Order Taking and Fulfillment - Publications - Faculty & Research

03 Jan 2017
Research & Ideas

5 New Year's Resolutions You Can Keep (With the Help of Behavioral Science Research)

order and devour a pepperoni pizza at midnight, try tackling next week’s grocery list instead. Researchers from Harvard Business School and the Analyst Institute evaluated a... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

30 Nov 2018
What Do You Think?

What’s the Best Administrative Approach to Climate Change?

Summing Up: Should a 'Montreal Protocol' for Administering Global Warming Be Pursued? Climate change and how to manage it is a daunting subject. Nevertheless, several readers of this month’s column were willing to venture a model or two for administering a system... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Energy

06 Mar 2013
What Do You Think?

Who Should Manage Our Work Time?

time management is a shared responsibility." Frode Hvaring suggested that " in order to enable employees to mange their output in terms of priorities, quality, resources available and best work... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

10 Mar 2009
First Look

First Look: March 10, 2009

displays) at the fiscal year-end. Firms also engage in similar behavior following periods of poor financial performance. Furthermore, our results confirm managers' stated willingness to sacrifice long-term value in order to smooth... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

02 Nov 2016
What Do You Think?

Are Employees Becoming Job 'Renters' Instead of 'Owners'?

“It may not be possible for every employee (to) value the company as if it were his own. The next best thing is to make the customer the focus of everyone’s work. When customer service is enculturated through policies and programs,... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

09 Jun 2003
Research & Ideas

The Benefits of “Not Invented Here”

invests significant resources in software such as Java and Linux that IBM does not own in order to integrate many companies' products and services for IBM's customers. Intel... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

11 Jun 2012
Research & Ideas

When Business Competition Harms Society

Researchers compared the pass/fail records of similar vehicles in both densely populated areas and sparsely populated areas, paying close attention to older vehicles with high mileage—that is, those more likely to need repairs in View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Auto

19 Jan 2022
In Practice

7 Trends to Watch in 2022

power sharing—the structural redistribution of resources from the hands of the few to the many—is essential. It must take place within companies too. Research indicates that corporations have contributed to creating View Details

Keywords: by HBS News

13 Dec 2004
Research & Ideas

Sharing News That Might Be Bad

the line. If you don't take the offensive and word gets out on its own (and you know one day it will), you'll destroy all the trust and goodwill you've built. "To secure... View Details

Keywords: by Paul Michelman

24 Mar 2020
Research & Ideas

These Coronavirus Heroes Show Us How Crisis Leadership Works

the COVID-19 pandemic. “If ever there was a time for leaders to be authentic, this is it.” Fortunately, many of our corporate and scientific leaders are already stepping up, unselfishly taking action to stop... View Details

Keywords: by Bill George; Health

21 May 2018
HBS Case

How Would You Price One of the World's Great Watches?

it" Often companies take the lazy way out, Thomke says. They look at their costs and the margin they need to make, and bingo, there’s the price. The Richard Lange Jumping... View Details

Keywords: by Roberta Holland; Fashion

17 Jun 2002
Research & Ideas

A Litmus Test for Entrepreneurs

A few years ago anyone could become an entrepreneur. All you needed was a half-baked idea and a phone to hear offers from salivating venture capitalists. Now the environment is much more difficult. Question: Do you have what it View Details

Keywords: by Walter Kuemmerle

27 Sep 2017
Research & Ideas

What Happens When Ordinary People Get Creative?

people as they tackle creative endeavors in the course of their work lives. “In order to fully understand creativity and what influences it, and in View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

06 Nov 2006
Research & Ideas

How South Africa Challenges Our Thinking on FDI

pushing the envelope on offering products for an emerging market, the need to go in and set up a business or acquire your own company in order to have exposure to this area is lessened. What many firms or... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

30 Sep 2013
Research & Ideas

Do Mergers Hurt Product Quality?

consistently increase or decrease in quality level” Sheen decided to pursue the product perspective of mergers in order to help determine the cause of post-merger financial effects. "On average, the previous research has shown that... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Consumer Products

12 Oct 1999
Research & Ideas

Value Judgments: Business Ethics Across Borders

part of the inauguration of the HBS Asia-Pacific Research Office. "In order to be effective, they must find ways to deal with differences in how people think about matters such as authority, fairness, responsibility, View Details

Keywords: by Judith A. Ross

12 Oct 1999
Research & Ideas

Building Competitive Advantage Through Operations

in order to proceed with business as usual; today, firms with superior and novel operations can generate huge competitive advantage because of them. Second, where operations was once viewed primarily as a... View Details

Keywords: by Staff

12 Oct 1999
Research & Ideas

The Creativity Maze

To understand the differences between extrinsic and intrinsic motivation, imagine a business problem as a maze. One person might be motivated to make it through the maze as quickly and safely as possible in... View Details

Keywords: by Teresa Amabile

10 Oct 2005
Research & Ideas

Homers: Secrets on the Factory Floor

A factory worker uses company time and materials to fashion a lamp he will take home for personal use—an artifact called a "homer." The practice is probably illegal View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Manufacturing

22 Aug 2011
Research & Ideas

Getting to Eureka!: How Companies Can Promote Creativity

have documented the existence of user innovation back to the monks" —Carliss Baldwin After all, who knows better how to improve a product or fulfill a need than the person who will ultimately benefit? For the better part of a decade,... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

Publications