Publications

February 2021 (Revised September 2022)
Case

Marie Curie: Changing the World

By: Robert Simons and Shirley Sun

This case describes the rise of Marie Curie from a poor family in Poland to the pinnacle of scientific fame. The case describes how Curie, as a young woman interested in science, found a way to earn a doctorate at the Sorbonne and perform pathbreaking research on... View Details

Keywords: Legacy; Impact; Science; Research; Personal Characteristics; Mission and Purpose; Success; Work-Life Balance; Higher Education; Personal Development and Career

October 2009
Supplement

Don Soderquist: Negotiating the Wal-Mart-P&G Relationship (B)

By: James K. Sebenius and Ellen Knebel

This case follows the A case and describes the negotiations and strategic choices of Don Soderquist, who as Chief Operating Officer of Wal-Mart, helped to forge a major partnership with P&G in the 1980s and 1990s. The case chronicles the challenging barriers to success... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation Style; Partners and Partnerships; Leadership; Value Creation; Problems and Challenges; Distribution Channels; Distribution Industry

02 Jan 2020
News

16 New Business Books You Need to Read in 2020

05 Oct 2017
News

How to Promote Home Delivery of Prescription Drugs? Give Employees a 'Nudge'

Research Summary

Optimal Contracts under Inequity Aversion with Voluntary Enforcement (with Tilman Borgers)

We analyze contract structure and efficiency in a Moral Hazard model with possibly fairminded agent and principal when the contract is not automatically enforced but this is a voluntary choice by the contracting parties independently. We find that no penalizing... View Details

May 2017
Article

Stable and Strategy-Proof Matching with Flexible Allotments

By: John William Hatfield, Scott Duke Kominers and Alexander Westkamp

We introduce a framework of matching with flexible allotments that can be used to model firms with cross-division hiring restrictions. Our framework also allows us to nest some prior models of matching with distributional constraints. Building upon our recent work on... View Details

Keywords: Balance and Stability; Mathematical Methods

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19 Jun 2018
News

The Other Diversity Dividend

13 Oct 2015
First Look

October 13, 2015

conclusions about the universality of gender stereotype content. Publisher's link: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=49830 in press Journal of Behavioral Decision Making Should You Sleep on It? The Effects of Overnight Sleep on Subjective Preference-based... View Details

September 2009
Article

Hidden Roadblocks in Cross-Border Talks

By: James K. Sebenius

While most analysts and dealmakers are aware of "cultural" differences in negotiations that cross national borders--different protocol and process expectations, differences in the role of the individual versus the group, differences in attitudes toward risk and time,... View Details

Keywords: Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Negotiation Tactics; Risk Management; Time Management; Strategy; Governance; Performance Expectations; Attitudes; Culture; Decision Making

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May 2006 (Revised May 2009)
Case

De Beers: Addressing the New Competitiveness Challenges

By: Michael E. Porter, Sonia D. Marciano and Alyson Warhurst

Traces the development of De Beers and the diamond industry from its inception in the mid-1800s to the year 2000. Discusses De Beer's history and strategy as the industry leader and its role in industry development. Enables deep examination of the interdependence of... View Details

Keywords: History; Strategy; Geographic Location; Conflict Management; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Business and Community Relations; Developing Countries and Economies; Mining Industry

26 Dec 2014
News

Delivering Higher Value Care Means Spending More Time with Patients

March 2011 (Revised April 2011)
Exercise

The Future of BioPasteur

By: Giovanni Gavetti and Francesca Gino

The purpose of this exercise is to let students experience a few biases that can be deleterious to strategic decision-making. In particular, students are induced to fall into a confirmatory trap, and to experience other biases such as anchoring and sampling bias.... View Details

Keywords: Interpersonal Communication; Decision Choices and Conditions; Outcome or Result; Groups and Teams; Prejudice and Bias; Strategy

2012
Book

Uncommon Service: How to Win by Putting Customers at the Core of Your Business

By: Frances Frei and Anne Morriss

Most companies treat service as a low-priority business operation, keeping it out of the spotlight until a customer complains. Then service gets to make a brief appearance—for as long as it takes to calm the customer down and fix whatever foul-up jeopardized the... View Details

Keywords: Customers; Business Ventures

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2014
Working Paper

The Rising Cost of Consumer Attention: Why You Should Care, and What You Can Do about It

By: Thales S. Teixeira

Attention is a necessary ingredient for effective advertising. The market for consumer attention (or "eyeballs") has become so competitive that attention can be regarded as a currency. The rising cost of this ingredient in the marketplace is causing marketers to waste... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Advertising

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05 Aug 2009
Working Paper Summaries

Authority versus Persuasion

Keywords: by Eric J. Van den Steen

October 2019 (Revised January 2020)
Case

Dulcie Madden (A)—Growth or Exit?

By: Shikhar Ghosh, Christopher Payton and Shweta Bagai

This is part of a three-case series that follows Dulcie Madden's journey as a founder over five years. Case (A) is about managing growth and cash flow; Case (B) is about the exit decision and conditions on a sale; Case (C) shows Madden dealing with adversity and the... View Details