Publications

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2019
Working Paper

Design Rules, Volume 2: How Technology Shapes Organizations: Chapter 16 Capturing Value by Controlling Bottlenecks in Open Platform Systems

By: Carliss Y. Baldwin

The purpose of this chapter is to investigate the means by which firms capture value in open platform systems. I begin by arguing that the surplus value created by complementarities within a technical system will be split among the owners of the unique and essential... View Details

Keywords: Open Platforms; Bottlenecks; Flow Production; Value Capture; Disintermediation; Production; Management; Digital Platforms

SSRN

Teaching Interest

Business Opportunties in Climate Adaptation

By: John D. Macomber

This is a Short Intensive Program or SIP at Harvard Business School. It’s an optional student offering prior to the formal start of the Spring semester the following week. SIPs tend to cover new material on current topics, to be less formal than the HBS Case Study... View Details

Keywords: Resilience; Climate Risk; Climate Impact; Fire Protection; Insurance Risk Exposure; Hedge Fund; Public Health; Public Health Measures; Climate Change; Adaptation; Infrastructure; Real Estate Industry; Transportation Industry; Insurance Industry; United States; Africa; Latin America

03 Jun 2008
First Look

First Look: June 3, 2008

resources to environmental protection? How should we think about the notion of firms sacrificing profits in the social interest? May they do so within the scope of their fiduciary responsibilities to their... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

26 Jun 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, June 26, 2018

forthcoming Journal of International Business Studies Organizational Innovation in the Multinational Enterprise: Internalization Theory and Business History By: da Silva Lopes, Teresa, Mark Casson, and G. Jones Abstract—This article... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

Blog

Leading in Tough Times: HBS Faculty Member Amy C. Edmondson on Psychological Safety

CREATE PSYCHOLOGICAL SAFETY? It's a natural human tendency to hold back ideas and shy away from disagreeing with the boss. To avoid being perceived as ignorant, we don't ask questions. To avoid being thought of as incompetent, we don't... View Details

22 Jun 2022
Book

Four Elements for Finding the Right Career Path

behind your book? Timothy Butler: Most of my research has been big data-driven, using psychometric assessments to identify the ways in which people find their way to the work roles and work environments that View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

17 Dec 2014
Research & Ideas

How Our Brain Determines if the Product is Worth the Price

will appear in a forthcoming issue of the Journal of Marketing Research. The research could help retailers and marketers decide when it's best to lead with price, which... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Retail

January 2019 (Revised June 2019)
Technical Note

U.S. Commercial Health Insurance Industry

By: Susanna Gallani, Mary Witkowski and Harry B. Wolberg

This note describes the role of commercial payers in the U.S. healthcare industry. We begin with a review of the historical evolution of commercial payers and their role in the market, from the beginning to the Affordable Care Act and beyond. Every wave of reforms in... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Insurance; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Health Industry; Insurance Industry; United States

December 2012 (Revised November 2014)
Case

W.R. Grace & Co.: Dealing with Asbestos Torts

By: Stuart C. Gilson and Sarah L. Abbott

A manufacturer of building products and specialty chemicals, W. R. Grace & Co. filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in 2001 in response to a flood of lawsuits alleging that its products contained asbestos, and had caused hundreds of thousands of people to contract... View Details

Keywords: Bankruptcy Reorganization; Business Failures; Environmental Regulations; Class Action Lawsuits; Natural Environment; Valuation; Health Disorders; Capital Structure; Restructuring; Lawsuits and Litigation; Chemicals; Crisis Management; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Legal Liability; Construction Industry; Chemical Industry; United States

Article

Putting Patients First: Social Marketing Strategies for Treating HIV in Developing Nations

By: Zoe Chance and Rohit Deshpandé

It is more than mere coincidence that the highest rates of HIV occur in the world's poorest countries. Of the over 40 million people currently living with HIV, 95 percent are in the developing world. The first part of this paper explores the economics of HIV and... View Details

