Publications

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April 2019 (Revised December 2019)
Case

Exporting Livability: Investing in New Urban Centers

By: John D. Macomber and Essie Alamsyah

Can Singapore urban design, policy continuity, and system of laws be exported outside of Singapore to accelerate the effective development of new urban agglomerations? Nina Yang, CEO of Sustainable Urban Development at Ascendas-Singbridge, a large real estate company... View Details

Keywords: Urban Development; Projects; Design; City; Business and Government Relations; Expansion; Real Estate Industry; China; Singapore

July 2007 (Revised March 2008)
Case

ABRY Fund V

By: Nabil N. El-Hage, Richard S. Ruback and Leslie Pierson

In January 2006, Andrew Banks and Royce Yudkoff were considering raising a 5th fund for their media-focused private equity firm, ABRY Partners. ABRY had a strong track record that the co-founders attributed to their group's deep knowledge of the media industry and... View Details

Keywords: Cooperative Ownership; Venture Capital; Customer Relationship Management; Asset Management; Private Equity; Judgments; Competitive Strategy; Media; Corporate Finance; Media and Broadcasting Industry; Financial Services Industry

October 1995
Article

Start-ups, Spin-offs, and Internal Projects

By: James J. Anton and Dennis Yao

We examine the incentive problem confronting a firm and employee when the employee privately discovers a significant invention and faces a choice between keeping the invention private and leaving the firm to form a new company (start-up), or transferring knowledge and... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Projects; Motivation and Incentives; Rights; Employees; Innovation and Invention; Compensation and Benefits; Knowledge Sharing; Capital; Profit

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March 2022 (Revised April 2023)
Case

Pittsburgh: A Successful City?

By: Karen Mills, Caroline Elkins, Vikram Gandhi, Gabriella Elanbeck and Zeke Gillman

Pittsburgh, PA, was once the crown jewel of American heavy industry. During the 19th and 20th centuries, the city was an undisputed leader in steel production, boasting some of the largest companies and wealthiest individuals in the world. Its abundance of... View Details

Keywords: Economic And Social Disparities; Economic Development; Local Economic Development; Contextual Intelligence; Contextual Knowledge; Context; City Growth; City Innovation; City Leadership; Pittsburgh; Local Government; Local Stakeholders; Business And Community; Business And Community Relations; Community Engagement; Community Relations; Cross-sector Collaboration; Innovation; Innovation Economy; Innovation Clusters; Innovation Ecosystems; Shared Prosperity; Equality Of Opportunity; Equity; Inclusion; Business And Government; Business ＆ Government Relations; Business And Government Relations; Business And Society; Neighborhoods; Race And Ethnicity; Innovation ＆ Entrepreneurship; Diversity; Ethnicity; Race; Household; Income; Economic Growth; Economic Sectors; Economics; Local Range; Urban Development; Urban Scope; City; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Government and Politics; Government Administration; Growth and Development; History; Leadership; Goals and Objectives; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Society; Civil Society or Community; Culture; Human Needs; Public Opinion; Public Sector; Social Issues; Poverty; Equality and Inequality; Manufacturing Industry; Steel Industry; Education Industry; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Technology Industry; United States; Pittsburgh; Pennsylvania

07 Nov 2023
Research & Ideas

When Glasses Land the Gig: Employers Still Choose Workers Who 'Look the Part'

freelancers’ knowledge and performance, notes the study, which Troncoso conducted with Lan Luo of the University of Southern California. Troncoso stumbled into the online recruiting world in 2019 when she was trying to hire a freelancer... View Details

Keywords: by Scott Van Voorhis

November 2020 (Revised July 2022)
Case

Dell Technologies: Bringing the Cloud to the Ground

By: Navid Mojir and V. Kasturi Rangan

The case tells the story of Dell Technologies and its efforts to revitalize its value proposition and escape a commodity trap by acquiring EMC for $67 billion—the largest tech acquisition in history. It also shows the deeply intertwined connections between a company’s... View Details

Keywords: Value Proposition; Go-to-market; Strategic Positioning; Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Strategy; Marketing Strategy; Technological Innovation; Business Divisions; Information Technology Industry; Computer Industry

March 2012
Article

The Hierarchical Face: Higher Rankings Lead to Less Cooperative Looks

By: Patricia Chen, Christopher G. Myers, Shirli Kopelman and Stephen M. Garcia

In 3 studies, we tested the hypothesis that the higher ranked an individual's group is, the less cooperative the facial expression of that person is judged to be. Study 1 established this effect among business school deans, with observers rating individuals from higher... View Details

