Publications

SSRN

28 Feb 2022
Research & Ideas

How Racial Bias Taints Customer Service: Evidence from 6,000 Hotels

indicate education levels. In their emails, the researchers asked the same question: “Do you have local restaurant recommendations?” "It wasn't just whether people responded to the requests that we sent; it’s that the quality of the View Details

Keywords: by Pamela Reynolds

September 2022 (Revised January 2023)
Case

DBS: Purpose-Driven Transformation

By: Ranjay Gulati, Adina Wong, Dawn H. Lau and Joseph Mesfin

Singapore-based bank DBS went through three waves of purpose-driven transformation, overhauling the bank’s systems, upgrading employee skills, and re-centering its customer focus, with the bank’s purpose growing bolder with each key milestone achieved. Find out how the... View Details

Keywords: Transformation; Alignment; Business Strategy; Balanced Scorecard; Technology Adoption; Mission and Purpose; Change Management; Banking Industry; Financial Services Industry; Asia; Singapore

13 Mar 2023
Research & Ideas

What Would It Take to Unlock Microfinance's Full Potential?

investment, and the people who weren’t nominated averaged no return at all. That was our first signal that some of these alternative screening mechanisms based on soft information could transform how we think about which entrepreneurs to... View Details

Keywords: by Jen McFarland Flint; Financial Services

18 May 2022
Research & Ideas

Are Banks the ‘Bad Guys’? Overdraft Fees Are Crushing Low-Income Customers

services, and data from Equifax, a major consumer credit bureau that offers insights into installment loans for low-income borrowers. They complemented that data with hand-collected information about lawsuits against high-to-low... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Financial Services

Web

Financial Accounting Online Course | HBS Online

other companies for investment purposes, and I’ve realized that I can make more informed decisions with my improved knowledge of company financials. Pankaj Prashant Medium Term Planning Engineer at Rio Tinto Prepare for the MBA classroom... View Details

Web

Student Journey - Entrepreneurship

How do I get information on specific industries/areas of interest? Explore HBS Initiatives and contact Baker Library for an experience staff member who can provide research guidance for your startup or recruiting efforts. Where can I get... View Details

April 2021 (Revised June 2021)
Case

IBM: Design Thinking

By: Srikant M. Datar, Amram Migdal and Paul Hamilton

This case describes the 2012-2020 effort at IBM to implement design thinking throughout the company and hire thousands of designers to serve on every product team alongside technical engineers and developers and product managers. IBM’s design transformation is told... View Details

Keywords: Business Ventures; Business Divisions; Business Units; Business Organization; Change; Change Management; Transformation; Competency and Skills; Talent and Talent Management; Design; Human Resources; Recruitment; Selection and Staffing; Innovation and Invention; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Innovation and Management; Innovation Strategy; Jobs and Positions; Job Design and Levels; Leading Change; Management; Business or Company Management; Goals and Objectives; Management Practices and Processes; Operations; Product; Product Design; Product Development; Organizations; Business Processes; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Design; Organizational Structure; Strategy; Adaptation; Adoption; Technological Innovation; Information Infrastructure; Information Technology; Information Technology Industry; Information Technology Industry; United States

2012
Chapter

Integrated Reporting Requires Integrated Assurance

By: Robert G. Eccles, Michael P. Krzus and Liv A. Watson

In the wake of the recent financial crisis, increasing the effectiveness of auditing has weighed heavily on the minds of those responsible for governance. When a business is profitable and paying healthy dividends to its stockholders, fraudulent activities and... View Details

Keywords: Risk Management; Crime and Corruption; Integrated Corporate Reporting; Governance Compliance; Organizational Culture; Management Systems; Laws and Statutes; Information Management; Accounting Audits; Financial Crisis

10 Sep 2014
Working Paper Summaries

Don’t Take ‘No’ for an Answer: An Experiment with Actual Organ Donor Registrations

Keywords: by Judd B. Kessler & Alvin E. Roth

2015
Chapter

Consuming Brands

By: Jill Avery and Anat Keinan

Traditional definitions of branding often underestimate the value a brand has for infusing a choice situation with meaning. This chapter explores how people consume brands and presents three perspectives on the meaning of brands that have diverse theoretical roots in... View Details

Keywords: Brand Building; Brand Management; Marketing; Brands and Branding

Find at Harvard

2014
Working Paper

Better Deals Through Level II Strategies: Advance Your Interests by Helping to Solve Their Internal Problems

By: James K. Sebenius

Many negotiators have constituencies that must formally or informally approve an agreement. Traditionally, it is the responsibility of each negotiator to manage the internal conflicts and constituencies on his or her own side. Far less familiar are the many valuable... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Negotiation Tactics; Negotiation Participants; Negotiation Style

SSRN

Research Summary

Intra-Household Decision Making

Professor Ashraf's research in intra-household decision making examines how households make financial and health decisions, particularly in the presence of asymmetric information or benefits.

"View Details

March 2012 (Revised December 2014)
Case

Schön Klinik: Measuring Cost and Value

By: Robert S. Kaplan, Mary L. Witkowski and Jessica A. Hohman

The case illustrates how a leading German hospital group has invested deeply in the measurement of patient-level outcomes and costs, the foundations of a health care value framework. The company launches a pilot project to use time-driven activity-based costing (TDABC)... View Details

Keywords: Health Care; Costing; Activity-Based Costing; Hospitals; Activity Based Costing and Management; Value; Health Care and Treatment; Outcome or Result; Health Industry; Germany

November 2011
Article

Ownership Structure and Financial Constraints: Evidence from a Structural Estimation

By: Chen Lin, Yue Ma and Yuhai Xuan

This article examines the impact of the divergence between corporate insiders' control rights and cash-flow rights on firms' external finance constraints via generalized method of moments estimation of an investment Euler equation. Using a large sample of U.S.... View Details

Keywords: Ownership; Social Enterprise; Reputation; Cash Flow; Annuities; Investment; Investment Funds; Financial Reporting; Accounting Audits; Financial Services Industry; United States

Find at Harvard

April 2008 (Revised April 2009)
Case

Heidrick & Struggles International, Inc.

By: Robert G. Eccles and David Lane

As CEO of leading executive search firm Heidrick & Struggles for the past 18 months, Kevin Kelly was pleased with his accomplishments so far but concerned about threats he perceived to Heidrick's position at the highest levels of the executive search business. In... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Recruitment; Disruptive Innovation; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Competition; Competitive Strategy; Employment Industry; Service Industry

September 2009
Article

Spousal Control and Intra-Household Decision Making: An Experimental Study in the Philippines

By: Nava Ashraf

Using an experimental design I elicit causal effects of spousal observability and communication on financial choices of married individuals in the Philippines. Making choices public moves men from putting money into their own account to consumption; communication with... View Details

Keywords: Intra-household; Bargaining; Experiments; Economic Development; Saving; Governance Controls; Decision Choices and Conditions; Personal Finance; Family and Family Relationships; Household; Gender

Find at Harvard