Publications

May 2019 (Revised February 2020)
Case

Bill Cummings: The Cummings Way

By: Christina R. Wing, Robert F. White and Michael Norris

In 2019, Bill Cummings, founder of Cummings Properties and Cummings Foundation and billionaire signer of the Giving Pledge, is winding down his roles at his company and foundation. How should the management move the company forward? View Details

Keywords: Real Estate Development; Philanthropy; Family Business; Nonprofit Organizations; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Management Succession; Real Estate Industry; United States; Boston

April 2018
Article

The Power of Voice in Stimulating Morality: Eliciting Taxpayer Preferences Increases Tax Compliance

By: Cait Lamberton, Jan-Emmanuel De Neve and Michael I. Norton

Decisions about paying taxes represent one of the most common moral quandaries faced by citizens. In the present research, we argue that taxpayer compliance can be raised by increasing “voice”: allowing taxpayers to express non-binding preferences about the way their... View Details

Keywords: Morality; Public Policy; Ethics; Moral Sensibility; Taxation; Policy; Attitudes; Governance Compliance

Summer 2016
Article

Motivated Bayesians: Feeling Moral While Acting Egoistically

By: Francesca Gino, Michael I. Norton and Roberto A. Weber

A growing body of research yields ample evidence that individuals’ behavior often reflects an apparent concern for moral considerations. Using a broad definition of morality—to include varied non-egoistic motivations such as fairness, honesty, and efficiency as... View Details

Keywords: Behavior; Ethics

Article

Experience Theory, or How Desserts Are Like Losses

By: Jolie M. Martin, Martin Reimann and Michael I. Norton

While many experiments have explored risk preferences for money, few have systematically assessed risk preferences for everyday experiences. We propose a conceptual model and provide convergent evidence from seven experiments that, in contrast to a typical “zero”... View Details

Keywords: Experiences; Monetary Gambles; Risk Preferences; Experience Theory; Risk and Uncertainty; Behavior; Decision Choices and Conditions

March 2016 (Revised August 2016)
Case

CreditEase: Taking Inclusive Finance Online

By: Michael Chu, John S. Ji and Nancy Hua Dai

The world’s largest peer-to-peer (P2P) lender annually disbursing over a million loans totaling $10 billion, China’s CreditEase, must decide whether to IPO in the NYSE its online lending platform, Yirendai, before the year-end window closes in 2015. Yirendai sought to... View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Internet and the Web; Financing and Loans; Credit; Growth and Development Strategy; Financial Services Industry; China

April 2016 (Revised January 2017)
Case

Orkestra – Basque Institute of Competitiveness

By: Michael E. Porter, Christian Ketels and Jesus M. Valdaliso

Keywords: Clusters; Competitiveness; Institutions For Collaboration; Regional Policy; Spain

1977
Book

Matrix

By: Stanley Davis, Paul Lawrence, Harvey Kolodny and Michael Beer

Article

The Allure of Unknown Outcomes: Exploring the Role of Uncertainty in the Preference for Potential

By: Daniella Kupor, Zakary L. Tormala and Michael I. Norton

Influence practitioners often highlight a target's achievements (e.g., "she is the city's top-rated chef"), but recent research reveals that highlighting a target's potential (e.g., "she could become the city's top-rated chef") can be more effective. We examine whether... View Details

Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Forecasting and Prediction; Performance Evaluation

2013
Chapter

Open Innovation and Organizational Boundaries: Task Decomposition, Knowledge Distribution and the Locus of Innovation

By: Karim R. Lakhani, Hila Lifshitz-Assaf and Michael L. Tushman

This chapter contrasts traditional, organization-centered models of innovation with more recent work on open innovation. These fundamentally different and inconsistent innovation logics are associated with contrasting organizational boundaries and organizational... View Details

Keywords: Innovation; Organizational Boundaries; Institutional Logics; Modular Innovation; Open Innovation; Knowledge Sharing; Innovation Strategy; Organizational Design; Boundaries; Collaborative Innovation and Invention

2012
Article

Open Innovation and Organization Design

By: Michael Tushman, Karim Lakhani and Hila Lifshitz - Assaf

This paper calls the organization design community to reconcile the divergent scholarly perspectives on the relationship between firm boundaries and the locus of innovation by moving beyond debates between open vs. closed boundaries and instead embracing the notion of... View Details

