Publications
Publications
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- All HBS Web
(2,194)
- Faculty Publications (165)
- August 2017
- Case
Boston Public Schools' Long Term Financial Plan
By: C. Fritz Foley, Victor Wu and F. Katelynn Boland
In the fall of 2016, the senior leadership team of Boston Public Schools prepared a report indicating that costs were expected to grow faster than revenues for many years to come. They faced questions about whether the projections would be believed and about how to... View Details
- August 2017
- Article
Should Governments Invest More in Nudging?
By: Shlomo Benartzi, John Beshears, Katherine L. Milkman, Cass R. Sunstein, Richard H. Thaler, Maya Shankar, Will Tucker-Ray, William J. Congdon and Steven Galing
Governments are increasingly adopting behavioral science techniques for changing individual behavior in pursuit of policy objectives. The types of “nudge” interventions that governments are now adopting alter people’s decisions without coercion or significant changes... View Details
Keywords: Nudge; Nudge Unit; Choice Architecture; Behavioral Science; Behavioral Economics; Savings; Pension Plan; Education; College Enrollment; Energy; Electricity Usage; Preventive Health; Influenza Vaccination; Flu Shot; Open Materials; Behavior; Governance; Economics; Policy; Power and Influence
- April 2017
- Case
Yushan Bicycles: Learning to Ride Abroad
By: Christopher A. Bartlett and Paul S. Myers
Yushan Bicycles, one of Taiwan's leading bicycle manufacturers, is pursuing an international expansion strategy by increasing demand for its range of traditional and electric bicycles and shifting its product mix toward higher-margin models sold through specialty... View Details
- January 2017 (Revised May 2020)
- Case
Sesame Workshop (A): Bringing Big Bird Back to Health
By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Ryan Raffaelli and Jonathan Cohen
Sesame Workshop was transforming in 2016. CEO Jeff Dunn had reorganized and shifted the iconic institution to respond to digital disruption and a consensus culture. This case examines his efforts to turn Sesame Workshop around. It notes Sesame's storied history and the... View Details
- 2017
- Working Paper
The Rise of American Ingenuity: Innovation and Inventors of the Golden Age
By: Ufuk Akcigit, John Grigsby and Tom Nicholas
We examine the golden age of U.S. innovation by undertaking a major data collection exercise linking inventors from historical U.S. patents to Federal Censuses between 1880 and 1940 and to regional economic aggregates. We provide a theoretical framework to motivate the... View Details
- January 2017 (Revised January 2017)
- Case
Sesame Workshop: Bringing Big Bird Back to Health
By: Rosabeth M. Kanter, Ryan Raffaelli and Jonathan Cohen
Sesame Workshop was transforming in 2016. CEO Jeff Dunn had reorganized and shifted the iconic institution to respond to digital disruption and a consensus culture. This case examines his efforts to turn Sesame Workshop around. It notes Sesame's storied history and the... View Details
- December 2016
- Case
Public Mission, Private Funding: The University of California, Berkeley
By: William C. Kirby and Joycelyn W. Eby
UC Berkley, long known as one of the leading public universities in both the U.S. and the world, has seen turbulent times recently. While student enrollment and costs have increased steadily in recent years, the school, which has been fiercely proud of its public... View Details
Keywords: Public University; University Administration; Conflict Management; State Funding; Competition; Faculty Governance; University Of California Berkeley; Change Management; Volatility; Diversity; Residency; Higher Education; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Globalization; Policy; Leading Change; Crisis Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Organizational Design; Privatization; Problems and Challenges; Education Industry; United States
- September 2016 (Revised April 2022)
- Case
Zhang Xin and the Emergence of Chinese Philanthropy
By: Geoffrey Jones and Amanda Yang
This case examines the recent emergence of Chinese business philanthropy through the case of the SOHO China Foundation established by the wife and husband real estate moguls Zhang Xin and Pan Shiyi. It begins by describing the early careers of Zhang and Pan, and how... View Details
- Article
Financial Education and the Debt Behavior of the Young
By: Jaya Y. Wen, Meta Brown, Wilbert van der Klaauw, Basit Zafar and John Grigsby
- August 2016
- Teaching Note
