Publications

April–May 2021
Article

Labor Mobility and Antitakeover Provisions

By: Aiyesha Dey and Joshua White

How do firms protect their human capital? We test whether firms facing an increased threat of being acquired strengthen their antitakeover provisions (ATPs) in order to bond with their employees. We use the adoption of the Inevitable Disclosure Doctrine (IDD) by U.S.... View Details

Keywords: Labor Mobility; Antitakeover Provisions; Trade Secrets; Implicit Contracting; Employee Bonding; Corporate Governance; Acquisition; Human Capital; Strategy; Innovation and Invention; Intellectual Property; Safety

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Working Paper Summaries

Determinants of Early-Stage Startup Performance: Survey Results

Keywords: by Thomas R. Eisenmann

March 1999 (Revised April 1999)
Case

Environmental Risk Management at Chevron Corporation

By: Forest L. Reinhardt, Monica M Mandelli and Jennifer Burns

Chevron Corp., headquartered in San Francisco, manages a worldwide, vertically integrated value chain from the oil well to the gasoline station. Mishandling of oil at any stage of production can damage the natural environment, human health, corporate profitability, or... View Details

Keywords: Risk Management; Risk and Uncertainty; Environmental Sustainability; Energy Generation; Supply Chain Management; Metals and Minerals; Management Systems; Management Teams; Trade; Vertical Integration; Energy Industry; Mining Industry

October 2019
Case

Engaging the Nationwide Workforce

By: Ethan S. Bernstein, Jessica Gover and Sarah Mehta

Nationwide is “on your side,” but did employees feel that way? CAO Gale King and CEO Steve Rasmussen, starting in 2008, invested heavily in a human capital strategy centered around “engagement” at the Ohio-based Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company. Set in 2014, this... View Details

Joshua Margolis is James Dinan and Elizabeth Miller Professor of Business Administration and the Unit Head for the Organizational Behavior unit. He is also Faculty Chair of the Program for Leadership Development. His research and teaching revolve around leadership... View Details

Keywords: furniture; health care; insurance industry; nonprofit industry; pharmaceuticals

February 2020
Case

Leading Change in Talent at L'Oréal

By: Lakshmi Ramarajan, Vincent Dessain and Emer Moloney

Jean-Claude Le Grand just stepped into a new role as Executive Vice-President for Human Resources at the global cosmetics company, L’Oréal. He is now responsible for the hiring, development, promotion, and retention of 83,000 employees worldwide. The highly successful... View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Business Headquarters; Business Divisions; Business Organization; Change; Change Management; Transformation; Competency and Skills; Experience and Expertise; Talent and Talent Management; Demographics; Diversity; Gender; Nationality; Multinational Firms and Management; Human Resources; Employees; Recruitment; Retention; Selection and Staffing; Innovation and Management; Jobs and Positions; Employment; Human Capital; Leadership; Leadership Development; Leadership Style; Leading Change; Management Practices and Processes; Marketing; Brands and Branding; Product Marketing; Organizations; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Structure; Personal Development and Career; Planning; Strategic Planning; Problems and Challenges; Networks; Social Psychology; Attitudes; Power and Influence; Social and Collaborative Networks; Business Strategy; Advertising Industry; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; Consumer Products Industry; France; Paris

John Beshears is the Albert J. Weatherhead Jr. Professor of Business Administration in the Negotiation, Organizations & Markets Unit, teaching the second-year MBA course "Negotiation." He is also a research associate at the National Bureau of Economic Research.... View Details

July 2006 (Revised August 2007)
Case

Charles Veillon, S.A. (A)

By: Lynn S. Paine and Aldo Sesia

The top management team at Charles Veillon, a Swiss mail-order company, is considering whether to work with a human rights organization to monitor the labor practices of its suppliers. A particular concern is avoiding child labor and other forms of workplace coercion.... View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Governance Controls; Labor; Rights; Nonprofit Organizations; Switzerland

31 Oct 2017
News

Belief in a Noble ‘True Self’ May Help Heal Our Divisions

August 2012
Case

ARISE: A Destination-for-a-Day Spa

By: Michael Beer and Lynda St. Clair

A new Dallas-based health and beauty spa aims to use a highly distinctive human resource system as the foundation of its competitive strategy. By encouraging employees to act as "personal wellness coaches" (PWCs) with high commitment and broad responsibilities, the... View Details

Keywords: Compensation and Benefits; Motivation and Incentives; Organizational Design; Organizational Culture; Service Delivery; Competitive Strategy; Innovation Strategy; Health Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Service Industry; Texas

Debora Spar is the Jaime and Josefina Chua Tiampo Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School and Senior Associate Dean for Business and Global Society. Her current research focuses on issues of gender and technology, and the interplay between... View Details

Keywords: biotechnology; broadcasting; communications; entertainment; federal government; health care; information; internet; music; pharmaceuticals

July 2009
Article

How Can Decision Making Be Improved?

By: Katherine L. Milkman, Dolly Chugh and Max H. Bazerman

The optimal moment to address the question of how to improve human decision making has arrived. Thanks to fifty years of research by judgment and decision making scholars, psychologists have developed a detailed picture of the ways in which human judgment is bounded.... View Details

Keywords: Decision Making; Performance Improvement; Research; Strategy; Judgments

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Niall Ferguson follows the money to tell the human story behind the evolution of finance, from its... View Details

2009
Chapter

The Principles of Embedded Liberalism: Social Legitimacy and Global Capitalism

By: Rawi Abdelal and John G. Ruggie

In this essay we revisit the principles of “embedded liberalism” and argue for their relevance to the contemporary global economy. The most essential principle is the need for markets to enjoy social legitimacy, because their political sustainability ultimately depends... View Details

Keywords: Economic Systems; Ethics; International Finance; Globalization; Multinational Firms and Management; Corporate Governance; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Labor

June 2025
Article

Unregulated Emotional Risks of AI Wellness Apps

By: Julian De Freitas and Glenn Cohen

We propose that AI-driven wellness apps powered by large language models can foster extreme emotional attachments and dependencies akin to human relationships—posing risks like ambiguous loss and dysfunctional dependence—that challenge current regulatory frameworks and... View Details

Keywords: AI and Machine Learning; Well-being; Emotions; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms

Leonard A. Schlesinger is Baker Foundation Professor at the Harvard Business School where he serves as Chair of the School’s Practice based faculty and faculty Chair of the MBA Field Global Immersion program. He has served as a member of the HBS faculty from 1978 to... View Details

Article

Scaling Up Analogical Innovation with Crowds and AI

By: Aniket Kittur, Lisa Yu, Tom Hope, Joel Chan, Hila Lifshitz - Assaf, Karni Gilon, Felicia Ng, Robert Kraut and Dafna Shachaf

Analogy—the ability to find and apply deep structural patterns across domains—has been fundamental to human innovation in science and technology. Today there is a growing opportunity to accelerate innovation by moving analogy out of a single person’s mind and... View Details

Keywords: Innovation; Artificial Intelligence; Crowdsourcing; Analogy; Innovation and Invention; Technology; Science

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2008
Working Paper

How Can Decision Making Be Improved?

By: Katherine L. Milkman, Dolly Chugh and Max H. Bazerman

The optimal moment to address the question of how to improve human decision making has arrived. Thanks to fifty years of research by judgment and decision making scholars, psychologists have developed a detailed picture of the ways in which human judgment is bounded.... View Details

Keywords: Decision Making; Judgments; Performance Improvement; Research; Strategy