Publications

Research Summary

Statistical Methodology

William Simpson is developing methods of inference to use when assumptions of standard models are not met. He has created a hypothesis test to use for ipsative variables that adjusts for the non-zero correlations among variables expected under the null hypothesis. ... View Details

30 Nov 2019
News

Elon Musk and the Dying Art of the Big Bet

15 Jun 2016
News

Why Sourcing Local Food Is So Hard for Restaurants

August 2022
Case

Rocket Learning: Evidence in Action

By: Brian Trelstad, Tomas Rosales and Malini Sen

Founders of Rocket Learning, an India-based nonprofit which focused on early childhood education (ECE), received an invitation from MIT’s Abdul Latif Jameel Poverty Action Lab (JPAL), a development research organization, to test its intervention for ECE with a... View Details

Keywords: Social Entrepreneurship; Early Childhood Education; Nonprofit Organizations; Literacy; Values and Beliefs; Social and Collaborative Networks; Education Industry; India; Asia

05 Jul 2006
Working Paper Summaries

A Survey-Based Procedure for Measuring Uncertainty or Heterogeneous Preferences in Markets

Keywords: by Pai-Ling Yin; Technology; Web Services

April 2020
Article

Field Comparisons of Incentive-Compatible Preference Elicitation Techniques

By: Shawn A. Cole, A. Nilesh Fernando, Daniel Stein and Jeremy Tobacman

Knowledge of consumer demand is important for firms, policy makers, and economists. One common tool for incentive-compatible demand elicitation, the Becker-DeGroot-Marschak (BDM) mechanism, has been widely used in laboratory settings but rarely evaluated for... View Details

Keywords: Incentive-compatible Elicitation; Experimental Methods; Weather Insurance; Rainfall Insurance; Agricultural Extension; Demand and Consumers

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September–October 2013
Article

The Role of Organizational Scope and Governance in Strengthening Private Monitoring

By: Lamar Pierce and Michael W. Toffel

Governments and other organizations often outsource activities to achieve cost savings from market competition. Yet such benefits are often accompanied by poor quality resulting from moral hazard, which can be particularly onerous when outsourcing the monitoring and... View Details

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12 Oct 1999
Research & Ideas

Decoding the DNA of the Toyota Production System

specification, it is establishing a hypothesis that is then tested through action. This approach — the scientific method—is not imposed on workers, it's ingrained in them. And it stimulates them to engage in the kind of experimentation... View Details

Keywords: by H. Kent Bowen & Steven Spear; Manufacturing; Transportation; Auto

06 Feb 2011
News

Why Some Twitter Posts Catch On, and Some Don't

November 2020 (Revised February 2021)
Case

The Roca Brothers: Innovation in Gastronomy

By: Boris Groysberg, Evan M.S. Hecht and Katherine Connolly Baden

Chef Joan Roca, sommelier Josep Roca and pastry chef Jordi Roca were three brothers based in Girona, Spain whose complementary skills, collective ability, and relentless drive for innovation had brought worldwide fame and awards to their restaurant, El Celler de Can... View Details

Keywords: Restaurants; COVID-19 Pandemic; Food; Crisis Management; Innovation and Invention; Food and Beverage Industry; Spain

May 2011
Background Note

Scale Effects, Network Effects, and Investment Strategy

By: Willy Shih

This technical note discusses scale economies, and direct and indirect network effects in the context of building better business models. Some of the great business disasters of the dot.com bubble were companies that scaled their infrastructure without working through... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Investment; Price; Crisis Management; Network Effects; Multi-Sided Platforms; Strategy

July 2024
Article

Chatbots and Mental Health: Insights into the Safety of Generative AI

By: Julian De Freitas, Ahmet Kaan Uğuralp, Zeliha Uğuralp and Stefano Puntoni

Chatbots are now able to engage in sophisticated conversations with consumers. Due to the ‘black box’ nature of the algorithms, it is impossible to predict in advance how these conversations will unfold. Behavioral research provides little insight into potential safety... View Details

Keywords: Autonomy; Chatbots; New Technology; Brand Crises; Mental Health; Large Language Model; AI and Machine Learning; Behavior; Well-being; Technological Innovation; Ethics

2018
Working Paper

Do We See the Same Hierarchy? Status Disagreement in Multicultural Teams and Its Impact on Team Performance

By: Catarina Fernandes and Sujin Jang

This paper develops and tests a theory of status disagreement in multicultural teams. We posit that, in multicultural teams, the diversity of members’ cultural backgrounds will lead to implicit disagreements about who has how much status in the team. More specifically,... View Details

Keywords: Status; Social Hierarchies; Multicultural Teams; Team Performance; Team Diversity; Status and Position; Groups and Teams; Diversity; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Performance

February 2016
Article

Labor Unemployment Insurance and Earnings Management

By: Yiwei Dou, Mozaffar N. Khan and Youli Zou

There is relatively little prior evidence on the potential impact of rank and file employees on financial reporting choices outside union negotiations. We contribute to the literature by providing new evidence that firms appear to manage long-run earnings upward in... View Details

Keywords: Earnings Management; Employment; Insurance; Financial Reporting

SSRN

January 2002 (Revised April 2002)
Case

Space Data Corporation

By: Alan D. MacCormack and Jay Wynn

Space Data Corp. plans to partner with the U.S. National Weather Service to place transceivers on weather balloons and thereby create a national mobile communications network. The company is in the late development stages and is planning to launch a regional test that... View Details

Keywords: Wireless Technology; Business Startups; Business Processes; Adaptation; Partners and Partnerships; Opportunities; Telecommunications Industry; Public Administration Industry; United States

2009
Working Paper

Operational Failures and Problem Solving: An Empirical Study of Incident Reporting

By: Julia Rose Adler-Milstein, Sara J. Singer and Michael W. Toffel

Operational failures occur in all industries with consequences that range from minor inconveniences to major catastrophes. Many organizations have implemented incident reporting systems to highlight actual and potential operational failures in order to encourage... View Details

Keywords: Communication Strategy; Legal Liability; Management Practices and Processes; Service Operations; Failure; Health Industry

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June 2007
Tutorial

Congruence Model Tutorial

By: Christopher Marquis and Alison Comings

Utilizes Beer & Tushman's SMA: Microelectronic Products Division (A) case to explore O'Reilly and Tushman's congruence model. Participants learn about the model through a series of video presentations and become familar with the problems facing SMA through an... View Details

Keywords: Problems and Challenges; Mathematical Methods; Electronics Industry

December 1998 (Revised October 1999)
Case

Han Young Labor Dispute (A), The

Examines the evolution of a labor dispute at the Han Young maquiladora in Tijuana, Mexico. The dispute began over union representation at a 120-worker company, but soon escalated into a source of tension between the United States, Canada, and Mexico, and a test for the... View Details

Keywords: Agreements and Arrangements; International Relations; Labor Unions; Trade; Labor and Management Relations; Conflict and Resolution; Business and Government Relations; Canada; United States; Mexico