The Role of Real Estate in Endowment Portfolios: The Case of Christ Church College
By: Arthur I. Segel and Alexander W. Schultz
The case centers on Christ Church’s Treasurer, James Lawrie, who is contemplating his options for investing a portion of the College’s endowment in real estate. Approximately 1/3 of the total $690 million endowment was allocated towards real estate, much higher than... View Details
- Article
High School Curriculum and Financial Outcomes: The Impact of Mandated Personal Finance and Mathematics Courses
By: Shawn Cole, Anna Paulson and Gauri Kartini Shastry
Financial literacy and cognitive capabilities are convincingly linked to the quality of financial decision-making. Yet, there is little evidence that education intended to improve financial decision-making is successful. Using plausibly exogenous variation in exposure... View Details
- 2016
- Article
Organizational Decision-Making and Information: Angel Investments by Venture Capital Partners
By: Andy Wu
We study information aggregation in organizational decision-making for the financing of entrepreneurial ventures. We introduce a formal model of voting where agents face costly tacit information to improve their decision quality. Equilibrium outcomes suggest a... View Details
- June 2016 (Revised February 2017)
- Case
The Role of Real Estate in Endowment Portfolios: The Case of Christ Church, Oxford
By: David Chambers, Elroy Dimson, Arthur I Segel and Eva Steiner
The case centers on Christ Church's Treasurer, James Lawrie, who is contemplating his options for investing a portion of the College's endowment in real estate. Approximately 1/3 of the total $690 million endowment was allocated towards real estate, much higher than... View Details
- 2016
- Working Paper
The Great Training Robbery
By: Michael Beer, Magnus Finnstrom and Derek Schrader
In 2012 U.S. corporations spent $164.2 billion on training and education. Overwhelming evidence and experience shows, however, that most companies are unable to transfer employee learning into changes in individual and organization behavior or improved financial... View Details
- January 8, 2016
- Article
When You’ve Made Enough Money to Cause Family Tension
By: Josh Baron, Rob Lachenauer and Diane Coutu
This article discusses the transition successful business founders face when moving from intense business focus to managing significant wealth in their "Second Act." It highlights the shift towards creating a family enterprise, requiring shared financial... View Details
- 2015
- Case
Advanced Leadership Pathways: Robert Whelan and the Student Loan Crisis (B)
By: Rosabeth M. Kanter, Grace Sza-Hua Chen and Ai-Ling Jamila Malone
Bob Whelan developed an idea with partners that was a seed before his fellowship year and addressed a significant national challenge - college financing - with a creative concept and experience from his years in investment banking. His nonprofit was called 13th Avenue... View Details
- June 2015 (Revised October 2016)
- Case
Denver Museum of Nature & Science
By: Jill Avery and Jim Rosenberg
Digital was on Vice President of Strategic Partnerships and Programs Bridget Coughlin's mind these days. DMNS had been dabbling in digital for the past few years, but had never fully committed to it. The time had come to establish a strategic vision, and to decide... View Details
- August 15, 2014
- Article
Can an Outside CEO Run a Family-Owned Business?
By: Josh Baron and Rob Lachenauer
This article explores the intricate dynamics that often characterize family-owned businesses, shedding light on key archetypes that play prominent roles within these organizations. Using a narrative approach, the article illustrates the challenges faced by leaders... View Details
- July 2014
- Case
Venture Capital at the Harvard Management Company in Historical Perspective
By: Felda Hardymon, Tom Nicholas and Vasiliki Fouka
The compromise between capital preservation and growth has always been central to the performance of the Harvard endowment. Setting an institutional structure for effectively governing this compromise became especially important when the Harvard Management Company... View Details
- July 2014
- Article
Smart Money? The Effect of Education on Financial Outcomes
By: Shawn A. Cole, Anna Paulson and Gauri Kartini Shastry
Household financial decisions are important for household welfare, economic growth and financial stability. Yet, our understanding of the determinants of financial decision-making is limited. Exploiting exogenous variation in state compulsory schooling laws in both... View Details