Publications

Read Now

February 2020
Case

Halftime for Heidelberg

By: Debora L. Spar

The case follows President Rob Huntington as he seeks to find a viable way forward for Heidelberg University. Located in Tiffin, Ohio, Heidelberg is a small, private, four-year university. As with many similar institutions of higher education, it currently faces a... View Details

Keywords: University; University Administration; University Endowment; Endowments; Brand Management; Higher Education; Strategic Planning; Brands and Branding; Education Industry; Ohio

December 2006 (Revised October 2007)
Case

Monsanto: Realizing Biotech Value in Brazil

By: David E. Bell and Mary L. Shelman

In 2003, Monsanto's patented "Roundup Ready" technology was used illegally on 70-80% of the soybean area in southern Brazil. Under pressure from U.S. soybean growers, who were paying to license the technology, the firm implemented an innovative delivery-based... View Details

Keywords: Plant-Based Agribusiness; Patents; Lawfulness; Emerging Markets; Product Development; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Biotechnology Industry; Brazil

May 2004
Background Note

56K Modem Battle

By: David B. Yoffie and Deborah Freier

Examines the battle to set the standard for the 56K modem. Set in 1996, this case looks at how computers accessed the Internet via a telephone line, or dial-up connection, and a hardware modem. In 1995, there were 18.6 million total modem unit shipments, with market... View Details

Keywords: Announcements; Revenue; Patents; Product Launch; Network Effects; Standards; Competition; Information Infrastructure; Internet and the Web; Technology Industry; Illinois

24 Apr 2019
HBS Seminar

Dimitris Papanikolaou, Kellogg School of Management, Northwestern University

Positioning Brands Against Large Competitors to Increase Sales

The authors explore the effects of having a large dominant competitor and show conditions under which focusing on a competitive threat, rather than hiding it, can actually help a brand. Through lab and field studies, the authors demonstrate that highlighting a large... View Details

August 30, 2022
Article

School Choice Increases Racial Segregation Even When Parents Do Not Care About Race

By: Kalinda Ukanwa, Aziza C. Jones and Broderick L. Turner Jr.

This research examines how school choice impacts school segregation. Specifically, this work demonstrates that even if parents do not take the racial demographics of schools into account, preference differences between Black and White parents for other school... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Race; Policy; Early Childhood Education; Middle School Education; Secondary Education

Read Now

August 2018
Case

Four Products: Predicting Diffusion (2018)

By: John Gourville

One job of product managers, marketers, strategic planners, and other corporate executives is to predict what the demand will be for a new product. This task is easier for certain classes of new products than for others. For new consumer package goods, for instance,... View Details

Keywords: Diffusion Processes; Product Adoption; Marketing; Forecasting and Prediction; Demand and Consumers; Adoption; Product Launch

November 2012
Case

Ahold versus Tesco—Analyzing Performance

By: Suraj Srinivasan and Penelope Rossano

The case relates to understanding and comparing the performance of two leading retail companies—Ahold and Tesco. The case introduces the tools of Dupont and Modified Dupont Decomposition. While performance as measured by return on equity has been similar for the two... View Details

Keywords: Performance Evaluation; Retail Industry

December 2010
Article

Organizing the In-between: The Population Dynamics of Network-weaving Organizations in the Global Interstate Network

By: Paul Ingram and Magnus Thor Torfason

This article examines the population dynamics and viability of network weavers, which are organizations that provide network relations for others. An analysis of the population dynamics of the intergovernmental organizations (IGOs) that are the basis of the interstate... View Details

Keywords: Networks; Organizations; Demographics; Relationships; Globalization; Economics; Conflict and Resolution; Value; Lawfulness; Competition

Read Now

04 Dec 2024
HBS Seminar

Mert Demirer, MIT Sloan School of Management

17 Jun 2021
Blog Post

Setting a Higher Bar on Fatherhood

Though my classroom experience may look similar to any other student, it’s in that extracurricular time that the differences come to life. Sure, I don’t attend as many social events as the average student, but it’s not a major loss when I... View Details

12 Aug 2009
Working Paper Summaries

Culture Clash: The Costs and Benefits of Homogeneity

Keywords: by Eric J. Van den Steen

Research Summary

2. Acquisitions of Industrial Units and the Evolution of Operational Performance across the Firm

Abstract: Manufacturing firms frequently expand their production capacity through the acquisition of industrial units. How are the existing units in the acquirer company affected by the acquisition of another facility? I argue that two important... View Details

March 2021 (Revised September 2021)
Case

Applied: Using Behavioral Science to Debias Hiring

By: Ashley Whillans and Jeff Polzer

The UK government’s Behavioural Insights Team (BIT) needed to hire a new associate and were trying to increase the diversity of their job candidates. This decision was based on academic research showing that recruiters and managers often fell into common traps like... View Details

Keywords: Hiring; Bias; Behavioral Science; Selection and Staffing; Diversity; Prejudice and Bias; Information Technology; Recruitment

2020
Working Paper

Mission-Oriented Research in a National Emergency: Lessons from the Office of Scientific Research and Development in World War II

By: Daniel P. Gross and Bhaven N. Sampat

Since the beginning of the present COVID-19 pandemic, policymakers, researchers, and journalists have made repeated comparisons to World War II. In ongoing research, we have been studying the effects of the World War II research effort, which included a major medical... View Details

Keywords: Innovation and Invention; Research and Development; Problems and Challenges; War; History; Government Administration; United States

May 2019
Article

A Counterfeit Competence: After Threat, Cheating Boosts One's Self-Image

By: S. Wiley Wakeman, Celia Moore and F. Gino

In six studies, we show that after experiencing a threat to their abilities, individuals who misrepresent their performance as better than it actually is boost their feelings of competence. We situate these findings in the literature on self-protection. We show that... View Details

Keywords: Cheating; Self-perception; Self-protection; Competency and Skills; Identity; Perception; Performance

May 2017
Case

Four Products: Predicting Diffusion (2017)

By: John Gourville

One job of product managers, marketers, strategic planners, and other corporate executives is to predict what the demand will be for a new product. This task is easier for certain classes of new products than for others. For new consumer package goods, for instance,... View Details

Keywords: Diffusion Processes; Product Adoption; Forecasting and Prediction; Product; Product Launch; Marketing

2014
Book

Consumer Lending in France and America: Credit and Welfare

By: Gunnar Trumbull

Why did America embrace consumer credit over the course of the twentieth century, when most other countries did not? How did American policy makers by the late twentieth century come to believe that more credit would make even poor families better off? This book traces... View Details

Keywords: Attitudes; Credit; France; United States

June 2010
Article

Are You a High Potential?

By: Douglas A. Ready, Jay A. Conger and Linda A. Hill

Some employees are more talented than others, and nearly every company has its method for identifying their high-potential managers. So how can you get on your company's high-potential list? Douglas A. Ready, of the talent-management research center ICEDR; Jay A.... View Details

Keywords: Talent and Talent Management; Employees; Leadership Development; Personal Development and Career; Personal Characteristics