Publications

26 Jul 2004
Research & Ideas

A Better Way to Negotiate: Backward

sequencing choices. With whom should you speak first? Whom next? Rules of thumb such as "allies first" or "negotiate internally, then externally" are unreliable guides. Yet View Details

Keywords: by James K. Sebenius

06 Jul 2020
Research & Ideas

The Right Way to Manage Customer Churn for Maximum Profit

bucket and in a little over three years all your current customers might be gone,” says Gupta, the Edward W. Carter Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. For that reason, many... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Retail; Service; Financial Services

06 Apr 2021
Working Paper Summaries

The World Management Survey at 18: Lessons and the Way Forward

Keywords: by Daniela Scur, Raffaella Sadun, John Van Reenen, Renata Lemos, and Nicholas Bloom

Research Summary

Growing as a Purposeful Leader

By: Leonard A. Schlesinger

Leaders today have to lead in the context of extraordinary changes and challenges. The demands of today's stakeholders have risen significantly, and what is expected of senior leaders is quickly evolving in terms of their mission (more than profit),... View Details

June 2018
Background Note

Introduction to Life Settlements

By: Alexander Braun, Lauren H. Cohen, Christopher J. Malloy and Jiahua Xu

Life insurance is an asset owned by the majority of American adults (61%). Note that this 61% penetration rate is essentially at parity with home ownership (64%) and higher than that of 401(k) retirement account ownership (53%). Life settlements, or life insurance... View Details

Keywords: Insurance; Assets; Value; Markets; Investment Return

July–August 2013
Article

Six Ways to Sink a Growth Initiative

By: Donald L. Laurie and J. Bruce Harreld

The conventional wisdom about how best to pursue growth—launch a slew of initiatives in high-potential areas; appoint some promising young managers to lead them; locate them safely away from the established businesses—is a recipe for failure, according to the authors.... View Details

Keywords: Failure; Growth and Development Strategy

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September 2009 (Revised September 2012)
Case

United Way

By: Allen S. Grossman and Cathy Ross

After United Way CEO Brian Gallagher began shifting the organization's focus from old-school fundraising to community impact, Gallagher and local leaders like Elise Bulk, CEO of the United Way of Greater Los Angeles, faced a series of challenges regarding how to best... View Details

Keywords: Investment Funds; Business or Company Management; Problems and Challenges; Civil Society or Community; Social Issues; Alignment; Los Angeles

Article

Valuing Time Over Money Predicts Happiness After a Major Life Transition: A Preregistered Longitudinal Study of Graduating Students

By: A.V. Whillans, Lucia Macchia and Elizabeth Dunn

How does prioritizing time or money shape major life decisions and subsequent well-being? In a preregistered longitudinal study of approximately 1000 graduating university students, respondents who valued time over money chose more intrinsically rewarding activities... View Details

Keywords: Time Use; Trade-offs; Career Decisions; Time Management; Money; Happiness; Values and Beliefs; Personal Development and Career

October 1994 (Revised March 1998)
Background Note

Selling as a Systematic Process

Describes a systematic approach to selling. The author, a former IBM salesman, believes that selling requires progressing through a series of stages, which culminate in "getting the order." Describes several techniques useful in managing this progression. View Details

Keywords: Planning; Sales

February 2020
Technical Note

Talent Management and the Future of Work

By: William R. Kerr and Gorick Ng

The nature of work is changing—and it is changing rapidly. Few days go by without industry giants such as Amazon and AT&T announcing plans to invest billions of dollars towards retraining nearly half of their respective workforces for jobs of the future. What changes... View Details

