Publications

Article

Bureaucratic Norms and State Capacity in India: Implementing Primary Education in the Himalayan Region

By: Akshay Mangla

Himachal Pradesh has surged ahead of other Indian states in implementing universal primary education. Through a combination of field research methods, this paper connects these achievements to bureaucratic norms, unwritten rules within the state that guide the behavior... View Details

Keywords: India; Bureaucracy; Norms; State Capacity; Education; Government and Politics; Education Industry; India

19 Oct 2015
Research & Ideas

Business Research that Makes for Smarter Public Policy

money spent on outreach and education campaigns leads to fewer workplace violations. Berkowitz says she experienced firsthand the power that an academic study can have with a 2012 influential research paper co-written by Toffel, UC... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

2015
Working Paper

Bureaucratic Norms and State Capacity in India: Implementing Primary Education in the Himalayan Region

By: Akshay Mangla

Himachal Pradesh outperforms other Indian states in implementing universal primary education. Through comparative field research, this article finds that bureaucratic norms—unwritten rules that guide public officials—influence how well state agencies deliver services... View Details

Keywords: India; Norms; State Capacity; Civil Society; Policy Implementation; Education; Policy; Performance Capacity; Education Industry; Education Industry; India

Forthcoming
Article

Human Capital and the Managerial Revolution in the United States: Evidence from General Electric

By: Tom Nicholas

This paper estimates the returns to human capital accumulation during the first era of mega-firms in the United States by linking employees at General Electric—a canonical enterprise associated with the “visible hand” of managerial hierarchies—to the 1940 census. I... View Details

Keywords: Returns To Education; Management Practices; Hierarchies; Management Practices and Processes; Rank and Position; Human Capital; Talent and Talent Management; Business History; United States

July–August 2018
Article

Learning by Contributing: Gaining Competitive Advantage Through Contribution to Crowdsourced Public Goods

By: Frank Nagle

As the economy becomes more information based, firms are increasingly using crowdsourced public goods as inputs for innovation and production. Counterintuitively, some firms pay their employees to contribute to the creation of these goods, which can be used freely by... View Details

Keywords: Open Source Distribution; Applications and Software; Competitive Strategy; Learning; Competitive Advantage

Find at Harvard

Research Summary

Overview

Inside the State: Bureaucratic Norms and Primary Education in Rural India (Book manuscript in progress)

When and how do poor democracies implement primary education effectively? India has earned accolades for its robust democracy. Yet the state’s historic... View Details

Keywords: Education Reform; Bureaucracy; Policy Implementation; India

2016
Article

Academia's Emerging Crisis of Relevance and the Consequent Role of the Engaged Scholar

By: Andrew J. Hoffman

Universities are facing a crisis of relevance. While there are multiple reasons for this to be happening, one that deserves particular attention is the extent to which academic scholars do not see it as their role to engage in public and political discourse. However,... View Details

Keywords: Political Discourse; Public Engagement; Higher Education; Social Media

March 2004 (Revised August 2004)
Case

Restricting Foods of Minimal Nutritional Value in Texas Public Schools

By: Ray A. Goldberg and Hal Hogan

The Commission of Agriculture in Texas wants to improve the nutritional quality of the school lunch program to help fight obesity in students. It needs the cooperation of the soft drink industry to change their products and the manner in which they provide financial... View Details

Keywords: Government and Politics; Business and Government Relations; Nutrition; Food; Quality; Education; Education Industry

September 2002
Case

Seattle Public Schools, 1995-2002 (C2): Race, Class, and School Choice

Presents the decision by the Federal Court of Appeals for the ninth Circuit in the spring of 2002 to invalidate Seattle's use of race as a factor in allocating space in Seattle's oversubscribed schools. Summarizes the posture and content of the litigation, including... View Details

Keywords: Management; Leadership; Income; Social Entrepreneurship; Race; Lawsuits and Litigation; Education; Education Industry; Seattle

