Publications

Teaching Interest

Demystifying the Family Enterprise

By: Christina R. Wing

This course is primarily designed for students who are pursuing a career in family run businesses, family owned businesses, investment roles in family offices, or students that might invest in or wholly purchase a family owned business through a private equity firm,... View Details

July 10, 2024
Article

Designing a Successful Reskilling Program

By: Jorge Tamayo, Leila Doumi, Sagar Goel, Orsolya Kovács-Ondrejkovic and Raffaella Sadun

In this article, written as a follow up to the award-winning “Reskilling in the Age of AI”, the authors report the results of a reskilling survey that they conducted with chief human resource officers from approximately 1,200 organizations in the U.S., along with... View Details

Keywords: Competency and Skills; Training; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Employees

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March–April 2020
Article

Avoid the Pitfalls of A/B Testing

By: Iavor I. Bojinov, Guillaume Sait-Jacques and Martin Tingley

Online experiments measuring whether “A,” usually the current approach, is inferior to “B,” a proposed improvement, have become integral to the product-development cycle, especially at digital enterprises. But often firms make serious mistakes in conducting these... View Details

Keywords: A/B Testing; Experiment Design; Social Networks; Product Development; Performance Improvement; Measurement and Metrics; Social Media

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August 2006 (Revised September 2007)
Supplement

Istituto Clinico Humanitas (C): Pronto Soccorso

By: Richard M.J. Bohmer

Follows on from the cases Istituto Clinico Humanitas (A) and (B). Describes the design and running of the new Humanitas Emergency Department. Istituto Clinico Humanitas has developed a very efficient operating system for dealing with elective (largely surgical)... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Service Operations; Service Delivery; Customer Focus and Relationships; Health Industry; Italy

February 2007
Article

Strategic Bidder Behavior in Sponsored Search Auctions

By: Benjamin Edelman and Michael Ostrovsky

We examine sponsored search auctions run by Overture (now part of Yahoo!) and Google and present evidence of strategic bidder behavior in these auctions. Between June 15, 2002, and June 14, 2003, we estimate that Overture's revenue from sponsored search might have been... View Details

Keywords: Auctions; Strategy; Behavior; Revenue; Performance Efficiency; Bids and Bidding; Search Technology

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13 Oct 2015
News

The Online Ad Scams Every Marketer Should Watch Out For

02 Oct 2014
News

Philosopher kings

Hard To Do, And Easy To Screw Up—A Primer On Hiring For Startups

One of the most popular conversations I have with entrepreneurs I work with is how to improve their recruiting and hiring strategy. I love when they dive into this topic early on because it’s one of the hardest parts of running any company, no matter how small or... View Details

Teaching

Overview

The Business of Aesthetics is a new course for second-year students who are considering careers in sectors and companies whose long-term financial value is built on their ability to deliver aesthetic value. Such companies are rewarded not only for eliciting a high... View Details

22 Dec 2014
News

The absolutely, positively best quotes of 2014

May 2016
Case

The Inexorable Rise of Walmart? 1988—2016

By: John R. Wells and Gabriel Ellsworth

In October 2015, Walmart surprised investors by announcing that it expected flat sales growth for 2015 and growth of only 3% to 4% over the coming three years. Profits would also fall due to significant investments in people and technology. The company’s stock price... View Details

