Publications

31 May 2011
Research & Ideas

Japan Disaster Shakes Up Supply-Chain Strategies

chains work and the performance of the factories that comprise them. The area is also a primary supplier of lithium battery chemicals, flash memory, and anisotropic conductive film used in LCD flat panel displays. "In the race to... View Details

Keywords: by Dennis Fisher; Auto; Technology; Computer; Electronics

September 2017 (Revised March 2019)
Case

Henry Kissinger: Negotiating Black Majority Rule in Rhodesia (A)

By: James K. Sebenius and Laurence A. Green

In 1976, a growing crisis in Southern Africa drew the attention of United States Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger. White Rhodesian leader Ian Smith's refusal to accede to black majority rule threatened to widen into a regional conflict involving apartheid South... View Details

Keywords: Equality and Inequality; Race; Negotiation Process; Negotiation Participants; Government and Politics; Africa; United States

10 Mar 2020
Research & Ideas

The Little Understood Problem Confronting Diverse Workplaces

struggle was connected to an uncomfortable awareness of race and class differences. “It emerged that race and class mattered, but tutors felt they couldn’t talk about it,” says Reid, an associate professor... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna

02 Jun 2021
Research & Ideas

A Rare Find in Health Care: A Simple Solution to Racial Inequity

George Floyd’s murder last year forced many people to recognize the systemic racism that pervades American institutions, from law enforcement to health care. Even so, identifying those inequities is different than fixing them. “I don’t believe we advance the debate... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Health

25 Jun 2007
Research & Ideas

HBS Cases: Beauty Entrepreneur Madam Walker

As the daughter of newly freed slaves on a Louisiana plantation, Sarah Breedlove's prospects at birth in 1867 foretold grinding poverty and toil. Over time, she graduated from the cotton fields to the washtub, marrying at the age of 14 and giving birth 3 years later to... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Beauty & Cosmetics

21 Dec 2011
Research & Ideas

The Most Common Strategy Mistakes

somehow you can achieve better results. This is a hard race to win. So many managers confuse operational effectiveness with strategy. Another common mistake is confusing marketing with strategy. It's natural for strategy to arise from a... View Details

Keywords: by Joan Magretta

March 2018 (Revised March 2019)
Case

Gender and Free Speech at Google (A)

By: Nien-hê Hsieh, Martha J. Crawford and Sarah Mehta

In August 2017, Google fired James Damore, a 28-year-old software engineer who had been employed by the company since 2013. The move came after Damore penned an internal company memo titled “Google’s Ideological Echo Chamber,” which posited that innate biological... View Details

Keywords: Free Speech; Representation; Diversity; Gender; Race; Human Resources; Employees; Employee Relationship Management; Recruitment; Selection and Staffing; Labor; Employment; Lawsuits and Litigation; Organizational Culture; Technology Industry; United States; California

09 Oct 2001
Research & Ideas

Driven: How Human Nature Shapes Organizations

soon becomes self-reinforcing. A spiraling arms race can be created with everyone seeking more and more of a good thing. There seems to never be enough of the good thing—until a crisis breaks up the cycle. Individuals can be expected to... View Details

Keywords: by Paul Lawrence & Nitin Nohria

28 Jan 2020
Book

Advanced Leadership Requires More Than Outside-The-Box Thinking

innovative new products and services, new commercial ventures, or new approaches that create social impact. These are also the kinds of problems rising leaders care about: climate change, race and gender inequities, education shortfalls,... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

08 May 2023
Research & Ideas

How Trump’s Anti-Immigrant Rhetoric Crushed Crowdfunding for Minority Entrepreneurs

What does fearmongering about immigration have to do with crowdfunding new ideas on Kickstarter? For Black, Asian, and Hispanic entrepreneurs, such rhetoric can undermine fundraising efforts, making it even less likely that new ideas will come to fruition, argues... View Details

Keywords: by Scott Van Voorhis

12 Mar 2021
News

My Favorite Case

it is important to consider the context and development life cycle of an idea when collecting data or running an experiment—what have we really learned from this experience. —Amy Lieb (MBA 2001) Back to top “Carter Racing” Siblings BJ and Chris Carter were trying to... View Details

Keywords: Business Schools & Computer & Management Training; Educational Services

09 May 2023
Blog Post

Celebrating Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month at HBS (part 1)

dirty word. Growing up as one of the few non-white kids in my Seattle-area suburb, I was oftentimes more quickly identified by my race than my name. Along with my skin color came endless assumptions about who I was: math whiz, piano... View Details

July 2020 (Revised January 2021)
Case

Rosalind Fox at John Deere

By: Anthony Mayo and Olivia Hull

Rosalind Fox, the factory manager at John Deere’s Des Moines, Iowa plant, has improved the financial standing of the factory in the three years she’s been at its helm. But employee engagement scores—which measured employees’ satisfaction with working conditions and... View Details

31 Jan 2007
HBS Case

When Good Teams Go Bad

with as well." IN SYNCH? Crew racing is a grueling test of strength, coordination, and endurance. Physiologists say that rowing a 2,000-meter race is equivalent to playing two basketball games... View Details

Keywords: by Garry Emmons

26 Jun 2013
News

How a Trivial Pursuit Became a Significant Case

resources beyond his current control to pull the project together. He successfully raced to get TV Guide's TV Game distributed to both high-end and discount retailers (priced accordingly) in time for Christmas 1984—and just ahead of... View Details

Keywords: Amusement, Gambling, and Recreation Industries; Arts, Entertainment; Miscellaneous Store Retailers; Retail Trade

2014
Working Paper

Digital Discrimination: The Case of Airbnb.com

By: Benjamin Edelman and Michael Luca

Online marketplaces often contain information not only about products, but also about the people selling the products. In an effort to facilitate trust, many platforms encourage sellers to provide personal profiles and even to post pictures of themselves. However,... View Details

Keywords: Prejudice and Bias; Internet and the Web; Race; Trust; Renting or Rental; Accommodations Industry; Real Estate Industry

SSRN

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08 Mar 2022
Research & Ideas

Representation Matters: Building Case Studies That Empower Women Leaders

with protagonists’ consent, data on race and ethnicity. So far, we know that just under 30 percent of cases used in first-year MBA instruction feature a protagonist of color. There is more work to do, but by investing in data collection,... View Details

Keywords: by Colleen Ammerman and Boris Groysberg

12 Oct 2022
Research & Ideas

When Design Enables Discrimination: Learning from Anti-Asian Bias on Airbnb

Airbnb hosts of Asian descent had significantly fewer stays early in the COVID-19 pandemic—and the design of the travel site may have inadvertently enabled discrimination that shut Asians out, says new research by Harvard Business Professor Michael Luca. Hosts with... View Details

Keywords: by Pamela Reynolds; Technology; Travel

2023
Article

Building the Business Case for an Inclusive Approach to Digital Health Measurement with a Web App (Market Opportunity Calculator): Instrument Development Study

By: Mitchell Tang, Yashoda Sharma, Jennifer C. Goldsack and Ariel Dora Stern

Background: The use of digital health measurement tools has grown substantially in recent years. However, there are concerns that the promised benefits from these products will not be shared equitably. Underserved populations, such as those with lower education and... View Details

Keywords: Demographics; Product Development; Health Care and Treatment; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry