Publications

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February 1982 (Revised November 1994)
Case

San Fabian Supply Co. (Philippines)

MacDowell Corp., a producer of construction supplies, terminated its exclusive distribution arrangement with San Fabian Supply Co., its sole distributor in the Philippines for nearly 20 years. Paul Cheng the owner of San Fabian had to decide whether to accept... View Details

Keywords: Relationships; Distribution Channels; Construction Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Philippines

2022
Article

Diffusing Management Practices within the Firm: The Role of Information Provision

By: Michael J. Lenox and Michael W. Toffel

Why are some firms more successful in adopting profitable environmental management practices than others? A key role of corporate managers is to encourage subsidiaries to adopt innovative practices. We examine the conditions under which corporate managers use... View Details

Keywords: Environmental Strategy; Information Provision; Environmental Management; Knowledge Dissemination

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24 Feb 2020
Research & Ideas

The Hidden Vulnerabilities of Open Source Software

is difficult to fully understand the health and security of FOSS because 1) by design, it is distributed in nature so there is no central authority to ensure quality and maintenance, and 2) FOSS can be... View Details

Keywords: by Frank Nagle and Jenny Hoffman; Computer

2019
Working Paper

Design Rules, Volume 2: How Technology Shapes Organizations: Chapter 13 Platform Systems vs. Step Processes—The Value of Options and the Power of Modularity

By: Carliss Y. Baldwin

This is the first chapter in Part 3. Its purpose is to contrast the value structure of platform systems with step processes from a technological perspective. I first review the basic technical architecture of computers and argue that every computer is inherently a... View Details

Keywords: Platform Systems; Step Processes; Computer Architecture; Modularity; Information Technology; Digital Platforms

SSRN

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25 Jul 2013
News

An Engine of Education Innovation

for 10 years, taking over as CEO in 2011. Match has a three-pronged approach: it runs a system of six public charter schools, manages its own master's degree-granting graduate school of education, and... View Details

Keywords: Elementary and Secondary Schools; Educational Services

August 2018
Case

MISHA: Modernizing the World of Shisha

By: William R. Kerr and Gamze Yucaoglu

The case opens in 2017 with two of the five co-founders of MISHA telling the company’s CEO Michal Portz that they believe it is time for the global venture to shut down its operations and cease investments. Portz and another co-founder believe MISHA can still... View Details

Keywords: Innovation And Management; Entrepreneurship; Private Sector; For-profit Firms; Business Strategy; Decision; Business Startups; Emerging Markets; Business Model; Marketing Strategy; Distribution Channels; Market Entry and Exit; Growth and Development Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Value Creation; Decision Choices and Conditions; Technology Industry; Qatar; United States

26 Sep 2013
Working Paper Summaries

Playing Favorites: How Firms Prevent the Revelation of Bad News

Keywords: by Lauren Cohen, Dong Lou & Christopher Malloy; Financial Services

Article

Treatment Of Opioid Use Disorder Among Commercially Insured U.S. Adults, 2008–17

By: Karen Shen, Eric Barrette and Leemore S. Dafny

There is abundant literature on efforts to reduce opioid prescriptions and misuse, but comparatively little on the treatment provided to people with opioid use disorder (OUD). Using claims data representing 12–15 million nonelderly adults covered through commercial... View Details

Keywords: Opioid Treatment; Medication-assisted Treatment; Substance Use Disorder; Private Insurance; Health Disorders; Health Care and Treatment; Insurance; United States

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September 1988 (Revised June 1993)
Case

Ring Medical

By: V. Kasturi Rangan

Describes the progress of a new product launch (HCS-100, a hospital communication system). Ring Medical has sold only five systems in six months against an annual target of 30. There is a lack of agreement internally on how the new product effort should be organized.... View Details

Keywords: Conferences; Marketing Strategy; Product Launch; Distribution Channels; Performance

September 2013 (Revised August 2015)
Background Note

Leadership and Teaming

By: Ethan Bernstein

Small differences in the leadership of teams can have large consequences for the success of their efforts. Many initiatives fail not because of a fatal error in judgment or insufficient ideas, knowledge, motivation, or capabilities to deliver a solution. They fail... View Details

14 Sep 2009
Research & Ideas

Understanding Users of Social Networks

social networking sites to reach potential customers, says Piskorski, who advises companies on this subject. The problem is that execs think of online social networks as social media and treat it as another View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Advertising; Publishing

Article

Lone Inventors as Sources of Technological Breakthroughs: Myth or Reality?

Are lone inventors more or less likely to invent breakthroughs? Recent research has attempted to resolve this question by considering the variance of creative outcome distributions. It has implicitly assumed a symmetric thickening or thinning of both tails, i.e., that... View Details

Keywords: Experience and Expertise; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Independent Innovation and Invention; Patents; Groups and Teams; Creativity

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January 2016 (Revised March 2016)
Case

Whither the Weather (Company): Forecasting 2016

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Jonathan Cohen

CEO David Kenny led the transformation of the Weather Company from a television business to a Big Data technology company from 2012 until 2016, when IBM acquired its digital assets. This case discusses major decisions taken by Kenny starting in 2014 as he sought to... View Details

Keywords: Weather Company; IBM; Digital; Technology; David Kenny; Television; Weather Channel; Legacy Business; Mainstream; Newstream; Reorganization; Acquisitions; Transformation; Information Technology; Television Entertainment; Acquisition; Consolidation; Change; Leadership

12 May 2023
Blog Post

Independent Project: The Rise of Electric Heat Pumps

propane, which is present in only ~5% of U.S. homes. Propane is attractive because it is the greenest carbon fuel and is available for widespread distribution in areas that do not have easy access to natural... View Details

2022
Working Paper

Getting on the Map: The Impact of Online Listings on Business Performance

By: Michael Luca, Abhishek Nagaraj and Gauri Subramani

We evaluate the extent to which small businesses maintain an online presence, looking at restaurant listings on a major online review platform. While the majority of restaurants have an online presence, we find that roughly 18 percent in our sample have no presence as... View Details

Keywords: Small Business; Internet and the Web; Revenue; Digital Marketing; Food and Beverage Industry

08 May 2024
News

Michael Bloomberg (MBA 1966) Awarded Medal of Freedom

Michael Bloomberg (MBA 1966) was one of 19 people awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom at the White House on May 2. “From finance to media to philanthropy, Michael Bloomberg has revolutionized our economy,” President Biden said as he conferred the Nation’s highest... View Details

14 Jun 2010
Research & Ideas

The Hard Work of Measuring Social Impact

Quantifying performance and measuring results are no longer the sole domain of for-profit enterprises. Today, many nonprofit organizations also find themselves on the hot seat—not with stockholders but with donors who expect similar... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna

2008
Working Paper

Investable Tax Credits: The Case of the Low Income Housing Tax Credit

By: Mihir A. Desai, Dhammika Dharmapala and Monica Singhal

The Low Income Housing Tax Credit (LIHTC) represents a novel tax expenditure program that employs "investable" tax credits to spur production of low-income rental housing. While it has grown into the largest source of new affordable housing in the U.S. and its... View Details

Keywords: Investment; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Taxation; Housing; Renting or Rental; United States