Publications

May 2025
Teaching Note

Clay Ridge Capital

By: William R. Kerr and Martin A. Sinozich

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 823-089. Kel Jackson, with the support of his young family, has been searching for a manufacturing business to purchase. After a long process, Kel had submitted a written offer to buy Sheetfab that matched his original conversation with... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Entrepreneurship; Negotiation Offer; Manufacturing Industry

February 2005
Case

Bayside Motion Group (A)

By: H. Kent Bowen and Bradley R. Staats

After purchasing a business and successfully growing it for 18 years, the sole owner is presented with an attractive acquisition offer from a Fortune 500 company. The company's future is bright, but is now the right time to sell? Can he create more value by waiting?... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Decisions; Entrepreneurship; Cash Flow; Private Equity; Financing and Loans; Growth Management; Success; Private Ownership

January 2008
Article

Nonemployment Stigma as Rational Herding: A Field Experiment

By: Felix Oberholzer-Gee

Long spells of unemployment are known to reduce the likelihood of re-employment, but it is difficult to discern the reasons for this observation. Using an experimental method that controls for search intensity and possible discouragement of job applicants, I document... View Details

Keywords: Job Search; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Employment; Cognition and Thinking; Perception; Creativity; Human Needs; Job Interviews; Selection and Staffing; Recruitment; Managerial Roles; Judgments; Employment Industry

08 Apr 2014
News

Can China Lead?

2022
Working Paper

Do Startups Benefit from Their Investors' Reputation? Evidence from a Randomized Field Experiment

By: Shai Benjamin Bernstein, Kunal Mehta, Richard Townsend and Ting Xu

We analyze a field experiment conducted on AngelList Talent, a large online search platform for startup jobs. In the experiment, AngelList randomly informed job seekers of whether a startup was funded by a top-tier investor and/or was funded recently. We find that the... View Details

Keywords: Startup Labor Market; Investors; Randomized Field Experiment; Certification Effect; Venture Capital; Business Startups; Human Capital; Job Search; Reputation

SSRN

Read Now

November 2016 (Revised October 2018)
Case

IguanaFix

By: Frank V. Cespedes, Thomas R. Eisenmann, Maria Fernanda Miguel and Laura Urdapilleta

IguanaFix is a rapidly scaling Latin American startup that provides an online platform connecting consumers with home improvement contractors. The founders have acquired customers through both B2C and B2B methods. But in seeking to grow and scale the business, they now... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurial Marketing; Home Improvement Services; Marketing Management; Scaling; Entrepreneurship; Marketing; Sales; Online Advertising; Latin America

04 Oct 2013
Working Paper Summaries

Imperfect Information, Patent Publication, and the Market for Ideas

Keywords: by Deepak Hegde & Hong Luo; Legal Services

31 Aug 2013
News

Hulbert on Investing: Beyond the Superstar CEO

19 Oct 2018
News

Lessons from Mayo Clinic’s Redesign of Stroke Care

News

Why Thinking Small Is Key to Entrepreneurial Success

March 12, 2021
Article

Is Your C-Suite Equipped to Lead a Digital Transformation?

By: J. Yo-Jud Cheng, Cassandra Frangos and Boris Groysberg

The pandemic has rapidly accelerated many companies’ digital efforts, but do they have the right executives in place to lead this sort of transformation? To answer this question, the authors analyzed more than 100 search specifications for C-suite positions in Fortune... View Details

Keywords: Management Teams; Information Technology; Transformation; Competency and Skills; Digital Transformation

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July 2010 (Revised September 2011)
Background Note

Hiring Professionals in China: A Practitioner's Guide

By: Heidi K. Gardner

This note outlines how leading professional service firms operating in China revise their standard hiring practices to fit local challenges and customs. Based on interviews with professionals in a number of established accounting, strategy consulting, and executive... View Details

Keywords: Talent and Talent Management; Globalized Firms and Management; Employees; Selection and Staffing; Service Industry; China

12 PM – 1 PM EDT, 24 Sep 2015
Webinars: Career

Transitioning Beyond Your First or Second Post-HBS Job

Are you thinking of making a job change? Unlike other career moves, the moves early in your career may be different than those later in life. Conducting honest self-assessment and redefining your career vision are often essential to determining next steps in an early... View Details

2016
Article

Do External Labor Market Job Switches Affect the Gender Compensation Gap?

By: Boris Groysberg, Paul M. Healy and Eric Lin

This paper investigates how external mobility influences the gender compensation gap for job switching executives. Using proprietary data for 2,034 executive placements from a global search firm, we find job switching narrows the gender gap by 45%, from 11% to 6%. We... View Details

Keywords: Executive Compensation; Gender

June 2011 (Revised March 2013)
Case

Wal-Mart Update, 2011

By: David B. Yoffie and Renee Kim

In 2011, Wal-Mart was the world's largest company with $420 billion in sales and operations in 14 countries. Yet it found itself searching for the right growth strategy moving forward. U.S. same-store sales had declined for eight consecutive quarters and Wal-Mart was... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Strategy; Business Growth and Maturation; Growth and Development Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Global Range; Business Strategy; Retail Industry

26 Oct 2018
News

Want to Run a Good Meeting? First, Take a Comedy Class

2014
Article

Executive Compensation and Human Capital Investments Through Industry Selection

By: Boris Groysberg and Eric Lin

We use proprietary data capturing compensation levels of executives placed by a global search firm to investigate how executives evaluate rewards and risks of human capital investment choices. Our findings suggest that more isolated industries with lower opportunity to... View Details

Keywords: Executive Compensation; Human Capital; Personal Development and Career

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February 2008
Exercise

Gerson Lehrman Group

By: Robert G. Eccles Jr. and David Lane

Gerson Lehrman Group (GLG) brought together decision makers in search of hard-to-find answers with specialized experts in nearly every imaginable field. Over time, GLG developed software to help minimize potential conflicts of interest among and between experts and... View Details

Keywords: Experience and Expertise; Customer Focus and Relationships; Governance Compliance; Conflict of Interests; Competitive Advantage; Software; Consulting Industry