Wisdom Team - Publications - Faculty & Research

01 Nov 2022
What Do You Think?

Why Aren’t Business Leaders More Vocal About Immigration Policy?

likely is that managers have OVERESTIMATED the need for face-to-face contact and during the pandemic were (finally) compelled to question the wisdom of spending time and money (not their own!) to travel to often distant places for... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

02 Dec 2002
Research & Ideas

The Secret of How Microsoft Stays on Top

Furthermore, we found that the resulting products were rated as equal to or higher in quality than competitive offerings. These results often surprise people, given the perceived wisdom that incumbents have difficulty responding to major... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

23 Apr 2018
Research & Ideas

Sponsorship Programs Could Actually Widen the Gender Gap

with a focus on gender. A few years ago, the two of them decided to team up on a laboratory study on the value of sponsorship. “We took her applied interest—how companies are actually using sponsorship programs to address [the gender... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

11 Feb 2020
Sharpening Your Skills

10 Rules Entrepreneurs Need to Know Before Adopting AI

for neural networks increase, as does accessibility to off-the-shelf APIs from big tech and academic institutions that help speed up innovation. Entrepreneurs have also learned the wisdom of targeting AI applications toward specific,... View Details

Keywords: by Rocio Wu

15 Jul 2014
First Look

First Look: July 15

and (f) profitability ratios. We show that SBPs are not constrained by standard industry classification and are more dynamic, pliable, and concentrated. We also show that co-search intensity captures the degree of similarity between firms. Our results highlight the... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

15 Jan 2014
Research & Ideas

Managing the Family Business: It Takes a Village

one ultimate leader of the family business system or a team of leaders?" Unitary Leadership Vs. Leadership Teams There are two basic models. A family business system can either consolidate leadership with... View Details

04 Dec 2012
First Look

First Look: December 4

community influences on organizations; sheds new light on the temporal dynamics of both endogenous and exogenous punctuating events; and provides more nuanced understanding of corporate-community relations. When Power Makes Others Speechless: The Negative Impact of... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

15 Jul 2019
Book

Many Executives Are Afraid of Finance. Here's How They Can Gain Confidence

researches tax policy, international finance, and corporate finance. The book grew out of his efforts to make finance more accessible through executive education teaching and his online course Leading with Finance. His previous book, The View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

15 Oct 2001
Research & Ideas

What You Don’t Know About Making Decisions

Competing arguments become difficult to judge, since advocates will suggest using those measures (net income, return on capital, market presence, share of mind, and so on) that favor their preferred alternative. Fuzzy thinking and long delays are the likely result. To... View Details

Keywords: by David A. Garvin & Michael A. Roberto

17 Nov 2009
First Look

First Look: Nov. 17

discoveries. The Irrational Economist challenges the conventional wisdom about how to make the right decisions in the new era we have entered. It reveals a profound revolution in thinking as understood by some of the greatest minds in our... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

04 Nov 2010
What Do You Think?

Why Do We Chase Stars?

Their skill-set is wrong." We chase stars for a number of reasons: " corporations and the media encourage stardom and discourage team work" (Nauman Lodhi); "It is the expectation that some 'miracle worker' or 'hot... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett

24 May 2022
Research & Ideas

Career Advice for Minorities and Women: Sharing Your Identity Can Open Doors

explicitly mentioned identity in the email, including the line, “I was hoping you might be willing to write back with a few words of wisdom for a young [person]/[man/woman/Black man/Black woman/Latino/Latina] hoping to one day become a... View Details

Keywords: by Pamela Reynolds

04 Jun 2018
What Do You Think?

Are There Conditions Under Which Directors Should Consider Hiring a CEO Fired Elsewhere for Inappropriate Behavior?

circumstances under which such a hire might be made. Michael E opined, “I don’t believe you can generalize across the breadth of potential situations all people deserve second chances under appropriate conditions as difficult as it may be, the hiring View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

22 Jul 2019
Book

How to Be a Digital Platform Leader

business for 20 years. Its acquisition of Jet.com, however, let Walmart aggressively expand the top line of its platform revenue and bring in a team that understood platforms. Although still far behind Amazon, Walmart’s acquisition of... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

29 Sep 2003
Research & Ideas

Why Managing Innovation is Like Theater

If you don't know where you're going, any map will do.1 This conventional wisdom sounds right to many managers. It highlights the safety of having a clear objective for your management actions. It implies that all management actions are... View Details

Keywords: by Rob Austin & Lee Devin

10 Nov 2003
Research & Ideas

The Hard Numbers on Social Investments

HBS Social Enterprise Initiative executive director Stacey Childress discusses the study and its implications for investors. Salls: Tell us about the study. What did the team set out to do? Childress: A team... View Details

Keywords: by Manda Salls

13 Mar 2017
Research & Ideas

Hiding Products From Customers May Ultimately Boost Sales

on rapid rotations. New research considers the wisdom of frequent assortment rotation in cases in which a retailer has many new varieties of a product to sell—nine different silver necklaces, say, or 17 different toaster ovens. Is it... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Retail; Fashion

09 Dec 2014
First Look

First Look: December 9

out to learn what HBS graduates had to say about work and family and how their experiences, attitudes, and decisions might shed light on prevailing controversies. What their comprehensive survey revealed suggests that the conventional View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

08 Apr 2014
First Look

First Look: April 8

to compete. Strategists have developed some well-known rules for navigating business environments with network effects. "Move first" is one, and "get big fast" is another. In a study of dozens of companies, however, the authors found that quite... View Details