Publications
Publications
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- All HBS Web
(1,176)
- Faculty Publications (137)
- 2017
- Working Paper
Biased Beliefs About Random Samples: Evidence from Two Integrated Experiments
By: Daniel J. Benjamin, Don A. Moore and Matthew Rabin
This paper describes results of a pair of incentivized experiments on biases in judgments about random samples. Consistent with the Law of Small Numbers (LSN), participants exaggerated the likelihood that short sequences and random subsets of coin flips would be... View Details
- September 2017
- Teaching Note
The Productivity Decline: Demographics, Robots, or Globalization?
By: Laura Alfaro and Hayley Pallan
In the early 21st century, there was a noticeable trend of declining productivity growth. Despite the persistent decline in productivity growth, a consensus on its explanation had not been reached. Some of the debate focused on the technicalities of productivity... View Details
- September 2017 (Revised August 2018)
- Case
The Productivity Decline: Demographics, Robots, or Globalization?
By: Laura Alfaro, Hayley Pallan and Sarah Jeong
In the early 21st century, there was a noticeable trend of declining productivity growth. Despite the persistent decline in productivity growth, a consensus on its explanation had not been reached. Some of the debate focused on the technicalities of productivity... View Details
- 2017
- Working Paper
Business History, the Great Divergence and the Great Convergence
By: Geoffrey Jones
This working paper provides a business history perspective on debates about the Great Divergence, the rise of the income gap between the West and the Rest, and the more recent Great Convergence, which has seen a narrowing of that gap. The literature on the timing and... View Details
- June 2017
- Case
Magellan Boatworks
By: John A. Quelch and James T. Kindley
Magellan Boatworks is a midsize manufacturer of customized, power "cruising yachts." In the face of economic and political uncertainty in late 2016, Magellan's VP of sales and marketing, Walt Robinson, wonders whether he should request a budget increase for 2017.... View Details
- June 2017
- Case
Guillermo Jaime—An Endeavor Entrepreneur
By: Lynda M. Applegate, Sarah Mehta and Aldo Sesia
Guillermo Jaime was the founder and CEO of Mejoramiento Integral Asistido (MIA), a for-profit company providing affordable housing to low-income Mexicans living at the base of the pyramid (BOP). This case tells the story of Jaime and Endeavor, a nonprofit dedicated to... View Details
- 2017
- Working Paper
Explaining the Vertical-to-Horizontal Transition in the Computer Industry
This paper seeks to explain the technological forces that led to the rise of vertically integrated corporations in the late 19th century and the opposing forces that led to a vertical-to-horizontal transition in the computer industry 100 years later. I first model the... View Details
- January–February 2017
- Article
Africa's New Generation of Innovators
By: Clayton M. Christensen, Efosa Ojomo and Derek van Bever
With a young, urbanizing population, abundant natural resources, and a growing middle class, Africa seems to have all the ingredients necessary for huge growth. Nevertheless, a number of multinationals have recently left the continent, discouraged by widespread... View Details
- July 2016
- Article
Do Prices Determine Vertical Integration?
By: Laura Alfaro, Paola Conconi, Harald Fadinger and Andrew F. Newman
What is the relationship between product prices and vertical integration? While the literature has focused on how integration affects prices, this paper provides evidence that prices can affect integration. Many theories in organizational economics and industrial... View Details
- May 2016 (Revised December 2016)
- Case
Camposol
By: David E. Bell and Natalie Kindred
With $289 million in 2015 revenues, Camposol is a Peruvian grower, exporter, and marketer of fruits and vegetables, with a focus on the high-growth, high-margin blueberry category. Camposol aspires to become Peru’s first multinational branded produce company. It... View Details
Keywords: Blueberries; Avocado; Asparagus; Agriculture; Peru; Retail; Produce; Agricultural Production; Branding; Brand Strategy; Commercialization; Camposol; Aquaculture; Agribusiness; Marketing; Trade; Vertical Integration; Strategy; Marketing Strategy; Family Business; Growth and Development; Growth Management; Food; Supply Chain; Distribution; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Retail Industry; Distribution Industry; Peru; South America; United States; China
- 20 May 2016
- Other Presentation
Competing to Change the World: Creating Shared Value
The principle of shared value involves creating economic value in a way that also creates value for society by addressing its needs and challenges. Shared value is becoming an integral part of strategy and is defining a whole new set of best practices that companies... View Details
- 18 May 2016
- Other Presentation
Competing to Change the World: Creating Shared Value
The principle of shared value involves creating economic value in a way that also creates value for society by addressing its needs and challenges. Shared value is becoming an integral part of strategy and is defining a whole new set of best practices that companies... View Details
Keywords: Society; Shared Value; Value Creation; Strategy; Civil Society or Community; United States
- March 2016 (Revised April 2019)
- Technical Note
ESG Metrics: Reshaping Capitalism?
