Publications

September 2019 (Revised December 2019)
Case

Google: To TVC or Not to TVC?

By: William R. Kerr and Carl Kreitzberg

In late 2018, evidence emerged that many of Google’s temporary help agency workers, vendors, and independent contractors (“TVCs”) were unhappy with the company. TVCs, who reportedly made up 49.95% of Google’s 170,000-person global workforce, had raised concerns of... View Details

09 Jan 2020
Book

Rethinking Business Strategy in the Age of AI

control specialists. A lot of people think of this as disruption, like the taxi industry is being disrupted by Uber. It’s not disruption. Rather, it’s a completely different kind of firm. This hasn’t happened in more than 100 years. Firms have been designed with... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

Profile

Peter Gumulia

reliant on its skilled labor force,” he explains. “But as it moves forward, the labor force is not prepared for this change. My goal is to upskill and empower young Indonesians, so that they are ready to... View Details

01 Feb 2021
What Do You Think?

Has the New Economy Finally Arrived?

Shutterstock/Thomas Barrat Twenty years ago in this column we discussed whether the economic activity of that time actually represented the New Economy that Time magazine first touted in a 1983 cover article. Some economists picked up the notion in the 1990s that we... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

09 Jun 2022
HBS Case

From Truck Driver to Manager: US Foods’ Novel Approach to Staff Shortages

make jobs more appealing. “The question is, are all these demands that employees are making transitional?” asks Bell. “Are labor shortages going to be with us in the longer term? Maybe this is just a temporary consequence of COVID, but... View Details

Keywords: by Pamela Reynolds

July 1990 (Revised October 1999)
Case

Nordstrom: Dissension in the Ranks? (A)

By: Robert L. Simons and Hilary Weston

In 1989, the performance measurement systems and compensation policies of Nordstrom Department Stores unexpectedly came under attack by employees, unions, and government regulators. The case describes the "sales-per-hour" monitoring and compensation system that many... View Details

Keywords: Performance Consistency; Performance Evaluation; Compensation and Benefits; Motivation and Incentives; Labor Unions; Salesforce Management; Retention; Growth and Development; Industrial Products Industry; Utilities Industry

25 Jun 2018
Research & Ideas

In America, Immigrants Really Do Get the Job Done

either way, labor market competition among firms would close these gaps over time for mobile workers. Immigrants account for large percentage of patents Outside immigrant business owners, Kerr’s previous research shows that immigrants... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Agriculture & Agribusiness; Technology; Service

12 Nov 2012
Research & Ideas

Pay Workers More So They Steal Less

Bigger paychecks for retail employees could generate significant payoffs for employers by reducing worker theft and raising the level of moral behavior in the workforce, a new study shows. Tatiana Sandino, an associate professor in accounting and management at Harvard... View Details

Keywords: by Kim Girard; Retail

10 May 2010
Research & Ideas

What Top Scholars Say About Leadership

of a global view. Too much of leadership research is conducted in the United States or western Europe. This is despite the reality that some of the most disruptive leadership practices and new business models are coming out of the emerging markets, as they abandon... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Education

04 Aug 2010
News

A Lonely Crusader

We’ve all read stories about those rare individuals who saw the financial crisis coming and profited handsomely from their contrarian insights. Add to that list of contrarians hedge fund manager Bill Ackman (MBA ’92), whose six-year crusade to expose the financial... View Details

Keywords: Roger Thompson; subprime mortgages; Finance; Real Estate

03 Dec 2020
Research & Ideas

Cut Payroll Costs with Transparency, Fairness, and Compassion

2020 has been a challenging year for leaders, their companies, and their employees. When we asked 600 CEOs earlier this year what keeps them awake at night during this global pandemic, many cited the need to reduce expenses, including payroll costs, in response to... View Details

Keywords: by Boris Groysberg and Sarah Abbott

03 May 2022
Research & Ideas

Desperate for Talent? Consider Advancing Your Own Employees First

Job openings in the United States continue to hover at record high levels, exacerbated by the Great Resignation and a sputtering emergence from the pandemic. Competition remains fierce among companies struggling to find qualified workers. Yet many employers,... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

February 2016 (Revised March 2018)
Case

Labor, Capital, and Government: The Anthracite Coal Strike of 1902

By: David Moss and Marc Campasano

In late October 1902, President Theodore Roosevelt felt relieved after months of anxiety and uncertainty. Workers in Pennsylvania's anthracite coal industry had been on strike for five months, threatening to leave eastern cities in the cold without enough heating fuel... View Details

Keywords: Governance; Agreements and Arrangements; Business and Government Relations; Labor; Law; Policy; Mining; History; Mining Industry; Pennsylvania