Publications

SSRN

01 Oct 2024
Research & Ideas

How Politics Drives Business Decisions in a Polarized Nation

Political polarization has seeped so deeply into US society that it shapes who Americans befriend, date, and marry, where they live, raise their families, and retire—and how they run their businesses. A recent paper illustrates how the partisan divide permeates... View Details

Keywords: by Jay Fitzgerald

April 2002 (Revised October 2002)
Case

The Blair Wealth Project: Antecedents and Prospects

By: Huw Pill and Ingrid Vogel

Discusses the macroeconomic and political situation in the United Kingdom from the end of World War II through 2001. Focuses on the interactions among macroeconomic performance, labor relations, the corporate governance system, and social services. In particular,... View Details

Keywords: Welfare; Corporate Governance; Labor and Management Relations; Government and Politics; Macroeconomics; United Kingdom

April 1983 (Revised October 1990)
Background Note

Textiles and the Multi-Fiber Arrangement

By: David B. Yoffie

What happens to an industry with millions of employees that loses its comparative advantage? This note examines this question by looking at the global textile and apparel industry. With the Multi-Fiber Arrangement coming up for renewal in December 1981, the United... View Details

Keywords: Trade; Cost vs Benefits; Developing Countries and Economies; Manufacturing Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry; United States; Europe

July 2022
Supplement

Netflix: A Creative Approach to Culture and Agility (B)

By: Ranjay Gulati and Matt Higgins

This (B) case, set in summer 2022, was designed as a companion to "Netflix: A Creative Approach to Culture and Agility," a case set in 2018. The purpose of this brief document is to unlock a discussion around how the Netflix culture can be used to weather new... View Details

Keywords: Netflix; Corporate Culture; Streaming; Media; Technology; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Innovation Leadership; Innovation Strategy; Leadership Style; Organizational Culture; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Media and Broadcasting Industry; Motion Pictures and Video Industry; Technology Industry; California

December 1996
Supplement

Cleveland Turnaround: Leadership in Action

By: James E. Austin, Jaan Elias and Andrea L Strimling

Consists of three separate parts. Part 1, The Cleveland Turnaround, describes Cleveland's decline until its bankruptcy in 1978. This is followed by the remedial actions taken by community leaders, starting with the election of a new mayor, the formation of new... View Details

Keywords: Leading Change; Business Cycles; Development Economics; Urban Development; Social Issues; Business and Community Relations; Cleveland

July 2008
Article

Crime and Punishment in the 'American Dream'

By: Rafael Di Tella and Juan Dubra

We observe that countries where belief in the "American dream" (i.e., effort pays) prevails also set harsher punishment for criminals. We know that beliefs are also correlated with several features of the economic system (taxation, social insurance, etc). Our objective... View Details

Keywords: Crime and Corruption; Economic Systems; Values and Beliefs; Law Enforcement; Mathematical Methods; Personal Characteristics; United States

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Research Summary

Current Research

Information Dissemination in Capital Markets

Seeking to bridge economic theory and the role of individuals, Professor Brochet researches the transmission of information in capital markets. He has investigated the effects of information... View Details

June 2011
Case

Reed Supermarkets: A New Wave of Competitors

By: John A. Quelch and Carole Carlson

Reed Supermarkets is a high-end supermarket chain with operations in several Midwestern states. Meredith Collins, vice president of marketing, visits stores located in Columbus, Ohio, an important region with the largest market and the greatest impact on revenue... View Details

Keywords: Product Positioning; Marketing Strategy; Business Growth and Maturation; Competitive Strategy; Consumer Behavior; Brands and Branding; Retail Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Ohio

01 Oct 2018
Book

Is the US Losing its Ability to Attract Highly Skilled Migrant Workers?

