Publications

November 2007
Article

Standing Out from the Crowd: The Visibility-Enhancing Effects of IPO-related Signals on Alliance Formation by Entrepreneurial Firms

By: Tim Pollock and Ranjay Gulati

In this study, we explore how multiple signals related to entrepreneurial companies at the time of their initial public offering (IPO) influence the firms' ability to acquire non-financial resources over time. Specifically, the study looks at how signals based on... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Initial Public Offering; Investment; Alliances; Risk and Uncertainty; Power and Influence

Research Summary

4. Collaborative Brokerage, Generative Creativity, and Creative Success

Joint work with Lee Fleming (Technology and Operations Management Unit, Harvard Business School) and David Chen (Doctoral Candidate, Harvard Business School and Harvard School of... View Details

05 May 2009
First Look

First Look: May 5, 2009

literature on inter-firm relations. Download the paper: http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/09-126.pdf Do Friends Influence Purchases in a Social Network? Authors:Raghuram Iyengar, Sangman Han, and Sunil Gupta... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

January 1999
Exercise

Seneca Systems (B): General and Confidential Instructions for R. Thompson, Vice President, Marketing

Seneca is a three-party negotiation-mediation simulation. The context is a product failure crisis in a manufacturing company with highly autonomous units. The heads of two divisions are in a dispute over who has responsibility for failures in a key product. The head of... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation Participants; Business Divisions; Power and Influence; Manufacturing Industry

April 2023
Case

Twitter: The Freedom to Speak Freely and Be Heard

By: Randolph B. Cohen, Carin-Isabel Knoop and Mel Martin

In April 2022, serial entrepreneur Elon Musk announced that he would be interested in purchasing the social media site Twitter for $44 billion. With more than 100 million twitter followers, Musk had historically leveraged the site to engage with the customers of his... View Details

Keywords: Values and Beliefs; Acquisition; Social Media; Power and Influence; Technology Industry; Communications Industry; Public Relations Industry; United States

20 May 2019
Research & Ideas

Activist CEOs Are Rising Up—and Their Customers Are Listening

When former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz announced earlier this year he was thinking about running for president of the United States, it wasn’t a new idea. Past CEOs seeking the White House have included Carly Fiorina, Ross Perot, Herman Cain, Steve Forbes, Mitt... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

2012
Article

A Field Study on the Acceptance and Use of a New Accounting System

By: V.G. Narayanan, Ranjani Krishnan and Jamshed J. Mistry

This study examines the attitudes, use, and acceptance of a new accounting system in a pharmaceutical corporation that switched from an Activity Based Costing System to the Theory of Constraints System (TOC). Using structuration theory as a framework, we posit that... View Details

Keywords: Theory Of Constraints; Structuration; Field Study; Accounting; Innovation and Invention

March 2020
Article

The Politics of M&A Antitrust

By: Mihir N. Mehta, Suraj Srinivasan and Wanli Zhao

Antitrust regulators play a critical role in protecting market competition. We examine whether firms can use the political process to opportunistically influence antitrust reviews of corporate merger transactions. We exploit the fact that in some mergers, acquirers... View Details

Keywords: Political Economy; Antitrust; FTC; DOJ; Mergers and Acquisitions; Government and Politics; Power and Influence

SSRN

July 1980 (Revised November 1981)
Case

Strike in Space

A three-man skylab crew, after repeatedly unsuccessful attempts to influence Houston Mission Control to slow down the work pace, turns off radio communication and refuses to talk. Questions for the class: What leads up to this break? How does one repair it? View Details

Keywords: Working Conditions; Conflict and Resolution; Aerospace Industry; Houston

2025
Working Paper

Lessons from an App Update at Replika AI: Identity Discontinuity in Human-AI Relationships

By: Julian De Freitas, Noah Castelo, Ahmet Kaan Uğuralp and Zeliha Oğuz-Uğuralp

As consumers increasingly interact with AI applications specialized for social relationships, what is the nature and depth of these relationships among actual users, and can company actions influence these dynamics? We find that active users of the US-based AI... View Details

Keywords: AI and Machine Learning; Welfare; Loss; Well-being; Identity; Perception; Relationships

SSRN

Read Now

2022
Chapter

Prioritarianism and Optimal Taxation

By: Matti Tuomala and Matthew Weinzierl

Prioritarianism has been at the center of the formal approach to optimal tax theory since its modern starting point in Mirrlees (1971), but most theorists’ use of it is motivated by tractability rather than explicit normative reasoning. We characterize analytically and... View Details

