Publications

March 2020
Article

Do Managers Matter? A Natural Experiment from 42 R&D Labs in India

By: Prithwiraj Choudhury, Tarun Khanna and Christos A. Makridis

We exploit plausibly exogenous variation in the staggered entry of new managers into India’s 42 public R&D labs between 1994 and 2006 to study how alignment between the CEO and middle-level managers affect research productivity. We show that the introduction of new lab... View Details

Keywords: Incentives; Innovation; Productivity; Management; Alignment; Research and Development; Innovation and Invention; Performance Productivity; India

April 2022
Teaching Note

Tempur Sealy International (A, B & C)

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Daniel Fisher

Teaching Note for HBS Case Nos. 718-422, 718-423, and 718-424. The cases explore the long-term relationship between Tempur Sealy (TPX, a mattress manufacturer) and Mattress Firm (MFRM, a bedding retailer and TPX's largest customer). For almost 20 years, the firms... View Details

Article

Resources and Relationships in Entrepreneurship: An Exchange Theory of the Development and Effects of the Entrepreneur-Investor Relationship

By: Laura Huang and Andrew P. Knight

We develop a theoretical model, grounded in exchange theory, about the process through which relationships between entrepreneurs and investors develop and influence the growth of new ventures. Our theory highlights the multifaceted relationships that entrepreneurs and... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Relationships; Business Startups; Business and Shareholder Relations; Theory

Article

Tax Aversion in Labor Supply

By: Judd B. Kessler and Michael I. Norton

In a real-effort laboratory experiment, labor supply decreases more with the introduction of a tax than with a financially equivalent drop in wages. This “tax aversion” is large in magnitude: when we decompose the productivity decrease that arises from taxation, we... View Details

Keywords: Taxes; Labor Supply; Productivity; Experiments; Wages; Human Capital; Performance Productivity; Taxation

September 2014 (Revised February 2017)
Case

Turkcell

By: Felix Oberholzer-Gee, Charles C.Y. Wang and Esel Cekin

This case centers around the shareholder dispute between three major shareholders of Turkcell, and how its management vied against increasing regulatory intervention and market competition in the absence of a fully-functioning board. The battle for control of the... View Details

Keywords: Financial Performance; Regulatory Environment; Telecommunications; Marketing; Value Added; Pricing; Shareholder; Boards Of Directors; Governing and Advisory Boards; Corporate Governance; Conflict and Resolution; Business and Shareholder Relations; Telecommunications Industry; Turkey

2006
Article

Performance Measure Properties and the Effect of Incentive Contracts

By: J. Bouwens and L. van Lent

Using data from a third-party survey on compensation practices at 151 Dutch firms, we show that less noisy or distorted performance measures and higher cash bonuses are associated with improved employee selection and better-directed effort. Specifically, (1) an... View Details

Keywords: Motivation and Incentives; Data and Data Sets; Problems and Challenges; Performance Evaluation; Compensation and Benefits; Netherlands

April 2013
Article

Information and Subsidies: Complements or Substitutes?

By: Nava Ashraf, B. Kelsey Jack and Emir Kamenica

Does providing information about a product affect the impact of price subsidies on purchases of new or unfamiliar products? This question is particularly relevant for the introduction of health products in developing countries where consumers may be uncertain about... View Details

Keywords: Subsidies; Information; Consumer Behavior; Health; Zambia

2014
Article

Thought Calibration: How Thinking Just the Right Amount Increases One’s Influence and Appeal

By: Daniella Kupor, Zakary L. Tormala, Michael I. Norton and Derek D. Rucker

Previous research suggests that people draw inferences about their attitudes and preferences based on their own thoughtfulness. The current research explores how observing other individuals make decisions more or less thoughtfully can shape perceptions of those... View Details

Keywords: Thoughtfulness; Liking; Social Influence; Decisions; Attitudes; Cognition and Thinking; Power and Influence

