Publications

Find at Harvard

2019
Working Paper

Design Rules, Volume 2: How Technology Shapes Organizations: Chapter 8 Rationalizing Flow Processes

By: Carliss Y. Baldwin

The purpose of this chapter is to examine the value structure of flow production processes and to explain why it is necessary to rationalize flow processes using the tools of systematic management. I first explain the problems facing managers of multi-step flow... View Details

Keywords: Flow Processes; Bottlenecks; Systematic Management; Production; Management; Problems and Challenges

October 2016
Case

Addicaid: Scaling a Digital Platform for Addiction Wellness and Recovery

By: Robert S. Huckman and Sarah Mehta

In 2013, Sam Frons founded Addicaid—a mobile application (app) that allowed people in addiction recovery to track their progress, check in with counselors, and connect with others in recovery programs. The app was grounded in cognitive behavioral therapy and used the... View Details

Keywords: Digital Health Interventions; Substance Use Disorder; Addiction Treatment; Addiction Recovery; Scale; Innovation; Health; Health Disorders; Health Industry; New York (city, NY)

02 Nov 2009
Research & Ideas

Shareholders Need a Say on Pay

particular tool put forward in reforms is the idea of "say on pay," which gives shareholders a non-binding vote on executive compensation and severance packages. The Obama administration has proposed requiring it in all public... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Financial Services

October 2018
Case

P-Will at DISCO

By: Ethan Bernstein, Naoko Jinjo and Yuna Sakuma

From the outside, DISCO—a Japan-based manufacturer of precision tools for semiconductor production devices—appeared to be a rather ordinary company that had achieved rather extraordinary success: it had simultaneously achieved 70% global market share, had lifted its... View Details

Keywords: Human Capital; P-Will; DISCO; Semiconductors; Self-Managed Organizations; Governance; Human Resources; Selection and Staffing; Management Practices and Processes; Management Systems; Organizational Structure; Organizational Design; Semiconductor Industry; Japan

Teaching Interest

Business Analysis and Valuation Using Financial Statements

By: Suraj Srinivasan

This course provides hands-on experience in financial statement analysis. Students are exposed to tools of financial analysis, theoretical concepts, and practical valuation issues. By the end of the course, students become comfortable with using firms' financial... View Details

April 2003 (Revised December 2003)
Background Note

Winning the Influence Game: Corporate Diplomacy and Business Strategy

Provides a framework for influencing key outside players--businesses, governments, and NGOs--in support of business strategy. This could mean negotiating contracts with major customers and suppliers, concluding acquisitions and alliances, and securing financing from... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation; Business Strategy; Power and Influence

October 1998 (Revised April 2001)
Case

United Way of Massachusetts Bay

By: David E. Bell and Ann Leamon

The United Way of Massachusetts Bay held the monopoly on workplace giving for 50 years. In the 1990s it has experienced a dramatic change in the workplace itself and in donor attitudes toward giving and toward the United Way organization. This case investigates the... View Details

Keywords: Change; Marketing Channels; Marketing Strategy; Monopoly; Relationships; Attitudes; Internet; Massachusetts

03 Nov 2015
News

Marketers Should Pay Attention to fMRI

12 Questions About Hybrid Work, Answered by Tsedal Neeley

At the beginning of the pandemic, I View Details

Program

Preparing to Be a Corporate Director

equip you with critical tools and insights that will enhance your readiness for corporate board service and enable you to make a lasting contribution at the highest level of an organization. Key Benefits This board-readiness program... View Details

November–December 2022
Article

Can AI Really Help You Sell?: It Can, Depending on When and How You Implement It

By: Jim Dickie, Boris Groysberg, Benson P. Shapiro and Barry Trailer

Many salespeople today are struggling; only 57% of them make their annual quotas, surveys show. One problem is that buying processes have evolved faster than selling processes, and buyers today can access a wide range of online resources that let them evaluate products... View Details

Keywords: Sales; AI and Machine Learning; Customers

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June 2014
Article

The Capitalist's Dilemma

By: Clayton M. Christensen and Derek C. M. van Bever

Sixty months after the 2008 recession ended, the economy was still sputtering, producing disappointing growth and job numbers. Corporations seemed stuck: Despite low interest rates, they were sitting on massive piles of cash and failing to invest in new initiatives. In... View Details

Keywords: Capital Investments; Creating Markets; Evaluating Business Investments; Innovation; Emerging Markets; Investment; Economic Growth; Capital; Innovation and Invention

Winter 2016
Article

Analytics for an Online Retailer: Demand Forecasting and Price Optimization

By: Kris J. Ferreira, Bin Hong Alex Lee and David Simchi-Levi

We present our work with an online retailer, Rue La La, as an example of how a retailer can use its wealth of data to optimize pricing decisions on a daily basis. Rue La La is in the online fashion sample sales industry, where they offer extremely limited-time... View Details

Keywords: Internet and the Web; Price; Forecasting and Prediction; Revenue; Sales; Retail Industry

Find at Harvard

Herman B. ("Dutch") Leonard is Eliot I. Snider and Family Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School and the George F. Baker, Jr. Professor of Public Sector Management at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government. In... View Details

Keywords: education industry; federal government; health care; nonprofit industry; state government

May 2013
Article

From Russia with Love: The Impact of Relocated Firms on Incumbent Survival

By: Oliver Falck, Christina Guenther, Stephan Heblich and William R. Kerr

We identify the impact of local firm concentration on incumbent performance with a quasi-natural experiment. When Germany was divided after World War II, many firms in the machine tool industry fled the Soviet occupied zone to prevent expropriation. We show that the... View Details

Keywords: Geographic Location; Competition; Supply and Industry; Labor; West Germany; Soviet Union

2009
Working Paper

Female Empowerment: Impact of a Commitment Savings Product in the Philippines

By: Nava Ashraf, Dean Karlan and Wesley Yin

Female "empowerment" has increasingly become a policy goal, both as an end to itself and as a means to achieving other development goals. Microfinance in particular has often been argued, but not without controversy, to be a tool for empowering women. Here, using a... View Details

Keywords: Saving; Microfinance; Personal Finance; Decision Making; Microeconomics; Gender; Power and Influence; Philippines