Publications

14 Jul 2020
Research & Ideas

Restarting Under Uncertainty: Managerial Experiences from Around the World

switched from in-person to online training. Case 4: Partner with other businesses to share labor ChiSuper is a supermarket chain with more than 1,000 stores across China. ChiSuper faced a severe labor... View Details

Keywords: by Raffaella Sadun, Andrea Bertoni, Alexia Delfino, Giovanni Fassio, and Mariapaola Testa

February 2016 (Revised March 2018)
Case

Labor, Capital, and Government: The Anthracite Coal Strike of 1902

By: David Moss and Marc Campasano

In late October 1902, President Theodore Roosevelt felt relieved after months of anxiety and uncertainty. Workers in Pennsylvania's anthracite coal industry had been on strike for five months, threatening to leave eastern cities in the cold without enough heating fuel... View Details

Keywords: Governance; Agreements and Arrangements; Business and Government Relations; Labor; Law; Policy; Mining; History; Mining Industry; Pennsylvania

15 Sep 2022
Research & Ideas

Looking For a Job? Some LinkedIn Connections Matter More Than Others

advancement—especially important in a hot labor market at a time of economic uncertainty. “Your digital network can have lasting implications on how your career progresses, not just over the next year, but over your whole life,” says... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

08 Nov 2011
First Look

First Look: Nov. 8

Age-Dependent Taxes Author:Matthew C. Weinzierl Publication:Review of Economic Studies 78, no. 4 (October 2011) Abstract This article provides a new, empirically driven application of the dynamic Mirrleesian framework by studying a feasible and potentially powerful tax... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

01 Feb 2023
What Do You Think?

Will Hybrid Work Strategies Pull Down Long-Term Performance?

(iStockphoto/AndreyPopov) Remote work has always been an essential part of economic activity. Some people work from home, some work from anywhere, and some work where customers need them. But the COVID-19 pandemic gave rise to both full-time remote work strategies and... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

10 May 2010
Research & Ideas

What Top Scholars Say About Leadership

of a global view. Too much of leadership research is conducted in the United States or western Europe. This is despite the reality that some of the most disruptive leadership practices and new business models are coming out of the emerging markets, as they abandon... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Education

October 2013 (Revised November 2021)
Case

Cynthia Carroll at Anglo American (A)

By: Gautam Mukunda, Lisa Mazzanti and Aldo Sesia

In 2007, Cynthia Carroll, the newly-appointed chief executive of mining giant Anglo American, was considering shutting down mines in South Africa for safety reasons, namely worker fatalities. No company had ever done so before. Carroll felt that operating a company... View Details

Keywords: Culture; Leadership; Gender; Safety; Working Conditions; Business Exit or Shutdown; Organizational Culture; Change Management; Mining; Mining Industry; South Africa

03 Dec 2020
Research & Ideas

Cut Payroll Costs with Transparency, Fairness, and Compassion

2020 has been a challenging year for leaders, their companies, and their employees. When we asked 600 CEOs earlier this year what keeps them awake at night during this global pandemic, many cited the need to reduce expenses, including payroll costs, in response to... View Details

Keywords: by Boris Groysberg and Sarah Abbott

05 May 2020
Research & Ideas

China Tariffs and Coronavirus a Double Hit to American Retailers

from the Bureau of Labor Statistics that is more detailed than the US Census data economists typically examine. In addition, they relied on a database called the Billion Prices Project, which Cavallo first developed as a Ph.D. student at... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

08 Mar 2019
Research & Ideas

Seven Negotiation Lessons from Amazon's HQ Disaster in Queens

Identify all likely and potential opponents at the outset of the process. Project advocates often find themselves in reactive, defensive mode, having focused too late on opponents who have seized the initiative. For Amazon’s project, opposition from organized View Details

Keywords: by James K. Sebenius; Real Estate; Construction

28 Jun 2021
Research & Ideas

Keep or Cut Workers? How Companies Reacted to the COVID-19 Crisis

companies’ finances and worker treatment gives job seekers a new card to play. “That’s going to inform employee decisions when the labor market is tight,” he says. “The data is becoming more and more available. It’s easy to find, and it... View Details

Keywords: by Lane Lambert

11 Jul 2016
HBS Case

Neurodiversity: The Benefits of Recruiting Employees with Cognitive Disabilities

There’s a new frontier in diversity programs focused not on race or gender but on cognitive ability. The growing interest in neurodiversity—hiring people with cognitive disabilities like Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD)—is motivated by companies looking to tap into a... View Details

Keywords: by Roberta Holland; Technology

26 Jul 2022
Research & Ideas

Burgers with Bugs? What Happens When Restaurants Ignore Online Reviews

eases but labor shortages persist, these sites offer another way for consumers to navigate a bumpy return to normalcy, particularly in the service industry. Consumer Reviews and Regulation: Evidence from NYC Restaurants, a recent working... View Details