Keywords: Rank and Position; Cooperation

June 2008
Case

From xiaonei to hainei: The Quest for the Social Networking Service Market in China

By: Joseph B. Lassiter III, Michael Shih-Ta Chen and Keith Chi-ho Wong

Wang Xing, the founder of Hainei.com, one of the fastest growing social networking service (SNS) providers in China, was preparing to raise funds from venture capitalists. Since late 2003, Wang had established several Internet startups in China. Xiaonei.com, which he... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Social and Collaborative Networks; Competition; Internet; China

2007
Book

Entrepreneurship in the Social Sector

By: Jane Wei-Skillern, James Austin, Herman Leonard and Howard Stevenson

"Entrepreneurship in the Social Sector provides an excellent overview of the many tools available to... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Society

May 1994 (Revised October 1994)
Case

Motorola: Institutionalizing Corporate Initiatives

By: Shoshana Zuboff and Janis Lee Gogan

Motorola became a recognized quality leader in large part by becoming a leader in employee education and by encouraging "participative management." Through the Motorola Training and Education Center, later Motorola University, the company invested substantial resources... View Details

Keywords: Experience and Expertise; Customer Satisfaction; Training; Human Resources; Leadership; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Corporate Strategy; Education Industry

14 Jun 2023
Research & Ideas

Four Steps to Building the Psychological Safety That High-Performing Teams Need

Don't Start by Trying to Change the Culture Feedback or ideas to share? Email the Working Knowledge team at hbswk@hbs.edu. Image: iStockphoto/Martin Barraud View Details

Keywords: by Kara Baskin

Research Summary

Wage Policies and Incentives to Invest in Firm-Specific Human Capital (joint with George Baker and Nancy Dean Beaulieu)

The accumulation of firm-specific knowledge improves firm productivity and employee reten-tion, by creating a wedge between what the employee is worth inside and outside the firm. How does the firm create incentives for investment in firm-specific human capital when... View Details

November 2006 (Revised May 2014)
Case

Li Ka-Shing and the Growth of Cheung Kong

By: Nitin Nohria, Anthony J. Mayo and Mark Benson

Events in the history of Cheung Kong's growth reveal how Li Ka-Shing applied his skills as a "first-class noticer" to complex political and socioeconomic environments. While Li's determination to succeed is legendary, so are his skills in reading and responding to the... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Competency and Skills; Decision Choices and Conditions; Investment Portfolio; Business History; Leadership; Personal Development and Career; Hong Kong

2021
Book

The Peacemaker's Code

By: Deepak Malhotra

The book's many themes -- war & peace, history, strategy, negotiation, leadership, friendship, & love -- are woven together in a novel with a sci-fi hook and a thrilling premise. The protagonist is a young history professor who is whisked off to Washington, where he... View Details

Keywords: Fiction

April–May 2021
Article

The Effect of Retaliation Costs on Employee Whistleblowing

By: Jonas Heese and Gerardo Pérez Cavazos

We use large increases in unemployment insurance (UI) benefits to study the effects of expected retaliation costs on employee whistleblowing. Increases in UI benefits reduce the costs that arise from a job loss, one of the costliest forms of retaliation. We find that... View Details

Keywords: Employee Whistleblowing; Retaliation Costs; Labor Unemployment Insurance; Workplace Safety Inspections

SSRN

2007
Book

Entrepreneurship and Global Capitalism

By: G. Jones and Rohit Daniel Wadhwani

These volumes demonstrates the importance of historical perspectives in the study of entrepreneurship. By exploring the role of entrepreneurship in the history of global capitalism, the authors show that historical knowledge can challenge widely accepted... View Details

Keywords: History; Diasporas; Economic Systems; Globalized Economies and Regions; Globalized Firms and Management; Cultural Entrepreneurship; Entrepreneurship; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues

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2020
Working Paper

Scientific Production: An Exploration into Organization, Resource Allocation, and Funding

By: Jerry Thursby, Marie Thursby, Karim R. Lakhani, Kyle R. Myers, Nina Cohodes, Sarah Bratt, Dennis Byrski, Hannah Cohoon and Maria Roche

Production of scientific knowledge is core to civilizational advancement in economic and material wellbeing of societies. Despite its fundamental importance, however, a systematic effort to quantitatively study the factors underlying scientific production, particularly... View Details

Keywords: Funding; Science; Knowledge; Research; Information Management; Resource Allocation