Publications

December 1993
Case

Ford Motor Coompany: Changing the Dealer Culture

Confronted by increasing market emphasis on customer satisfaction coupled with the success of General Motors' Saturn Division with "no haggle" pricing, Ford Motor Co. examines the sales culture within its own dealers and considers how to implement policies that will... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Salesforce Management; Customer Satisfaction; Auto Industry; United States

April 2009 (Revised June 2010)
Case

U.S. Subprime Mortgage Crisis: Policy Reactions (B)

By: Laura Alfaro and Renee Kim

In March 2009, the U.S. economy was in a severe recession not seen since the Great Depression after the subprime mortgage crisis had spiraled out of control. The situation had dramatically changed in one year since the Federal Reserve Board had helped to bailout... View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Central Banking; Mortgages; Globalized Economies and Regions; Policy; United States

09 Sep 2013
Lessons from the Classroom

Teaching Climate Change to Skeptics

still just a correlation.' My second argument is to then ask whether the correlation is persuasive enough to at least want to buy an insurance policy against the possibility that it is actually causal. That is, even if you believe there... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

May 2001 (Revised February 2002)
Case

U.S. in 2001, The: Macroeconomic Policy and the New Economy

By: Huw Pill

Presents four views of U.S. macroeconomic developments in the late 1990s: an HBS professor, the Federal Reserve, the Clinton administration, and President George W. Bush. Develops the implications of the new economy--technological and organizational change--for... View Details

Keywords: Policy; Economy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; United States

2009
Working Paper

Policy Bundling to Overcome Loss Aversion: A Method for Improving Legislative Outcomes

By: Katherine L Milkman, Mary Carol Mazza, Lisa L. Shu, Chia-Jung Tsay and Max H. Bazerman

Policies that would create net benefits for society but would also involve costs frequently lack the necessary support to be enacted because losses loom larger than gains psychologically. To reduce this harmful consequence of loss aversion, we propose a new type of... View Details

Keywords: Decision Making; Cost vs Benefits; Policy; Government Legislation; Outcome or Result; Welfare

February 9, 2015
Editorial

Isolated Scholars: Making Bricks, not Shaping Policy

By: Andrew J. Hoffman

Keywords: Climate Change

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2024
Article

State Capacity and Varieties of Climate Policy

By: Jonas Meckling and Ari Benkler

Countries vary in the adoption of sticks and carrots in climate policy. Differences in institutional capacity and fiscal space shape national policies. This matters for the effectiveness of national mitigation efforts and the extent of international conflict over... View Details

Keywords: Climate Change; Policy; Country

19 Oct 2015
Research & Ideas

Business Research that Makes for Smarter Public Policy

went to Washington, I saw a tremendous need for fact-based analysis to inform policymaking” Last spring, Toffel sought to change that by taking the unusual step of convening academics and government regulators in the same room for a... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

June 2016
Supplement

FANUC Corporation: Reassessing the Firm's Governance and Financial Policies Spreadsheet Supplement

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Akiko Kanno

In February 2015, Daniel Loeb (a US-based activist investor) announced his firm had a large investment in FANUC Corporation, a leading producer of industrial robots and software for machine tools. Loeb was demanding that the Japanese firm change its financial and... View Details

Keywords: Financial Management; Valuation; Investment Funds; Policy; Corporate Governance; Macroeconomics; Investment Activism; Change Management; Financial Strategy; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Japan; United States

February 2016
Article

Bridging Science and Technology Through Academic-Industry Partnerships

By: Sen Chai and Willy C. Shih

Partnerships that foster the translation of scientific advances emerging from academic research organizations into commercialized products at private firms are a policy tool that has attracted increased interest. This paper examines empirical data from the Danish... View Details

Keywords: Economic Development; Technological Change; Government Policy; Technological Innovation; Research and Development; Information Technology; Policy; Technology Industry; Denmark

September 2019
Article

The Persistence of Broadband User Behavior: Implications for Universal Service and Competition Policy

By: Andre Boik, Shane Greenstein and Jeffrey Prince

In several markets, firms compete not for consumer expenditure but consumer attention. We examine user priorities over the allocation of their time, and interpret that behavior in light of salient tensions in policy discussions over universal service, data caps, and... View Details

Keywords: Broadband Service; Attention Allocation; Consumer Behavior; Household; Internet and the Web; Competition; Policy

September 2010 (Revised May 2011)
Case

Leadership in Corporate Reporting Policy at Tata Steel

By: Karthik Ramanna and Rachna Tahilyani

The case describes the challenges faced by Tata Steel, India's largest private sector steel company, as it transitions from Indian GAAP to IFRS. It first describes those challenges in the context of the institutional voids that make IFRS adoption difficult in India.... View Details

Keywords: Financial Reporting; International Accounting; Multinational Firms and Management; Policy; Leadership; Emerging Markets; Standards; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Steel Industry; India

June 2011 (Revised June 2013)
Case

Sino-Ocean Land: Responding to Change

By: Nicolas P. Retsinas, Jeffrey Hu and Runjiao Xu

In 2010, Sino-Ocean Land Holdings Limited was a highly successful, large real estate developer based in Beijing, China. Sino-Ocean Land had three main business segments—property development, property investment/management, and other real estate related businesses. From... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Strategic Planning; Diversification; Property; Policy; State Ownership; Business Strategy; Business and Government Relations; Real Estate Industry; Beijing

2021
Working Paper

The Changing Role of Business in Society

By: Michael E. Porter

Business interaction with the U.S. government, historically based on securing industry or company special interests at the expense of the public good, has enabled and furthered government dysfunction. Gridlock within the American political system has precluded the... View Details

13 Feb 2006
Research & Ideas

When Gender Changes the Negotiation

factors created a large variation in salary levels and bonus structures. These differences can create huge inequities over time. Combine these disparities with a firm in flux—where policies clashed with the need to retain key... View Details

Keywords: by Dina W. Pradel, Hannah Riley Bowles & Kathleen L. McGinn

January 2008
Article

How to Change the World

By: Howard H. Stevenson

Alan Wilson has a decision to make. The CEO of his company, Grepter, wants him to relocate to Zurich, where he can gain valuable experience for a rise to the top. Karl, his best friend, hopes to lure him to a hedge fund that promises big money fast. Shiori, an enticing... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Values and Beliefs; Compensation and Benefits; Personal Development and Career; Power and Influence

2024
Working Paper

Trade Policy in the Shadow of Conflict: The Case of Dual-use Goods

By: Maxim Alekseev and Xinyue Lin

Policymakers increasingly use trade instruments to address national security concerns. This paper studies optimal policy for dual-use goods, items with both military and civilian applications. We begin by documenting that regulation and trade flows of dual-use goods... View Details

Keywords: Policy; National Security; Trade; Taxation; Financial Instruments; Macroeconomics