Publications

08 Nov 2016
First Look

November 8, 2016

reduce risk, though the effectiveness depends upon the role of capital structure in volatility. To address this question, we build a statistical model of equity volatility that accounts for leverage. Our... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

January 2008 (Revised November 2009)
Case

Linear Air: Creating the Air Taxi Industry

Linear Air is an air taxi start-up established to take advantage of the emergence of Very Light Jets, which incorporate new technology that cuts jet operating costs by about 40%. Air taxis could make use of the 5400 smaller regional airports throughout the US,... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Disruptive Innovation; Product Launch; Industry Structures; Competition; Air Transportation Industry

October 2021
Article

Overcoming the Cold Start Problem of CRM Using a Probabilistic Machine Learning Approach

By: Nicolas Padilla and Eva Ascarza

The success of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) programs ultimately depends on the firm's ability to understand consumers' preferences and precisely capture how these preferences may differ across customers. Only by understanding customer heterogeneity, firms can... View Details

Keywords: Customer Management; Targeting; Deep Exponential Families; Probabilistic Machine Learning; Cold Start Problem; Customer Relationship Management; Programs; Consumer Behavior; Analysis

April 2002
Article

Internal Capital Markets and Firm-Level Compensation Incentives for Division Managers

By: Julie Wulf

Do multidivisional firms structure compensation contracts for division managers to mitigate incentive problems in their internal capital markets? I find evidence that compensation and investment incentives are substitutes: firms providing a stronger link to firm... View Details

Keywords: Capital Markets; Executive Compensation; Capital Budgeting; Motivation and Incentives; Profit; Decisions; Resource Allocation; Performance; Investment; Contracts

January–February 2024
Article

Shared Service Delivery Can Increase Client Engagement: A Study of Shared Medical Appointments

By: Ryan W. Buell, Kamalini Ramdas, Nazlı Sönmez, Kavitha Srinivasan and Rengaraj Venkatesh

Problem Definition: Clients and service providers alike often consider one-on-one service delivery to be ideal, assuming – perhaps unquestioningly – that devoting individualized attention best improves client outcomes. In contrast, in shared service delivery, clients... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Customer Satisfaction; Outcome or Result; Performance Improvement

2021
Working Paper

Diagnosing Quality: Learning, Amenities, and the Demand for Health Care

By: Achyuta Adhvaryu, Emilio Gutierrez, Anant Nyshadham and Jorge Tamayo

We study the role of amenities in increasing demand for underutilized healthcare services. We evaluate the offer of a high-amenity diagnostic consultation for cataracts with a randomized price and find that a lower price for the high-amenity consultation increases... View Details

Keywords: Health Care Demand; Amenities; Health Care Quality; Cataracts; Surgery; Health Care and Treatment; Demand and Consumers; Quality; Learning; Mexico

10 Aug 2012
Working Paper Summaries

Unobserved State Fragility and the Political Transfer Problem

Keywords: by Faisal Z. Ahmed & Eric Werker

2019
Article

Brokerage and Brokering: An Integrative Review and Organizing Framework for Third Party Influence

By: Nir Halevy, Eliran Halali and Julian Zlatev

Brokerage and brokering are pervasive and consequential organizational phenomena. Prevailing models underscore social structure and focus on the consequences that come from brokerage—occupying a bridging position between disconnected others in a network. By contrast,... View Details

Keywords: Brokerage; Brokering; Social Interactions; Organizations; Relationships; Power and Influence; Framework

28 Jan 2011
Working Paper Summaries

Agglomerative Forces and Cluster Shapes

Keywords: by William R. Kerr & Scott Duke Kominers; Technology

December 2024
Article

Are Bankruptcy Professional Fees Excessively High?

By: Samuel Antill

Chapter 7 is the most popular bankruptcy system for U.S. firms and individuals. Chapter 7 professional fees are substantial. Theoretically, high fees might be an unavoidable cost of incentivizing professionals. I test this empirically. I study trustees, the most... View Details

Keywords: Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Motivation and Incentives; Policy

December 1988
Article

Strategic Responses to Automobile Emissions Control: A Game-Theoretic Analysis

By: Dennis Yao

This paper examines the dynamics of standard-setting regulation under technological uncertainty and asymmetric information about technological capability. A two-period model which allows fully strategic action is developed and applied to the regulation of automobile... View Details

Keywords: Transportation; Pollutants; Standards; Governance Controls; Technological Innovation; Research and Development; Mathematical Methods

Research Summary

Overview

By: Shunyuan Zhang

Professor Zhang uses machine learning to address marketing problems that have arisen within the nascent sharing economy. She conducts rigorous analyses of structured and unstructured data generated by new sharing economy platforms to address important issues emerging... View Details

April 2019 (Revised July 2019)
Case

Aperture Investors

By: Krishna G. Palepu, George Serafeim and David Lane

Aperture Investors is a startup investment firm that seeks to disrupt the asset management industry through competitive differentiation by charging investors primarily when its portfolio managers outperform the marketplace. Headed by Wall Street veteran Peter Kraus and... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Talent and Talent Management; Investment; Investment Funds; Asset Management; Recruitment; Selection and Staffing; Marketing Channels; Emerging Markets; Partners and Partnerships; Motivation and Incentives; Financial Services Industry

Dennis W. Campbell is currently the Dwight P. Robinson Jr. Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. His research and teaching activities focus broadly on how management control systems can be designed to balance short-term strategy execution... View Details

Keywords: financial services; service industry; hotels ＆ motels; consumer products; restaurant; manufacturing; professional services

02 Nov 2010
First Look

First Look: November 2, 2010

http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/10-063.pdf Do Bonuses Enhance Sales Productivity? A Dynamic Structural Analysis of Bonus-Based Compensation Plans Authors:Doug J. Chung, Thomas Steenburgh, and K. Sudhir... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

2016
Working Paper

Diversified Business Groups in the West: History and Theory

By: Asli M. Colpan and Takashi Hikino

This working paper examines the historical origins, evolutionary paths, and long-term resilience of diversified business groups in contemporary developed economies of Western Europe, North America, and Oceania. It aims to come up with a new theoretical understanding of... View Details

Keywords: History; Diversification; Business Divisions; Theory; Oceania; North America; Europe

SSRN

August 2009 (Revised July 2010)
Case

Jones Lang LaSalle: Reorganizing around the Customer (2005)

By: Ranjay Gulati and Lucia Menzer Marshall

Peter Roberts, CEO of Jones, Lang, LaSalle (JLL) Americas division, has been charged with expanding the company's presence in its core geographic markets while simultaneously growing its corporate account business. Roberts and his task force have narrowed their options... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Global Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; Organizational Structure; Business Strategy; Real Estate Industry