December 2007 (Revised January 2008)
Background Note

Evaluating M&A Deals-Announcement Effects, Risk Arbitrage and Event Risk

By: Carliss Y. Baldwin

The announcement of merger or acquisition conveys new information to the capital markets. This note describes how the stock prices of a Buyer and Target behave after the announcement of a deal. First, for an all-stock deal that is certain to go through, the note... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Announcements; Capital Markets; Stocks; Price; Risk and Uncertainty

12 Oct 2022
Video

Brandeis Marshall: The Potential for Data Equity

22 Aug 2013
Working Paper Summaries

From Green Users to Green Voters

Keywords: by Diego Comin & Johannes Rode; Energy; Utilities

Web

Behavioral Finance & Financial Stability

Info Do Fire Sales Create Externalities? By: Sergey Chernenko & Adi Sunderam DEC 2018 How do cash policies affect stock returns? A mutual fund that uses its cash reserves to accommodate outflows will lower the volatility of its underlying... View Details

29 Jan 2013
First Look

First Look: Jan. 29

traditionally considered outside the domain of work, i.e., "non-work" identities, are increasingly affected by organizations and occupations. Based on an interdisciplinary review of literature on identity and work we develop a... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

10 Oct 2023
News

HBS Responds to the Attacks on Israel

MESSAGE FROM DEAN SRIKANT DATAR Dear members of the HBS community, I wanted to follow up on the message I joined with Harvard’s leadership in sending last evening, and on the statement issued by President Claudine Gay earlier today. Over the past few days, I have... View Details

May 2016 (Revised August 2022)
Case

RegionFly: Cutting Costs in the Airline Industry

By: Susanna Gallani and Eva Labro

RegionFly is a small, private airline specializing in ultra-premium services. Founded shortly after the "Golden Age of airline travel," RegionFly's financial performance had been strong for several decades. More recently, however, the results have taken a downward... View Details

Keywords: Recession; Downsizing; Profitability; Cost Management; Profit; Luxury; Competitive Strategy; Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Divisions; Logistics; Decision Making; Strategic Planning; Air Transportation Industry

Research Summary

The Role of the Media in Corporate Governance and Finance

Dyck studies the role played by media in financial markets: in transmitting information about a company, in shaping the market response to the information they communicate, in exposing mis-governance problems, and in forcing companies to behave in "politically correct"... View Details

2021
Working Paper

Invisible Primes: Fintech Lending with Alternative Data

By: Marco Di Maggio, Dimuthu Ratnadiwakara and Don Carmichael

We exploit anonymized administrative data provided by a major fintech platform to investigate whether using alternative data to assess borrowers’ creditworthiness results in broader credit access. Comparing actual outcomes of the fintech platform’s model to... View Details

Keywords: Fintech Lending; Alternative Data; Machine Learning; Algorithm Bias; Finance; Information Technology; Financing and Loans; Analytics and Data Science; Credit

June 2019
Article

Fraud Allegations and Government Contracting

By: Jonas Heese and Gerardo Pérez Cavazos

This paper examines whether fraud allegations affect firms’ contracting with the government. Using a dataset of whistleblower allegations brought under the False Claims Act against firms accused of defrauding the government, we find that federal agencies do not reduce... View Details

Keywords: Whistleblower; Fraud Allegations; False Claims Act; Government Contracting; Risk Allocation; Government and Politics; Contracts; Crime and Corruption; Risk and Uncertainty; Business and Government Relations

SSRN

2018
Working Paper

Two Hundred Years of Health and Medical Care: The Importance of Medical Care for Life Expectancy Gains

By: Maryaline Catillon, David Cutler and Thomas Getzen

Using two hundred years of national and Massachusetts data on medical care and health, we examine how central medical care is to life expectancy gains. While common theories about medical care cost growth stress growing demand, our analysis highlights the importance of... View Details

Keywords: Mortality; Life Expectancy; Medical Care; Productivity; Public Health; Healthcare Spending; Spending Per Year Of Life Gained; Personal Medicine; Technophysio Evolution; Health; Economics; Health Care and Treatment; Spending; Data and Data Sets; Health Industry