Publications

November 1982
Article

The Social Psychology of Creativity: A Consensual Assessment Technique

By: T. M. Amabile

States that both the popular creativity tests, such as the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking, and the subjective assessment techniques used in some previous creativity studies are ill-suited to social psychological studies of creativity. A consensual definition of... View Details

Keywords: Social Psychology; Creativity; Measurement and Metrics; Research; Perception; Theory

February 1980 (Revised April 1981)
Case

Poland Spring Bottling Corp.

By: Benson P. Shapiro

Poland Spring is a small domestic bottler of mineral water trying to compete in a rapidly expanding market against Perrier, the dominant brand, and 20 other foreign and domestic waters. Company management must decide how to position and promote its product with limited... View Details

Keywords: Product Marketing; Product Positioning; Competition; Globalized Markets and Industries; Food and Beverage Industry; Distribution Industry; United States

Article

Optimal Capital-Gains Taxation under Limited Information

By: Jerry R. Green and Eytan Sheshinski

Taxation of capital gains at realization may distort individuals' decisions regarding holding or selling during an asset's lifetime. This creates the problem of designing a tax structure for capital gains so as to induce efficient patterns of holding and selling.... View Details

Keywords: Capital Gains; Optimal Taxation; Taxation

October 1976 (Revised February 1987)
Case

Cramer Electronics, Inc.

By: Michael E. Porter

Designed to be the second day of a two-day series on the electronic component distribution industry, following a day spent discussing Note on the Electronic Component Distribution Industry and Raytheon Co.: Diversification. The important teaching themes which this case... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Innovation Strategy; Management Style; Resource Allocation; Opportunities; Corporate Strategy; Diversification; Distribution Industry; Electronics Industry

July 1976
Article

Effects of Externally-Imposed Deadlines on Subsequent Intrinsic Motivation

By: T. M. Amabile, W. DeJong and M. R. Lepper

Studied the effects of externally imposed deadlines on individuals' task performance and their subsequent interest in the task. In 1 deadline condition, 20 male undergraduates were given an explicit time limit for solving a series of initially interesting word games.... View Details

Keywords: Motivation and Incentives; Time Management; Social Psychology; Situation or Environment

April 1975 (Revised November 1984)
Case

Enzone Petroleum Corp.

By: Thomas R. Piper

A large integrated oil company is debating whether to switch from a single hurdle rate to multiple hurdle rates for project analysis purposes. Raises questions on: 1) determination of the cost of equity; 2) the usefulness of multiple hurdle rates to adjust for project... View Details

Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Cost; Investment Return; Equity; Capital Budgeting; Energy Industry

Article

New Interest in Incentive Financing

By: Samuel Hayes

The article presents the findings of a study on incentive financings as they apply to institutional investors, particularly life insurance company investors. The author made contact with investment officers in 29 insurance companies, and have collected a considerable... View Details

Keywords: Motivation and Incentives; Financing and Loans; Institutional Investing

Forthcoming
Article

Arbitrage Capital of Global Banks

By: Alyssa G. Anerson, Wenxin Du and Bernd Schlusche

We show that the role of unsecured, short-term wholesale funding for global banks has changed significantly in the post-financial-crisis regulatory environment. Global banks mainly use such funding to finance liquid, near risk-free arbitrage positions—in particular,... View Details

Keywords: Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Banks and Banking; Interest Rates; Financing and Loans

Teaching Interest

Business Opportunties in Climate Adaptation

By: John D. Macomber

This is a Short Intensive Program or SIP at Harvard Business School. It’s an optional student offering prior to the formal start of the Spring semester the following week. SIPs tend to cover new material on current topics, to be less formal than the HBS Case Study... View Details

Keywords: Resilience; Climate Risk; Climate Impact; Fire Protection; Insurance Risk Exposure; Hedge Fund; Public Health; Public Health Measures; Climate Change; Adaptation; Infrastructure; Real Estate Industry; Transportation Industry; Insurance Industry; United States; Africa; Latin America

Forthcoming
Article

Confronting the Limits of Symbolic Actions: How Entrepreneurs Narrow the Presentation-Performance Gap

By: Rebecca Karp and Siobhan O'Mahony

Entrepreneurs often skillfully leverage symbolic actions to manage impressions and gain acceptance for their innovations. Impression management can generate interest, but also heighten expectations beyond an innovation’s capabilities, creating a gap between... View Details

Keywords: Digital Innovation; Integration Strategy; Impression Management; Innovation Strategy; Entrepreneurship; Health Industry; Technology Industry

Research Summary

Emotional Experience, Expression, and Regulation

By: Alison Wood Brooks

Once considered irrational, emotions often exert a more profound influence on decision-making and workplace outcomes than logic or reason. Professor Brooks studies emotional experience, emotional expression, and how individuals can regulate their emotions... View Details

Article

Gender Disparities in Compensation of Practicing Cardiothoracic Surgeons: Analyzing the Society of Thoracic Surgeons Compensation Survey

By: Cherie P. Erkmen, Anastasiia K. Tompkins, Shanda Blackmon, Larry R. Kaiser, Susanna Gallani, Jennifer C. Romano, Thomas MacGillivray and Michael J. Mack

BACKGROUND: Gender-based pay disparity in compensation is widespread. In cardiothoracic surgery, women earn between 71-84% of men’s salaries at comparable ranks. Limited data exist on how factors like subspecialty, practice type, and work efforts contribute to these... View Details

Keywords: Gender; Compensation and Benefits; Equality and Inequality; Experience and Expertise; Health Industry

Research Summary

Network Resources and the Performance of Interorganizational Exchange

By: Ranjay Gulati

My recent book (Managing Network Resources, Oxford University Press) introduced the idea of "network resources," valuable assets that accrue to a firm not from within its boundaries but from its ties to key external constituents including but not... View Details

Forthcoming
Article

On the Limits of Anonymization for Promoting Diversity in Organizations

By: Linda W. Chang and Edward H. Chang

Anonymization of job applicant resumes is a recommended strategy to increase diversity in organizations, but large-scale tests have shown mixed results. We consider decision-makers’ social dominance orientation (SDO), a measure of anti-egalitarianism/endorsement of... View Details

Keywords: Diversity; Selection and Staffing; Rank and Position