October 2013
Case

Mitch Daniels and the State of Indiana

By: Robert Steven Kaplan and Wendy K. Winer

Mitch Daniels, Governor of the State of Indiana, knew he had to make a difficult choice as he sat in his office in December 2010. Should he aggressively push the state legislature to pass comprehensive education reform—a major priority of his administration—or,... View Details

Keywords: Education Reform; Priorities; Leadership; Education; Government and Politics; Public Administration Industry; Public Administration Industry; Indiana

2008
Other Unpublished Work

From Public Purpose to Financial Economics: The Linked Ecologies of Economics and Business in Twentieth Century America

By: Marion Fourcade and Rakesh Khurana

As the main producers of managerial elites, business schools represent strategic research sites for understanding the formation of economic practices and representations. This article draws on historical material to analyze the changing place of economics in American... View Details

Keywords: Economics; Business Education; Finance; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Business History; Chicago

2009
Book

Leading for Equity: The Pursuit of Excellence in the Montgomery County Public Schools

By: Stacey M. Childress, Dennis Doyle and David A. Thomas

Leading for Equity tells the compelling story of the Montgomery County (Maryland) Public Schools and its transformation—in less than a decade—into a system committed to breaking the links between race and class and academic achievement. In chapters organized around six... View Details

Keywords: Transformation; Education; Leadership; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Performance Improvement; Social Issues

Find at Harvard

2015
Published Proceedings

Academic Engagement in Public and Political Discourse: Proceedings of the Michigan Meeting, May 2015

By: Andrew J. Hoffman, Kirsti Ashworth, Chase Dwelle, Peter Goldberg, Andrew Henderson, Louis Merlin, Yulia Muzyrya, Norma-Jean Simon, Veronica Taylor, Corinne Weisheit and Sarah Wilson

What is the role of the academic scholar within the discussions of the global challenges that are relevant to society, such as sustainability, health care, gun control, fiscal policy, and international affairs? How do scholars engage in a world in which knowledge is... View Details

Keywords: Higher Education; Social Issues; Knowledge Sharing; Communication Strategy

December 2006
Article

Reputation and Transparency: Lessons from a Painful Period in Public Disclosure

By: Robert G. Eccles Jr., Robert M. Grant and Cees B.M. van Riel

Keywords: Reputation; Learning

Find at Harvard

June 2023
Teaching Note

Connecting Students in Chattanooga (A) and (B)

By: Jan W. Rivkin

Teaching Note for HBS Case Nos. 722-449 and 722-451. As this case opens, it is the spring of 2020 in Chattanooga. COVID-19 has hit, public schools have closed their buildings, remote learning has begun, and more than 28,000 schoolkids lack the high-quality Internet... View Details

Keywords: K-12 Education; Pandemic; COVID-19; Accessibility; Education; Urban Development; Wealth and Poverty; Internet and the Web; Information Infrastructure; Education Industry; Tennessee

April 2022
Case

Connecting Students in Chattanooga (A)

By: Jan W. Rivkin and Manjari Raman

As COVID-19 hit and school buildings closed across America in the spring of 2020, tens of thousands of K-12 students in Chattanooga’s Hamilton County lacked the high-quality Internet service required to connect them to remote education. Bryan Johnson, superintendent... View Details

Keywords: K-12 Education; Pandemic; COVID-19; Accessibility; Education; Urban Development; Wealth and Poverty; Online Technology; Education Industry; Tennessee

2013
Report

Competitiveness at a Crossroads: Finding of Harvard Business School's 2012 Survey on U.S. Competitiveness

By: Jan Rivkin, Michael E. Porter and Rosabeth M. Kanter

Harvard Business School gleaned responses from nearly 7,000 alumni and more than 1,000 members of the general public. The survey not only provides an updated view of the U.S. business environment, but also illuminates specific actions that business leaders and... View Details

Keywords: PK - 12 Education; U.S. Competitiveness; Competition; Education; Business and Community Relations; Business and Government Relations; United States