Publications

01 Feb 2017
What Do You Think?

Is the Next Jobs Crisis Just Ahead?

for jobs if government doesn’t invest in the forthcoming change, change will be painfully slow if at all.” Should we be addressing the next jobs crisis now? What do you think? Original Column It’s clear that the focus of the new United... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Service

01 Aug 2012
What Do You Think?

Should CEOs Worry About ‘Too Big to Succeed?’

government intervention " Gerald Nanninga was less willing to accept the notion of "too big to succeed," setting forth several ways of scaling up a company to minimize the burden of size on management. As he put it, "... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Manufacturing; Financial Services

15 Aug 2024
Op-Ed

Post-CrowdStrike, Six Questions to Test Your Company's Operational Resilience

Establish clear accountability and governance structures, including appropriate legal counsel. Consider where it is needed and proper to have insurance, such as Directors and Officers (D&O) liability coverage, for people in critical... View Details

Keywords: by Hise Gibson and Anita Lynch

01 Sep 2024
News

Far-Reaching Impact

graduates working in government or a nonprofit. Additionally, Gupta received a Horace W. Goldsmith Fellowship, established by Richard Menschel (MBA 1959), which awards $10,000 to MBA students who have shown leadership in the nonprofit... View Details

Keywords: Jennifer Gillespie

08 Apr 2011
Research & Ideas

Will the Japan Disaster Remake the Landscape for Green Energy in Asia?

comprehensive set of policies and regulations in place and the climate for investment is favorable." The flip side of that coin is that in some countries the government exerts such a large influence on the energy sector that it can... View Details

Keywords: by Dennis Fisher; Energy; Utilities

26 Jan 2021
News

Clubs See Wealth in FemTech; Health Care Alumni Look at COVID Response

Professor emeritus, William A. Sahlman, the conversation covered the range of leadership challenges that Mango and Bingham faced while managing both private sector and government partners on an expedited timeline, while searching for an... View Details

Keywords: Margie Kelley

14 Feb 2019
News

Plotting a Path Forward on Climate Change

Boston Green Ribbon Commission, a group of business, institutional, and civic leaders developing strategies to fight climate change and meet Mayor Marty Walsh’s 2050 carbon-neutrality goal. However, McCarthy added, “the city is slow to respond, and it takes View Details

14 Jan 2021
Working Paper Summaries

Dog Eat Dog: Measuring Network Effects Using a Digital Platform Merger

Keywords: by Chiara Farronato, Jessica Fong, and Andrey Fradkin

05 Jun 2019
Research & Ideas

If Your Customers Don't Care What You Charge, What Should You Charge?

An estimated 60 percent of retail gasoline customers return to the same gas station to refuel, without comparison shopping, according to a recent study. Driven by factors such as habit, brand loyalty, switching costs, and search (which often leaves consumers unaware of... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz; Energy

2025
Working Paper

Blockchain-Induced Supply Chain Transparency and Firm Performance: The Role of Capacity Utilization

By: ShinWoo Lee Lee, Jedson Pinto, Daniel Rabetti and Gil Sadka

This study empirically investigates how blockchain adoption affects firm profitability. Employing a quasi-experimental design triggered by regulatory changes across the United States, we provide novel empirical evidence to recent theory, proposing that blockchain... View Details

Keywords: Blockchain; Supply Chain; Technology Adoption; Profit; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; United States

SSRN

July 2024 (Revised December 2024)
Background Note

District Heating: An Overview

By: Willy Shih and Michael W. Toffel

This note provides an overview of district heating: systems in which central plants generate heat that is conveyed by steam or water through a set of insulated pipes to send heat to residential and/or commercial buildings. It describes key elements of the system (heat... View Details

Keywords: Decarbonization; Energy Efficiency; Energy Storage; Energy Transmission; Construction; Energy; Buildings and Facilities; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Climate Change; Operations; Energy Industry; Denmark; Europe; United States

July 2014 (Revised October 2014)
Case

McKinsey & Co. - Protecting its Reputation (A)

By: Jay Lorsch and Emily McTague

On Tuesday March 15, 2011, all 1,200 global Partners of McKinsey & Co. gathered at the Gaylord National Hotel & Convention Center near Washington, DC for their annual Partners' conference. The atmosphere was tense as Partners, in addition to their normal agenda,... View Details

Keywords: Board; McKinsey; Consulting Firms; Risk; Risk Assessment; Partnerships; Insider Trading; Confidentiality; Personal Investing; Reputation; Corporate Accountability; Corporate Governance; Management Practices and Processes; Risk Management; Consulting Industry; United States; California

July–August 2015
Article

The Secret of Singapore: Why Cuba Should Look to Lee Kuan Yew's Thriving City-State for Economic Inspiration

By: Debora L. Spar

Between 1965 and 1991, Singapore grew at an astonishing compound annual growth rate of nearly 14%. Critics of the island's performance accused its celebrated leader, Lee Kuan Yew, of thinly veiled tendencies toward communism and authoritarianism; they argued that the... View Details

Keywords: Economic Models; Communism; Economic Policy; Economic Reform; Angel Investors; Authoritarianism; Economic Systems; Economy; Policy; Government and Politics; Singapore; Cuba

Find at Harvard

April 2020 (Revised August 2020)
Case

WeWork—November 2018

By: Paul A. Gompers, Patrick Sweeney and Alex Gachanja

In May 2017, SoftBank announced the official launch of the Vision Fund — which promptly became the largest technology-focused investment fund in the world, with nearly $100 billion in capital under its management. Reports from a few months prior hinted that SoftBank... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Valuation; Corporate Governance

2017
Article

New Venture Milestones and the First Female Board Member

By: Alicia DeSantola, Lakshmi Ramarajan and Julie Battilana

We explore the antecedents of the addition of the first woman to the boards of directors of entrepreneurial ventures. Building on research on resource dependency, we propose that new ventures are most likely to add the first woman to their boards at three developmental... View Details

Keywords: Boards Of Directors; Governing and Advisory Boards; Entrepreneurship; Gender; Diversity; Technology Industry; United States

Find at Harvard

February 1991
Supplement

Raymond Jackson (B)

By: Jay W. Lorsch and James E Sailer

Explains Jackson's reasons for his decision and describes the result of the proxy fight for control of the board. View Details

Keywords: Governing and Advisory Boards; Conflict and Resolution