Publications

June 2004
Article

A Catering Theory of Dividends

By: Malcolm Baker and Jeffrey Wurgler

We propose that the decision to pay dividends is driven by prevailing investor demand for dividend payers. Managers cater to investors by paying dividends when investors put a stock price premium on payers, and by not paying when investors prefer nonpayers. To test... View Details

Keywords: Dividends; Catering; Financial Instruments; Investment Return; Business and Shareholder Relations

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07 Feb 2019
HBS Seminar

Chuck Eesley, Stanford University

October 2023 (Revised January 2025)
Case

Sydney Loves Kevin

By: Ryan W. Buell and Himabindu Lakkaraju

Kevin Roose was a columnist and podcast host for the New York Times, who focused on technology and its effects on society. When Microsoft launched the latest version of its search engine Bing in February 2023, the company invited Roose to its Redmond campus to... View Details

August 2017 (Revised May 2019)
Case

Hilti (A): Fleet Management?

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell, Oliver Gassmann and Roman Sauer

This case explores the strategic decision-making process of premium power tools manufacturer Hilti in 1999, when the company was considering implementing a fleet management system in the construction industry. Fleet management would involve a shift from selling power... View Details

2025
Working Paper

Dynamic Personalization with Multiple Customer Signals: Multi-Response State Representation in Reinforcement Learning

By: Liangzong Ma, Ta-Wei Huang, Eva Ascarza and Ayelet Israeli

Reinforcement learning (RL) offers potential for optimizing sequences of customer interactions by modeling the relationships between customer states, company actions, and long-term value. However, its practical implementation often faces significant challenges.... View Details

Keywords: Dynamic Policy; Deep Reinforcement Learning; Representation Learning; Dynamic Difficulty Adjustment; Latent Variable Models; Customer Relationship Management; Customer Value and Value Chain; Foreign Direct Investment; Analytics and Data Science

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2011
Book

The Innovator's DNA: Mastering the Five Skills of Disruptive Innovators

By: Jeffrey H. Dyer, Hal B. Gregersen and Clayton M. Christensen

Some people are just natural innovators, right? With no apparent effort, they discover ideas for new products, services, and entire businesses. It may look like innovators are born, not made. But according to Jeffrey Dyer, Hal Gregersen, and Clay Christensen anyone can... View Details

Keywords: Competency and Skills; Disruptive Innovation; Competitive Advantage

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March 2010
Article

Matching with Preferences over Colleagues Solves Classical Matching

By: Scott Duke Kominers

In this note, we demonstrate that the problem of "many-to-one matching with (strict) preferences over colleagues" is actually more difficult than the classical many-to-one matching problem, "matching without preferences over colleagues." We give an explicit reduction... View Details

Keywords: Two-Sided Platforms; Balance and Stability; Mathematical Methods

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07 Aug 2017
News

New Harvard Business Analytics Program

September 1996 (Revised May 1997)
Case

Mobil USM&R (C): Lubricants Business Unit

By: Robert S. Kaplan

The general manager of a Lubricants Business Unit in Mobil's U.S. Marketing and Refining division launched a project to develop a Balanced Scorecard (BSC) for his unit. The purpose was to provide focus for all employees of the unit, enabling it to operate on an... View Details

Keywords: Balanced Scorecard; Employees; Customization and Personalization; Performance Evaluation; Measurement and Metrics; Management Teams; Projects; Energy Industry; Mining Industry; United States

21 Sep 2020
Video

Pedro Gómez

Pedro Gómez, who founded the construction company Pedro Gómez y Cia in Colombia in 1968, discusses how he founded the Fundación Compartir in 1979 initially to help the victims of natural disasters, and how it evolved into first teaching micro-entrepreneurs, and later... View Details

December 2021 (Revised January 2023)
Supplement

Katerra (B)

By: Lindsay N. Hyde, Thomas R. Eisenmann and Tom Quinn

In May 2020, SoftBank executives, having invested nearly $2 billion in Katerra, decided the vision of an end-to-end, vertically-integrated construction process was worth saving—with some major changes to company structure. The SoftBank Vision Fund invested $200 million... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Failure; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Entrepreneurship; Construction; Construction Industry; Construction Industry; Construction Industry; United States

July 1990
Case

Ceramics Process Systems Corp. (B)

By: Kim B. Clark and Brent D. Barnett

Ceramics Process Systems (CPS) is an advanced ceramics company facing problems with lead time in product/process development, and late delivery of prototype parts to its customers. Engineering is confronted with difficult technical problems and multiple objectives... View Details

Keywords: Product Development; Business Processes; Management Practices and Processes; Supply Chain Management; Machinery and Machining; Goals and Objectives; Resource Allocation; Customer Satisfaction; Customer Value and Value Chain; Manufacturing Industry

August 2023
Case

Salma Qarnain: Spaceships to Broadway

By: Leslie Perlow, Mel Martin and Hannah Weisman

Salma Qarnain, daughter of Pakistani Muslim immigrants, is an engineer trained at Stanford and MIT. She began her career building spacecrafts but 30 years later finds herself pursuing her calling, acting on Broadway. The case explores Qarnain’s career path, family... View Details

Keywords: Personal Development and Career; Job Search; Job Design and Levels; Happiness; Identity; Well-being; Work-Life Balance; Family and Family Relationships; Theater Entertainment; Film Entertainment; Talent and Talent Management; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; United States; New York (city, NY); Boston; California

May 1994
Background Note

Designing Channels of Distribution

By: V. Kasturi Rangan

Presents a framework and a method for addressing the new product channel choice decision. Offers a six-step method that involves: 1) disaggregating and prioritizing a distribution channel by customers' channel function requirements; 2) obtaining and combining... View Details

Keywords: Distribution Channels; Framework; Cost; Customers; Cost vs Benefits; Management

03 Dec 2012
News

In World of Big Stuff, the U.S. Still Rules

October 1997 (Revised March 1998)
Case

Komatsu Ltd.: Project G's Globalization

By: Christopher A. Bartlett

This case describes the major strategic and organizational transformation at Komatsu aimed at changing it from a Japan-based producer of construction equipment to a truly global company with the ability to leverage its groupwide portfolio of resources and capabilities... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Construction; Asset Pricing; Investment Portfolio; Global Strategy; Leadership; Resource Allocation; Risk Management; Expansion; Manufacturing Industry; Japan

01 Feb 1997
News

Doing It Your Way

your fixed costs," Bhide says. "But if, for example, you want to create a business that solves other companies' design or engineering problems, then you have an interesting opportunity. Just by working harder View Details

Keywords: Marguerite Rigoglioso (profiles by Linda Goodspeed, Elaine Gottlieb, Nancy O. Perry, and Judith A. Ross)

Joseph B. Lassiter

Joe is the Senator John Heinz Professor of Management Practice in Environmental Management, Retired. He focuses on one of the world’s most pressing problems: developing clean, secure and carbon-neutral supplies of reliable, low-cost energy all around the world. He... View Details

Keywords: green technology; high technology; internet; oil ＆ gas; private equity (LBO funds); utilities; software; energy

September 2024 (Revised November 2024)
Case

Moss & Associates: 'Empower to Create the Exceptional'

By: Boris Groysberg and Sarah L. Abbott

In 2023, Moss & Associates, a Fort Lauderdale-based general contractor, celebrated its 20th anniversary. The business was founded by Bob Moss and his sons, Chad and Scott. The company had grown to 3,800 employees generating over $3 billion in revenues via two business... View Details

Keywords: Solar; Growth; Community; Organizational Culture; Family Business; Growth Management; Construction Industry; United States