Publications

October 2010
Article

Culture Clash: The Costs and Benefits of Homogeneity

By: Eric Van den Steen

This paper develops an economic theory of the costs and benefits of corporate culture-in the sense of shared beliefs and values in order to study the effects of "culture clash" in mergers and acquisitions. I first use a simple analytical framework to show that shared... View Details

Keywords: Cost vs Benefits; Organizational Culture; Economics; Information Management; Forecasting and Prediction; Values and Beliefs; Mergers and Acquisitions; Framework; Satisfaction; Motivation and Incentives; Power and Influence; Communication

09 Sep 2008
First Look

First Look: September 9, 2008

contribute to understanding the contingent effects of policy on organizations and the rise of large corporations in the twentieth century. Download the paper: http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/09-025.pdf Over-reaction to Demand Changes Due to Subjective and Quantitative... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

July – August 2008
Article

When Virtue Is a Vice

By: Anat Keinan and Ran Kivetz

Choosing duty over pleasure today can cause regret down the road—whereas regret over the reverse is fleeting. Marketers of luxury products and services should consider prompting customers to predict their future feelings about choices made now. View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Forecasting and Prediction; Moral Sensibility; Marketing Strategy; Consumer Behavior; Emotions; Luxury

June 2000 (Revised March 2002)
Teaching Note

Iridium LLC TN

By: Benjamin C. Esty

Teaching Note for (9-200-039). View Details

Keywords: Financing and Loans; Risk and Uncertainty; Information Technology; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Financial Strategy; Performance; Valuation; Forecasting and Prediction; Demand and Consumers; Communications Industry

01 Aug 2001
News

Cleveland Global Alumni Conference a Sold-Out Success

billion; projections for 2001 are forecast at a whopping $215 billion. "Every company is interested in growth, but it doesn't just happen," he said, stressing the need for innovation, direct communication, and close customer contact. "Sam... View Details

Keywords: Hanna, Julia; Frank Batten (MBA '52); Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services

09 Dec 2015
Research Event

How Do You Predict Demand and Set Prices For Products Never Sold Before?

predictive and prescriptive analytics can be combined to develop a tactical decision-making tool that makes a big impact on the bottom line. For details about the research and the successful machine learning tool, see the paper “Analytics for an Online Retailer: Demand... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Retail; Apparel & Accessories

Web

Corporate Finance: Corporate Financial Operations (CFO) - Course Catalog

Measuring and Driving Performance Forecasting Managing Cash and Source of Funding Managing Risk Managing Investment, Divestitures, and Portfolios of Businesses Nearly all class sessions will be case based. We will have numerous guests... View Details

19 Dec 2008
News

WHBS, 820 on Your Dial

case discussions by faculty, “Job Market,” “Mystery Melody” (an audience call-in program), and such services as weather forecasts and the morning menus at Kresge. Students had their own disk-jockey programs of pop, folk, and classical... View Details

Keywords: Keith Larson; Business Schools & Computer & Management Training; Educational Services; Broadcasting (except Internet); Information

21 Jul 2015
First Look

First Look: July 21, 2015

Across three studies, we show that gift givers mis-predict appreciation for socially responsible gifts and that their mis-predictions depend on the nature of their relationship to the recipient. Drawing on research on affective View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

20 Dec 2011
First Look

First Look: December 20

The Wall Street Journal. We find no evidence that compensation is related to earnings forecast accuracy. But consistent with prior studies, we find analyst turnover to be related to forecast accuracy,... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

Web

HBS - Financials | From the Chief Financial Officer

strengthen the community, and charted an aspirational course for the future, demonstrating the resilience of the School’s faculty, staff, and students and the strength of the HBS economic model. Total revenues increased to a record level in fiscal 2022, exceeding our... View Details

February 1984 (Revised February 1986)
Case

E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Co.: Titanium Dioxide

By: W. Carl Kester, Robert R. Glauber, David W. Mullins Jr. and Stacy S. Dick

Disequilibrium in the $350 million TiO2 market has prompted Du Pont's Pigments Department to develop two strategies for competing in this market in the future. The growth strategy has a smaller internal rate of return than the alternative strategy due to large capital... View Details

Keywords: Forecasting and Prediction; Cash Flow; Investment Return; Growth and Development Strategy; Strategic Planning; Projects; Chemical Industry

Article

Traveling Agents: Political Change and Bureaucratic Turnover in India

By: Lakshmi Iyer and Anandi Mani

We develop a framework to empirically examine how politicians with electoral pressures control bureaucrats with career concerns as well as the consequences for bureaucrats' career investments. Unique micro-level data on Indian bureaucrats support our key predictions.... View Details

Keywords: Framework; Government and Politics; Investment; Competency and Skills; Personal Development and Career; Rank and Position; Forecasting and Prediction; India

January 2005 (Revised October 2005)
Background Note

Standard & Poor's Sovereign Credit Ratings: Scales and Process

By: Rawi E. Abdelal and Christopher Bruner

Describes Standard & Poor's sovereign credit ratings scales and the credit rating process. In particular, describes the role and function of the rating committee and the analytical categories considered in arriving at a final sovereign credit rating. View Details

Keywords: Financial Markets; Credit; Bonds; Policy; Risk and Uncertainty; Measurement and Metrics; Forecasting and Prediction; Financial Services Industry

2007
Working Paper

The Ethical Mirage: A Temporal Explanation as to Why We Aren't as Ethical as We Think We Are

By: Ann E. Tenbrunsel, Kristina A. Diekmann, Kimberly A. Wade-Benzoni and Max H. Bazerman

This paper explores the biased perceptions that people hold of their own ethicality. We argue that the temporal trichotomy of prediction, action and evaluation is central to these misperceptions: People predict that they will behave more ethically than they actually... View Details

Keywords: Forecasting and Prediction; Ethics; Behavior; Cognition and Thinking; Perception; Prejudice and Bias

Read Now

April 2025 (Revised May 2025)
Background Note

Customer Acquisition and the Cash Flow Trap

By: E. Ofek, Barak Libai and Eitan Muller

Startups as well as existing firms recognize the need to invest in order to acquire customers for their new ventures. And as each customer is expected at some point to have generated sufficient gross margins to cover their CAC, management expects that, soon enough, the... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Customers; Forecasting and Prediction; Cash Flow; Business or Company Management

July 2019
Case

Four Products: Predicting Diffusion (2019)

By: John Gourville

One job of product managers, marketers, strategic planners, and other corporate executives is to predict what the demand will be for a new product. This task is easier for certain classes of new products than for others. For new consumer package goods, for instance,... View Details

Keywords: Diffusion Processes; Product Adoption; Marketing; Forecasting and Prediction; Demand and Consumers; Product; Adoption; Product Launch

July – August 2011
Article

Foundations of Organizational Trust: What Matters to Different Stakeholders?

By: Michael Pirson and Deepak Malhotra

Prior research on organizational trust has not rigorously examined the context specificity of trust nor distinguished between the potentially varying dimensions along which different stakeholders base their trust. As a result, dominant conceptualizations of... View Details

Keywords: Trust; Competency and Skills; Forecasting and Prediction; Ethics; Framework; Analytics and Data Science; Surveys; Organizations; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Identity; Perspective