Keywords: Health Disorders; Developing Countries and Economies; Poverty; Health Care and Treatment; Social Marketing; Perspective; Customer Focus and Relationships; Profit; Africa; Asia; South America

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June 2004 (Revised June 2004)
Case

Utah Symphony and Utah Opera: A Merger Proposal

By: Thomas J. DeLong and David L. Ager

Anne Ewers, general director of Utah Opera, is awaiting the decision of the members of the board of the Utah Symphony and Utah Opera about whether to merge Utah's top two arts organizations. If the vote favors the merger, Ewers will be asked to assume the helm of the... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Change Management; Organizational Culture; Human Resources; Management; Fine Arts Industry; Music Industry; Utah

30 Nov 2018
Blog Post

8 Reasons the Section Experience is the Best Part About HBS

make a difference in the world. It’s an incredible challenge but this group is family. It’s not 93 best friends, and it’s not 93 classmates. It’s 93 family members. You learn together, grow together, and support each other. We give each other the tough feedback. We... View Details

2018
Working Paper

Backhanded Compliments: How Negative Comparisons Undermine Flattery

By: Ovul Sezer, Alison Wood Brooks and Michael I. Norton

Seven studies (N = 2352) examine backhanded compliments—seeming praise that draws a comparison with a negative standard—a distinct self-presentation strategy with two simultaneous goals: eliciting liking (“Your speech was good…”) and conveying status (“…for a woman”).... View Details

Keywords: Backhanded Compliments; Self-presentation; Impression Management; Interpersonal Perception; Liking; Status; Image Concern; Interpersonal Communication; Status and Position; Perception; Motivation and Incentives

01 Feb 2022
Book

Innovation Isn’t Just for Startups: How Big Companies Can Succeed

to solve that problem? Have we got the right formula? And then scale it, turn it into real business. And they're completely different because the context in which they're doing it is in some respects harder, and in some respects easier. Any entrepreneur View Details

Keywords: by Lane Lambert

09 May 2023
Blog Post

Celebrating Asian American and Pacific Islander Heritage Month at HBS (part 1)

the future of my identity, the more worried I become. I fear that there may one day be a decision point where I will be forced to choose whether I am Chinese or I am American, but I hope with all my heart... View Details

2024
Other Teaching and Training Material

Earth

By: Barry Nalebuff and Max Bazerman

Earth was created to provide participants with the opportunity to negotiate a solution to the most important environmental challenge that faces humanity — climate change. Just as finding solutions to climate change is challenging, students will be challenged to find a... View Details

Keywords: Climate Change; Outcome or Result; Negotiation; Game Theory

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April 2008
Case

Campbell and Bailyn's Boston Office: Managing the Reorganization

By: Anne Donnellon and Dun Gifford Jr

Ken Winston, the regional sales manager at a securities brokerage firm, has reorganized his generalist salespeople into Key Account Teams (KAT) to increase sales of specialized, higher-margin fixed income products. Winston is also implementing a new corporate... View Details

2011
Working Paper

Better-reply Dynamics in Deferred Acceptance Games

In this paper we address the question of learning in a two-sided matching mechanism that utilizes the deferred acceptance algorithm. We consider a repeated matching game where at each period agents observe their match and have the opportunity to revise their strategy... View Details

Keywords: Learning; Marketplace Matching; Outcome or Result; Game Theory; Mathematical Methods; Strategy

April 1994 (Revised March 1995)
Case

China (C): Energy and the Environment

By: Richard H.K. Vietor

Describes energy and environmental policy in China during the period 1980-1993. China has implemented ambitious plans for electrification and the substitution of fossil fuels (mostly coal) for biomass. The environmental consequences of these changes, at the local and... View Details

Keywords: Energy Generation; Environmental Sustainability; Policy; Pollutants; Climate Change; Business and Government Relations; Globalization; Energy Industry; China