Publications

Article

How Long Can a Company Thrive Doing Just One Thing?

By: Andy Wu and Scott Duke Kominers

The news that the chat app Slack was being sold to veteran customer relationship management company Salesforce for $27.7 billion raised a lot of eyebrows. Why sell after a year of explosive growth? The deal, however, epitomizes a question facing so-called best-of-breed... View Details

Keywords: Best-of-breed Companies; Competitive Advantage; Competitive Strategy

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2022
Working Paper

Distributional Consequences of Monetary Policy Across Races: Evidence from the U.S. Credit Register

By: Laura Alfaro, Ester Faia and Camelia Minoiu

We examine the consequences of monetary policy on racial disparities, focusing on the role of bank lending to firms through collateral and selection channels. Leveraging comprehensive loan-level data from the U.S. credit register (Y-14Q) of the Federal Reserve, we show... View Details

Keywords: Monetary Policy Transmission; Inequity; Credit Registry; Wealth; Collateral Channel; Selection; Racial Disparity; Racial Inequality; Equality and Inequality; Banks and Banking; Credit; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Banking Industry; United States

2006
Article

Deposit Collectors

By: Nava Ashraf, Dean Karlan and Wesley Yin

Informal lending and savings institutions exist around the world, and often include regular door-to-door deposit collection of cash. Some banks have adopted similar services in order to expand access to banking services in areas that lack physical branches. Using a... View Details

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Article

Why Build in Web3

By: Jad Esber and Scott Duke Kominers

A major change is coming to the internet. While today’s dominant platforms have guarded their troves of user data and maintained an advantage through network effects, new companies—working in what they're calling a “Web3” model—are proposing a new value proposition to... View Details

Keywords: Blockchain; User Experience; Digital Platforms; Network Effects; Internet and the Web; Competition; Web Services Industry

Research Summary

Overview

By: Ethan C. Rouen

Relying on empirical archival methodologies—as well as techniques in data science—to develop and structure new sources of data by which to approach questions of looming disclosure changes, Professor Rouen has focused on one of the Securities and Exchange Commission’s... View Details

January 2024
Article

Population Interference in Panel Experiments

By: Kevin Wu Han, Guillaume Basse and Iavor Bojinov

The phenomenon of population interference, where a treatment assigned to one experimental unit affects another experimental unit’s outcome, has received considerable attention in standard randomized experiments. The complications produced by population interference in... View Details

Keywords: Outcome or Result; Research; Situation or Environment

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01 Mar 2024
News

Vital Signs

Image by Edmon De Haro Illustration by Edmon De Haro The signs of strain were there long before the pandemic: Health care workers had been managing under tremendous pressures while working long hours in understaffed hospitals. Then COVID unleashed an unprecedented... View Details

Keywords: Jen McFarland Flint; Hospitals; Health, Social Assistance

April 27, 2022
Article

Inequality in Researchers' Minds: Four Guiding Questions for Studying Subjective Perceptions of Economic Inequality

By: Jon M. Jachimowicz, Shai Davidai, Daniela Goya-Tocchetto, Barnabas Szaszi, Martin Day, Stephanie Tepper, L. Taylor Phillips, M. Usman Mirza, Nailya Ordabayeva and Oliver P. Hauser

Subjective perceptions of inequality can substantially influence policy attitudes, public health metrics, and societal well-being, but the lack of consensus in the scientific community on how to best operationalize and measure these perceptions may impede progress on... View Details

Keywords: Equality and Inequality; Perception; Analysis

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January 2014 (Revised December 2014)
Case

GenapSys: Business Models for the Genome

By: Richard G. Hamermesh, Joseph B. Fuller and Matthew Preble

GenapSys, a California-based startup, was soon to release a new DNA sequencer that the company's founder, Hesaam Esfandyarpour, believed was truly revolutionary. The sequencer would be substantially less expensive—potentially costing just a few thousand dollars—and... View Details