Keywords: Human Resource Management; Human Capital Development; Human Resource Practices; Talent; Talent Acquisition; Talent Development; Talent Development And Retention; Talent Management; Talent Retention; Labor Flows; Labor Management; Labor Market; Strategy Development; Strategy Management; Strategy Execution; Strategy And Execution; Strategic Change; Transformations; Organization; Organization Alignment; Organization Design; Organizational Adaptation; Organizational Effectiveness; Management Challenges; Management Of Business And Political Risk; Change Leadership; Future Of Work; Future; Skills Gap; Skills Development; Skills; Offshoring And Outsourcing; Investment; Capital Allocation; Work; Work Culture; Work Force Management; Work/life Balance; Work/family Balance; Work-family Boundary Management; Workers; Worker Productivity; Worker Performance; Work Engagement; Work Environment; Work Environments; Productivity; Organization Culture; Soft Skills; Technology Management; Technological Change; Technological Change: Choices And Consequences; Technology Diffusion; Disruptive Technology; Global Business; Global; Workplace; Workplace Context; Workplace Culture; Workplace Wellness; Collaboration; Competencies; Productivity Gains; Digital; Digital Transition; Competitive Dynamics; Competitiveness; Competitive Strategy; Data Analytics; Data; Data Management; Data Strategy; Data Protection; Aging Society; Diversity; Diversity Management; Millennials; Communication Complexity; Communication Technologies; International Business; Work Sharing; Global Competitiveness; Global Corporate Cultures; Intellectual Property; Intellectual Property Management; Intellectual Property Protection; Intellectual Capital And Property Issues; Globalization Of Supply Chain; Inequality; Recruiting; Hiring; Hiring Of Employees; Training; Job Cuts And Outsourcing; Job Performance; Job Search; Job Design; Job Satisfaction; Jobs; Employee Engagement; Employee Attitude; Employee Benefits; Employee Compensation; Employee Fairness; Employee Relationship Management; Employee Retention; Employee Selection; Employee Motivation; Employee Feedback; Employee Coordination; Employee Performance Management; Employee Socialization; Process Improvement; Application Performance Management; Stigma; Institutional Change; Candidates; Digital Enterprise; Cultural Adaptation; Cultural Change; Cultural Diversity; Cultural Context; Cultural Strategies; Cultural Psychology; Cultural Reform; Performance; Performance Effectiveness; Performance Management; Performance Evaluation; Performance Appraisal; Performance Feedback; Performance Measurement; Performance Metrics; Performance Measures; Performance Efficiency; Efficiency; Performance Analysis; Performance Appraisals; Performance Improvement; Automation; Artificial Intelligence; Technology Companies; Managerial Processes; Skilled Migration; Assessment; Human Resources; Management; Human Capital; Talent and Talent Management; Retention; Demographics; Labor; Strategy; Change; Change Management; Transformation; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Working Conditions; Information Technology; Technology Adoption; Disruption; Economy; Competition; Globalization; AI and Machine Learning; Digital Transformation

July 2022 (Revised February 2025)
Case

A Soul and a Service: North Carolina Mutual Life Insurance

By: Tom Nicholas and John Masko

The North Carolina Mutual and Provident Association (the Mutual) was founded in 1898 as a for-profit entity selling life insurance catering to the Black community. The Mutual was entering a field crowded with established White-owned competitors that largely refused to... View Details

Keywords: Black Entrepreneurs; Insurance; History; Race; Prejudice and Bias; Entrepreneurship; Decision Choices and Conditions; Growth and Development Strategy; Insurance Industry; United States

2007
Book

From Higher Aims to Hired Hands: The Social Transformation of American Business Schools and the Unfulfilled Promise of Management as a Profession

By: Rakesh Khurana

Is management a profession? Should it be? Can it be? This major work of social and intellectual history reveals how such questions have driven business education and shaped American management and society for more than a century. The book is also a call for reform.... View Details

Keywords: Social History; Business Education; Moral Sensibility; Profit; Leadership; Managerial Roles; United States

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2011
Book

Getting to Giving: Fundraising the Entrepreneurial Way

By: Howard H. Stevenson and Shirley M. Spence

Getting to Giving is based on Stevenson's many years as a donor, fundraiser and entrepreneur. The book offers practical techniques and real life stories, and brings passion and humor to the art and science of asking for money. Topics included in the book... View Details

Keywords: Fund Raising; Fundraising; Non-profit Management; Strategy; Nonprofit Organizations; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving

25 Mar 2019
Research & Ideas

The Secret Life of Supply Chains

the source for its highest paying jobs. What’s more, most of those jobs are not in supplying parts, but rather in supplying services, such as in engineering, computer programming, and design. Their findings... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Manufacturing; Service

February 2023
Article

The Effect of Systems of Management Controls on Honesty in Managerial Reporting

By: Aishwarrya Deore, Susanna Gallani and Ranjani Krishnan

While budgetary controls with capital rationing are optimal in theory and widespread in practice, empirical research documents their association with higher employee dishonesty compared to budgetary controls without rationing. In this study, we examine whether... View Details

Keywords: Directing Controls; Misreporting; Mission Statements; Participative Budgeting; Stewardship Theory; Systems Of Management Controls; Capital; Budgets and Budgeting; Mission and Purpose

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28 Jun 2004
Research & Ideas

Microfinance: A Way Out for the Poor

to Chu, himself a Wall Street refugee with grounding in consulting and buy-outs, microfinance has "a double bottom-line." It brings above-average returns for first-movers who tap into what finance specialists see View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

February 7, 2023
Editorial

Business Schools are Ignoring Students’ Changing Aspirations: They Must Focus on Management as a Calling

By: Andrew J. Hoffman

Many management students today are concerned about the mounting threats of climate change, income inequality, health care, and more. They increasingly see business as a place to make a difference in the world. Andrew Hoffman writes that business schools are slow to... View Details

Keywords: Business Education; Social Issues; Values and Beliefs; Mission and Purpose