Publications

2016
Working Paper

Mapping the Economic Grand Tour: Travel and International Emulation in Enlightenment Europe

By: Sophus A. Reinert

As the itinerant wizard (technically one of the Maiar, if not the Istari) Gandalf wrote to the then domestically-inclined hobbit Frodo Baggins in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, “Not all those who wander are lost.” Indeed, as the recent brouhaha over the... View Details

Keywords: Behavior; Globalization

Web

Organizational Behavior - Doctoral

the influence of individuals on organizational change, or the relationship between social missions and financial objectives. Your core disciplinary training will take place in either the psychology or... View Details

February 1991 (Revised July 1993)
Case

Cultural Change at Nissan Motors

By: John P. Kotter

Depicts the reformation of Nissan Motor Co.'s corporate culture and the company's subsequent turnaround in market share and profits. In 1985, Yutaka Kume became president of Nissan and thereafter, he continually emphasized the need for internal change throughout the... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Leadership; Behavior; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Change Management; Management; Auto Industry; Manufacturing Industry

Educators

October 2015
Article

Hormones and Ethics: Understanding the Biological Basis of Unethical Conduct

By: Jooa Julie Lee, Francesca Gino, Ellie Shuo Jin, Leslie K. Rice and Robert A. Josephs

Globally, fraud has been rising sharply over the last decade, with current estimates placing financial losses at greater than $3.7 trillion dollars annually. Unfortunately, fraud prevention has been stymied by lack of a clear and comprehensive understanding of its... View Details

Keywords: Behavior; Ethics; Science

2007
Working Paper

I'll Have the Ice Cream Soon and the Vegetables Later: A Study of Online Grocery Purchases and Order Lead Time

By: Katherine L. Milkman, Todd Rogers and Max H. Bazerman

How do decisions made for tomorrow or two days in the future differ from decisions made for several days in the future? We use data from an online grocer to address this question. In general, we find that as the delay between order completion and delivery increases,... View Details

Keywords: Internet and the Web; Food; Decision Choices and Conditions; Conflict and Resolution; Emotions; Cognition and Thinking; Retail Industry; Food and Beverage Industry

04 Jan 2010
Research & Ideas

Best of HBS Working Knowledge 2009

Many business leaders are mystified about how to reach potential customers on social networks such as Facebook. HBS professor Mikolaj Jan Piskorski provides a fresh look into the interpersonal dynamics of... View Details

Keywords: by Staff

12 Apr 2011
First Look

First Look: April 12

910-418 The world's leading Thai agribusiness corporation and largest agribusiness investor in China, CP Group, is facing another crossroads in China as the country starts to undergo rural reform. The issues at hand for Chairman Dhanin... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

21 Oct 2008
First Look

First Look: October 21, 2008

Entrepreneurship: How Much of the Spatial Distribution Can We Explain? Authors:Edward L. Glaeser and William R. Kerr Abstract Why are some places more entrepreneurial than others? We use Census Bureau data View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

08 Jun 2010
First Look

First Look: June 8

includes soft issues and aesthetic issues such as what contributes to the feel of a place and what contributes to various land uses supporting each other (retail, residential,... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

30 Apr 2024
Book

When Managers Set Unrealistic Expectations, Employees Cut Ethical Corners

management and organisational practices. By this time, social science research had already shown that people’s behaviour is shaped as much by situational and contextual factors as by individual character. The 1963 Milgram experiments by... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

February 2002 (Revised December 2003)
Exercise

Incentives Game, The

By: Jason R. Barro, Brian J. Hall and Jonathan Lim

This exercise provides an opportunity to gain insight about designing, negotiating, and responding to incentives. The setting is investment management. A class is divided into a certain number of investment firms. Each company has one CEO and begins with four portfolio... View Details

Keywords: Motivation and Incentives; Compensation and Benefits; Investment; Management

30 Jan 2024
Research & Ideas

‘Intrinsic Joy’ Sparks Ideas Better than Cash

contributed far more “repos” (software packages placed and held in a repository) during the run-up to their payout than those who didn’t participate. Yet, once paid, a sponsored user’s community-driven... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Technology

June 2015 (Revised October 2016)
Case

Denver Museum of Nature & Science

By: Jill Avery and Jim Rosenberg

Digital was on Vice President of Strategic Partnerships and Programs Bridget Coughlin's mind these days. DMNS had been dabbling in digital for the past few years, but had never fully committed to it. The time had come to establish a strategic vision, and to decide... View Details

Keywords: Digital; Nonprofit; Arts; Education; Marketing; Marketing Communications; Marketing Strategy; Nonprofit Organizations; Social Media; Education Industry; North America; United States

Educators

February 2006 (Revised May 2006)
Case

JA Worldwide: Managing Change in a Multi-governed Environment

By: Michael Chu and Barbara Zepp Larson

Post-merger, the head of Junior Achievement (JA) Worldwide must now oversee operations in 98 countries serving 6.6 million students, with over 7,600 local chapter board directors. President and CEO David Chernow's own board has increased to 111 members. Two separate... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Model; Change Management; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Governance; Business or Company Management; Service Operations; Organizational Structure; Nonprofit Organizations; Balance and Stability

12 Mar 2019
First Look

New Research and Ideas, March 12, 2019

configurations that have developed. There are two central arguments. First, states carved out more sovereign space in places like Greece and Turkey, where religious elites were integral to early centralizing... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

09 Jan 2018
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, January 9, 2018

type of entrepreneurial population studied (e.g., Main Street vs. those backed by venture capital) to identify interesting and irreducible parts of this heterogeneity, while also identifying places where we... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

24 May 2021
Blog Post

Rebekah Emanuel: Host of Season 3 of the Climate Rising Podcast

Rising. Elise Clarkson: You’ve had a broad career, ranging from Yale to McKinsey to the City of Boston. Can you tell me about how you ended up as the Director of Social... View Details

12 Feb 2018
Research & Ideas

Customers at the Back of the Line Are Anxious—Can You Keep Them from Leaving?

Nobody likes being last. We avoid picking the cheapest wine on the menu or the final donut in the box. “And we hate being picked last in gym class,” says Harvard Business School professor Ryan Buell. “Humans are very social creatures, and... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Retail; Service

October 2009
Article

Influence and Inefficiency in the Internal Capital Market

By: Julie Wulf

I model inefficient resource allocations in M-form organizations due to influence activities by division managers that skew capital budgets in their favor. Corporate headquarters receives two types of signals about investment opportunities: private signals that can be... View Details

Keywords: Capital Markets; Resource Allocation; Business Processes; Capital Budgeting; Business Headquarters; Investment; Opportunities; Cost; Value; Motivation and Incentives; Equity