Firm Performance - Publications - Faculty & Research

08 Sep 2022
Book

Gen Xers and Millennials, It’s Time To Lead. Are You Ready?

leadership and the role of serving others through collaboration. At the video services provider Vimeo, Anjali Sud persuaded both managers and employees to follow her insight that the firm could perform... View Details

Keywords: by Lane Lambert

06 Jun 2018
Research & Ideas

Cut Salaries or Cut People? The Best Way to Survive a Downturn

eugeniek Companies looking to shed costs in an economic downturn rarely cut compensation—typically, they slash jobs instead. New research confirms the wisdom of that decision. The study concludes that when a company cuts employee pay the best View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

24 Apr 2017
Op-Ed

Op-Ed: Courage: The Defining Characteristic of Great Leaders

Unilever Sustainable Living Plan with well-defined metrics the following year. Polman’s efforts in his first eight years returned 214 percent to Unilever shareholders. Nevertheless, Kraft Heinz, owned by Brazilian private equity firm 3G,... View Details

Keywords: by Bill George; Auto; Food & Beverage

17 Oct 2011
Research & Ideas

How ‘Hybrid’ Nonprofits Can Stay on Mission

increased public pressure to help address societal problems, for-profit firms have adopted social responsibility policies, which have pushed them to focus more on social initiatives." “Some of them have been accused of losing sight of... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

05 Jul 2022
What Do You Think?

Have We Seen the Peak of Just-in-Time Inventory Management?

supply of “safety stock” was the order of the day for those using slower forms of transportation. "The result, of course, was what came to be known as 'just-in-time' inventory management, as championed by firms such as Toyota." One of my... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Manufacturing; Shipping; Transportation

28 May 2008
First Look

First Look: May 28, 2008

institutional theory, we hypothesize that ratings are particularly likely to spur responses from firms whose legitimacy is threatened—and thus are shamed—by these ratings. We extend existing theory by drawing on the strategic choice... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

16 Jun 2020
Research & Ideas

Your Customers Have Changed. Here's How to Engage Them Again.

perform better than firms who just connect with their customers physically. Recognize financial constraints. Many customers are facing financial hardship caused by layoffs, furloughs, and a reduction in... View Details

Keywords: by Rohit Deshpandé, Ofer Mintz, and Imran S. Currim; Retail; Service

13 Jan 2020
Research & Ideas

Do Private Equity Buyouts Get a Bad Rap?

employment at private equity-backed firms will go up or down even more dramatically,” Lerner says. Next step in the research Lerner and his colleagues are now drilling down into specific private equity firms... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Financial Services; Banking

19 Jan 2023
Research & Ideas

What Makes Employees Trust (vs. Second-Guess) AI?

react to AI systems, the researchers worked last year with the luxury fashion retailer Tapestry Inc., whose accessory and lifestyle brands include Coach, Kate Spade, and Stuart Weitzman. The firm employs 18,000 people worldwide and has... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

Web

Business Fundamentals Course - CORe | HBS Online

problems—from performing A/B testing on a website to using sampling to check warehouse inventory. Highlights Learn about the basics of population sampling. Start with the question you are trying to answer first before determining what... View Details

07 Dec 2021
Op-Ed

Want to Build Better Leaders? Focus on Mindset, Skills, Knowledge

of their projects, their performance reflects their development in the knowledge tier. Questions that then explore their executing abilities through the lens of mindset and skills invites them to recognize how the growth in those areas... View Details

Keywords: by Hise Gibson and Shawnette Rochelle

28 Apr 2009
First Look

First Look: April 28, 2009

in the past and now influence clinical trials and participate in regulatory decision-making. Yet these developments are far from universal and are taking very different forms around the world. Building on data showing that pharmaceutical View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

April 2005
Article

The Geography of Equity Analysis

By: Christopher J. Malloy

I provide evidence that geographically proximate analysts are more accurate than other analysts. Stock returns immediately surrounding forecast revisions suggest that local analysts impact prices more than other analysts. These effects are strongest for firms located... View Details

Keywords: Geographic Location; Stocks; Investment Return; Forecasting and Prediction; Price; Performance; Equity; Information; Prejudice and Bias; Agency Theory

Citation

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26 Jun 2012
First Look

First Look: June 26

Ashraf, Oriana Bandiera, and Kelsey Jack Abstract A substantial body of research investigates the design of incentives in firms, yet less is known about incentives in organizations that hire individuals to perform tasks with positive... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

01 Oct 2007
Research & Ideas

Encouraging Dissent in Decision-Making

that people did not speak up about things they deemed important. Most of those were not 'bad news' things; to our surprise we found that people were reluctant to voice what they perceived to be good ideas, unless they were extraordinarily confident they would be... View Details

Keywords: by Garry Emmons

Web

The Caring Company

caregiving burdens increase Matt Parke 16 Jan 2019 | Working Nation New Research Reveals Caregiving for Elders Impacts Employee Performance 16 Jan 2019 | Senior Safety Reviews New Hampshire, Vermont Governors Pitch Two-State, Voluntary... View Details

28 Oct 2014
First Look

First Look: October 28

Designed around the course at Harvard Business School, Collis' new text takes the firm that operates across borders as a unit of analysis and the senior manager in a multinational as the typical decision maker. Illustrated with examples... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

2018
Chapter

The Strategic Imperative of Psychological Safety and Organizational Error Management

By: Amy C. Edmondson and Paul Verdin

Despite discussion in the management literature about agile organizations or learning organizations, many large organizations are top-down, slow to change, and fraught with obstacles to learning. We describe “strategy-as-learning” to contrast with the traditional... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Learning; Safety; Organizational Culture; Performance Consistency