By: George Serafeim
In the past twenty-five years, the world had seen an exponential growth in the number of companies reporting environmental, social and governance (ESG) data. Investor interest in ESG data also grew rapidly. A growing belief that increasing levels of social inequality... View Details
Keywords: Capitalism; Sustainability; Accountability; Corporate Social Responsibility; Responsibilities To Society; Environment; Social Impact Investment; ESG; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Environmental Sustainability; Measurement and Metrics; Integrated Corporate Reporting; Corporate Accountability; Accounting; Economic Systems
- December 2015
- Article
Harnessing Productive Tensions in Hybrid Organizations: The Case of Work Integration Social Enterprises
By: Julie Battilana, Metin Sengul, Anne-Claire Pache and Jacob Model
We examine the factors that influence the social performance of hybrid organizations that pursue a social mission, and sustain their operations through commercial activities, by studying work integration social enterprises (WISEs). We argue that social imprinting and... View Details
- July 2015
- Background Note
The State of U.S. Public Health: Challenges and Trends
By: Rosabeth M. Kanter, Howard Koh and Pamela Yatsko
The World Health Organization defines health as "a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity." For many Americans, the World Health Organization's definition of true health seems unattainable, given... View Details
- December 2014 (Revised March 2018)
- Case
John D. Rockefeller: The Richest Man in the World
By: Tom Nicholas and Vasiliki Fouka
By the late nineteenth century scale and managerial hierarchies had extended to several major industrial sectors of the U.S. economy. Although the precise mechanisms often varied, this process mainly involved horizontal integration, some form of legal or administrative... View Details
- May 2014 (Revised March 2017)
- Case
Unilever's Lifebuoy in India: Implementing the Sustainability Plan
Unilever's new Global Brand VP must not only revitalize Lifebuoy soap's sagging market performance, but simultaneously impact the health of one billion people worldwide. The latter challenge comes from Unilever's new CEO who has introduced the Unilever Sustainable... View Details
Keywords: Multinational Management; Corporate Social Responsibility; Strategy Implementation; Marketing Strategy; Mission And Purpose; Change Management; International Business; Global; Fast-moving Consumer Goods; Soap; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Health Care and Treatment; Environmental Sustainability; Global Strategy; Developing Countries and Economies; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; Health Industry; India
- April–June 2014
- Article
Firmes mondialisées et imaginaire de la beauté
By: G. Jones
This article highlights the role of business enterprises as influences on ideals of human beauty. The homogenization of such ideals has been one of the most noteworthy features of globalization over the last two centuries. This study suggests that firms were both... View Details
- March 2014
- Technical Note
Performance and Value Analysis
This note introduces the Performance and Value Analysis (PVA) framework, an integrated framework to analyze strategic performance (i.e., performance corrected for temporary and random effects). This framework (quantitatively) decomposes a firm's performance into 3... View Details
- 2014
- Working Paper
Conflicts of College Conference Realignment: Pursuing Revenue, Preserving Tradition, and Assessing the Future
By: Vadim Kogan and Stephen A. Greyser
Over the past two years, conference realignment has taken a front seat in the college sports landscape. Economic incentives were too attractive to overlook for some universities. College football programs across the country have a lot at stake, because for many,... View Details