Year Up - Publications - Faculty & Research

18 Apr 2023
Research & Ideas

What Happens When Banks Ditch Coal: The Impact Is 'More Than Anyone Thought'

Consumers who are eager to mitigate climate change can take many actions, such as reducing the number of airline flights they take or installing solar panels on their homes. But the planet is in a race against time, and individual action alone won’t help most countries... View Details

Keywords: by Barbara DeLollis; Financial Services; Mining

02 Apr 2020
What Do You Think?

What Are Lessons for Leaders from This Black Swan Crisis?

Eddisonphotos SUMMING UP In What Ways Will the Pandemic Stimulate Research in Leadership? Preparation for Black Swan events, to the extent that it is even possible, has to be balanced against the demands for short-term results. It may be... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

25 Jan 2012
Research & Ideas

A Few Firms Have Outsized Influence in D.C.

Capitol—relatively few firms lobby. In fact, they found that only 10 percent of firms in the sample lobbied in any given year, and in some years that number was closer to 5 percent. Secondly, the researchers found that the probability of... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

27 Feb 2019
Research & Ideas

The Hidden Cost of a Product Recall

many types of innovation for the firms that experience them.” There’s also a second, less studied wave of damage, as competitors ramp up product development efforts to snap up displaced customers and... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost; Manufacturing; Consumer Products; Auto; Medical Devices & Supplies

06 Feb 2020
Research & Ideas

What We Learned from Reading Jeff Bezos’ Patents

patent activities at Amazon. To do so, we began by looking at Amazon’s patent history using the Derwent Innovation database for the years 1998-2018, which included more than 11,000 published patents in the United States. We learned four... View Details

Keywords: by Tricia Gregg and Boris Groysberg; Retail

21 Aug 2013
Research & Ideas

What Went Wrong at J.C. Penney?

backfire. Sales last year fell 25 percent, resulting in a net loss of $985 million, and the blood-letting continued in quarterly results released this week. In a recent interview, Harvard Business School marketing expert Rajiv Lal, the... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Aisner; Retail

11 Feb 2002
Research & Ideas

The Quiet Leader—and How to Be One

years ago. There were two things that prompted me to do so. One is that I had written a book called Defining Moments: When Managers Must Choose Between Right and Right (HBS Press, 1997) which is about big deal, high-stake, traumatic... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

01 Mar 2016
First Look

March 1, 2016

Abstract—Using U.S. data from 1929 to 2013, we show that elevated credit-market sentiment in year t – 2 is associated with a decline in economic activity in years t and t + 1. Underlying this result is the... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

04 Apr 2023
Book

Two Centuries of Business Leaders Who Took a Stand on Social Issues

While shareholders still reign supreme at many companies, a widespread shift toward more responsible business practices is driving more leaders to take a stand on social and environmental issues today, says Harvard Business School Professor Geoffrey Jones. Jones... View Details

Keywords: by Lane Lambert; Consumer Products; Fashion; Retail; Green Technology

01 Mar 2023
What Do You Think?

How Much Does 'Deep Purpose' Matter to the Bottom Line?

best in our industry.” For years that was the case in too many organizations. Then organizations like Google started adding loftier aspirations such as “organize and make available the world’s information.” More recently, Microsoft CEO... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

15 Jan 2013
First Look

First Look: January 15

than country characteristics in explaining governance ratings variance. Our findings show that firms in emerging economies over recent years had more capability to rise above home-country peer firms in corporate governance ratings than... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

04 Jun 2020
Book

It’s Not About You: Why Leaders Need to Look Outward

diagnose whether or not you're optimizing on it. And then, more important, how you can fix it immediately. It’s not, “Oh, my gosh. We have to rebuild trust. Let's come up with a five-year plan.” You will have wasted four View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz

13 Aug 2012
Research & Ideas

When Good Incentives Lead to Bad Decisions

economics," says Shawn A. Cole, an associate professor in the Finance Unit at Harvard Business School. "A frequent criticism of bankers in the recent crisis is that they took a lot of incentive pay in the years leading View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Banking

04 May 2021
Book

Best Buy: How Human Connection Saved a Failing Retailer

published May 4, aims to reverse some of the damage done by other cutthroat leaders who have taken a slash-and-burn approach to business. “So much of what I learned when I was at business school, or in my early years as an executive, is... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Retail

10 Feb 2021
Research & Ideas

Has #MeToo Changed How Hollywood Hires?

Female representation in movies has been consistently low, with women making up only 4.5 percent of directors and 14.4 percent of writers for top-grossing films. Worse, many women have endured sexual harassment and abuse. In October 2017,... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Media & Broadcasting

13 Mar 2023
Research & Ideas

The Power of Personal Connections: How Shared Experiences Boost Performance

percentage points higher in patient satisfaction surveys than specialists with whom the primary care doctor didn’t train, finds new research published in JAMA Internal Medicine. PCPs and specialists who spent their early years together... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Health

08 Jan 2007
Research & Ideas

Who Rises to Power in American Business?

intractable obstacles to achieve great success. What is often overlooked or forgotten in the Alger stories is that the individuals who "came up from their bootstraps" did so with the assistance of an important and influential... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

22 Apr 2019
Research & Ideas

Why Salespeople Struggle at Leading

they can sell. “At the same time, companies shouldn’t simply be saying, ‘You’re a great salesperson, and I’m sure you can manage.’ I do think sales managers must learn how to manage.” Setting up sales-to-management success Cespedes... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

08 Jul 2014
First Look

First Look: July 8

power comes a new challenge: people now expect companies to understand what type of relationships they want and to respond appropriately-they want firms to hold up their end of the bargain. Unfortunately, many brands don't meet those... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

28 Apr 2021
Research & Ideas

Remote Workers Spend More on Housing. Do They Deserve Higher Pay?

To executives expecting to save on office space when some employees continue working remotely post-pandemic: Not so fast. Makeshift desks and kitchen tables have sufficed for many people working from home to avoid COVID-19. However, permanently remote workers tend to... View Details