Margins - Publications - Faculty & Research

11 Aug 2021
Blog Post

The Equity Network: How HBS Helped Me Launch a Tech-Enabled Social Enterprise

that this could become much larger than a summer project and be a real opportunity to make a difference for marginalized communities in the workplace. And thus, The Equity Network was born! At HBS, we set out to turn The Equity Network... View Details

10 Oct 2023
Blog Post

Policy Drivers for Environmental Justice: What Businesses Need to Know

Kimberlé Crenshaw, can help to think about environmentalism as well. Intersectionality is the idea that individuals exist in a crossroads of all their identities, with privilege and marginalization in the intersection between their class,... View Details

30 Jun 2023
Blog Post

Finding Pride

nonconforming] contingent of the RCs. About 15 people showed up—and that’s where I met all my closest friends. The WTGNC contingent came from a desire to make sure there’s a community within PRIDE for folks who experience marginalization... View Details

08 Oct 2018
Research & Ideas

Knowing What Your Boss Earns Can Make You Work Harder

different position,” the authors write. “This phenomenon may explain why the gender wage gap is large in the vertical [top-to-bottom] margin but small in the horizontal [peer-to-peer] margin.” Social forces may not be as effective as... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

28 Jun 2004
Research & Ideas

How to Avoid a Price Increase

Gourville discusses the price-versus-quantity dilemma in this e-mail interview. Manda Salls: When prices for raw materials increase, companies need to compensate to keep their profit margin on target. What are the typical responses? John... View Details

Keywords: by Manda Salls

17 Jun 2017
Research & Ideas

Amazon, Whole Foods Deal a Big Win for Consumers

Source: 400tmax Editor's Note. Online retailing behemoth Amazon announced June 16 that it would acquire upscale grocery chain Whole Foods Market in a deal valued at more than $13 billion. Though the company has dabbled with the idea of a brick-and-mortar footprint in... View Details

Keywords: by Jose Alvarez and Len Schlesinger; Retail

18 Sep 2019
Op-Ed

WeWork—The IPO That Shouldn’t?

require them to allocate all of it in an EBIDTA calculation. If these items are included, WeWork’s contribution margin becomes substantially negative. Ultimately, the metric WeWork proposes to use is of View Details

Keywords: by Nori Gerardo Lietz; Financial Services; Real Estate

21 May 2012
Research & Ideas

OSHA Inspections: Protecting Employees or Killing Jobs?

doctorate. "But we found it to be an across-the-board effect." Just as important are the findings about the costs to companies of complying with regulations. Testing every measure they could find—jobs, wages, sales, and credit ratings among them—the researchers found... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

12 Nov 2021
News

Alumni Business Leaders on Confronting the Climate Change Challenge

will always be on the margin unless there is huge support within the public. Major changes in a business occur when major economics are demonstrated—new markets with new products, innovation, business model. These were well highlighted in... View Details

08 Oct 2008
Research & Ideas

Book Excerpt: A Sense of Urgency

create the sense of urgency needed to perform better. An example. At a major European retailer, margins were shrinking year after year because fashionable boutiques were taking its top-of-the-line business, and discounters were taking... View Details

Keywords: by John P. Kotter

04 Apr 2023
Blog Post

Maersk’s Journey to Decarbonize Shipping

ability to charge higher rates generated historic ocean shipping revenue of $48 billion and earnings before interest and taxes (EBIT) of $18 billion, for a margin of 37%. This was in contrast to the traditional low-margin nature of the... View Details

05 Mar 2012
Research & Ideas

Is JC Penney’s Makeover the Future of Retailing?

with revenue falling year over year by 4.9%, to $5.42 billion. Johnson, who took over in November, is revamping Penney's 1,000-plus stores to target "all Americans." Standing out in the crowd, making the pricing scheme work, and reinvesting in the company despite... View Details

Keywords: by Kim Girard; Retail

10 Sep 2001
Research & Ideas

Do You Have Change Fatigue?

Close Up). These phases are not linear, Garvin emphasizes: all three must take place for the change to work, but not necessarily in the order just described. Moreover, for each stage to be even marginally successful, certain conditions... View Details

Keywords: by Nick Morgan

Research Summary

Overview

By: Reshmaan N. Hussam

Engaged with field work in South Asia and East Africa, Professor Hussam places a focus on exploring questions with strong theoretical motivation in the economics literature as well as relevant downstream policy implications. Her research spans four broad interests.... View Details

10 Mar 2020
Research & Ideas

The Little Understood Problem Confronting Diverse Workplaces

if someone has trouble ‘fitting in.’ Moreover, the people whose job it is to acculturate members of marginalized groups into these dominant group expectations are also finding it challenging. Building productive relationships across... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna

Blog

What Black Executives Really Want

WHY DID YOU START RESEARCHING BLACK EXECUTIVES? I am not an expert in diversity and inclusion, but I had thought about marginalization, both as a child growing up in India, where I saw the marginalization of some minority groups, and as a... View Details

01 Jun 2008
News

You Only Thought You Were Republican

is some fiscal box we’ve been put in. You and I, of course, or surely the two Steves and a Joe, are doing just fine. Indeed, much of our mountainous debt was incurred not when Kennedy lowered the top marginal tax rate from 90 percent to... View Details

Keywords: Andrew Tobias; national debt; Business Schools & Computer & Management Training; Educational Services; Government

06 May 2021
HBS Case

How Four Women Made Miami More Equitable for Startups

her hometown of New Orleans before moving to Miami. Gibson shifted her focus to cultivating higher-wage jobs in marginalized communities and drew on her background in environmental sciences to form EcoTech Visions, a company providing... View Details

Keywords: by Carolyn DiPaolo

26 May 2003
Research & Ideas

When Silence Spells Trouble at Work

praiseworthy. Most individuals who go against their organizations or express their concerns publicly are severely punished. If they're not fired outright, they're usually marginalized and made to feel irrelevant. Our research shows that... View Details

Keywords: by Leslie A. Perlow

10 Feb 2003
Research & Ideas

Commodity Busters: Be a Price Maker, Not a Price Taker

customers are encouraged to trade down to lower margin merchandise or services, or just become so confused that they won't buy. It is difficult enough to compete with others; do not compete with yourself! By and large, simple product... View Details

Keywords: by Benson P. Shapiro

Publications