Publications

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January 2004
Background Note

Beyond the IT Monolith

By: Marco Iansiti and Gregg Rotenberg

Leading companies are employing a radical new approach to IT--an approach that points the way to a new model of software architecture and deployment. These companies' successes seem to indicate that the problems IT critics have correctly identified are not, in fact,... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Business Processes; Change

Article

From Thinking Too Little to Thinking Too Much: A Continuum of Decision Making.

By: Dan Ariely and Michael I. Norton

Due to the sheer number and variety of decisions that people make in their everyday lives-from choosing yogurts to choosing religions to choosing spouses-research in judgment and decision making has taken many forms. We suggest, however, that much of this research has... View Details

Keywords: Decision Making; Cognition and Thinking; Judgments; Research; Problems and Challenges

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29 May 2020
Op-Ed

How Leaders Are Fighting Food Insecurity on Three Continents

COVID-19 is creating unprecedented strains on food security worldwide. The United Nations' World Food Programme warns that the pandemic could almost double the number of people facing food crises in low- and middle-income populations to 265 million by the View Details

Keywords: by Howard Stevenson and Shirley Spence; Agriculture & Agribusiness

June 2011 (Revised January 2013)
Case

Home Essentials: Building a Global Service Business with Local Operations

By: Lynda M. Applegate, William R. Kerr and David Lane

Chris Exline founded Home Essentials, a furniture rental business targeted toward expatriates, in Singapore but rapidly moved the base of operations to Hong Kong. The company was highly successful in Singapore and Hong Kong and then pursued rapid global expansion.... View Details

Keywords: Growth Management; Renting or Rental; Corporate Governance; Global Strategy; Failure; Singapore; Hong Kong

09 Dec 2002
Research & Ideas

Most Accountants Aren’t Crooks—Why Good Audits Go Bad

may recognize the long-standing bias. But at that point, correcting the bias may require admitting prior errors. Rather than expose the unwitting mistakes, she may decide to conceal the problem. Thus, unconscious bias may evolve into conscious corruption—corruption... View Details

Keywords: by Max H. Bazerman, George Loewenstein & Don A. Moore; Accounting; Financial Services

25 Apr 2007
Research & Ideas

Feeling Stuck? Getting Past Impasse

Director of Career Development Programs at Harvard Business School. "Without it we cannot grow, change, and—eventually—live more fully in a larger world," Butler writes in his new book, Getting Unstuck: How Dead Ends Become New... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

2019
Working Paper

Design Rules, Volume 2: How Technology Shapes Organizations: Chapter 8 Rationalizing Flow Processes

By: Carliss Y. Baldwin

The purpose of this chapter is to examine the value structure of flow production processes and to explain why it is necessary to rationalize flow processes using the tools of systematic management. I first explain the problems facing managers of multi-step flow... View Details

Keywords: Flow Processes; Bottlenecks; Systematic Management; Production; Management; Problems and Challenges

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21 Oct 2002
Research & Ideas

The Parable of the Bungled Baggage And the Unhappy Customer

I need to get on with my presentation, getting checked out and so forth. But, I'm a little happy too, because now I have something to talk about. And so I'm holding this little story in my back pocket waiting for the appropriate time in... View Details

Keywords: by W. Earl Sasser

17 Aug 2011
Research & Ideas

Protecting against the Pirates of Bollywood

temptation faced by our global audiences who were eager to watch the film as soon as it was released in India," case protagonist Rohit Sharma, head of international sales and distribution at Fox Star, says in the case. Happy View Details

Keywords: by Kim Girard; Motion Pictures & Video

June 1998 (Revised April 2000)
Case

GM Powertrain

By: Amy C. Edmondson and Mikelle Eastley

Discusses a young MBA plant manager who is improving the operations of a small General Motors components plant in Fredericksburg, Virginia. At 29 years old, Joe Hinrichs is the youngest plant manager at GM, and in his new assignment, he is faced with the daunting... View Details

Keywords: Service Operations; Labor Unions; Problems and Challenges; Technological Innovation; Change Management; Machinery and Machining; Manufacturing Industry; Auto Industry; United States

01 Dec 2003
What Do You Think?

Is This the Twilight Era for the Managed Mutual Fund?

representing groups of investors, and from those in the U.S. and other countries—if at all representative—provide what is for me a rather sobering assessment of the future of these funds. At one end of the spectrum are the feelings... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

09 Jun 2003
Research & Ideas

Incentives and Operational Excellence

Whether you're running a major medical supply company or a hole-in-the-wall video store, chances are you know how common operational problems are. If you are the medical supplier, for instance, you probably deal with a hospital group that... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

2025
Working Paper

The Hidden Costs of Working Multiple Jobs: Implications for Spending Behavior and Wellbeing

By: Paige Tsai and Ryan W. Buell

Problem definition: Amidst inflation, rising costs of living, an explosion in remote and gig working opportunities, and an increase in the part-time labor mix in economies around the world, it is becoming evermore commonplace for people to earn labor income... View Details

Keywords: Behavioral Operations; Employee Behavior; Job Design and Levels; Personal Finance; Well-being; Happiness; Satisfaction; Wages

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28 Aug 2017
Research & Ideas

Should Industry Competitors Cooperate More to Solve World Problems?

Source: Cecilie_Arcurs George Serafeim has a startling suggestion to fix the world’s biggest environmental, social, and governance (ESG) problems such as water pollution, deforestation, and wealth inequality: encourage companies within... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Financial Services; Manufacturing; Agriculture & Agribusiness; Mining

09 Apr 2007
Research & Ideas

Industry Self-Regulation: What’s Working (and What’s Not)?

business customers than at end consumers. There are some that consumers are increasingly seeing, like Fair Trade coffee or "sustainably harvested" labels for seafood. In handmade rugs you can find a number of labeling schemes like... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

January 2000
Case

Talbots - A Classic

By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Marie Bell

This case traces why the $1 billion women's clothing retailer decided to attract younger customers, what went wrong, and the actions taken to recover. By the end of 1999, the company has reestablished itself and faces several growth opportunities and must decide on the... View Details

Keywords: Customer Focus and Relationships; Decisions; Crisis Management; Product Positioning; Problems and Challenges; Segmentation; Fashion Industry

04 Oct 2024
In Practice

Research-Based Advice for the Seasonally Overwhelmed and Schedule Challenged

culminating with the Tony Awards in June. ‘Clean slate’ September (or just say no to overbooking) Rather than wait until January, my family makes it a point to clear out the “clutter” in our schedules at the end of each summer and start a... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

15 Jun 2016
Research & Ideas

These VC Partners May Make Your Firm Less Innovative

hit-driven business,” says McDonald. VC firms spread their wealth around to dozens of startups, hoping to hit that one jackpot that might be the next Facebook or Google. The problem comes when they have to choose between supporting one... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Financial Services; Banking

October 2023 (Revised March 2024)
Case

KOKO Networks: Bridging Energy Transition and Affordability with Carbon Financing

By: George Serafeim, Siko Sikochi and Namrata Arora

The problem was massive: two million hectares of African forests were lost annually to charcoal production for cooking, an area equivalent to 13 times Greater London, resulting in one billion tons of carbon emissions yearly. At the same time, an estimated 700,000... View Details

Keywords: Clean Tech; Digital; Carbon Credits; Carbon Offsetting; Climate Change; Entrepreneurship; Energy Sources; Environmental Sustainability; Health; Market Design; Business Startups; Transition; Environmental Regulation; Policy; Energy Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Africa; Kenya; Rwanda