Power And Politics - Publications - Faculty & Research

June 2018 (Revised November 2018)
Case

Nicholas Kristof and Sheryl WuDunn: The Power of Writing to Launch and Sustain a Movement

By: Julie Battilana, Lakshmi Ramarajan and Michael Norris

In 2018, New York Times writer Nicholas Kristof and his wife, former Times writer Sheryl WuDunn (HBS ’86) who worked in finance, were planning for their next book. The couple’s earlier books had given rise to social movements around gender equity and poverty issues.... View Details

Keywords: Social Movement; Gender Equality; Writing; Social Issues; Gender; Equality and Inequality; Poverty; Books; Change; Leadership

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26 Sep 2005
Research & Ideas

What Perceived Power Brings to Negotiations

organizational rank would indicate—recognized experience in a particular style of negotiation, for example. Can such "perceived relative power" make a difference at the table? The short answer is yes. In "Perceived Relative View Details

Keywords: by Mallory Stark

May 2011
Article

The Growing Power of Non-financial Reports

By: Ioannis Ioannou and George Serafeim

We are exploring the value of forcing corporations to issue sustainability reports, which provide information about corporate performance in terms of social, environmental and governance issues. In a breakthrough study they asked, what is the effect of mandatory... View Details

Keywords: Value; Reports; Performance; Management Practices and Processes; Globalization; Power and Influence; Natural Environment; Governance; Social Issues

Citation

04 Nov 2012
News

Assume the Position: Posing Your Way to Personal Power And Excellence

14 Jan 2002
Research & Ideas

Countries on the Cusp: The Power of Nationalism

What does nationalism mean for the world economy? And what does it have to say in a world of ever-increasing globalization? We recently put those questions to political scientist View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

1988
Book

In the Age of the Smart Machine: The Future of Work and Power

By: S. Zuboff

Keywords: Power and Influence; Information Technology

Citation

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2025
Working Paper

When Where Watt: Harnessing the Value of Time and Location for Renewable Electricity Generation

By: Vishrut Rana, Christian Kaps and Serguei Netessine

Problem definition: Investments in renewable energy have surged worldwide in recent years, with over $2 trillion spent globally on clean energy. This surge was driven by growing policy support, concerns about energy security, and, most importantly, the cost... View Details

Keywords: Wind Power; Electricity Distribution; Renewable Energy; Profit; Investment Return; Factories, Labs, and Plants; Geographic Location; Revenue; Energy Industry; Utilities Industry

Citation

SSRN

“We typically think of learning as something that happens in a classroom or an organizational training context, but the reality is that most of our learning occurs in our day to day interactions and the experiences that we have in the workplace.” View Details

14 Oct 2013
Research & Ideas

Blockbuster! Why Star Power Works

blockbuster products. We're in a very interesting time—how the power struggle plays out will have great consequences for the future of media and sports. Q: Does the advance of digital technologies bolster or... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Entertainment & Recreation

2003
Other Unpublished Work

Strategy Making in Novel and Complex Worlds: The Power of Analogy

By: G. Gavetti, Daniel Levinthal and Jan W. Rivkin

Keywords: Strategy; Cognition and Thinking; Measurement and Metrics

Citation

June 2013 (Revised November 2016)
Case

Goldfinger: Charles W. Engelhard Jr. and Apartheid-era South Africa

By: Geoffrey Jones and Elliot R. Benton

This case considers the strategies of Charles W. Engelhard, an American mining magnate who made large investments in apartheid-era South Africa. Engelhard was widely believed to have been the model for the James Bond villan Auric Goldfinger. During the 1950s and 1960s... View Details

Keywords: Political Economy; Business History; FDI; Corporate Social Responsibility And Impact; South Africa; Mining; Ethics; Globalization; Government and Politics; History; Mining Industry; Africa; South Africa

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18 Apr 2018
News

The Surprising Power of Questions

03 Oct 2005
Research & Ideas

The Box Office Power of Stars

buyers? And in an interesting plot twist, Elberse decided to design her research not around actual box office receipts, but rather around a Hollywood simulation game that has over half a million players. The results were published in her... View Details

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

May 2010
Article

Elections and Discretionary Accruals: Evidence from 2004

By: Karthik Ramanna and Sugata Roychowdhury

We examine the accrual choices of outsourcing firms with links to U.S. congressional candidates during the 2004 elections, when corporate outsourcing was a major campaign issue. We find that politically connected firms with more extensive outsourcing activities have... View Details

Keywords: Political Economy; Accounting Information; Accruals Management; Campaign Contributions; Discretionary Accruals; Election Outcomes; Political Currency; Political Process; Social Issues; Political Elections; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Motivation and Incentives; Earnings Management; Welfare; United States

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SSRN

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2019
Book

The Business of Platforms: Strategy in the Age of Digital Competition, Innovation, and Power

By: Michael A. Cusumano, Annabelle Gawer and David B. Yoffie

The Business of Platforms explores the strategic, economic, and technology management challenges of digital platform businesses. We have five major themes in the book: 1) The world’s most valuable companies are all platforms, in part because platforms have... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Technology; Platform; Internet and the Web; Management; Competitive Strategy; Digital Platforms

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01 Feb 2017
News

Super Bowl viewers don’t want politics mixed with their hot wings and beer

July 2022 (Revised September 2022)
Case

Birla Carbon Egypt: Building Soft Power in a Foreign Country

By: Jeremy Friedman and Malini Sen

Birla Carbon, a flagship business of the nearly $60-billion global conglomerate and India-headquartered Aditya Birla Group (ABG), is one of the world's top manufacturers and suppliers of high-quality carbon black. The largest among its 16 manufacturing plants is Birla... View Details

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TeachingInterests

Business, Government and the International Economy

By: Dante Roscini

Business, Government, and the International Economy (BGIE) is a course about the broad economic and political context in which business operates. Throughout their careers business leaders are asked to formulate and lead their firm's responses to the external... View Details

Do Powerful Politicians Cause Corporate Downsizing?

This paper employs a new empirical approach for identifying the impact of government spending on the private sector. Our key innovation is to use changes in congressional committee chairmanship as a source of exogenous variation in state-level federal xpenditures. In... View Details