Publications

January 2009 (Revised April 2009)
Case

Disaster in April: The Obligations of Kelly Construction

By: John D. Macomber, Christopher M. Gordon and Ben Creo

A construction company experiences a crane accident with multiple fatalities. The CEO, a client, and an employee must make choices to meet the company's obligations. Set in 2006, the case looks at the choices faced by board members of a museum that is an important... View Details

Keywords: Business Exit or Shutdown; Family Business; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Governing and Advisory Boards; Compensation and Benefits; Contracts; Crisis Management; Construction Industry

Educators

January 1987 (Revised April 1988)
Supplement

Morgan Construction Co. (B), Video Guide

By: Benson P. Shapiro

Keywords: Construction Industry

2010
Article

A Categorical Construction of Ultrafilters

By: Daniel Litt, Zachary Abel and Scott Duke Kominers

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2024
Working Paper

Why Has Construction Productivity Stagnated? The Role of Land-Use Regulation

By: Leonardo D’Amico, Edward Glaeser, Joseph Gyourko, William Kerr and Giacomo A. M. Ponzetto

We document a Kuznets curve for construction productivity in 20th-century America. Homes built per construction worker remained stagnant between 1900 and 1940, boomed after World War II, and then plummeted after 1970. The productivity boom from 1940 to 1970 shows... View Details

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March 2011 (Revised May 2011)
Supplement

China Construction America (B): The Baha Mar Resort Deal

Why is a Chinese state-owned construction company building the largest mega-resort and casino in the Caribbean? This case examines the intricate deal-making by which CSCEC, China's leading global engineering and construction contractor, emerged as a key market player.... View Details

Keywords: Project Finance; Competitive Strategy; Global Strategy; Financial Strategy; Construction Industry; Construction Industry; China; Bahamas

2007
Book

Capital Rules: The Construction of Global Finance

By: Rawi Abdelal

Keywords: Capital; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Finance

January 2022
Exercise

New Constructs Worksheet - Instructor Template

By: Charles CY Wang

January 2022
Exercise

New Constructs Worksheet - Student Template

By: Charles C.Y. Wang

2003
Conference Paper

Follow the Money: What Really Drives Technology Innovation in Construction

By: John D. Macomber

Technology enthusiasts, academics, and software companies remain concerned about the slow pace of innovation in the construction industry. Tools are widely available that seem to provide eminently sensible and clearly apparent improvement to the process of design and... View Details

Keywords: Buildings and Facilities; Technological Innovation; Construction; Design; Performance Improvement; Motivation and Incentives; Knowledge Management; Adoption; Business Model; Capital Structure; Supply Chain

May 2007
Article

Aspects of Endowment: A Query Theory of Value Construction

By: Eric Johnson, Gerald Häubl and Anat Keinan

How do people judge the monetary value of objects? One clue is provided by the typical endowment study (D. Kahneman, J. L. Knetsch, & R. H. Thaler, 1991), in which participants are randomly given either a good, such as a coffee mug, that they may later sell ("sellers")... View Details

Keywords: Profit; Forecasting and Prediction; Theory; Valuation; Loss; Ownership; Decision Choices and Conditions

2005
Chapter

Leadership and the Social Construction of Charisma

By: Rakesh Khurana

Keywords: Leadership Style; Personal Characteristics

December 2022
Article

'Just Letting You Know…': Underestimating Others' Desire for Constructive Feedback

By: Nicole Abi-Esber, Jennifer E. Abel, Juliana Schroeder and Francesca Gino

People often avoid giving feedback to others even when it would help fix a problem immediately. Indeed, in a pilot field study (N=155), only 2.6% of individuals provided feedback to survey administrators that the administrators had food or marker on their faces.... View Details

Keywords: Feedback; Helping; Prosocial Behavior; Misprediction; Relationships; Interpersonal Communication; Perspective

01 Dec 2011
News

Construction Begins on New Exec Ed Building

Visual Appeal: The lower two floors of Tata Hall will be wrapped in glass, opening views into and through the building and establishing a visual connection between HBS and the Charles River. Courtesy Dongik Lee/William Rawn Architects View Details

Keywords: Construction of Buildings; Construction of Buildings; Construction of Buildings; Construction of Buildings

June 2018
Supplement

Linda Rabbitt at rand* construction (Video Supplement)

By: Boris Groysberg, Katherine Connolly Baden and Julia Kelley