Publications

Most business leaders focus on the future much more than on the past, believing that their job is to embrace disruption and innovation, transform their organizations, and explore new frontiers. But decades of research on companies worldwide shows that most... View Details

October 2018 (Revised August 2019)
Case

Everybody Knows: Russia and the Election

By: Rawi Abdelal, Rafael Di Tella and Galit Goldstein

Following a contentious presidential race, Donald Trump’s 2016 election destabilized America’s status quo. Academics, journalists, politicians and the public at large examined why Trump had won. Many Americans, inside and outside the government, asserted that a... View Details

Keywords: Strategic Industry; Strategic Alliances (Business); Business And Government; Business And Public Policy; Business And Society; Media Businesses; Media Content; Media Slant; Media Regulation; Internet Of Everything; Government Policy; Politics; Political Campaigns; Political Strategy; Political Turmoil; Government; Government Regulation; Security; International Business; International Relations; National Security; Political Elections; News; Media; Internet and the Web; Rights; Problems and Challenges; Globalization; Business and Community Relations; Business and Government Relations; Government Legislation; Risk and Uncertainty; Cognition and Thinking; Conflict and Resolution; Identity; Civil Society or Community; Culture; Public Opinion; Social Issues; War; Social Media; Public Administration Industry; United States; Russia

March 2012 (Revised July 2018)
Case

V-Cola: General Instructions

By: Ian Larkin and Hal Movius

V-Cola is a six-party exercise that simulates a negotiation between a boutique advertising agency and a beverage company that is launching a new product. Each of the six parties has different incentives and information, which leads to a complex, realistic simulation... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation Process; Contracts; Information; Motivation and Incentives; Advertising Industry; Food and Beverage Industry

17 Jul 2014
News

Motivating Corporations to Do Good

May 2018
Teaching Note

Mubadala and EBX: To X or to X It?

By: Nori Gerardo Lietz and Sayiddah Fatima McCree

On April 3, 2013, Hani Barhoush and Oscar Fahlgren of Mubadala Capital (“Mubadala”) considered how to salvage Mubadala’s $2 billion preferred equity investment of a 5.63% stake in the EBX Group. At the time, EBX was the holding company of a myriad of subsidiaries and... View Details

Keywords: Bankruptcy; Cross Border; Negotiations; UAE; Oil And Gas; Finance; Strategy; Negotiation; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Private Equity; Restructuring; Energy Industry; Real Estate Industry; Shipping Industry; Financial Services Industry; Banking Industry; Brazil; Middle East

2013
Article

Boardroom Centrality and Firm Performance

By: David F. Larcker, Eric C. So and Charles C.Y. Wang

Firms with central or well-connected boards of directors earn superior risk-adjusted stock returns. Initiating a long position in the most central firms and a short position in the least central firms earns an average risk-adjusted return of 4.68% per year. Firms with... View Details

Keywords: Networks; Governing and Advisory Boards; Forecasting and Prediction; Performance

SSRN

Find at Harvard

13 Apr 2011
Working Paper Summaries

The ‘IKEA Effect’: When Labor Leads to Love

Keywords: by Michael I. Norton, Daniel Mochon & Dan Ariely; Consumer Products

May 2017 (Revised May 2019)
Supplement

Intuit: QuickBooks (B)

By: David Yoffie and Nicole Tempest Keller

This short case updates the earlier Intuit case on transitioning from a product company into a platform company. In addition to providing information on the recent successes and challenges of the business, it also explores a new challenge of building a platform with a... View Details

Keywords: Platform; Strategic Transition; Strategy; Digital Platforms; Transition

Article

Unconscious Bias Training That Works

By: Francesca Gino and Katherine Coffman

To become more diverse, equitable, and inclusive, many companies have turned to unconscious bias (UB) training. By raising awareness of the mental shortcuts that lead to snap judgments—often based on race and gender—about people’s talents or character, it strives to... View Details

Keywords: Implicit Bias; Social Integration; Empathy; Prejudice and Bias; Employees; Training; Attitudes; Behavior; Organizational Change and Adaptation

Find at Harvard

22 Mar 2011
News

Patience in Japan

2014
Working Paper

Linguistic Complexity in Firm Disclosures: Obfuscation or Information?

By: Brian J. Bushee, Ian D. Gow and Daniel Taylor

Prior research argues that the linguistic complexity of a firm’s disclosures reflects managerial obfuscation. However, complex language can be used either to obfuscate or to convey information, with the effect likely depending on the incentives of the source. We... View Details

Keywords: Communication; Financial Reporting

November 2005
Case

Playgrounds and Performance: Results Management at KaBOOM! (A)

By: Herman B. Leonard, Marc J. Epstein and Laura Winig

KaBOOM!, a successful playground-building social enterprise funded through corporate partnerships, wants to develop a performance measurement system that will enable the organization to expand its impact substantially. The board of directors and management are trying... View Details

Keywords: Governing and Advisory Boards; Growth and Development Strategy; Social Enterprise; Performance Evaluation; Management Systems; Design; Construction Industry

September 2016 (Revised February 2017)
Case

Angie's List: Ratings Pioneer Turns 20

By: Robert J. Dolan and Ayelet Israeli

In 1995, before people “googled” or “yelped,” Angela Hicks (HBS, 2000) was establishing her Angie’s List as a pioneer in the accumulation and dissemination of consumer rating information. Hicks focused on the home repair and maintenance market and, as she put it,... View Details

09 Nov 2015
Research & Ideas

These Employers Pay Higher Salaries than Necessary

comparatively in the dark, creating an “information friction” that the freelancers can exploit. In a March 2015 working paper, Information Frictions and Observable Experience, Stanton, along with Catherine Thomas (PhDBE 2006) View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Employment; Technology; Computer

March 1991 (Revised August 1994)
Case

Berkshire Partners

By: Cynthia A. Montgomery

Berkshire Partners is a limited partnership engaged in the acquisition of companies valued between $25 million and $250 million. The purpose of the case is to examine the resources of the firm and discuss the firm's competitive advantage vis-a-vis other types of... View Details

Keywords: Working Capital; Partners and Partnerships; Competitive Advantage; Acquisition; Corporate Finance

09 Jul 2018
Video

Maha Malik (MBA 2019)

October 1999 (Revised March 2000)
Background Note

Venture Capital Negotiations: VC versus Entrepreneur

By: Robert J. Robinson and Noam T. Wasserman

Introduces students to the challenging negotiations between venture capitalists and entrepreneurs. Explores interests, sources of negotiating power, barriers to reaching agreement, and common contractual terms. Describes how the parties try to reduce information... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation Tactics; Venture Capital; Entrepreneurship; Financial Services Industry

January 1994
Case

National Convenience Stores, Inc.

By: Steven R. Fenster, Stuart C. Gilson and Roy Burstin

National Convenience Stores seeks to emerge from Chapter 11. Central to the nature of the reorganization plan is the company's determining enterprise value. The various constituencies (secured debt, unsecured debt, etc.) will seek to find an enterprise value that... View Details

Keywords: Capital Structure; Valuation; Restructuring; Strategic Planning; Borrowing and Debt; Food and Beverage Industry; Texas