Publications

Research Summary

Consumer Behavior and Health

Professor Riis studies consumer behavior and health using the methods and theories of experimental psychology and behavioral economics. Particular problems that he is currently investigating include:

• Information use and decision making in food service... View Details

13 Apr 2012
HBS Seminar

Drazen Prelec, Professor of Management Science and Economics at MIT Sloan School of Management

October 2003
Case

Henry Tam and the MGI Team

By: Jeffrey T. Polzer, Ingrid Vargas and Hillary Anger Elfenbein

Within a short time frame, seven diverse team members assemble to write a business plan for a new company and struggle to define their roles, make decisions together, and resolve conflict. Henry Tam, a second-year Harvard MBA student, who joins an aspiring start-up... View Details

Keywords: Interpersonal Communication; Business Plan; Groups and Teams; Decision Making; Jobs and Positions; Leadership Style; Human Resources; Management Teams; Conflict and Resolution; Diversity

11 Jan 2017
Working Paper Summaries

Populism and the Return of the 'Paranoid Style': Some Evidence and a Simple Model of Demand for Incompetence as Insurance Against Elite Betrayal

Keywords: by Rafael Di Tella and Julio J. Rotemberg

04 Feb 2021
Research & Ideas

Inside CEOs' Pandemic Worries: Uncertainty, Employees, and Kids

parents. The increased difficulty and risks of traveling separated some CEOs from family. One had to make the difficult decision to “move to a different city to be closer to... View Details

Keywords: by Gamze D. Yucaoglu, Robin Abrahams, and Boris Groysberg

16 Feb 2016
Working Paper Summaries

Diversity and Team Performance in a Kenyan Organization

Keywords: by Benjamin Marx, Vincent Pons, and Tavneet Suri; Public Administration; Public Relations

2005
Chapter

On Coaches, Counsellors, Facilitators and Behavioural Consultants.

Executive coaches, career counsellors, psychotherapists, group facilitators and behavioural consultants all have overlapping, yet different areas of expertise. To make an informed decision about the kind of long-term leadership development program you want, it is... View Details

Keywords: Experience and Expertise; Decisions; Learning; Leadership Development; Outcome or Result; Programs; Behavior

1992
Article

Making Choices: Aspects of the History of the Harvard Business School MBA Program

By: Nancy F. Koehn, Thomas R. Piper, V. Kasturi Rangan and Richard S. Tedlow

Keywords: Higher Education; History; Decision Choices and Conditions; Boston

September–October 2022
Article

The Essential Link Between ESG Targets and Financial Performance

By: Mark R. Kramer and Marc W. Pfitzer

Despite heightened attention to environmental, social, and governance (ESG) issues, surprisingly few companies are making meaningful progress in delivering on their commitments. Most firms are not integrating ESG factors into internal strategy and operational decisions... View Details

Keywords: ESG; Environmental Sustainability; Social Issues; Governance; Financial Strategy; Decision Making; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Organizational Structure

Article

Disagreement and the Allocation of Control

By: Eric J. Van den Steen

This article studies the allocation of control when there is disagreement—in the sense of differing priors—about the right course of action. People then value control rights since they believe that their decisions are better than those of others. More disagreement (due... View Details

Keywords: Governance Controls; Projects; Decisions; Value; Agreements and Arrangements

January 2023 (Revised December 2024)
Technical Note

LCA Action Planning: Responsibility and Accountability

By: Sandra J. Sucher, Nien-he Hsieh and Marilyn Morgan Westner

LCA action plans integrate responsibility and accountability into decision-making and planning. This module note was designed for the LCA course and reviews six steps leaders can follow to develop a practical LCA action plan for their business. It shows how integrating... View Details

Keywords: Responsibility; Accountability; Management Challenges; Corporate Accountability; Leadership; Planning; Decisions; Strategy

2009
Working Paper

Product-Market Competition and Managerial Autonomy

By: Christian Alejandro Ruzzier

It is often argued that competition forces managers to make better choices, thus favoring managerial autonomy in decision making. I formalize and challenge this idea. Suppose that managers care about keeping their position or avoiding interference, and that they can... View Details

Keywords: Management; Competition; Decision Making

March 2018
Supplement

Environmental Technology Fund Partners and E-Leather

By: Vikram S Gandhi and Aldo Sesia

This courseware was created to allow students to model E-Leather's enterprise value (EV) in early 2014. Yellow cells in the Enterprise Value (EV) worksheets indicate where students provide inputs. The other worksheets provide information to help students make... View Details

Keywords: Valuation

October 2020 (Revised November 2020)
Case

Wilderness Safaris: Impact Investing and Ecotourism Conservation in Africa

By: James E. Austin, Megan Epler Wood and Herman B. "Dutch" Leonard

In 2018 the majority ownership of publicly owned Wilderness Safaris, the leading high-end ecotourism company in Africa with safari operations in eight countries, was acquired by The Rise Fund, one of the world’s largest private social impact investing funds, and by FS... View Details

August 1990 (Revised March 1991)
Case

Eli Lilly and Co. (C): Japan

By: Michael Y. Yoshino

Describes the process of establishing an independent operation in Japan in the mid-1980s as a result of a decision to make a major investment in the market. Describes the challenges in setting up such an operation and focuses on the role of the country manager in... View Details

Keywords: Business Divisions; Business Startups; Decisions; Investment; Growth Management; Managerial Roles; Markets; Problems and Challenges; Pharmaceutical Industry; Japan

23 Jun 2020
Working Paper Summaries

Dignity, Inequality, and the Populist Backlash: Lessons from America and Europe for a Sustainable Globalization

Keywords: by Rawi Abdelal

14 Jun 2017
Working Paper Summaries

Expressive Voting and Its Cost: Evidence from Runoffs with Two or Three Candidates

Keywords: by Vincent Pons and Clémence Tricaud

September 2014
Article

The Interrelationships Between Brand and Channel Choice

By: Scott Neslin, Kenshuk Jerath, Anand Bodapati, Eric T. Bradlow, John A. Deighton, Sonja Gensler, Leonard Lee, Elisa Montaguti, Rahul Telang, Raj Venkatesan, Peter C. Verhoef and Z. John Zhang

We propose a framework for the joint study of the consumer's decision of where to buy and what to buy. The framework is rooted in utility theory where the utility is for a particular channel/brand combination. The framework contains firm actions, the consumer search... View Details

Keywords: Brand Choice; Channel Choice; Utility Theory; Marketing; Decision Choices and Conditions; Consumer Behavior; Learning; Electronics Industry; Auto Industry; Information Technology Industry; Telecommunications Industry; Aerospace Industry

2008
Working Paper

Performance and Control across Multiple Markets

By: Tatiana Sandino, Dennis Campbell and Shelby Yu

Chain organizations typically operate units across different types of markets, with significantly diverging customer bases. Such market-type dispersion potentially influences performance through two channels: it makes performance a noisier indicator of store manager... View Details

Keywords: Governance Controls; Organizational Design; Markets; Franchise Ownership; Performance; Retail Industry