Publications

12 Dec 2017
First Look

New Research and Ideas, December 12, 2017

engaging in a pre-eating ritual over a 5-day period helped participants reduce calorie intake (Experiment 1). Pairing a ritual with healthy eating behavior increased the likelihood of choosing healthy food in a subsequent decision... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

May 2017 (Revised February 2024)
Case

Battle for the Soul of Capitalism: Unilever and the Kraft Heinz Takeover Bid (A)

By: William W. George and Amram Migdal

This case describes Kraft Heinz Company’s (KHC) February 2017 unsolicited $143 billion takeover offer to acquire Unilever. The offer was made to Unilever CEO Paul Polman by KHC chairman Alexandre Behring, who was also co-founder and CEO of Brazilian-based 3G Capital... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Value Creation; Decision Choices and Conditions

14 Feb 2022
Research & Ideas

Curiosity, Not Coding: 6 Skills Leaders Need in the Digital Age

their actions. They must learn to see their decisions and actions as working hypotheses that they can only validate by collecting feedback on their impact as expeditiously as possible. Leaders will be... View Details

Keywords: by Linda A. Hill, Ann Le Cam, Sunand Menon, and Emily Tedards; Technology

July 2008 (Revised October 2020)
Case

Sam Barnstable and Blue Sky Radio Devices

By: Felda Hardymon and Ann Leamon

These three short vignettes depict investment professionals considering difficult financings for companies in their portfolios. For one reason or another, each company has under-performed expectations. Should the protagonist recommend that the firm participate or not,... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Venture Capital; Financing and Loans; Strategy; Investment Portfolio; Performance

21 Aug 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, August 21, 2018

tool creates spillovers even to products that are not available for virtual try-on, increases loyalty, helps customers better parse their choice sets, and reduces uncertainty... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

12 Jun 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, June 12, 2018

decisions a firm makes when designing systems to support these workers are 1) what guidance to deliver and 2) what kind of training (if any) to provide. We examine these View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

19 Feb 2019
First Look

New Research and Ideas, February 19, 2019

https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=55632 forthcoming Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes Active Choice, Implicit Defaults, and the Incentive to... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

February 2006 (Revised August 2006)
Case

Kevin McCarthy and Westlake Chemical Corporation (A)

Examines forecasting earnings/performance for a commodity chemical firm during a period of high uncertainty, highlighting the combined effects of input process (natural gas), industry capacity/utilization, and cyclicality. Assuming the role of Kevin McCarthy (the top... View Details

Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Futures and Commodity Futures; Forecasting and Prediction; Chemicals; Chemical Industry

01 Sep 2018
News

September 2018 Alumni and Faculty Books

adapt faster, move faster, and grow faster by capitalizing on uncertainties in the market; leverage the talent, assets, technology, and data that exist outside your company;... View Details

01 Jun 2018
News

June 2018 Alumni and Faculty Books

consumers in seeking care providers, how consumers make decisions about health care, the system-wide effects of increased consumer choice in health care, and the important... View Details

December 2020 (Revised February 2021)
Teaching Note

The Tulsa Massacre and the Call for Reparations

By: Mihir A. Desai and Suzanne Antoniou

How should historic social injustices be addressed? Survivors of the 1921 Tulsa Massacre and their descendants, including Representative Regina Goodwin of Tulsa, believe they should be addressed through reparations and have consequently continued to push the government... View Details

22 Jan 2019
First Look

New Research and Ideas, January 22, 2019

reviews, discusses, and expands the “core guidance” definition of strategy as “the smallest set of choices to optimally guide (or force) other choices.” It first discusses what this definition contributes to... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

March 2014 (Revised January 2025)
Case

Ukraine: On the Border of Europe and Eurasia

By: Rawi Abdelal, Rafael M. Di Tella, Sogomon Tarontsi and Lavinia Teodorescu

In the fall of 2013, the people of Ukraine disagreed passionately whether their country should intensify ties with the European Union or Russia. After President Yanukovych rejected the free trade agreement with the EU in November, thousands of Ukrainians peacefully... View Details

23 May 2017
First Look

First Look at New Ideas and Research: May 23, 2017

points. Pseudo-set framing changes gambling choices (Study 1), effort (Studies 2 and 3), giving behavior (Field Data and Study 4), and purchase... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

12 Sep 2012
Research & Ideas

The Unexpected Link Between Cadavers and Careers

identity but aren't trained toward any given profession," he says. "It's really important for them to understand variations in occupational dynamics and their implications on decision-making—including View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Education; Health

24 Jul 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, July 24, 2018

propose that short episodes of prior interpersonal contact with a partner can increase the accuracy of swift trust decisions. Across two experimental studies, we demonstrate that brief interpersonal contact leads trustors to both (a) become more accurate in their trust... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

April 2010 (Revised September 2011)
Case

The Dannon Company: Marketing and Corporate Social Responsibility (A)

By: Christopher Marquis, Pooja Mehta Shah, Amanda Elizabeth Tolleson and Bobbi Thomason

At the end of 2009, The Dannon Company was considering pro actively communicating its CSR efforts to consumers. With the strong connection between Dannon's production of health foods and its commitment to health and nutrition-based CSR activities, communicating these... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Nutrition; Marketing Communications; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Risk and Uncertainty; Natural Environment; Food and Beverage Industry

Web

Measure Outcomes & Cost for Every Patient - Institute For Strategy And Competitiveness

reported by condition, are essential for both care improvement and for making informed choices by patients, payers, and other provider organizations. Outcomes represent the... View Details

Article

Unexpected Benefits of Deciding by Mind Wandering

By: Colleen Giblin, Carey K. Morewedge and Michael I. Norton

The mind wanders, even when people are attempting to make complex decisions. We suggest that such mind wandering—allowing one's thoughts to wander until the "correct" choice comes to mind—can positively impact people's feelings about their decisions. We compare... View Details

Keywords: Decisions; Satisfaction; Decision Choices and Conditions; Cognition and Thinking