Publications

August 2007 (Revised June 2020)
Case

Trouble with a Bubble

By: Tom Nicholas

Examines technology, firm performance, and the stock market during the 1929 Great Crash and the Great Depression of the 1930s. The 1920s was an extraordinary period of technological progress marked by a strong run-up in stock market prices. Firms invested heavily in... View Details

Keywords: Bubble; Stock Market; Great Depression; Irving Fisher; Information Technology; Organizational Change and Adaptation; History; Financial Markets; Performance; Labor and Management Relations; Equity; Financial Crisis; Innovation and Invention; United States

15 Jul 2014
First Look

First Look: July 15

of investors―extracted from co-search patterns―in addressing long-standing benchmarking problems in finance. Publisher's link: http://ssrn.com/abstract=2171497 August 2013 Academy of Management Journal Exposed: Venture Capital, Competitor Ties, and Entrepreneurial... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

30 Sep 2014
First Look

First Look: September 30

Experiment By: Cole, Shawn, Xavier Giné, and James Vickery Abstract—Weather is a key source of income risk, particularly in emerging market economies. This paper uses a randomized controlled trial involving a sample of Indian farmers to study how an View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

2020
Working Paper

Mission-Oriented Research in a National Emergency: Lessons from the Office of Scientific Research and Development in World War II

By: Daniel P. Gross and Bhaven N. Sampat

Since the beginning of the present COVID-19 pandemic, policymakers, researchers, and journalists have made repeated comparisons to World War II. In ongoing research, we have been studying the effects of the World War II research effort, which included a major medical... View Details

Keywords: Innovation and Invention; Research and Development; Problems and Challenges; War; History; Government Administration; United States

January 2020 (Revised December 2024)
Case

Governing PG&E

By: Lynn S. Paine and Will Hurwitz

The five commissioners of the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) listened intently at a public forum in April 2019 as PG&E Corporation’s out-going chairman Richard Kelly described the company’s proposed new board. PG&E, which provided electricity and natural... View Details

August 2022 (Revised March 2023)
Technical Note

Real Estate iBuying

By: Michael Luca, Jesse M. Shapiro and Julia Kelley

This note provides an overview of real estate iBuying, or instant buying, a business model that involves buying homes and then reselling them at a profit. Introduced in the mid-2010s, iBuying streamlined the process of selling a home by offering instant, all-cash... View Details

Keywords: iBuying; Profit; Business Model; Technological Innovation; Real Estate Industry

Myra Hart's research focus is high potential entrepreneurship. She has taught MBA and executive programs, co-chaired the entrepreneurship unit, and led several HBS initiatives. As a founding memberView Details

Keywords: consumer products; e-commerce industry; education industry; real estate; retailing

30 Mar 2009
Research & Ideas

Professional Networks in China and America

valuable business contact is also a close friend. Unlike their Chinese counterparts, American managers are much more likely to keep personal concerns and business separate. Mixing the two is often considered unprofessional. That makes the contrast between business... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

24 Mar 2009
First Look

First Look: March 24, 2009

innovative new product for the treatment of acne that they hope to sell to consumers via direct-response television. The unconventional nature of the product and its distribution has led the company to seek angel financing. The Silicon... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

29 Apr 2016
HBS Seminar

Richard Freeman, Harvard University & NBER

12 Jun 2012
First Look

First Look: June 12

external risks, companies can call on tools such as war gaming and scenario analysis. Read the article: http://hbr.org/2012/06/managing-risks-a-new-framework/ar/1 Working PapersDid Bank Distress Stifle Innovation During the Great... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

18 Sep 2017
News

Should You Agitate, Innovate, or Orchestrate?

24 Aug 2010
First Look

First Look: August 24

S&P 500 index and are only marginally higher than the risk-free rate as of the end of 2008. The combined impression from these results is that the return experience of hedge fund investors is much worse than previously thought. View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

23 May 2017
First Look

First Look at New Ideas and Research: May 23, 2017

George Serafeim Abstract—We examine if, and under what conditions, disclosure of sustainability information identified as investor relevant by market-driven innovations in accounting standard setting is associated with stock prices... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

August 2006 (Revised July 2008)
Case

The Progressive Corporation

By: John R. Wells, Marina Lutova and Ilan Sender

For decades, Progressive has proven to be one of the most innovative players in the US auto insurance industry, but can it maintain its lead? Progressive has moved up to the number three position in the industry in 2006, but competitors are finally waking up to the... View Details

Keywords: Competitive Advantage; Competitive Strategy; Innovation and Invention; Insurance Industry; Auto Industry; United States