Keywords: Organization Design; Open Innovation; Innovation; Locus Of Innovation; Organizational Boundaries; Organizational Design; Organizational Structure; Innovation and Invention; Alliances; Vertical Integration; Boundaries

SSRN

October 2012 (Revised September 2014)
Case

Doing Business in Vietnam

By: Alan MacCormack, Michael Shih-ta Chen and Dawn H. Lau

This case gives an overview of the current business environment in Vietnam as of 2012. The first part of the case introduces the main economic, political and cultural aspects of the country of which anyone who has business interest in the country ought to be aware.... View Details

Keywords: Emerging Market Finance; Emergent Countries; Business History; Economic History; Emerging Markets; Business Ventures; Strategy; Viet Nam

March 2012 (Revised October 2012)
Teaching Note

Fiji versus FIJI: Negotiating Over Water (TN)

By: Francesca Gino, Michael W. Toffel and Stephanie van Sice

Keywords: Negotiation; Fiji

June 2008 (Revised July 2008)
Case

How Serial Entrepreneurs Build and Manage a Board of Directors in a Venture-Backed Start Up

By: Michael J. Roberts, William A. Sahlman and Sasha Novakovich

This case includes structured interviews with four serial entrepreneurs about the way in which they built and used their boards in each of their companies and what they have learned through that process. These entrepreneurs were asked similar questions, such as "How do... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Corporate Governance; Governing and Advisory Boards

7 Aug 2009 - 11 Aug 2009
Conference Presentation

Compelled to Help:Effects of Direct and Indirect Exchange on Perceived Obligation in Professional Networks

By: Roy Y.J. Chua, Bilian Sullivan and Michael W. Morris

Keywords: Networks; Perception; Communication

January 2008 (Revised October 2015)
Case

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited: A Global Company's China Strategy

By: William C. Kirby, Michael Shih-Ta Chen and Keith Wong

After fifty-five years in the semiconductor industry, Morris Chang, founder and Chairman of Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), was seeing a change. After four decades of regular double-digit growth the industry was still growing-but now at a much slower... View Details

Keywords: Investment; Globalized Firms and Management; Market Entry and Exit; Business and Government Relations; Expansion; Semiconductor Industry; Shanghai; Taiwan

June 2007 (Revised March 2008)
Case

Zoots - Financing Growth (A)

By: Michael J. Roberts, William A. Sahlman and Todd Krasnow

Traces the genesis and founding of Zoots, the largest chain of dry cleaning establishments in the U.S. Founded by some of the founders of the very successful Staples chain, the company raises a very large amount of capital without fully proving its business model, and... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Decision Choices and Conditions; Venture Capital; Financial Strategy; Investment Return; Growth and Development Strategy; Valuation; United States

2008
Working Paper

The Internalization of Advertising Services: An Inter-Industry Analysis

By: Sharon Horsky, Steven C. Michael and Alvin J. Silk

The common perception appears to be that vertical integration of advertising services is more the exception than the rule in the U.S. advertising industry. This study investigates the extent of such outsourcing and examines inter-industry variation in the use of... View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Cost; Analytics and Data Science; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Service Operations; Creativity; Perception; Vertical Integration; Information Technology; Advertising Industry; United States

May 2006 (Revised May 2009)
Case

De Beers: Addressing the New Competitiveness Challenges

By: Michael E. Porter, Sonia D. Marciano and Alyson Warhurst

Traces the development of De Beers and the diamond industry from its inception in the mid-1800s to the year 2000. Discusses De Beer's history and strategy as the industry leader and its role in industry development. Enables deep examination of the interdependence of... View Details

Keywords: History; Strategy; Geographic Location; Conflict Management; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Business and Community Relations; Developing Countries and Economies; Mining Industry

June 2002 (Revised October 2002)
Case

Renewing Germany: Kohl's Legacy and Schroder's Dilemma

By: Huw Pill, Michael Linse, Marie-Anne Popp and Ingrid Vogel

The German economy has long been seen as the locomotive of European (and, on occasion, global) growth. Germany appeared to weather the stagflation of the 1970s more successfully than many other economies, and reunification in 1990 appeared to present opportunities for... View Details

Keywords: Macroeconomics; Economy; Policy; Germany