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Food & Beverage; Service

2017
Chapter

High Stakes Negotiation: Indian Gaming and Tribal/State Compacts

By: Gavin Clarkson and James K. Sebenius

Although Indian tribes and the surrounding states were often bitter enemies throughout much of the history of the United States, recently tribes and states have been able to work cooperatively in a number of areas. In some instances, Congress has mandated such... View Details

Keywords: Indian Gaming; Negotiation; Regulation; Tribal Sovereignty; Sovereign Finance; Negotiation Participants; Relationships; Cooperation; Connecticut

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July 2015
Background Note

The State of U.S. Public Health: Challenges and Trends

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter, Howard Koh and Pamela Yatsko

The World Health Organization defines health as "a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being and not merely the absence of disease and infirmity." For many Americans, the World Health Organization's definition of true health seems unattainable, given... View Details

Keywords: Public Health; Public Sector; Health Care and Treatment; Health Industry; United States

2015
Report

The Challenge of Shared Prosperity: Findings of Harvard Business School's 2015 Survey on U.S. Competitiveness

By: Jan Rivkin, Karen G. Mills and Michael E. Porter

In the 2015 survey on U.S. competitiveness, HBS alumni weigh in on the current state and future trajectory of U.S. competitiveness as well as the structural strengths and weaknesses of the U.S. business environment. In addition, alumni delve deeper into two aspects of... View Details

Keywords: Competitiveness; U.S. Competitiveness; Shared Prosperity; Wealth; Competition; United States

2021
Working Paper

The Changing Role of Business in Society

By: Michael E. Porter

Business interaction with the U.S. government, historically based on securing industry or company special interests at the expense of the public good, has enabled and furthered government dysfunction. Gridlock within the American political system has precluded the... View Details

July 2023 (Revised February 2024)
Case

Clair

By: Lauren Cohen, Grace Headinger and Marcos Quirno

Clair was founded with a simple mission: to expedite America’s workers access to their hard-earned wages. In the headwinds of the COVID-19 pandemic, the startup had successfully raised a seed round of $4.5 million, and within two years the earned wage access (EWA)... View Details

Keywords: Fintech; Ewa; Lending; Technology; Business Startups; Growth and Development Strategy; Social Enterprise; Business Strategy; Business Model; Mission and Purpose; Venture Capital; Profit; Financial Services Industry; United States

01 Dec 2008
Lessons from the Classroom

How Many U.S. Jobs Are ‘Offshorable’?

Richard H.K. Vietor, Rawi E. Abdelal, and Jan W. Rivkin created a classroom exercise that asked HBS students to assess the potential "offshorability" of more than 800 occupations in the United States. The exercise replicated a... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna

Research Summary

Overview

Yanhua Bird's research encompasses two streams: (1) entrepreneurship and social innovation — how the design and structure of alternative forms of enterprises influence their activities and success, with a focus on peer-to-peer markets and social enterprises, and (2)... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Behavior; Strategy; Social Evaluation; Entrepreneurship; Social Innovation; Social Movements; Non-market Strategy; Corporate Sustainability

2023
Other Article

The Harvard USPTO Patent Dataset: A Large-Scale, Well-Structured, and Multi-Purpose Corpus of Patent Applications

By: Mirac Suzgun, Luke Melas-Kyriazi, Suproteem K. Sarkar, Scott Duke Kominers and Stuart Shieber

Innovation is a major driver of economic and social development, and information about many kinds of innovation is embedded in semi-structured data from patents and patent applications. Though the impact and novelty of innovations expressed in patent data are difficult... View Details

Keywords: USPTO; Natural Language Processing; Classification; Summarization; Patent Novelty; Patent Trolls; Patent Enforceability; Patents; Innovation and Invention; Intellectual Property; AI and Machine Learning; Analytics and Data Science

December 2005 (Revised September 2007)
Case

Canyon Johnson Urban Fund

By: Felix Oberholzer-Gee and Alexa Arena

Basketball star Earvin "Magic" Johnson and K. Robert Turner, managing partner of Canyon Johnson Urban Fund (CJUF), raised $271.7 million for investments in urban real estate. The fund considered two projects, both located in Hollywood, CA. The first was located on... View Details

Keywords: Investment; Projects; Business and Government Relations; Public Opinion; Urban Development; Real Estate Industry; Los Angeles