Complex Systems - Publications - Faculty & Research

09 May 2011
Research & Ideas

Moving From Bean Counter to Game Changer

Early Warning System that conveyed the bank's "risk view." Management started using these tools to frame important debates, such as the evaluation of divisional heads' performance at quarterly business reviews. The View Details

Keywords: by Kim Girard; Banking

04 Apr 2011
Research & Ideas

Attention Medical Shoppers: What Health Care Can Learn from Walmart and Amazon

that the system isn't set up to incentivize health care workers to do that. "The reason it's never done is that nobody gets paid to do it .there's no incentive to do anything," Cutler said. Services Not Emphasized In terms of... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Health

20 Jan 2010
First Look

First Look: Jan. 20

self-report of a licensee. Self-reporting gives rise to demand for auditing by the licensor or third-party attestation by the licensee. We characterize the optimal royalty contract, accounting system choice by the licensee, and audit... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

05 May 2003
Research & Ideas

SEC Commissioner Sees “Healing and Reform”

causes of the scandals were systemic rather than a matter of a proverbial "few bad apples." In the panel, moderated by HBS professor Krishna Palepu, panelists also said that new laws ,and regulations were already making a... View Details

Keywords: by Catherine Walsh

19 Nov 2001
Research & Ideas

Wrapping Your Alliances In a World Wide Web

business together and so are willing to invest resources in building a highly functional link, especially one that allows their information systems to interact on routine tasks without human intervention. This intervention is costly and... View Details

Keywords: by Andrew McAfee

16 Mar 2003
Research & Ideas

At the Center of Corporate Scandal Where Do We Go From Here?

appropriate. That's one pole of the continuum. At the other pole, you have people who really believe there's something extremely wrong with the barrel. Thus it's not just a matter of a few bad apples; what we really need is a wholesale revamping of the View Details

Keywords: by Kim B. Clark

16 Feb 2012
Op-Ed

Nitin Nohria: Why US Competitiveness Matters

American Competitiveness site where resources, commentary, and solutions are showcased. Harvard Business School's US Competitiveness Project is another must-visit-site to better understand the complex problems facing the US. One good way... View Details

Keywords: by Nitin Nohria

15 Feb 2012
Op-Ed

Occupy Wall Street Protestors Have a Point

It's been easy to dismiss the Occupy Wall Street-and-beyond protesters. To many, they seem disorganized, lack a clear agenda, and advance simple solutions to complex problems. But in reality their concerns are not very different from the... View Details

Keywords: by Joseph L. Bower, Herman B. Leonard & Lynn S. Paine

03 Dec 2012
HBS Case

HBS Cases: Against the Grain

Corruption doesn't announce itself with a capital C. It is subtler and thornier than that—as one HBS student found out the hard way during a recent summer internship in Tanzania. In a new case detailing his experience, the student struggles to navigate the View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Food & Beverage

01 Apr 2014
First Look

First Look: April 1

centers. It uses a transfer-pricing system designed to account for interdependencies between profit centers and to induce coordination. Further, profit center managers are incentivized with own-level residual income measures. The use of... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

22 Apr 2020
Research Event

How Investors Are Sizing Up Climate Change’s Risks—and Opportunities

March 4, Harvard Business School gathered senior executives, risk experts, and leading investment professionals from some of the world’s largest asset managers to share how they’re approaching these complex questions. The conference,... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost; Financial Services

02 Mar 2017
What Do You Think?

Is China About to Overtake the US for World Trade Leadership?

reluctance to open up the banking system and promote the yuan as a global reserve currency. These were the conclusions of nearly all respondents to this month’s column. Nevertheless, there was an undertone to the comments suggesting that... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

14 Apr 2008
Research & Ideas

The Surprising Right Fit for Software Testing

system testing, and system integration testing. Personal Motivation Specialisterne's founder, Thorkil Sonne, launched the company in 2004 following a high-level career in telecommunications IT.... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Video Game; Web Services; Computer

16 Jul 2008
Op-Ed

What Should Employers Do about Health Care?

cannot get out of health care, no matter what kind of health insurance system is put in place. They bear the cost of poor health in the form of sick days, absenteeism, reduced productivity at work, and early retirements of skilled... View Details

Keywords: by Michael E. Porter, Elizabeth O. Teisberg & Scott Wallace; Health

29 May 2001
Research & Ideas

How Technological Disruption Changes Everything

serve. Why are more and more beds in hospitals vacant? With improving technology, complex work done only at hospitals can now be accomplished at stand-alone sub-system centers, out-patient and in-office care, and through in-home care. The... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Health

02 Jul 2001
Research & Ideas

Ray A. Goldberg

framework for the field in their book A Concept of Agribusiness. That seminal work traces a complex value-added chain that begins with the farmer's purchase of seed and livestock and ends with a product fit for the consumer's table.... View Details

Keywords: by Staff; Agriculture & Agribusiness

12 Jul 2006
Research & Ideas

Competition the Cure for Healthcare

Last month HBS Working Knowledge offered an excerpt from Redefining Health Care: Creating Value-Based Competition on Results, by Harvard Business School professor Michael E. Porter and Elizabeth Olmsted Teisberg. The U.S. healthcare View Details

Keywords: by Roger Thompson; Health

19 Dec 2005
Research & Ideas

Public Education Goes to School

achieving results across the entire system, moving from planning to action and ensuring fidelity of implementation on such an enormous scale is very difficult. Redesigning the structures and systems of a district so that they are coherent... View Details

Keywords: by Mallory Stark; Education

26 May 2015
First Look

First Look: May 26

it into a standalone business, continue publishing in academic journals, license their content to an established medical vendor, or some combination of these? This case allows students to develop and evaluate approaches to disseminating simple and proven innovations... View Details