Keywords: by Kara Baskin; Entertainment & Recreation; Food & Beverage; Retail

September 2015
Case

GovDelivery

By: Mitchell Weiss

Is government the biggest, worst customer in the world? And is that a reason for venture investors to back companies that sell to government or to stay away? It had been seven years since Scott Burns joined his friend Zach Stabenow to get a company called GovDocs off... View Details

Keywords: GovDelivery; Public Entrepreneurship; B2G; Business-to-Government; Scott Burns; Entrepreneurship; Government Administration; Venture Capital; Information Technology Industry; Public Administration Industry; Web Services Industry; Minnesota; United States

2021
Working Paper

The Old Boys' Club: Schmoozing and the Gender Gap

By: Zoë B. Cullen and Ricardo Perez-Truglia

Offices are social places. Employees and managers take breaks together and talk about family and hobbies. In this study, we show that employees’ social interactions with their managers can be advantageous for their careers, and that this phenomenon contributes to the... View Details

Keywords: Career; Promotions; Social Interactions; Networking; Gender; Personal Development and Career; Wages; Social and Collaborative Networks

Read Now

Article

How Much (More) Should CEOs Make? A Universal Desire for More Equal Pay

By: Sorapop Kiatpongsan and Michael I. Norton

Do people from different countries and different backgrounds have similar preferences for how much more the rich should earn than the poor? Using survey data from 40 countries (N = 55,238), we compare respondents' estimates of the wages of people in different... View Details

Keywords: Inequality; Justice; Wage; Cross-cultural; Wages; Equality and Inequality; Fairness; Income; Employees; Management Teams; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues

Find at Harvard

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March 2016 (Revised May 2018)
Case

Reinventing Best Buy

By: John R. Wells and Gabriel Ellsworth

On March 1, 2017, Best Buy Company, Inc., North America’s largest retailer of consumer electronics and appliances, announced a third year of comparable-store sales increases and a 20.8% increase in domestic comparable online sales. These results were in marked contrast... View Details

Keywords: Best Buy; Hubert Joly; Renew Blue; Showrooming; Webrooming; E-commerce; E-Commerce Strategy; Online Retail; Multichannel Retailing; Omnichannel; Marketplaces; Turnaround; Consumer Electronics; Consumer Electronics Accessories; Appliances; Stores-within-stores; Store Experience; Store Size; Store Pickup; Store Management; Delivery; Delivery Models; Amazon; Amazon.com; Pricing Strategy; Business Subsidiaries; Business Units; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Model; For-Profit Firms; Customer Focus and Relationships; Customer Satisfaction; Entertainment; Film Entertainment; Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Music Entertainment; Television Entertainment; Theater Entertainment; Price; Profit; Revenue; Geographic Scope; Multinational Firms and Management; Business History; Cost; Selection and Staffing; Reports; Technological Innovation; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Human Capital; Leading Change; Business or Company Management; Goals and Objectives; Growth and Development; Growth and Development Strategy; Management Teams; Brands and Branding; Product Marketing; Consumer Behavior; Demand and Consumers; Media; Distribution; Order Taking and Fulfillment; Distribution Channels; Infrastructure; Product; Service Delivery; Service Operations; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Public Ownership; Problems and Challenges; Programs; Groups and Teams; Sales; Salesforce Management; Strategy; Adaptation; Business Strategy; Competition; Competitive Advantage; Competitive Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Expansion; Information Technology; Information Infrastructure; Information Technology; Internet and the Web; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Internet and the Web; Applications and Software; Internet and the Web; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Resource Allocation; Computer Industry; Electronics Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Information Technology Industry; Retail Industry; Service Industry; Technology Industry; Telecommunications Industry; Video Game Industry; United States; Minnesota; Minneapolis; Saint Paul; St. Paul

14 Apr 2022
Op-Ed

Let’s Move Forward from COVID—Without Forgetting What We’ve Learned

The pandemic is winding down, and the world is moving toward an endemic approach. In the world's COVID-19 epicenter, New York City, businesses, restaurants, and Broadway have reopened now that 4 million New Yorkers have been vaccinated. Testing centers have begun to... View Details

Keywords: by Hise O. Gibson and MaShon Wilson

April 2015 (Revised April 2022)
Case

Bankruptcy in the City of Detroit

By: Stuart Gilson, Kristin Mugford and Annelena Lobb

The June 2013 bankruptcy of the city of Detroit, Michigan was, at the time, the largest municipal bankruptcy in American history. Detroit had struggled for years with a weakening tax base, high unemployment, a heavy debt load and increasing retiree costs. These... View Details