Publications

26 Nov 2001
Op-Ed

Why Corporate Budgeting Needs To Be Fixed

Then there's the recent debacle involving a big beverage company. The vice president of sales for one of the company's largest regions dramatically underpredicted demand for an upcoming major holiday. His motivation was simple—he wanted... View Details

Keywords: by Michael C. Jensen

07 Sep 2021
Research & Ideas

Who Pays For Wildfire and Hurricane Damage? Everyone.

New Mexico homeowners might think their inland location buffers them from the financial toll of climate change, but they’re still paying for climate-related property damage occurring in coastal states. New research finds that homeowners in New Mexico and other states... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz; Insurance

January 2005 (Revised June 2005)
Case

Zipcar: Influencing Customer Behavior

By: Frances X. Frei and Hanna Rodriguez-Farrar

At Zipcar, customers share the use of cars and, as a result, rely on each other for their service experience. Customers are required to keep the car clean and the gas tank full and to return the car on time. Told from the perspective of two customers: Sal Fishman, who... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Governance Controls; Behavior; Service Delivery; Service Operations; Consumer Behavior; Leasing; Transportation Industry; Service Industry; United States

March 1998 (Revised October 2015)
Case

Hamptonshire Express

By: V. G. Narayanan and Ananth Raman

Presents a series of problems that face a newspaper publisher, including inventory level, effort level, subsidy for unsold inventory, and commission for sales. Each problem is accompanied by one or more spreadsheets. Students must make various operational decisions. View Details

Keywords: Marketing Channels; Motivation and Incentives; Performance; Operations; Problems and Challenges; Decision Making; Sales; Demand and Consumers; Media and Broadcasting Industry; Publishing Industry; United States

18 Oct 2011
First Look

First Look: October 18

restaurants-which kinds of communities support restaurant chains and which kinds of communities tend to support independent local restaurants and food service providers instead. We analyze data from a 2005 sample of 49 counties across the View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

18 Mar 2019
Research & Ideas

Stuck in Commuter Hell? You Can Still Be Productive

activity of the day. Many workers endure much lengthier commutes than the 76-minute roundtrip average; in fact, commutes are getting longer in general. One study found that the distance between employees’ homes and workplaces in the View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

13 Jan 2021
Research & Ideas

How 'Small C' Change Can Beat Large-Scale Rebuilding

data-id=_/ej8BGQKx29V5JBMZ7gF3][/div] Like Mourinho, Flick did not shuffle players or staff, nor did he reform the playing style or tactical formation. He did not rebuild the club’s facilities as some of his precursors did. For example, Jürgen Klinsmann, a former... View Details

Keywords: by Boris Groysberg, Sascha L. Schmidt, and Sebastian Flegr; Sports

02 Aug 2021
Research & Ideas

What If Closing the Wage Gap Means Everyone Earns Less?

It’s a sticky but common dilemma for managers: A valued employee finds out that a coworker earns more, gets upset, and demands a raise. If gender or race figure into the wage gap, tensions can escalate fast. Companies, including Whole... View Details

Keywords: by Avery Forman

31 Oct 2013
Working Paper Summaries

Do Measures of Financial Constraints Measure Financial Constraints?

Keywords: by Joan Farre-Mensa & Alexander Ljungqvist

14 Jul 2020
Research & Ideas

Restarting Under Uncertainty: Managerial Experiences from Around the World

their value proposition to reflect ever-evolving demand conditions and discover new growth opportunities. They adapt their approach toward HR management to preserve business viability while maintaining employees’ safety and well-being.... View Details

Keywords: by Raffaella Sadun, Andrea Bertoni, Alexia Delfino, Giovanni Fassio, and Mariapaola Testa

August 2018 (Revised October 2020)
Case

Tailor Brands: Artificial Intelligence-Driven Branding

By: Jill Avery

Using proprietary artificial intelligence technology, startup Tailor Brands set out to democratize branding by allowing small businesses to create their brand identities by automatically generating logos in just minutes at minimal cost with no branding or design skills... View Details

20 Oct 2003
Research & Ideas

Gaps in the Historical Record: Development of the Electronics Industry

that moment of the microprocessor, and with it the personal computer. Here again IBM played the critical role. The personal computer had been initially commercialized by young hobbyists in the late 1970s. In 1980 IBM's managers set up a View Details

Keywords: by Alfred D. Chandler Jr.; Consumer Products

November 2017 (Revised October 2018)
Case

Brandless: Disrupting Consumer Packaged Goods

By: Jill Avery

Brandless, an online direct-to-consumer seller of upscale private-label consumer packaged goods, offered consumers a limited assortment of values-conscious products delivered directly to their homes with the simplicity of one fixed $3 price point that promised an... View Details