Keywords: DNA Sequencing; Life Sciences; Business Model; Innovation ＆ Entrepreneurship; Health Care and Treatment; Genetics; Business Strategy; Health Industry; Health Industry; Health Industry; Health Industry; Health Industry; United States

25 Feb 2015
HBS Seminar

Beril Toktay, Scheller College of Business, Georgia Institute of Technology

October 2012
Case

GSK's Acquisition of Sirtris: Independence or Integration? (Abridged)

By: Toby Stuart and James Weber

An executive from pharmaceutical company GSK must choose how much to integrate a recently acquired biotechnology firm, Sirtris. Moncef Slaoui, GSK's global head of R&D, championed the acquisition of Sirtris to gain access to its potentially revolutionary science.... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Resource Allocation; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Organizational Structure; Research and Development; Science-Based Business; Integration

01 May 2013
What Do You Think?

Why Isn’t ‘Servant Leadership’ More Prevalent?

Summing Up Is the Term "Servant Leadership" an Oxymoron? Servant leadership (SL) is a concept that triggers a great deal of interest, judging by my e-mail inbox and the number of responses to this month's column. Many comments... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett

19 Dec 2023
Blog Post

Answering Your Questions About the HBS MBA Application

prepare my recommenders? A good recommender knows you well and is able to speak to your specific strengths and abilities. We prefer to have one of your two recommenders be a... View Details

July 2004 (Revised January 2005)
Case

Shouldice Hospital Limited (Abridged)

By: James L. Heskett and Roger H. Hallowell

A hospital specializing in hernia operations is considering whether and how to expand the reach of its services. View Details

Keywords: Expansion; Service Delivery; Service Operations; Health Care and Treatment; Business Strategy; Health Industry

September 2020 (Revised May 2021)
Case

The Indian Premier League, 2020

By: John R. Wells and Benjamin Weinstock

Since its founding in 2008, the Indian Premier League (IPL), India’s eight-week Twenty20 (T20) cricket competition, had become one of the most popular and lucrative sporting leagues in the world. In 2019, the IPL attracted 462 million TV viewers and 300 million digital... View Details

Keywords: Sports; Organizational Structure; Marketing; Health Pandemics; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Growth and Development Strategy; Sports Industry; India

May 1995 (Revised April 1998)
Case

AT&T Paradyne

By: Robert S. Kaplan

A company making data communication devices has adopted a Total Quality philosophy for working with suppliers, employees, and customers. The finance group finds its existing cost system has become obsolete because of a shift from manual to automatic production... View Details

Keywords: Decisions; Product; Corporate Accountability; Activity Based Costing and Management; System; Performance Efficiency; Financial Reporting; Operations; Technology Industry; Telecommunications Industry

02 Sep 2015
What Do You Think?

What's Wrong With Amazon’s Low-Retention HR Strategy?

the opportunity to earn high compensation--but jobs that often become too demanding for some employees, particularly those with health problems or family obligations. Former employees complained about bosses who lacked empathy for... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Web Services; Retail; Apparel & Accessories; Consumer Products; Fashion

January 2020 (Revised May 2021)
Case

Salary Finance US

By: John R. Wells and Benjamin Weinstock

In October 2019, Dan Macklin, the newly-appointed chief executive of Salary Finance Inc., was weighing his options for the future of the business. The company’s value proposition was quite simple: partner with employers to offer employees affordable loans that were... View Details

Keywords: Employees; Credit; Financing and Loans; Wages; Innovation and Invention; Expansion; Growth Management; Decision Making; Financial Services Industry; United States

2018
Working Paper

Some Facts of High-Tech Patenting

By: Michael Webb, Nick Short, Nicholas Bloom and Josh Lerner

Patenting in software, cloud computing, and artificial intelligence has grown rapidly in recent years. Such patents are acquired primarily by large U.S. technology firms such as IBM, Microsoft, Google, and HP, as well as by Japanese multinationals such as Sony, Canon,... View Details

Keywords: Patents; Applications and Software; Technological Innovation; United States

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