Publications

Article

The Impact of Penalties for Wrong Answers on the Gender Gap in Test Scores

By: Katherine B. Coffman and David Klinowski

Multiple-choice exams play a critical role in university admissions across the world. A key question is whether imposing penalties for wrong answers on these exams deters guessing from women more than men, disadvantaging female test-takers. We consider data from a... View Details

Keywords: Behavioral Economics; Standardized Testing; Gender; Higher Education; Prejudice and Bias

1992
Article

Making Choices: Aspects of the History of the Harvard Business School MBA Program

By: Nancy F. Koehn, Thomas R. Piper, V. Kasturi Rangan and Richard S. Tedlow

Keywords: Higher Education; History; Decision Choices and Conditions; Boston

Article

Strategic Disclosure: The Case of Business School Rankings

By: Michael Luca and Jonathan Smith

We empirically analyze disclosure decisions made by 240 MBA programs about which rankings to display on their websites. We present three main findings. First, consistent with theories of countersignaling, top schools are least likely to disclose their rankings, whereas... View Details

Keywords: Voluntary Disclosure; Shrouded Attributes; Information Unraveling; Rankings; Higher Education; Corporate Disclosure; Rank and Position

January 2020 (Revised April 2020)
Case

Fossil Fuel Divestment (Abridged)

By: Michael W. Toffel and Sarah Gulick

The president of Harvard University is facing growing pressure from students, alumni, and other climate change activists that are urging the university to divest its multi-billion dollar endowment from fossil fuel companies. The case summarizes the arguments for and... View Details

Keywords: Divestment; Harvard University; Higher Education; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Environmental Sustainability; Climate Change; Public Opinion; Ethics; Education Industry

Educators

03 Aug 2016
What Do You Think?

How Can We Hold the “Leadership Industry” Accountable?

with leaders as they really are, forgive the inevitable transgression but file it away for future reference Pfeffer attributes the abysmal levels of trust in which employees hold their organizations’ leaders (levels of trust, he fails to note, that are much View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Education

1987
Book

Changing Alliances: The Harvard Business School Project on the Auto Industry and the American Economy

By: Davis Dyer, Malcolm S. Salter and Alan M. Weber

Keywords: Change; Alliances; Higher Education; Projects; Economy; Auto Industry; United States

2014
Working Paper

Conflicts of College Conference Realignment: Pursuing Revenue, Preserving Tradition, and Assessing the Future

By: Vadim Kogan and Stephen A. Greyser

Over the past two years, conference realignment has taken a front seat in the college sports landscape. Economic incentives were too attractive to overlook for some universities. College football programs across the country have a lot at stake, because for many,... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Motivation and Incentives; Higher Education; Sports; Revenue; Emotions; Education Industry; Education Industry

March 2021 (Revised June 2022)
Case

James Bryant Conant: Changing the World

By: Robert Simons and Shirley Sun

This case traces the rise of James Conant from a working-class neighborhood in Boston to president of Harvard University. The case describes how Conant, as a young man interested in chemistry and physics, embarks on studies to build his academic credentials and the... View Details

Keywords: Education; Science; Higher Education; Mission and Purpose; Research; Values and Beliefs; Personal Characteristics; Work-Life Balance; Personal Development and Career; Education Industry; Boston

Educators

March, 2023
Article

Academic Entrepreneurship: Entrepreneurial Advisors and Their Advisees' Outcomes

By: Maria P. Roche

The transfer of complex knowledge and skills is difficult, often requiring intensive interaction and extensive periods of co-working between a mentor and mentee, which is particularly true in apprenticeship-like settings and on-the-job training. This paper studies a... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Higher Education; Training; Personal Development and Career; Knowledge Dissemination

June 2021
Supplement

Linda Oubré at Whittier College (B)

By: Debora L. Spar and Haley P. Brown

The case follows President Linda Oubré (HBS MBA Class of 1984) as she seeks to move Whittier College towards a more diverse, equitable, and inclusive campus.
In 2020, the student body of Whittier, a private liberal arts college in Los Angeles County, California,... View Details

Keywords: Women And Leadership; Racial Disparity; Higher Education; Education; Diversity; Race; Change Management; Gender; Los Angeles; California; United States

September 2010 (Revised May 2012)
Case

Harvard Management Company (2010)

By: Andre F. Perold and Erik Stafford

In February 2010, Jane Mendillo, CEO of Harvard Management Company, was reflecting on the list of issues facing Harvard University's endowment in preparation for the upcoming board meeting. The recent financial crisis had vividly highlighted several key issues... View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Higher Education; Asset Management; Financial Liquidity; Investment Portfolio; Risk Management; Education Industry; Education Industry; Massachusetts

Educators

2021
Book

The Engaged Scholar: Expanding the Impact of Academic Research in Today’s World

By: Andrew J. Hoffman

Society and democracy are ever threatened by the fall of fact. Rigorous analysis of facts, the hard boundary between truth and opinion, and fidelity to reputable sources of factual information are all in alarming decline. A 2018 report published by the RAND Corporation... View Details

Keywords: Higher Education; Information; Civil Society or Community

1998
Book

Kigyou Rinri to Jinken: Harvard no Kangae-kata (Corporate Ethics and Human Rights: Perspectives from Harvard)

By: Hirotaka Takeuchi

Keywords: Ethics; Rights; Perspective; Higher Education

March 2022 (Revised March 2022)
Supplement

Transformation at Loyola New Orleans (B)

By: David Fubini and Patrick Sanguineti

In August of 2018, Tania Tetlow is inaugurated as President of Loyola University New Orleans, in the midst of turmoil. Prior to her start, the university was given a final warning to land a balanced budget by year's end by its accreditors or risk facing probation. It... View Details

Keywords: Higher Education; Financial Condition; Crisis Management; Change Management; Trust; Transformation

March 2017
Article

Entrepreneurial Beacons: The Yale Endowment, Run-ups, and the Growth of Venture Capital

By: Y. Sekou Bermiss, Benjamin J. Hallen, Rory McDonald and Emily Cox Pahnke

This paper investigates the social context of entrepreneurship in organizational sectors. Prior research suggests that firm foundings are driven by collective patterns of activity—that is, by patterns of prior foundings—including support from related markets as well as... View Details

Keywords: Signals; Social Salience; Venture Capital; Higher Education; Organizations; Entrepreneurship; Investment

2009
Article

The Harvard Economic Service and the Problems of Forecasting

By: Walter Friedman

Keywords: Forecasting and Prediction; Higher Education; Problems and Challenges; Economics

2016
Working Paper

Innovating in Science and Engineering or 'Cashing In' on Wall Street? Evidence on Elite STEM Talent

By: Pian Shu

Using data on MIT bachelor's graduates from 1994 to 2012, this paper empirically examines the extent to which the inflow of elite talent into the financial industry affects the supply of innovators in science and engineering (S&E). I first show that finance does not... View Details

Keywords: Higher Education; Engineering; Personal Development and Career; Science; Finance

SSRN

1999
Book

Internet University Vol. 1: Your Guide to Online College Courses; Vol. 2: Liberal Arts; Vol. 3: Technology; Vol. 4: Graduate Studies; Vol. 5: Business School Edition

By: D. Quinn Mills

Keywords: Higher Education; Internet and the Web; Information Technology; Business Education

Article

Forget About Making College Affordable; Make It a Good Investment

By: Joseph B. Fuller

Keywords: Cost Management; Higher Education; Investment Return