-case set that is taught together to cover the scaling journey.
Careem, a Dubai-based ride-hailing service aimed to ‘simplify and improve the lives of people, and build an awesome... View Details

Keywords: Scale; Values; Rights; Operating Systems; Business Startup; Transportation; Organizational Design; Entrepreneurship; Information Technology; Organizational Culture; Values and Beliefs; Decision Making; Managerial Roles; Dubai; United Arab Emirates; Middle East

2010
Conference Presentation

Compensatory Fit in Integrated Architectures: The Upside of Structural Ambiguity

By: Ranjay Gulati and Luciana Silvestri

Keywords: Integrated Design; Ambiguity; Organizational Design; Organizational Structure

2010
Working Paper

The Job Market for New Economists: A Market Design Perspective

By: Peter A. Coles, John Cawley, Phillip B. Levine, Muriel Niederle, Alvin E. Roth and John J. Siegfried

This paper provides an overview of the market for new Ph.D. economists. It describes the role of the American Economic Association (AEA) in the market and focuses in particular on two mechanisms adopted in recent years at the suggestion of our committee. First, job... View Details

Keywords: Cost Management; Information; Surveys; Jobs and Positions; Job Interviews; Job Search; Emerging Markets; Digital Platforms; Service Operations; Internet and the Web

21 Apr 2021
Podcast

Architect Stefan Behnisch on designing for a changing workforce

Many architects are looking for work these days but the profession as a whole is influencing the future of work writ large. Architecture is shaped by the tension between the creative process and the more rigid, risk-averse business of building—a business that’s been... View Details

March 2010 (Revised February 2014)
Case

Community Health Workers in Zambia: Incentive Design and Management

By: Nava Ashraf and Natalie Kindred

This case examines the various considerations relevant to selecting and compensating workers in a context where their work involves a pro-social component. This is relevant to not only health care in Zambia, but to NGO and public sector workers who are both motivated... View Details

Keywords: Developing Countries and Economies; Training; Health Care and Treatment; Compensation and Benefits; Recruitment; Selection and Staffing; Mission and Purpose; Non-Governmental Organizations; Motivation and Incentives; Health Industry; Zambia

March–April 2020
Article

Avoid the Pitfalls of A/B Testing

By: Iavor I. Bojinov, Guillaume Sait-Jacques and Martin Tingley

Online experiments measuring whether “A,” usually the current approach, is inferior to “B,” a proposed improvement, have become integral to the product-development cycle, especially at digital enterprises. But often firms make serious mistakes in conducting these... View Details

Keywords: A/B Testing; Experiment Design; Social Networks; Product Development; Performance Improvement; Measurement and Metrics; Social Media

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July 2025
Case

Designed for Purpose: “Never a Failure. Always a Lesson”

By: James Riley and Andrea Dorbu

In 2017, Rihanna launched Fenty Beauty under LVMH, disrupting the cosmetics industry with an inclusive 'Beauty for All' strategy that emphasized accessibility across skin tones. The brand’s success was followed by the launch of Savage X Fenty, a lingerie line upholding... View Details

Keywords: Cultural Entrepreneurship; Brands and Branding; Luxury; Consumer Behavior; Market Entry and Exit; United States

2004
Chapter

Measuring the Value of Political Connections After Liberalization: Some Thoughts on Theoretical Constructs and Improved Research Design

By: Jordan I. Siegel

Scholars have recently begun to focus heightened attention on how firms in emerging economies react and even thrive during deep liberalization. Yet one fundamental question remains less than satisfactorily answered. How much in terms of scarce resources should firms in... View Details

Keywords: Liberalization; Emerging Economies; Political Connections; Business and Government Relations; Emerging Markets; Strategy

March 1991
Article

Engines of Progress: Designing and Running Entrepreneurial Vehicles in Established Companies: Raytheon's New Product Center, 1969-89

By: R. M. Kanter, J. North, L. Richardson, C. Ingols and J. Zolner

Keywords: Business Ventures; Business or Company Management; Entrepreneurship; Manufacturing Industry

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August 2023 (Revised May 2024)
Case

Dicerna Pharmaceuticals: Decision Making in Clinical Trial Design and Operations

By: Satish Tadikonda and Amanda McEwen

The success or failure of Dicerna Pharmaceuticals (Dicerna) as an emerging pharmaceutical company would likely hinge on its lead drug candidate Nedosiran and the company’s ability to see it successfully through clinical development. Ralf Rosskamp, Chief Medical... View Details

Keywords: Business Strategy; Health Testing and Trials; Product Development; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Pharmaceutical Industry

Article

Exploring the Duality Between Product and Organizational Architectures: A Test of the 'Mirroring' Hypothesis

By: Alan MacCormack, Carliss Y. Baldwin and John Rusnak

A variety of academic studies argue that a relationship exists between the structure of an organization and the design of the products that the organization produces. Specifically, products tend to "mirror" the architectures of the organizations in which they are... View Details

Keywords: Organization Design; Architecture; Modularity; Open Source Software; Communication; Design; Governance; Management Practices and Processes; Open Source Distribution; Product Design; Mission and Purpose; Organizational Structure; Performance; Problems and Challenges; Behavior; Software

11 Feb 2014
News

The Unexpected Benefits of Rapid Prototyping

Keywords: design process; communication; prototyping; iterative process

Organizational Design and Control Across Multiple Markets: The Case of Franchising in the Convenience Store Industry

Many companies operate units that are dispersed across different types of markets, serving significantly diverging customer bases. Such dispersion is likely to compromise headquarters' ability to control local managers' behavior and satisfy the needs of different... View Details

Overcrowded – Designing Meaningful Products in a World Awash with Ideas

We live in a world awash with ideas. Thanks to the web and to powerful ideation approaches such as open innovation, design thinking, or crowdsourcing, organizations have today easy access to an unprecedented amount of novel concepts. In this context, what... View Details

March 2020 (Revised August 2022)
Case

Racial Discrimination on Airbnb (A)

By: Michael Luca, Scott Stern, Devin Cook and Hyunjin Kim

Facing mounting criticism and evidence of widespread racial discrimination on the platform, apartment rental platform Airbnb needed to decide a path forward. For years, Airbnb had given hosts extensive discretion about whether to reject a guest after seeing little more... View Details

Keywords: Platform Design; Digital Platforms; Design; Prejudice and Bias; Trust; Problems and Challenges

20 Jun 2016
News

HBX Adds to Roster of Collaborating Colleges and Universities, Announces Over $1 Million in Institutional Need-based Scholarships Awarded for the HBX CORe Program

May 2010
Article

Optimal Auction Design and Equilibrium Selection in Sponsored Search Auctions

By: Benjamin Edelman and Michael Schwarz

We characterize the optimal (revenue maximizing) auction for sponsored search advertising. We show that a search engine's optimal reserve price is independent of the number of bidders and independent of the rate at which click-through rate declines over positions. We... View Details

Keywords: Auctions; Revenue; Advertising; Search Technology; Price; Bids and Bidding

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