by Quy-Toan Do - Publications - Faculty & Research

07 Jul 2022
HBS Case

How a Multimillion-Dollar Ice Cream Startup Melted Down (and Bounced Back)

Ice cream making started as a quirky hobby for Brian Smith, whose zeitgeisty flavors and fresh ingredients would become his trademark. For example, his “God Save the Cream,” inspired by the 2018 Royal Wedding of Prince Harry and Meghan... View Details

Keywords: by Pamela Reynolds

03 Oct 2023
HBS Case

Layoffs Can Be Bad Business: 5 Strategies to Consider Before Cutting Staff

have to be this way. “If companies I know and admire are doing this, it can’t be that bad, or else they wouldn’t do it.” Layoffs are an example of “hope triumphing over science,” says Sandra Sucher, the MBA... View Details

Keywords: by Ben Rand; Telecommunications; Technology; Financial Services; Manufacturing

25 Jul 2023
Research & Ideas

Could a Business Model Help Big Pharma Save Lives and Profit?

by harnessing a new business model. The bold approach worked. Gilead, one of the world’s leading antiviral makers, would sell its branded Hepatitis C medicines while offering local manufacturers voluntary licenses to produce generics,... View Details

Keywords: by Esther Schrader; Pharmaceutical; Health

30 May 2023
Research & Ideas

Can AI Predict Whether Shoppers Would Pick Crest or Colgate?

at Microsoft. How well did AI do? The researchers’ first step was to determine whether market research results elicited from GPT were consistent with expectations, based on established economic theory. To do this, they set the large... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz

05 Dec 2023
Research & Ideas

Lessons in Decision-Making: Confident People Aren't Always Correct (Except When They Are)

the right people are confident, suggests recent research by Thomas Graeber, assistant professor at Harvard Business School. His work tested the effects of meta-cognition—essentially, whether more skilled people are also more confident... View Details

Keywords: by Kara Baskin

04 Apr 2023
Book

Two Centuries of Business Leaders Who Took a Stand on Social Issues

While shareholders still reign supreme at many companies, a widespread shift toward more responsible business practices is driving more leaders to take a stand on social and environmental issues today, says Harvard Business School Professor Geoffrey Jones. Jones... View Details

Keywords: by Lane Lambert; Consumer Products; Fashion; Retail; Green Technology

03 Apr 2017
What Do You Think?

How About Investing in Human Infrastructure?

infrastructure” might, by rebuilding the middle class, help heal the very divide in the nation today that represents the obstacle that ProfPaul cites. So that leaves us with the basic question concerning investment in human... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Construction

13 Aug 2012
Research & Ideas

When Good Incentives Lead to Bad Decisions

Among the culprits contributing to the recent financial crisis were bank loan officers who approved mortgage loans that were doomed to fail. Many of these frontline workers were motivated by bonuses and other incentives to approve... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Banking

12 Sep 2022
Research & Ideas

When Experts Play It Too Safe: Innovation Lessons from a NASA Experiment

colleagues studied how experts judged contest entries and found that the greater an evaluator’s expertise, the more likely they were to nix less feasible proposals in favor of safer bets. “Who we select to do our evaluations and to pick... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Aerospace

17 Jan 2008
Research & Ideas

If Marketing Experts Ran Elections

requires the development of a distinctive, appealing message, delivered consistently over time. But politicians can't win by targeting a single niche segment. They have to win a majority on election day, and View Details

Keywords: by John A. Quelch

16 Apr 2001
Research & Ideas

Making the Most of Government Upheaval

transformational process hypothesized in their study may also be applicable to companies in newly emerging economies outside Latin America, such as Eastern Europe, northern Africa, China, and India. Setting out on their research, Oliva and Suarez were both intrigued... View Details

Keywords: by Nancy O. Perry

08 Aug 2023
Research & Ideas

Black Employees Not Only Earn Less, But Deal with Bad Bosses and Poor Conditions

rankings for these environmental factors with the racial makeup of various firms. When he did, Zhang found that Asian employees scored highest on work environment, followed by White and Hispanic employees, who ranked about the same,... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

29 Aug 2005
Research & Ideas

How Organizations Create Social Value

Success in Social Enterprise," ending August 1. This two-year study was the second carried out by SEKN since it was founded in 2001 as a research partnership between HBS and leading business schools in Latin America and Spain. SEKN's... View Details

Keywords: by Manda Salls

21 Dec 2009
Research & Ideas

Good Banks, Bad Banks, and Government’s Role as Fixer

the failure of many other large institutions. Most of the 600 institutions recapitalized by the federal government over the last year do not satisfy either criterion. A lot of bailout decisions were made ad... View Details

Keywords: by Roger Thompson; Banking; Financial Services

31 Oct 2004
Research & Ideas

Bypass Marketing: Are Docs Influenced?

their patients. We focused on the following questions: How often and for what sorts of conditions do physicians prescribe advertised drugs requested by their patients? What other health care recommendations... View Details

Keywords: by Manda Salls

03 Oct 2022
Research & Ideas

Why a Failed Startup Might Be Good for Your Career After All

Measuring success from 5 million resumes The researchers focused on entrepreneurs backed by venture capitalists, but they faced a challenge right off the bat. How do you measure success for job holders in... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

03 Oct 2005
Research & Ideas

The Box Office Power of Stars

owned by Cantor Index Holdings, mimics a real supply-and-demand-based stock exchange like the NYSE. HSX acts as the market maker—its technology is set up so that when there is high demand for a certain stock, prices will automatically go... View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert; Entertainment & Recreation; Motion Pictures & Video

07 Jan 2015
What Do You Think?

SUMMING UP: What Are the Limits On Workplace Transparency?

demand which is deemed as justified by a panel ." What isn't off limits when it comes to transparency? What do you think? Original Article When Sony was hacked recently, most observers concentrated on... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

18 Jan 2016
Research & Ideas

Hazard Warning: The Unacceptable Cost of Toxic Workers

what he calls the negative outliers. The estimated cost—based on turnover triggered by the toxic worker and the cost associated with new hires and training—is likely on the low end, Minor says, because it doesn’t take into account... View Details

Keywords: by Roberta Holland

15 Oct 2007
Research & Ideas

Businesses Beware: The World Is Not Flat

operations. This is, in some sense, what Wal-Mart's global strategy is primarily about. Q: How do you see business shaping the future of globalization? In which ways are companies playing a big role, and in which ways could or should they... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

Publications