Keywords: Prioritarianism; Optimal Taxation; Utilitarianism; Redistribution; Inverse-optimum; Taxation; Theory; Policy

Read Now

02 Nov 2006
Working Paper Summaries

Managing Functional Biases in Organizational Forecasts: A Case Study of Consensus Forecasting in Supply Chain Planning

Keywords: by Rogelio Oliva & Noel H. Watson

June 2021
Case

Akira Fukabori and Kevin Kajitani at avatarin (A) (Abridged)

By: Linda A. Hill and Emily Tedards

In 2016, Akira Fukabori and Kevin Kajitani, aeronautical engineers at All Nippon Airways Co., Ltd., began to wonder why, in a world of accelerating globalization and digital connectivity, those who lived in far-remote villages or impoverished urban areas could not... View Details

Keywords: Agility; Ecosystem; Innovation Ecosystems; Innovation; Crowdsourcing; XPRIZE; Open Innovation; Partnership; Government; Collaboration; Co-creation; Purpose; Impact; Social Impact; Movement; Organizational Behavior; Organizational Ambidexterity; Ambidexterity; Culture; Culture Change; Global Teams; Experimentation; Space; Space Industry; Airline Industry; Start-up; Platform Business; Platform Strategy; Platform; Digital; Robotics; Robots; Avatar; Telepresence; Innovation Lab; Mobility; COVID-19; Intrapreneurship; Public-private Partnership; Innovation and Invention; Technological Innovation; Partners and Partnerships; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Alignment; Leadership; Leading Change; Diversity; Organizational Culture; Change Management; Strategy; Entrepreneurship; Digital Platforms; Transportation Industry; Aerospace Industry; Japan

2019
Book

The Age of Surveillance Capitalism: The Fight for a Human Future at the New Frontier of Power

By: Shoshana Zuboff

In this masterwork of original thinking and research, Shoshana Zuboff provides startling insights into the phenomenon that she has named surveillance capitalism. The stakes could not be higher: a global architecture of behavior modification threatens human nature in... View Details

Keywords: Consumer Profiling; Consumer Behavior; Forecasting and Prediction; Information Technology; Power and Influence; Ethics; Society; Transformation

October 2018 (Revised July 2019)
Technical Note

The Brand Management of Places

By: E. Ofek and Nathaniel Schwalb

The brand management of places, such as countries, cities and regions, has received increasing attention in recent years. The associations, impressions and reputations that people have of a certain place can have a big impact in a number of areas – from tourism, to... View Details

Keywords: Place Brand; Destination Brand; Nation Brand; Public Diplomacy; Brands and Branding; Management; Perception; Public Opinion

Article

Handshaking Promotes Deal-Making by Signaling Cooperative Intent

By: Juliana Schroeder, Jane L. Risen, Francesca Gino and Michael I. Norton

We examine how a simple handshake—a gesture that often occurs at the outset of social interactions—can influence deal-making. Because handshakes are social rituals, they are imbued with meaning beyond their physical features. We propose that during mixed-motive... View Details

Keywords: Handshake; Cooperation; Affiliation; Competition; Negotiation; Nonverbal Communication; Negotiation Participants; Behavior; Communication Intention and Meaning; Negotiation Deal

Most leadership books are written for people who are already labeled as “leaders”—corporate execs, high-ranking managers, entrepreneurs. They may not speak to the underrepresented young person or uncommon experienced person with a dream to create change in the... View Details

Kathleen L. McGinn

Kathleen L. McGinn

Professor Kathleen L. McGinn, Baker Foundation Professor and Cahners-Rabb Professor of Business Administration (emeritus) at Harvard Business School, has served in various leadership roles at HBS, including Research... View Details

July 2009 (Revised June 2011)
Case

RiskMetrics Group

By: Jay W. Lorsch and Kaitlyn Simpson

RiskMetrics Group, a risk and governance consultancy, had a great deal of influence on U.S. companies. This case examines the history and growth of the company, the governance services it offers, the extent of its impact on shareholders, the controversy surrounding its... View Details

Keywords: Conflict of Interests; Risk Management; Governing and Advisory Boards; Corporate Governance; Power and Influence; Consulting Industry; United States