Publications

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30 Sep 2002
Research & Ideas

Use the Psychology of Pricing To Keep Customers Returning

the idea that people will use a product or service more right after they pay for it. How can companies make this work for them? A: Sunk costs are a curious bit of psychology. Economists say that attending to sunk costs is not... View Details

Keywords: by Manda Mahoney

January 2009 (Revised February 2009)
Case

Sydney IVF: Stem Cell Research

By: Robert L. Simons, Kathryn Rosenberg and Natalie Kindred

This case examines the strategy implementation and risk management decisions at Sydney IVF, a research-based in vitro fertilization and stem cell company based in Australia. Drs. Robert Jansen and Jock Anderson, who co-founded Sydney IVF in 1986, developed novel... View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Innovation and Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Risk Management; Genetics; Commercialization; Health Industry; Australia

January 2007 (Revised April 2007)
Background Note

Note on Lobbying

By: Felix Oberholzer-Gee, Libby Cantrill and Patricia Wu

Describes how companies engage the political and legal system and the rules and ethics associated with doing so. Focuses on the U.S. political and legal system, but also seeks to familiarize readers with lobbying norms and structures in the European Union and Japan. View Details

Keywords: Business and Government Relations; Ethics; Labor Unions; Legal Services Industry; Legal Services Industry; United States; Japan; European Union

25 Nov 2008
First Look

First Look: November 25, 2008

about the benefits of the privatization of water services amongst low and middle-income groups immediately after the 2006 nationalization. Negative opinions about the privatization prevail. These are particularly strong amongst households... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

June 2005 (Revised August 2010)
Case

Distrobot Systems, Inc.

By: William A. Sahlman

Distrobot is a start-up that has developed a new system for warehouse automation. The company is trying to raise money to finance the launch of the product. The founder must decide how much capital to raise, from whom, and on what terms. View Details

Keywords: Financing and Loans; Product Launch; Business Startups; Business Strategy; Service Industry; Service Industry

02 Aug 2012
Working Paper Summaries

The Rich Get Richer: Enabling Conditions for Knowledge Use in Organizational Work Teams

Keywords: by Melissa A. Valentine, Bradley R. Staats & Amy C. Edmondson

September 2017
Case

Blackstone's Julia Kahr at the Summit

By: Paul A. Gompers, John D. Dionne and Amram Migdal

In 2009, Blackstone, the New York-based alternative asset and financial services firm, committed to invest up to $750 million into Summit Materials, a new company in the aggregates sector (i.e., construction materials, such as crushed stone, sand, gravel, cement,... View Details

November 2001 (Revised December 2003)
Case

Incentive Pay for Portfolio Managers at Harvard Management Company

By: Brian J. Hall and Jonathan Lim

This case describes the compensation system for portfolio managers at Harvard's portfolio management company, including its formulaic and bonus bank features. Harvard Management Co. President Jack Meyer explains the philosophy behind the incentive pay at his company. View Details

Keywords: Motivation and Incentives; Investment Portfolio; Compensation and Benefits; Financial Services Industry

July 2023 (Revised February 2024)
Case

Clair

By: Lauren Cohen, Grace Headinger and Marcos Quirno

Clair was founded with a simple mission: to expedite America’s workers access to their hard-earned wages. In the headwinds of the COVID-19 pandemic, the startup had successfully raised a seed round of $4.5 million, and within two years the earned wage access (EWA)... View Details

Keywords: Fintech; Ewa; Lending; Technology; Business Startups; Growth and Development Strategy; Social Enterprise; Business Strategy; Business Model; Mission and Purpose; Venture Capital; Profit; Financial Services Industry; United States

04 Dec 2007
First Look

First Look: December 4, 2007

shape standards, and promoting modularity. An Empirical Study of System Improvement by Frontline Employees in Hospital Units Author:A. L. Tucker Periodical:Manufacturing & Service Operations Management... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

04 Jul 2011
Research & Ideas

Making the Case for Consumer-Driven Health Care

millions of middle-class Americans to receive Medicaid. It's also expected that the creation of so-called Obamacare will be a front-and-center issue debated in the 2012 presidential election. This growing awareness that our current system... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Health

23 Nov 2009
Research & Ideas

Management’s Role in Reforming Health Care

knowledge to solving the problems of individual patients—offer enormous potential to help patients and the U.S. health-care system overall, says HBS senior lecturer Richard M.J. Bohmer, a physician and researcher on the intersection of... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Health

November 2023 (Revised April 2024)
Case

Paytm: A Payments Journey in India

By: Álvaro Rodríguez Arregui, Amram Migdal and Kanika Jain

Paytm was an Indian financial technology company. Since its launch in 2010, it had built a dominant payments system in India, comprising mobile wallets, offline payments via QR codes, and a payments bank that offered no-frills banking. However, in 2016, the Indian... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Situation or Environment; Business Ventures; Business Model; Banks and Banking; Business Strategy; Competition; Financial Services Industry; Financial Services Industry; Financial Services Industry; Asia; South Asia; India