Publications

February 1992 (Revised January 2002)
Case

BMW: The 7-Series Project (A)

By: Gary P. Pisano

Explores BMW's decision about how to manufacture prototype vehicles. Historically, BMW's prototypes were handcrafted by highly skilled artisans in the company's shop. A proposal has been made to alter the process so that prototypes are made in a way that can better... View Details

Keywords: Product Development; Research and Development; Design; Production; Strategy; Quality; Decision Making; Auto Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Germany

30 Mar 2017
HBS Seminar

David McKenzie, World Bank

25 Apr 2023
Op-Ed

How SHEIN and Temu Conquered Fast Fashion—and Forged a New Business Model

monitors manufacturer performance as closely as it monitors customer preferences. This tight integration likely helps SHEIN persuade factories that it is better to work exclusively with SHEIN than to leak SHEIN’s insights about hot fashion trends to View Details

Keywords: by John Deighton; Fashion; Retail; Consumer Products

Article

When Does Familiarity Promote Versus Undermine Interpersonal Attraction? A Proposed Integrative Model from Erstwhile Adversaries

By: Eli J. Finkel, Michael I. Norton, Harry T. Reis, Dan Ariely, Peter A. Caprariello, Paul W. Eastwick, Jenna H. Frost and Michael R. Maniaci

This article began as an adversarial collaboration between two groups of researchers with competing views on a longstanding question: Does familiarity promote or undermine interpersonal attraction? As we explored our respective positions, it became clear that the... View Details

Keywords: Attraction; Relationship Stage Model; Adversarial Collaboration; Familiarity; Marketing

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October 2014 (Revised December 2016)
Case

NBCUniversal

By: Anita Elberse

In September 2014, Stephen Burke, chief executive officer at media and entertainment company NBCUniversal, has to decide between possible priorities for the company's 'Project Symphony,' guaranteeing the winners a high level of visibility and support across the media... View Details

Keywords: Business Conglomerates; Film Entertainment; Product Marketing; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Media and Broadcasting Industry

May 2008 (Revised September 2009)
Case

IBM's Dynamic Workplace

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter

IBM already competed for talent by being a best workplace. It was one of the first companies to provide paid vacations, health insurance, sick leave, job sharing, and domestic partner benefits. Its human resources portfolio included a full array of progressive policies... View Details

Keywords: Values and Beliefs; Globalized Firms and Management; Leading Change; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Organizational Culture; Social Enterprise

Profound changes in individuals' relationship with their employers and expectations for their work lives have generated an increasing demand for leadership development, while at the same time exposing the limitations of traditional leadership programs focused on... View Details

Teaching Interest

Transforming Education through Social Entrepreneurship

By: John Jong-Hyun Kim

This course is designed for students who want to understand the central role that education plays in our economy and society and who may want to play an active role (e.g., as entrepreneur, board member, etc.) in shaping the future workforce, bringing about a more... View Details

Keywords: Education Entrepreneurship; Entrepreneurship; Education; Education Industry

Research Summary

"Creating Competitive Advantage Through Knowledge Management" (with Elie Ofek)

This project explores how the concept of Knowledge Management (KM) is likely to impact competition among professional services firms (e.g. Consultants, Accounting Firms and Advertising Agencies). Assuming that the "KM technology" exhibits economies of scale, first we... View Details

August 2015
Article

A Comparative-Advantage Approach to Government Debt Maturity

By: Robin Greenwood, Samuel G. Hanson and Jeremy C. Stein

We study optimal government debt maturity in a model where investors derive monetary services from holding riskless short-term securities. In a setting where the government is the only issuer of such riskless paper, it trades off the monetary premium associated with... View Details

Keywords: Sovereign Finance; Debt Securities

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February 2005 (Revised June 2006)
Case

UAL, 2004: Pulling Out of Bankruptcy

By: Daniel Baird Bergstresser, Kenneth A. Froot and Darren Robert Smart

UAL is a large air transportation company with roots that go back to the 1920s. As a legacy carrier, going back to before the 1978 deregulation of air transportation markets, United Airlines is burdened with cost structures that make it difficult to compete with newer... View Details

Keywords: Bankruptcy; Compensation; Costs; Loans; Reorganization; Cost; Restructuring; Financing and Loans; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Compensation and Benefits; Air Transportation Industry; United States

2006
Working Paper

Future Lock-In: Future Implementation Increases Selection of 'Should' Choices

By: Todd Rogers and Max H. Bazerman

People often experience tension over certain choices (e.g., they should reduce their gas consumption or increase their savings, but they do not want to). Some posit that this tension arises from the competing interests of a deliberative "should" self and... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Attitudes; Conflict and Resolution; Cognition and Thinking

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19 Feb 2013
News

Big Deal: Reflections on the American and US Airways Megamerger

Web

Managing the Future of Work

businesses competing for the best and brightest. William R. Kerr combines insights and lessons from business, government, and individual decision making to explore the data and ideas that should drive the next wave of immigration policy... View Details

September–October 2023
Article

The New Era of Industrial Policy Is Here

By: Willy C. Shih

Governments around the world are increasingly intervening in the private sector through industrial policies designed to help domestic sectors reach goals that markets alone are unlikely to achieve. Companies in targeted sectors—such as automakers, energy companies, and... View Details

Keywords: Policy; Government and Politics; Business and Government Relations; Research and Development; Economic Sectors

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2022
Chapter

When Fifth Columns Fall: Religious Groups and Loyalty-Signaling in Erdoğan's Turkey

By: Kristin Fabbe and Efe Murat Balıkçıoğlu

This chapter investigates the role that fifth-column claims play in authoritarian politics. Specifically, it examines how fifth-column claims against the Gülen Movement have transformed the relationship between the Turkish state and both official (state-sanctioned)... View Details

Keywords: Fifth Columns; Gülen Movement; Political Islam; Government and Politics; Religion; Turkey

July 2014 (Revised August 2015)
Case

Qihoo

By: Feng Zhu

Qihoo, one of the largest Internet companies in China today, was founded in 2005. The company started its business by offering a security software product, and quickly dominated the market in China after its unusual move of giving its product away for free in 2009.... View Details

Keywords: Platform Strategy; Business Model Innovation; Chinese Internet Market; Competitive Strategy; Information Technology; Digital Platforms; Internet and the Web; Information Technology Industry

January 2013 (Revised January 2015)
Case

FX Risk Hedging at EADS

By: W. Carl Kester, Vincent Dessain and Karol Misztal

In 2008, EADS, the European aerospace group that owns Airbus, was faced with the decision of how best to hedge a large and growing mismatch between its dollar revenues and its euro manufacturing costs. Specifically, the company needed to decide if it would continue... View Details

Keywords: Derivatives; Foreign Exchange; Options; Forward Contract; Aerospace; Europe; Risk Management; Futures and Commodity Futures; Aerospace Industry; Europe

May 2008
Journal Article

Future Lock-in: Future Implementation Increases Selection of 'Should' Choices

By: Todd Rogers and Max Bazerman

People often experience tension over certain choices (e.g., they should reduce their gas consumption or increase their savings, but they do not want to). Some posit that this tension arises from the competing interests of a deliberative “should” self and an affective... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Research; Behavior; Conflict of Interests