Publications

November 2013
Article

Organizational Ambidexterity: Past, Present and Future

By: Charles A. O'Reilly III and Michael Tushman

Organizational ambidexterity refers to the ability of an organization to both explore and exploit—to compete in mature technologies and markets where efficiency, control, and incremental improvement are prized and to also compete in new technologies and markets where... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Ambidexterity; Organization Design; Innovation; Leadership; Organizational Design; Innovation and Invention

March 18, 2014
Article

The Seven Skills You Need to Thrive in the C-Suite

By: Boris Groysberg

What executive skills are most prized by companies today? How has that array of skills changed in the last decade, and how is it likely to change in the next ten years? To find out, I surveyed senior consultants in 2010 at a top-five global executive-search firm.... View Details

Keywords: Executive Ability; Management Skills; Leadership; Competency and Skills

Register to Read

30 Oct 2006
First Look

First Look: October 31, 2006

Working PapersHow Does Foreign Direct Investment Promote Economic Growth? Exploring the Effects of Financial Markets on Linkages Authors:Laura Alfaro, Areendam Chanda, Sebnem Kalemli-Ozcan, and Selin Sayek Abstract The empirical literature finds mixed evidence on the... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

July 2024
Module Note

The Scope of the Corporation

By: David J. Collis

Every company, regardless of size or configuration, has to make decisions about the appropriate scope of its operations. In fact, the issue is so fundamental that Ronald Coase won the Nobel Prize in Economics for merely asking the question, “what determines the scope... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Strategy; Mission and Purpose

June 2022 (Revised January 2023)
Case

Buurtzorg

By: Ethan Bernstein, Tatiana Sandino, Joost Minnaar and Annelena Lobb

As co-founders of home nursing company Buurtzorg, Jos de Blok and Gonnie Kronenberg prized both self-management and organizational learning. Buurtzorg’s 10,000 nurses across 950 neighborhood nursing teams in the Netherlands were empowered to manage themselves, both in... View Details

Educators

08 Nov 2010
Research & Ideas

How to Fix a Broken Marketplace

An economic handyman of sorts, Alvin E. Roth fixes broken markets. As a Nobel Prize-winning pioneer in the field of market design, the Harvard Business School professor cofounded a kidney donation matching system for New England, corrected public school choice programs... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Health

22 Feb 2008
Working Paper Summaries

Consumer Demand for Prize-Linked Savings: A Preliminary Analysis

Keywords: by Peter Tufano, Nick Maynard & Jan-Emmanuel De Neve; Financial Services

05 Dec 2011
Research & Ideas

It’s Alive! Business Scholars Turn to Experimental Research

two key factors. First, prominent behavioral economist Danny Kahneman won the Nobel Prize in Economics in 2002, illuminating the role of psychology in economic science. Second, journalist Malcolm Gladwell wrote The Tipping Point and... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

September 2007
Case

Dice-K: The Hundred (Plus) Million Dollar Man

By: Randolph B. Cohen

Describes the efforts made by the Boston Red Sox to sign superstar Japanese pitcher Daisuke (Dice-K) Matsuzaka within the context of the team's attempts to keep pace with longtime rival, the New York Yankees. In late 2006, Dice-K is viewed as the prize of the free... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation; Cash Flow; Forecasting and Prediction; Financial Strategy; Sports Industry

Educators

December 2023
Teaching Note

Buurtzorg

By: Ethan Bernstein and Tatiana Sandino

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 122-101. As co-founders of home nursing company Buurtzorg, Jos de Blok and Gonnie Kronenberg prized both self-management and organizational learning. Buurtzorg’s 10,000 nurses across 950 neighborhood nursing teams in the Netherlands were... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Employee Relationship Management; Knowledge Dissemination; Knowledge Management; Management Practices and Processes; Organizational Design; Organizational Structure; Groups and Teams; Learning; Health Industry; Netherlands

2014
Chapter

Technology, Innovation and Economic Growth in Britain Since 1870

By: Tom Nicholas

This chapter examines technological change in Britain over the last 140 years. It analyzes the effects of patent laws and innovation prizes that were designed to promote technical progress. It explores the challenge associated with the changing organizational structure... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Organizational Change and Adaptation; History; Economic Growth; Change; Innovation and Invention; Great Britain

Article

Cheating, Inequality Aversion, and Appealing to Social Norms

By: Clara Amato, Francesca Gino, Natalia Montinari and Pierluigi Sacco

We conduct a field experiment involving 143, 9-years old children in their classrooms. Children are requested to flip a coin in private and receive a big or a small prize depending on the outcome they report. Comparing the actual and theoretical distribution of... View Details

Keywords: Cheating; Inequality Aversion; Social Norms; Children; Experiment; Behavior; Equality and Inequality; Moral Sensibility

28 Jan 2019
Research & Ideas

Forget Cash. Here Are Better Ways to Motivate Employees

sincere handwritten note explaining why the employee deserved the bonus. “If you can find a way to imbue meaning beyond the zeros in the cash reward,” says Whillans, “that same reward will go further.” Reconsider performance incentives Many companies attempt to... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

2008
Working Paper

Consumer Demand for Prize-Linked Savings: A Preliminary Analysis

By: P. Tufano, Nick Maynard and Jan-Emmanuel De Neve

This paper reports on a small-scale survey of the potential American demand for prize-linked savings accounts, an account that awards prizes as part of the saving product's return. In October 2006, Centra Credit Union launched a prize-linked savings pilot. As part of... View Details

Keywords: Saving; Income; Consumer Behavior; Personal Finance; Investment Return; Banks and Banking; Clarksville

18 Sep 2007
First Look

First Look: September 18, 2007

Working PapersOptimal Reserve Management and Sovereign Debt Authors:Laura Alfaro and Fabio Kanczuk Abstract Most models currently used to determine optimal foreign reserve holdings take the level of international debt as given. However, given the sovereign's... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

1982
Article

Children's Artistic Creativity: Detrimental Effects of Competition in a Field Setting

By: T. M. Amabile

Girls whose ages ranged from 7 to 11 years made paper collages during 1 of 2 residential parties. Those in the experimental group were competing for prizes, whereas those in the control group expected that the prizes would be raffled off. Artist-judges later rated each... View Details

Keywords: Creativity; Early Childhood Education; Motivation and Incentives; Situation or Environment; Competition; Teaching

24 Oct 2023
HBS Case

From P.T. Barnum to Mary Kay: Lessons From 5 Leaders Who Changed the World

you must criticize, it’s best to sandwich it between two thick layers of praise,” Ash said. Leadership Lesson 1: “Mary Kay was a master of harnessing the power of recognition,” Simons observes. “We talk about compensation, but at every level, she gave View Details

Keywords: by Avery Forman

January 2024
Supplement

Buurtzorg

By: Ethan Bernstein and Tatiana Sandino

As co-founders of home nursing company Buurtzorg, Jos de Blok and Gonnie Kronenberg prized both self-management and organizational learning. Buurtzorg’s 10,000 nurses across 950 neighborhood nursing teams in the Netherlands were empowered to manage themselves, both in... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Design; Management Style; Business Model; Knowledge Dissemination; Learning; Organizational Culture; Health Industry; Netherlands