Publications

SSRN

Find at Harvard

26 Jul 2004
Research & Ideas

A Better Way to Negotiate: Backward

preferred outcome and think in reverse about how to get there. Here are the basic steps: 1. Draw a "map" of the parties who are currently involved and those who might potentially get onboard, along with their interests and their... View Details

Keywords: by James K. Sebenius

April 2017 (Revised August 2020)
Case

The U-Turns of National Truck Stops

By: Nori Gerardo Lietz and Alexander W. Schultz

Raj Makam had spent months trying to restructure a 2006 investment he had made in National Truck Stops, Inc. (NTS) as a senior member of Oaktree Capital Management’s (Oaktree) Mezzanine finance business within their Corporate Debt platform. It was the first time they... View Details

Keywords: Mezzanine Financing; Corporate Debt; Bankruptcy; Real Assets; Financing and Loans; Borrowing and Debt; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Restructuring; Private Equity; Cost vs Benefits; Atlanta; New York (city, NY)

Educators

2012
Book

The Architecture of Innovation: The Economics of Creative Organizations

By: Josh Lerner

Innovation is a much-used buzzword these days, but when it comes to creating and implementing a new idea, many companies miss the mark—plans backfire, consumer preferences shift, or tried-and-true practices fail to work in a new context. So is innovation just a... View Details

Keywords: Motivation and Incentives; Innovation Strategy; Innovation and Management; Organizational Structure; Microeconomics

January 2021
Article

Veil-of-Ignorance Reasoning Mitigates Self-Serving Bias in Resource Allocation During the COVID-19 Crisis

By: Karen Huang, Regan Bernhard, Netta Barak-Corren, Max Bazerman and Joshua D. Greene

The COVID-19 crisis has forced healthcare professionals to make tragic decisions concerning which patients to save. Furthermore, the COVID-19 crisis has foregrounded the influence of self-serving bias in debates on how to allocate scarce resources. A utilitarian... View Details

Keywords: Self-serving Bias; Procedural Justice; Bioethics; COVID-19; Fairness; Health Pandemics; Resource Allocation; Decision Making

November 2017
Comment

Discussion: Do Common Inherited Beliefs and Values Influence CEO Pay?

By: Lauren Cohen

The origin of preferences is something we know strikingly little about in economics. Given the central importance of preferences, we have not invested nearly the time we should into this concept. And so, as an overarching research direction, I am heartened by the push... View Details

Keywords: Executive Compensation; Values and Beliefs; Ethnicity

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09 Jul 2024
Research & Ideas

Chance Encounters: What's at Stake in Return-to-Office Decisions

realizing they need workers to be physically present, in person, at least several days a week and that they need to coordinate the timing of this so they have shared time to work with each other. Andy Wu:... View Details

Keywords: by Jen McFarland Flint, HBS Alumni Bulletin

30 Jul 2013
First Look

First Look: July 30

Rucker Abstract—Previous research suggests that people draw inferences about their attitudes and preferences based on their own thoughtfulness. The current research explores how observing other individuals make decisions more or less... View Details

Keywords: Anna Secino

June 2017
Teaching Note

The U-Turns of National Truck Stops

By: Nori Gerardo Lietz and Alexander W. Schultz

Raj Makam had spent months trying to restructure a 2006 investment he had made in National Truck Stops, Inc. (“NTS”) as a senior member of Oaktree Capital Management’s (“Oaktree”) Mezzanine finance business within their Corporate Debt platform. It was the first time... View Details

Keywords: Mezzanine Financing; Corporate Debt; Bankruptcy; Real Assets; Financing and Loans; Borrowing and Debt; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Restructuring; Private Equity; Cost vs Benefits; Atlanta; New York (city, NY)

August 2017 (Revised March 2020)
Case

Flex Hungary: Launching Production (A)

By: Willy Shih

This case examines design choices in the construction of flow lines. Flow lines are a popular way of arranging production because they are simple and inherently efficient. Equipment or workstations are arranged according to the sequence of steps in which a product is... View Details

Keywords: Manufacturing; Line-balancing; Flow Line; Conveyor-paced Line; Consumer Goods; Consumer Products; Production Management; Production Planning; Production Scheduling; Operations; Production; Management; Supply Chain; Design; Analysis; Goods and Commodities; Consumer Products Industry; Manufacturing Industry; European Union

Educators

Research Summary

Working Papers

By: Dennis A. Yao

Anton, James J. and Dennis A. Yao (2011). "Delay as Agenda Setting."

Abstract: In this paper we examine a class of... View Details

2013
Working Paper

What Makes a Critic Tick? Connected Authors and the Determinants of Book Reviews

By: Loretti I. Dobrescu, Michael Luca and Alberto Motta

This paper investigates the determinants of expert reviews in the book industry. Reviews are determined not only by the quality of the product, but also by the incentives of the media outlet providing the review. For example, a media outlet may have the incentive to... View Details

Keywords: Books; Quality; Experience and Expertise; Relationships; Publishing Industry

SSRN

Article

What Makes a Critic Tick? Connected Authors and the Determinants of Book Reviews

By: Loretti I. Dobrescu, Michael Luca and Alberto Motta

This paper investigates the determinants of expert reviews in the book industry. Reviews are determined not only by the quality of the product, but also by the incentives of the media outlet providing the review. For example, a media outlet may have the incentive to... View Details

Keywords: Quality; Media; Relationships; Marketing Reference Programs; Books; Publishing Industry

Find at Harvard

19 Apr 2010
Research & Ideas

The History of Beauty

provide further major challenges for new ventures. Creative talent, astute marketing skills, and the ability to understand and respond rapidly to consumer fashions and preferences are all needed to succeed. There are fortunes to be made... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Beauty & Cosmetics

17 Oct 2018
Research & Ideas

Pro Basketball Coaches Display Racial Bias When Selecting Lineups

valio84sl As the National Basketball Association kicks off its regular season this week, a recent study makes a surprising discovery: Coaches favor players of their own race, giving them slightly more playing time than might be expected.... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Sports

15 May 2014
News

Study: You Really Can 'Work Smarter, Not Harder'

23 Mar 2023
Research & Ideas

As Climate Fears Mount, More Investors Turn to 'ESG' Funds Despite Few Rules

Investor interest in social responsibility has skyrocketed in the past three years, even as US regulations to hold companies accountable remain in flux and the environmental, social, and governance (ESG) label itself draws backlash. Investors are willing to pay a... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Financial Services

09 Jan 2020
Book

Rethinking Business Strategy in the Age of AI

reshaping competition? Marco Iansiti: For the first time in many years, there’s a fundamentally different way of solving the problem of meeting a customer’s needs. Airbnb is a classic example. If I want a room to spend the night, I can go... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

January 1999 (Revised November 1999)
Case

Metapath Software: September 1997

By: G. Felda Hardymon and Bill Wasik

In September 1997, John Hansen called together his board to debate an interesting choice that his company had to make. Hansen--the CEO of Metapath Software, a provider of software and services to wireless carriers--had two offers to describe. The first was an offer to... View Details

Keywords: Private Ownership; Mergers and Acquisitions; Private Equity; Decision Choices and Conditions; Governing and Advisory Boards; Management Teams; Stocks; Public Ownership; Negotiation Deal; Telecommunications Industry; Information Technology Industry

Educators