Publications

Research Summary

Experience and description-based decision making.

Prof. Barron and his co-authors study the effect of the economic environment on decision making. One example involves the effect of rare (low probability) events. People behave as if they overweight these events in some settings (e.g., when buying insurance and... View Details

12 Mar 2006
Research & Ideas

New Research Explores Multi-Sided Markets

Andrei Hagiu is on the vanguard of a new field of business research that explores the dynamics of multi-sided markets. Although these markets have been around a long time, they have not really been... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Technology

February 2001 (Revised October 2006)
Case

McDuffy, Arms & Ginsberg

By: Jay W. Lorsch

Describes the musings of the managing partner of a law firm as he returns from an executive education program. He thinks about the many issues confronting him and his firm. Teaching Purpose: To prepare executive education participants to return to their companies and... View Details

Keywords: Executive Education; Leadership; Management; Legal Services Industry

April 2005
Case

Merrill Lynch in 2003: Sunny Skies Ahead?

By: Boris Groysberg, Paul M. Healy and David Kiron

Merrill Lynch (ML) is at a crossroads. Stan O'Neal became its CEO and implemented a radical cost-cutting program. In addition, the company dot-com continues to recover from the fallout from the Enron and dot-com scandals. What are the future prospects for ML? Can the... View Details

Keywords: Management Teams; Forecasting and Prediction; Financial Condition; Investment; Financial Services Industry; Financial Services Industry; United States

September 2018 (Revised January 2019)
Teaching Note

Gemini Investors

By: Richard S. Ruback, Royce Yudkoff and Ahron Rosenfeld

Teaching Note for HBS No. 211-066. Gemini Investors was a private equity firm that targeted equity investments of between $4 million to $6 million per firm. In the period from 2000 to 2015, Gemini had successfully deployed four funds, all licensed as Small Business... View Details

Keywords: Small ＆ Medium-sized Enterprises; Small Business; Private Equity; Investment Funds; Decision Making; Financial Services Industry; United States

20 Sep 2011
First Look

First Look: September 20

than commonly believed. Using a battery of performance tests, we find that loans securitized before 2005 performed no worse than comparable unsecuritized loans originated by the same bank. Even loans originated by the bank that acts View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

31 Oct 2011
Research & Ideas

The Most Powerful Workplace Motivator

a high-volume sale at the beginning of a quarter would receive a higher commission on any additional sales in the same quarter. A salesperson... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

05 Feb 2007
Research & Ideas

Business and the Global Poor

that can make operating at the base of the pyramid difficult, and potentially costly. For instance, a basic lack of physical connectivity is typical in many rural markets in developing countries, which is a... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

24 Feb 2015
First Look

First Look: February 24

rates persist through the three weeks of available data following the initial intervention. Download working paper: http://people.hbs.edu/mluca/ALERT.pdf Thick as Thieves? Dishonest Behavior and Egocentric... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

13 Feb 2020
Book

Open Your Organization to Honest Conversations

they tend to remain silent, fearful that speaking up could put their careers at risk. “A CEO might be trying to execute this corporate strategy and everybody in the organization knows it’s off the rails, but no one wants to be the bearer of bad news or be seen View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

Article

Business Groups, Entrepreneurship and the Growth of the Koç Group in Turkey

By: Geoffrey Jones and Asli M. Colpan

This article examines the emergence and development of what became the largest business group in Turkey, the Koç Group. This venture was an important factor in the emergence of modern business enterprise in the new state of the Republic of Turkey from the 1920s. After... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Governance; History; Strategy; Service Industry; Service Industry; Service Industry; Service Industry; Service Industry; Turkey

Find at Harvard

11 Jan 2021
Research & Ideas

Is A/B Testing Effective? Evidence from 35,000 Startups

also reached their natural endpoints—either scaling or failing—more quickly. “Firms that adopt A/B testing are more likely to hit zero page views, which we take as evidence of shutting down, but they’re also more likely to have extreme... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz

09 Aug 2024
Blog Post

Addressing Inequities in Education: Social Enterprise Summer Fellow Amal Tariq (MBA 2025)

deep interest in education as a catalyst for social change and I am passionate about addressing the systemic inequities in education that perpetuate poverty and income inequality. I was drawn to this... View Details

Web

HBS Entrepreneurship Summit - Alumni

Service Challenges Mitchell B. Weiss (MBA 2004), Richard L. Menschel Professor of Management Practice Five Technologies Changing the Future Shikhar Ghosh (MBA 1980), MBA Class of 1961 Professor of Management Practice of Business... View Details

04 Feb 2010
What Do You Think?

What’s the Best Way to Make Careful Decisions?

making makes many people highly uncomfortable which is why intuition gets a bad rap. (It implies) emotion a lack of discipline and robustness in analysis the lack of control (replicability)." Pallavi... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

December 2010
Background Note

Risk and Reward in Venture Capital

By: William A. Sahlman

This note describes the payoff structure of investment in individual venture capital–backed companies and in venture capital portfolios. Venture Capital investments are characterized by high failure rate (0ver 50%) and a small number of given successes (greater than... View Details

Keywords: Capital Markets; Venture Capital; Investment Return; Investment Portfolio; Analytics and Data Science; Failure; Performance; Information Technology