Keywords: Asda; Costco; David Glass; Convenience Stores; Discount Retailing; Dollar Stores; Doug McMillon; E-commerce; Online Retail; General Merchandise; Grocery; Lee Scott; Mike Duke; Multichannel Retailing; Omnichannel; Neighborhood Market; Sam Walton; Sam's Club; Store Formats; Supercenter; Supermarket; Warehouse Clubs; Merchandising; Walmart; Wal-Mart; Globalized Firms and Management; Competitive Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; Business Units; Business Divisions; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Model; Business Organization; For-Profit Firms; Film Entertainment; Television Entertainment; Banks and Banking; Price; Profit; Revenue; Food; Global Range; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Global Strategy; Business History; Compensation and Benefits; Employees; Human Capital; Labor Unions; Wages; Business or Company Management; Goals and Objectives; Management Succession; Brands and Branding; Product Positioning; Distribution; Supply Chain; Supply Chain Management; Public Ownership; Problems and Challenges; Labor and Management Relations; Strategy; Adaptation; Business Strategy; Competition; Competitive Advantage; Diversification; Expansion; Segmentation; Information Technology; Internet; Mobile Technology; Online Technology; Web; Web Sites; Retail Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Distribution Industry; Banking Industry; United States; Arkansas; Bentonville

21 Nov 2011
Lessons from the Classroom

The New Challenge of Leading Financial Firms

A worldwide economic crisis. Intense scrutiny from board members, customers, and government regulators. Expanding global markets. Public protests aimed squarely at your industry. Running a financial institution, never easy to begin with,... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Financial Services

30 Mar 2021
Blog Post

Africa Rising: Understanding Business, Entrepreneurship, and the Complexities of a Continent with Professor Hakeem Belo-Osagie

Short Intensive Programs (SIPs) are courses that offer students a great opportunity to think about career choices, gain practical skills, and explore topics you might otherwise never get to study. These courses run for one week in January... View Details

October 2023
Case

Kevin O'Leary: Building a Brand in Shark-infested Waters

By: Reza Satchu and Patrick Sanguineti

For more than fifteen years, successful Canadian entrepreneur and investor Kevin O’Leary had developed his brand into a global powerhouse. Since his first appearance on the Canadian television program Dragons’ Den in 2006 and his meteoric rise to stardom through the... View Details

Keywords: Personal Brand; Crisis; Brands and Branding; Entrepreneurship; Crisis Management; Social Media; Public Opinion; Power and Influence; Financial Services Industry

Forthcoming
Article

Should Human Capital Development Programs Be Voluntary or Mandatory? Evidence from a Field Experiment

By: Jason Sandvik, Richard Saouma, Nathan Seegert and Christopher Stanton

In a field experiment, we find large differences in productivity treatment effects between voluntary and mandatory workplace mentorship programs. A significant portion of this difference is due to the best employees opting into the program when it is voluntary and... View Details

Keywords: Mentoring; Mentorship Programs; Randomized Controlled Trial; Performance Productivity; Employees; Talent and Talent Management; Programs

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September 19, 2017
Article

After Equifax Breach, Companies Advised to Review Open-Source Software Code

By: Ben DiPietro and Lou Shipley

It doesn’t make much sense: At a time when high-powered automated trading systems can execute stock sales in real time, some companies that rely on open-source software to help to run their businesses track their open-source use on spread sheets on paper.
Lou... View Details

Keywords: Software; Open-source; Security Vulnerabilities; Data Privacy; Hack; Applications and Software; Safety; Cybersecurity

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December 2004 (Revised October 2005)
Case

Intel Research: Exploring the Future

By: Alan D. MacCormack and Kerry Herman

It is 2004 and David Tennenhouse, the director of Intel Research, is reviewing the organization he has built since 2000. Intel Research was charged with exploring new and disruptive technologies that lay off the "silicon roadmap" that drove most of Intel's R&D efforts.... View Details

Keywords: Disruptive Innovation; Technological Innovation; Research and Development; Performance Evaluation; Venture Capital; Technology Networks; Semiconductor Industry; United States

April 1990 (Revised January 1993)
Case

Ad Council's AIDS Campaign (A): Advertising Strategy

By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Janet Montgomery

Ad Council wished to run an educational campaign aimed at preventing the spread of AIDS. They were challenged to find acceptable ways to address this very sensitive subject matter--ways that the media and the public would approve. One of the big challenges was to make... View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Goals and Objectives; Social Marketing; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Success; Problems and Challenges; Social Issues; Health Industry