Office Space - Publications - Faculty & Research

09 Jul 2024
Research & Ideas

Chance Encounters: What's at Stake in Return-to-Office Decisions

Late one day in the fall of 2021, as she was packing up to head home, Assistant Professor Maria Roche bumped into Andy Wu, a colleague in the Strategy Unit whose office is next to hers. Roche asked how his research was going, and in the... View Details

Keywords: by Jen McFarland Flint, HBS Alumni Bulletin

10 Oct 2011
Research & Ideas

Retailing Revolution: Category Killers on the Brink

stores in a very precarious situation. Because of their intense focus, these retailing giants have many fewer degrees of freedom to respond to the threat of e-commerce. For many, the economics of a store can suddenly become negative when 5 to 10 percent of their total... View Details

Keywords: by Rajiv Lal & Jose B. Alvarez; Retail

Research Summary

Designing Productive Zones of Privacy

By: Ethan S. Bernstein

A common theme that integrates my research and course development is how increasingly transparent workplaces can improve productivity and performance by putting up certain boundaries to observation. While the research above empirically and theoretically explores the... View Details

Keywords: Transparency; Privacy; Field Experiments; Design; Organizational Design; Performance

26 Jul 2010
Research & Ideas

Yes, You Can Raise Prices in a Downturn

the selling company's profitability. It emphasizes the collaborative aspects of buyer-seller relations over the split-the-pie aspects. The idea is to create more space between the value provided to customers and your cost. You can then... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Retail; Consumer Products

11 May 2009
Research & Ideas

The IT Leader’s Hero Quest

Rising star Jim Barton has decidedly mixed feelings after being selected as the new chief information officer at the fictional IVK Corporation. On the one hand, he lacks an IT background; on the other, he's ambitious and up for a... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

18 Dec 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, December 18, 2018

as the way to have the most meaningful impact, and what implications their ultimate decision will have on the Family Office in terms of its capital outlays, structure, staffing, and many other categories. Purchase this... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

26 Jun 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, June 26, 2018

facial-expression tracking is used to study viewers’ real-time emotional responses when watching comedy movie trailers online. These data are used to predict both viewers’ intentions to watch the movie and the movie’s box office success.... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

January 2015 (Revised April 2015)
Case

Zeal: Launching Personalized and Social Learning

By: John J-H Kim and Christine S. An

Set in 2014, this case follows John Danner and his team at Zeal as they consider their product development strategy. In February 2013, serial entrepreneurs John Danner and Sanjay Noronha co-found Zeal, an education technology start up providing a web-based, mobile... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Education Technology; MVP; Product Development; Product Market Fit; Monetization Strategy; SaaS Business Models; Education; Personalized Learning

Citation

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29 Jul 2009
Working Paper Summaries

Firsthand Experience and the Subsequent Role of Reflected Knowledge in Cultivating Trust in Global Collaboration

Keywords: by Mark Mortensen & Tsedal Neeley

21 Aug 2023
Book

You’re More Than Your Job: 3 Tips for a Healthier Work-Life Balance

outside of work, whether it’s family responsibilities, hobbies, or side-income streams, and yet still do great work.” Managers: Lead and the rest will follow Managers should model all three of these tenets for employees. “Be the change you want to see. Showcase who you... View Details

Keywords: by Kara Baskin

15 Nov 2016
First Look

November 15, 2016

the optimal rule. Download working paper: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=50545 Who Should Select New Employees, the Head Office or the Unit Manager? Consequences of Centralizing Hiring at a Retail Chain By: Deller,... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

06 May 2024
Research & Ideas

The Critical Minutes After a Virtual Meeting That Can Build Up or Tear Down Teams

other side of the Zoom call after we hang up?” Perlow asks. Just being aware that another group might have a different view of the meeting—reinforced by their own collective positive or negative energy—can help make everyone more sensitive to others’ needs. Create... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

22 Sep 2008
Research & Ideas

The Silo Lives! Analyzing Coordination and Communication in Multiunit Companies

Although many companies aspire to promote easy interaction and coordination across departments, office locations, and pay scales, the "boundaryless" organization—like the paperless office—hasn't materialized. The corporate silo is alive... View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert

09 May 2024
Research & Ideas

Called Back to the Office? How You Benefit from Ideas You Didn't Know You Were Missing

development (R&D), making the finding relevant for leaders of research-intensive organizations trying to calibrate hybrid work policies. To be sure, remote work can reduce office space costs for... View Details

Keywords: by Ben Rand

03 May 2024
Research & Ideas

How Much Does Proximity Influence Startup Innovation? 20 Meters' Worth to Be Exact

100,000-square-foot coworking space that is one of the largest of its kind in the United States. The facility hosts companies focused on financial technology, marketing technology, and software development, and assigns View Details

Keywords: by Ben Rand

16 May 2023
HBS Case

How KKR Got More by Giving Ownership to the Factory Floor: ‘My Kids Are Going to College!’

“quiet quitting” seen across many office spaces and factory floors. It also lit a pathway for companies looking to meet societal calls for a more just economy. “What if every company in United States gave... View Details

Keywords: by Avery Forman

11 Apr 2023
Op-Ed

The First 90 Hours: What New CEOs Should—and Shouldn't—Do to Set the Right Tone

The fawning executives lined up outside your office on Day One to tell you how fortunate the organization is to have you and to offer to help you succeed are often fakes. The people you need to impress and enlist as supporters are not... View Details

Keywords: by John Quelch

14 Feb 2022
Research & Ideas

Curiosity, Not Coding: 6 Skills Leaders Need in the Digital Age

need to create space for “slow thinking” in a fast-moving world, making time to meditate and reflect on uncomfortable questions or choices. Leaders can’t afford to be lured by quick fixes or the latest “shiny object.” With clear minds,... View Details

Keywords: by Linda A. Hill, Ann Le Cam, Sunand Menon, and Emily Tedards; Technology

03 Oct 2023
Research Event

Build the Life You Want: Arthur Brooks and Oprah Winfrey Share Happiness Tips

the emotions to take over you. To be able to have metacognition, as, as we describe in the book. As you describe, I didn't know it was such a thing. To have metacognition and to be able to separate the feeling from who you know yourself to be. And being able to have... View Details

Keywords: by HBS Staff

28 Apr 2021
Research & Ideas

Remote Workers Spend More on Housing. Do They Deserve Higher Pay?

To executives expecting to save on office space when some employees continue working remotely post-pandemic: Not so fast. Makeshift desks and kitchen tables have sufficed for many people working from home to avoid COVID-19. However, permanently remote workers tend to... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz

Publications