Business Earnings - Publications - Faculty & Research

13 Aug 2007
Research & Ideas

The Dark Side of Trust

It's called TrapGuard—a special kind of floor drain developed by a Georgia company that prevents sewer gases from entering homes. On the great spectrum of innovative products, it's probably not keeping company with the iPod or Segway scooter. But Harvard View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Service

04 Apr 2005
What Do You Think?

Can an Organization’s “Deep Smarts” Be Preserved?

the phenomenon in large, publicly-listed business organizations. What are the causes? As Simon Griffiths puts it, "While we continue to focus on the short term, we will lose the benefits of working for the long term. Wisdom is only... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

2011
Working Paper

CEO Bonus Plans: And How to Fix Them

By: Kevin J. Murphy and Michael C. Jensen

Almost all CEO and executive bonus plans have serious design flaws that limit their benefits dramatically. Such poorly designed executive bonus plans destroy value by providing incentives to manipulate the timing of earnings, mislead the board about organizational... View Details

Keywords: Business Earnings; Competency and Skills; Cost of Capital; Executive Compensation; Risk Management; Performance Evaluation; Projects; Motivation and Incentives; Value

Citation

SSRN

09 Nov 2009
Research & Ideas

Come Fly with Me: A History of Airline Leadership

Entrepreneurs, Managers, and Leaders: What the Airline Industry Can Teach Us about Leadership (Palgrave Macmillan), coauthored by Anthony J. Mayo and Nitin Nohria of Harvard Business School, and Mark Rennella, a former research associate.... View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert; Air Transportation

08 Dec 2015
Research & Ideas

You Won't Make It If You Fake It

The cover of last January's Harvard Business Review featured the subhead, "When it's OK to fake it till you make it." “Faking it” is the antithesis of authentic leadership. Following this advice is the most likely path to... View Details

Keywords: by Bill George

19 Jul 2004
Research & Ideas

Your Customers: Use Them or Lose Them

Frei. Their customers are better off and the organizations earn a disproportionate share of the profits over their competitors. Frei, who spoke with HBS alumni on June 4 in a session titled "Capitalizing on the Power of the... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

28 May 2013
Research & Ideas

Can LEGO Snap Together a Future in Asia?

a factory in a low-cost location in Asia? Such a move over the next five to seven years would be full of risk, especially considering LEGO has had a checkered history of expansion—one such effort almost led to bankruptcy. So Harvard View Details

Keywords: by Kim Girard; Entertainment & Recreation

24 Sep 2012
Research & Ideas

Why Do We Tax?

Lawmakers, following public opinion rather than scholars' theories, have put in place very little tagging. Does this mean it's time to bury the Utilitarian approach? Not quite, says economist Matthew C. Weinzierl. The Harvard Business... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Legal Services

September 2003 (Revised February 2007)
Case

PolyMedica Corporation (A)

By: David F. Hawkins and Jacob Cohen

The Securities and Exchange Commission and investors question PolyMedica Corp.'s practice of capitalizing rather than expensing of direct-response advertising. View Details

Keywords: Activity Based Costing and Management; Business Earnings; Advertising; Private Sector; Budgets and Budgeting; Cost Management; Capital Markets; Marketing; Private Equity; Pharmaceutical Industry; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

Citation

Educators

Purchase

02 Apr 2010
What Do You Think?

Why Are Fewer and Fewer U.S. Employees Satisfied With Their Jobs?

focus on employees and more on business and profitability." Phil Clark posited that knowledge work that deals with intangible results and hard-to-pinpoint accomplishments "just isn't as satisfying" as work used to be. John... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett

24 Jul 2000
Research & Ideas

Global Brands: Connecting With Consumers Across Boundaries

panelists at a Global Alumni Conference session addressing the topic "Global Brands: Connecting with Consumers across Boundaries," chaired by HBS associate professor Nancy F. Koehn, a business historian and author of the... View Details

Keywords: by James E. Aisner

13 Oct 2003
Research & Ideas

Negotiating Challenges for Women Leaders

McGinn believe that negotiation skills are crucial to closing the gender gap in leadership. Riley Bowles, who earned her doctoral degree from Harvard Business School, is an assistant professor at Harvard's... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

22 Jan 2013
First Look

First Look: Jan. 22

Download the paper: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2028982 Cases & Course MaterialsNew Balance Athletic Shoe, Inc. (Abridged) Bowen, H. Kent, Robert S. Huckman, Carin-Isabel Knoop, and Matthew PrebleHarvard Business School Case 613-006 No... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

02 Jan 2001
Research & Ideas

Gurus in the Garage

can call busy, successful people whom I don't know personally and have them return my calls—I think is a recognition that it's not just me, that it is just the etiquette of the game." One doesn't become a guild member without credentials. The best-known mentor... View Details

Keywords: by Dorothy Leonard & Walter Swap

17 Mar 2009
First Look

First Look: March 17, 2009

Download the paper: http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/09-099.pdf Cases & Course MaterialsAvid Radiopharmaceuticals: The Venture Debt Question Harvard Business School Case 809-086 The CEO of a promising biotech company must decide how... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

14 Oct 2013
Research & Ideas

Blockbuster! Why Star Power Works

quite risky—a few blockbuster flops can bring a company to ruin—the strategy is the best bet for entertainment companies to succeed over the long run, according to Anita Elberse, the Lincoln Filene Professor of Business Administration at... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Entertainment & Recreation

04 Jun 2014
What Do You Think?

Does Internet Technology Threaten Brand Loyalty?

'technology' as a threat to customer loyalty . Loyalty is earned by meeting and exceeding expectations. Do that, and you can maintain loyal customers." AIM added, "It is not the advances in information technology that (have... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Advertising; Consumer Products; Technology

12 Jul 2010
Research & Ideas

Rocket Science Retailing: A Practical Guide

The New Science of Retailing: How Analytics Are Transforming the Supply Chain and Improving Performance (Harvard Business Press). As a practical guide, The New Science of Retailing helps retailers mine their sales data to identify and... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Retail; Auto

06 Feb 2006
Research & Ideas

The Trouble Behind Livedoor

panic selling caused an unprecedented early shutdown of the Tokyo Stock Exchange. Horie, who denies wrongdoing, was arrested on January 23. What went wrong at Livedoor, and what are we to learn from its undoing? Robin Greenwood, an assistant professor in the Finance... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Financial Services; Technology

23 Sep 2013
Research & Ideas

Status: When and Why It Matters

like to believe that people pay for status for purely symbolic reasons, but the empirical evidence for that has been weak at best," says Harvard Business School's Daniel Malter, an assistant professor in the Strategy unit who studies... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

Publications