Publications

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January 2023
Case

Year Up: Measuring and Scaling Impact

By: Natalia Rigol, Benjamin N. Roth, Brian Trelstad and Sarah Mehta

Year Up, a non-profit that provides training and practical work experience to low-income young people, has for years prioritized impact measurement. By 2022, it had built a robust body of evidence demonstrating that its program yields higher earnings for participants.... View Details

Keywords: Demographics; Education; Jobs and Positions; Measurement and Metrics; Performance; Research; Social Enterprise; Growth Management; Education Industry; United States; Massachusetts; Boston

Educators

2008
Working Paper

Taste Heterogeneity, IIA, and the Similarity Critique

By: Thomas J. Steenburgh and Andrew Ainslie

The purpose of this paper is to show that allowing for taste heterogeneity does not address the similarity critique of discrete-choice models. Although IIA may technically be broken in aggregate, the mixed logit model allows neither a given individual nor the... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Mathematical Methods; Behavior; Prejudice and Bias

March 1990 (Revised October 1999)
Case

Mary Kay Cosmetics: Sales Force Incentives (A)

By: Robert L. Simons and Hilary Weston

Describes the incentive system by which Mary Kay Cosmetics motivates the sales force of 200,000 independent agents who comprise the firm's only distribution channel. Illustrates the powerful effect on sales-force behavior that results when creative types of employee... View Details

Keywords: Motivation and Incentives; Cost Management; Salesforce Management; Distribution Channels; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; United States

Educators

2017
Working Paper

Explaining the Vertical-to-Horizontal Transition in the Computer Industry

By: Carliss Y. Baldwin

This paper seeks to explain the technological forces that led to the rise of vertically integrated corporations in the late 19th century and the opposing forces that led to a vertical-to-horizontal transition in the computer industry 100 years later. I first model the... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Design; Business History; Vertical Integration; Horizontal Integration; Digital Platforms; Computer Industry

30 Jan 2024
Research & Ideas

‘Intrinsic Joy’ Sparks Ideas Better than Cash

People use crowdsourcing to solve problems, raise money, and share AI breakthroughs, the authors write. Open source software—such as the popular content management system WordPress or the operating system... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Technology

Article

Spanning the Institutional Abyss: The Intergovernmental Network and the Governance of Foreign Direct Investment

By: Juan Alcacer and Paul Ingram

Global economic transactions such as foreign direct investment must extend over an institutional abyss between the jurisdiction, and therefore protection, of the states involved. Intergovernmental organizations (IGOs), whose members are states, represent an important... View Details

Keywords: Globalization; Market Transactions; Foreign Direct Investment; Government and Politics; Risk and Uncertainty; Networks; Culture; Complexity; Public Administration Industry

August 2023 (Revised January 2024)
Supplement

Arla Foods: Data-Driven Decarbonization (B)

By: Michael Parzen, Michael W. Toffel, Susan Pinckney and Amram Migdal

The case describes Arla’s history, in particular its climate change mitigation efforts, and how it implemented a price incentive system to motivate individual farms to implement scope 1 greenhouse gas emissions mitigation measures and receive a higher milk price. The... View Details

25 Jun 2013
First Look

First Look: June 25

Network Methods to Map Product Architecture By: Baldwin, Carliss Y., Alan MacCormack, and John Rusnak Abstract—In this paper, we describe an operational methodology for characterising the architecture of technical systems and demonstrate... View Details

Keywords: Anna Secino

Article

Is It Time for Auditor Independence Yet?

By: M. H. Bazerman and D. A. Moore

Well before the collapse of Enron and Arthur Andersen, we argued that the auditing system had been corrupted by the incentives auditors face to please their clients. We stated that even honest auditors were incapable of independence within the current regulatory... View Details

Keywords: Accounting Audits; Change; Crime and Corruption; Customer Satisfaction; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Failure; Motivation and Incentives

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2008
Working Paper

Communication (and Coordination?) in a Modern, Complex Organization

By: Adam M. Kleinbaum, Toby E. Stuart and Michael L. Tushman

This is a descriptive study of the structure of communications in a modern organization. We analyze a dataset with millions of electronic mail messages, calendar meetings and teleconferences for many thousands of employees of a single, multidivisional firm during a... View Details

Keywords: Business Conglomerates; Interpersonal Communication; Organizational Structure; Social Issues; Boundaries

25 Apr 2023
Op-Ed

How SHEIN and Temu Conquered Fast Fashion—and Forged a New Business Model

methods. “The success of Amazon, Shopify, and social commerce sites such as Instagram convinced consumers to move much of their purchasing power online. ” That the model was born in China is not surprising because China has long had the... View Details

Keywords: by John Deighton; Fashion; Retail; Consumer Products

10 Oct 2023
Research & Ideas

In Empowering Black Voters, Did a Landmark Law Stir White Angst?

states (the data excludes Texas) for 1956 through 1980. They use the information to create a database—the first time that such records have been systemically collected for this part US for the years covered by the study, they note. “One... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

03 Mar 2008
First Look

First Look: March 4, 2008

Working PapersSell Side School Ties Authors:Lauren H. Cohen, Andrea Frazzini, and Christopher J. Malloy Abstract We study the impact of social networks on agents' ability to gather superior information about firms. Exploiting novel data... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

22 Feb 2024
Research & Ideas

How to Make AI 'Forget' All the Private Data It Shouldn't Have

training for various reasons.” Rachel Layne: What is machine “unlearning” and why is it important? Seth Neel: Before defining machine unlearning, maybe it's good to set a baseline of what machine learning is. Broadly, I view machine learning as using data to create... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Technology; Information Technology

Article

Value of New Performance Information in Healthcare: Evidence from Japan

By: Susanna Gallani, Takehisa Kajiwara and Ranjani Krishnan

Mandatory measurement and disclosure of outcome measures are commonly used policy tools in healthcare. The effectiveness of such disclosures relies on the extent to which the new information produced by the mandatory system is internalized by the healthcare... View Details

Keywords: Value Of Information; Feedback; Patient Satisfaction; Healthcare; Health Care and Treatment; Satisfaction; Information; Measurement and Metrics; Performance Improvement

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April 2023
Article

Perceptions Related to Engaging in Non-driving Activities in an Automated Vehicle While Commuting: A Text Mining Approach

By: Yilun Xing, Linda Ng Boyle, Raffaella Sadun, John D. Lee, Orit Shaer and Andrew Kun

Automated vehicles (AVs) offer human operators the opportunity to participate in non-driving activities while on the move. In this study, we examined and compared drivers' perception of non-driving activities in two driving modes: highly AVs in the future and current... View Details

Keywords: Perception; Behavior; Surveys; Auto Industry