Publications

2020
Working Paper

Design and Analysis of Switchback Experiments

By: Iavor I Bojinov, David Simchi-Levi and Jinglong Zhao

In switchback experiments, a firm sequentially exposes an experimental unit to a random treatment, measures its response, and repeats the procedure for several periods to determine which treatment leads to the best outcome. Although practitioners have widely adopted... View Details

Keywords: Switchback Experiments; Design; Analysis; Mathematical Methods

October 2006 (Revised August 2008)
Background Note

Performing Industry Research to Inform Investment Decisions

Conducting thorough research about an industry is often an important component of investment analysis. Written specifically for HBS MBA students, provides guidance on how to perform industry research to inform investment decisions. Provides detailed information about... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Investment; Supply and Industry; Research

Educators

Purchase

2007
Book

Mergers: Leadership, Performance & Corporate Health

By: David G. Fubini, Colin Price and Maurizio Zollo

Drawing on their own extensive integration experience, the systematic analysis of 167 mergers, and cutting edge academic research, the authors of this book identify the common leadership challenges to be tackled for the achievement of what we call 'corporate health',... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Health; Mergers and Acquisitions; Leadership; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Success

Purchase

October 2002 (Revised February 2003)
Case

Joe Smith's Closing Analysis (A)

By: Lynda M. Applegate and Rakesh Khurana

Highlights giving and receiving feedback in an MBA classroom setting. View Details

Keywords: Design; System; Performance Evaluation

Educators

Purchase

20 Oct 2015
Working Paper Summaries

Internalizing Global Value Chains: A Firm-Level Analysis

Keywords: by Laura Alfaro, Pol Antras, Davin Chor & Paola Conconi

April 2005
Article

The Geography of Equity Analysis

By: Christopher J. Malloy

I provide evidence that geographically proximate analysts are more accurate than other analysts. Stock returns immediately surrounding forecast revisions suggest that local analysts impact prices more than other analysts. These effects are strongest for firms located... View Details

Keywords: Geographic Location; Stocks; Investment Return; Forecasting and Prediction; Price; Performance; Equity; Information; Prejudice and Bias; Agency Theory

There is a growing belief that scalable and low-cost AI assistance can improve firm decision-making and economic performance. However, running a business involves a myriad of open-ended problems, making it hard to generalize from recent studies showing that generative... View Details

August 8, 2018
Article

Hospital-based ACOs Face Challenges in Tracking Performance Indicators

By: Christiana Beveridge, Sofia Warner, Greg Leya and Thomas W. Feeley

Given that accountable care organizations (ACOs) have not achieved the degree of cost reductions and quality improvements initially hoped for, we sought to better understand the underlying reasons for their limited success. Our analysis of American Hospital Association... View Details

Keywords: ACOs; Health Care and Treatment; Cost Management; Performance; Measurement and Metrics

Teaching Interest

Business Analysis and Valuation Using Financial Statements

By: Suraj Srinivasan

This course provides hands-on experience in financial statement analysis. Students are exposed to tools of financial analysis, theoretical concepts, and practical valuation issues. By the end of the course, students become comfortable with using firms' financial... View Details

14 Dec 2011
Research & Ideas

The New Measures for Improving Nonprofit Performance

education, health care, and the environment at the organizational level of analysis unless we figure out a way to measure collective performance when multiple actors are involved. But funders tend to want to... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna

April 2020
Article

CEO Behavior and Firm Performance

By: Oriana Bandiera, Stephen Hansen, Andrea Prat and Raffaella Sadun

We measure the behavior of 1,114 CEOs in six countries parsing granular CEO diary data through an unsupervised machine learning algorithm. The algorithm uncovers two distinct behavioral types: "leaders" and "managers." Leaders focus on multi-function, high-level... View Details

Keywords: CEOs; Management; Behavior; Organizations; Performance; Analysis

16 Aug 2010
Lessons from the Classroom

HBS Introduces Marketing Analysis Tools for Managers

Steenburgh of HBS and Jill Avery (HBS DBA'07) of Simmons School of Management. We asked Steenburgh to explain how practitioners can use the toolkits in their businesses. Sarah Jane Gilbert: Can you describe the marketing analysis... View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert

Fast Answer

Resources for Investment Management and Financial Analysis

instructions available in Knowledge Base. Individual account required. Please see More Info page for instructions on signing up for an account. Morningstar Direct Multi-currency research platform that provides performance... View Details

2020
Working Paper

Determinants of Early-Stage Startup Performance: Survey Results

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann

To explore determinants of new venture performance, the CEOs of 470 early-stage startups were surveyed regarding a broad range of factors related to their venture’s customer value proposition, product management, marketing, technology and operations, financial... View Details

Keywords: Startups; Survey Research; Performance Analysis; Entrepreneurship; Performance; Analysis; Business Startups; Failure; Surveys

SSRN

Article

The Information Technology Ecosystem: Structure, Health, and Performance

By: Marco Iansiti and Gregory L. Richards

A number of modern industries are organized as complex networks of firms whose integrated efforts are necessary to deliver value to end customers. The complexity of these networks, or business ecosystems, and the associated interdependencies among firms, make... View Details

Keywords: Business Ventures; Networks; Value; Customers; Performance Productivity; Product; Applications and Software; Innovation and Invention; Competition; Business Model; Information Infrastructure; Information Technology Industry

2010
Working Paper

The Limits of Nonprofit Impact: A Contingency Framework for Measuring Social Performance

By: Alnoor Ebrahim and V. Kasturi Rangan

Leaders of organizations in the social sector are under growing pressure to demonstrate their impacts on pressing societal problems such as global poverty. We review the debates around performance and impact, drawing on three literatures: strategic philanthropy,... View Details

Keywords: Development Economics; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Leadership; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Performance Expectations; Nonprofit Organizations; Social Issues

12 Feb 2013
Working Paper Summaries

Do Bonuses Enhance Sales Productivity? A Dynamic Structural Analysis of Bonus-Based Compensation Plans

Keywords: by Doug J. Chung, Thomas Steenburgh & K. Sudhir

January 2002
Article

Organizational Endowments and the Performance of University Start-ups

By: Scott Shane and Toby E. Stuart

The question of how initial resource endowments—the stocks of resources that entrepreneurs contribute to their new ventures at the time of founding—affect organizational life chances is one of significant interest in organizational ecology, evolutionary... View Details

Keywords: Resource Allocation; Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Research; Company History; Initial Public Offering; Venture Capital; Financing and Loans