Publications

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2011
Working Paper

The Institutional Logic of Great Global Firms

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter

Theories of the firm have been dominated by a legacy of ideas from early industrialization that pose zero-sum opposition between capital and labor (or capital and nearly everything else), differentiating the economy from society and often posing irreconcilable... View Details

Keywords: Economy; Capital; Globalized Firms and Management; Labor; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Practice; Conflict of Interests; Social Issues; Theory

29 Jul 2016
Working Paper Summaries

Can Paying Firms Quicker Affect Aggregate Employment?

Keywords: by Jean-Noel Barrot and Ramana Nanda

13 Apr 2015
Research & Ideas

3 Ways Firms Can Profit From Environmental Investments

In the course of her work, Rebecca Henderson meets business executives who don't address the threat of climate change because they don't believe that it exists. Her recommendation: They should consider investments in environmental sustainability anyway, assuming that... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Energy; Utilities

2013
Working Paper

Entrepreneurs, Firms and Global Wealth since 1850

By: G. Jones

This working paper integrates the role of entrepreneurship and firms into debates on why Asia, Latin America and Africa were slow to catch up with the West following the Industrial Revolution and the advent of modern economic growth. It argues that the currently... View Details

SSRN

09 Jul 2024
Research & Ideas

Are Management Consulting Firms Failing to Manage Themselves?

are experts at diagnosing and solving a variety of issues for their clients, are struggling to apply their own management principles internally.” To regain equilibrium, over the past two years, some major consulting firms have... View Details

Keywords: by David Fubini; Consulting

28 Jan 2010
Working Paper Summaries

Does Product Market Competition Lead Firms To Decentralize?

Keywords: by Nicholas Bloom, Raffaella Sadun & John Van Reenen

Article

The Impact of Intangibles on Firm Growth

By: Stefano Denicolai, E. Cotta Ramusino and F. Sotti

Persuading users to try new technologies continues to be a problem confronting organisations and technology vendors alike. To better understand the process of new technology trial and adoption, several theoretical models have been proposed, of which the Technology... View Details

Keywords: Motivation and Incentives; Technology Adoption

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March 2022
Article

Revealing Corruption: Firm and Worker Level Evidence from Brazil

By: Emanuele Colonnelli, Spyridon Lagaras, Jacopo Ponticelli, Mounu Prem and Margarita Tsoutsoura

We study how the disclosure of corrupt practices affects the growth of firms involved in illegal interactions with the government using randomized audits of public procurement in Brazil. On average, firms exposed by the anti-corruption program grow larger after the... View Details

Keywords: Crime and Corruption; Corporate Disclosure; Business Growth and Maturation; Brazil

September 2006 (Revised October 2007)
Case

Shinsei Bank: Developing an Integrated Firm

By: Thomas J. DeLong and Masako Egawa

Tom Pedersen, newly appointed chief learning officer (CLO) of Shinsei Bank in Japan, pondered how he could facilitate development of an integrated culture and transformation of the organization. Shinsei Bank had not developed longstanding tradition or a strong... View Details

Keywords: Integration; Mission and Purpose; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Talent and Talent Management; Organizational Culture; Performance Evaluation; Cooperation; Diversity; Japan

Educators

November 2016 (Revised April 2018)
Case

Darby's Investment in Sirma: Professionalizing an Entrepreneurial Firm

By: Suraj Srinivasan and Eren Kuzucu

In March 2010, Burak Dalgın (HBS MBA 2004) led private equity firm Darby's investment in Sırma, a local Turkish water and beverage company. Sırma was owned and managed by members of two Turkish business families. The existing management, while being highly... View Details

Keywords: Control Systems; Variance Analysis; Emerging Markets; Debt; Family Ownership; Turkey; Valuation; Business or Company Management; Private Equity; Financial Reporting; Investment; Budgets and Budgeting; Food and Beverage Industry; Turkey

Educators

22 Jun 2009
Research & Ideas

“Too Big To Fail”: Reining In Large Financial Firms

system to an entirely new level," he warns. But Moss has a fix: The federal government should slap tough new regulations on all firms that pose "systemic risk" —the risk that a... View Details

Keywords: by Roger Thompson; Banking; Financial Services

2004
Article

Do Firms Change Capabilities by Hiring New People? A Study of the Adoption of Science-based Drug Discovery

By: Rebecca M. Henderson, Nicola Lacetera and Iain Cockburn

Keywords: Selection and Staffing; Change; Science; Health; Information

Find at Harvard

04 Feb 2013
Research & Ideas

Are the Big Four Audit Firms Too Big to Fail?

colleagues measured how the big firms lobbied on proposed accounting regulations. His paper, coauthored with HBS doctoral student Abigail M. Allen and Boston College accounting professor Sugata Roychowdhury, is titled The Auditing... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Accounting

04 Jun 2024
Cold Call Podcast

How One Insurtech Firm Formulated a Strategy for Climate Change

Keywords: Re: Lauren H. Cohen; Insurance

March 2020
Article

Organizing Knowledge Production Teams Within Firms for Innovation

By: Vikas A. Aggarwal, David H. Hsu and Andy Wu

How should firms organize their pool of inventive human capital for firm-level innovation? While access to diverse knowledge may aid knowledge recombination, which can facilitate innovation, prior literature has focused primarily on one way of achieving that: diversity... View Details

Keywords: Knowledge Recombination; Organization Design; Team Boundary; Innovation; Knowledge Sharing; Diversity; Innovation and Invention; Groups and Teams; Human Capital; Organizational Design

Research Summary

Financing New Business Formation

By: Paul A. Gompers

New business creation has become a potent force for economicdevelopment in the United States. Prior to 1980, large firms created the majority of new jobs in the American economy. While considerable debate rages over whether small firms are the source of recent job... View Details

19 Sep 2012
Research & Ideas

Funding Innovation: Is Your Firm Doing it Wrong?

focus not just on financial rewards but on recognition as well. To that end, Lerner recommends that firms host innovation contests, wherein individuals or teams receive prizes for solving internal problems or creating View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

1 Aug 2006
Conference Presentation

Clear and Present Danger: Political Turmoil and the Contingent Nature of Planning on New Firm Survival in Colombia

By: Shon R. Hiatt and Wesley Sine

Keywords: Government and Politics; Planning; Colombia

August 2006 (Revised September 2008)
Case

Duane Morris: Balancing Growth and Culture at a Law Firm

By: Boris Groysberg and Robin Abrahams

After nearly 100 years as a mid-size regional law firm, Duane Morris entered a period of spectacular growth led by CEO Sheldon Bonovitz. Originally founded by Quakers, the firm had a distinct organizational culture featuring a number of unique or unusual business... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Growth and Development Strategy; Management Practices and Processes; Organizational Culture; Competitive Advantage; San Francisco

Educators