Publications
Publications
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- All HBS Web
(2,015)
- Faculty Publications (285)
- May 2017
- Case
Four Products: Predicting Diffusion (2017)
By: John Gourville
One job of product managers, marketers, strategic planners, and other corporate executives is to predict what the demand will be for a new product. This task is easier for certain classes of new products than for others. For new consumer package goods, for instance,... View Details
- April 2017
- Supplement
CIC: Catalyzing Entrepreneurial Ecosystems (B)
By: William R. Kerr, Sari Kerr and Alexis Brownell
CIC engages in "guerrilla warfare," offering free or highly discounted rates in order to get its empty offices filled before the opening day of its St. Louis branch. Opening day is a huge success, and CIC St. Louis grows rapidly, even opening a second building. In the... View Details
- 2018
- Working Paper
How Scheduling Can Bias Quality Assessment: Evidence from Food Safety Inspections
By: Maria Ibanez and Michael W. Toffel
Many production processes are subject to inspection to ensure they meet quality, safety, and environmental standards imposed by companies and regulators. Inspection accuracy is critical to inspections being a useful input to assessing risks, allocating quality... View Details
- April 2017
- Case
The Future of Patent Examination at the USPTO
By: Prithwiraj Choudhury, Tarun Khanna and Sarah Mehta
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) is the federal government agency responsible for evaluating and granting patents and trademarks. In 2015, the USPTO employed approximately 8,000 patent examiners who granted nearly 300,000 patents to inventors. As of April... View Details
Keywords: Machine Learning; Telework; Collaborating With Unions; Human Resources; Recruitment; Retention; Intellectual Property; Copyright; Patents; Trademarks; Knowledge Sharing; Technology Adoption; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Performance Productivity; Performance Improvement; District of Columbia
- March 2017
- Article
Variation in the Cost of Care for Primary Total Knee Arthroplasties
By: Derek A. Haas and Robert S. Kaplan
The study examined the cost variation across 29 high-volume U.S. hospitals for delivering a primary total knee arthroplasty without major complicating conditions. Hospital and physician personnel costs were calculated using time-driven activity-based costing.... View Details
- 2017
- Article
Making Transparency Transparent: The Evolution of Observation in Management Theory
By: Ethan Bernstein
Observation is key to management scholarship and practice. Yet a holistic view of its role in management has been elusive, in part due to shifting terminology. The current popularity of the term “transparency” provides the occasion for a thorough review, which finds... View Details
Keywords: Transparency; Privacy; Observation; Tracking; Monitoring; Surveillance; Learning; Control; Disclosure; Process Visibility; Organizations; Theory; Information Technology; Relationships; Measurement and Metrics; Management Practices and Processes; Leadership; Law; Knowledge; Human Resources; Communication
- December 2016
- Article
Deal Process Design in Management Buyouts
Management buyouts (MBOs) are an economically and legally significant class of transaction: not only do they account for more than $10 billion in deal volume per year, on average, but they also play an important role in defining the relationship between inside and... View Details
- 2016
- Working Paper
Refugee Resettlement
By: David Delacretaz, Scott Duke Kominers and Alexander Teytelboym
Over 100,000 refugees are permanently resettled from refugee camps to hosting
countries every year. Nevertheless, refugee resettlement processes in most countries
are ad hoc, accounting for neither the priorities of hosting communities nor the preferences of refugees... View Details
- August 2016
- Case
VMD Medical Imaging Center
By: Susanna Gallani and Eva Labro
VMD Medical Imaging Center, a local independent provider of medical imaging services, is facing some important challenges. Despite efficiency improvements and cost cutting initiatives carried out over the past few years, their profitability is shrinking; their prices... View Details
- 2019
- Working Paper
Improving Working Conditions in Global Supply Chains: The Role of Institutional Environments and Monitoring Program Design
By: Jodi L. Short, Michael W. Toffel and Andrea R. Hugill
Activism seeking to improve labor conditions in global supply chains has led transnational corporations to adopt codes of conduct and monitor suppliers for compliance, but it is unclear whether these formal organizational structures raise labor standards. Drawing on... View Details
Keywords: Monitoring; Supplier Relationship; Sustainability; Sustainability Management; Sustainable Operations; Sustainable Supply Chains; NGO; Globalization; Corporate Accountability; Operations; Supply Chain; Supply Chain Management; Labor; Working Conditions; Business Processes; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Performance Evaluation; Safety; Risk and Uncertainty; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Electronics Industry; China; Indonesia; India; Bangladesh
- June 2016
- Case
Macy's Reinvents Its Millennial Business
By: Boris Groysberg and Sarah L. Abbott
Molly Langenstein, Macy’s executive vice president for fashion and new business development, and members of Macy’s senior team were rethinking the company’s approach to serving millennial customers, customers born between the years of 1980 and 2000. To tackle this... View Details
- June 2016
- Teaching Note
HubSpot: Lower Churn through Greater CHI
By: Jill Avery, Asis Martinez Jerez and Thomas Steenburgh
HubSpot, a web marketing startup selling inbound marketing software to small- and medium-sized businesses, is under pressure from its venture capital partners to rapidly acquire new customers and to maintain a low level of customer churn. The B2B SaaS company is in the... View Details
- 2016
- Other Teaching and Training Material
Organizational Behavior Reading: Decision Making
By: Francesca Gino, Max Bazerman and Katherine Shonk
This Reading argues that decision making is systematically flawed and introduces methods to improve decision-making effectiveness. The Essential Reading section covers the rational decision-making model and three important ideas that challenge it: Herbert Simon's... View Details
- Article
Time-Driven Activity-Based Costing in Emergency Medicine
By: Robert S. Kaplan, Brian J. Yun, Anand M. Prabhakar, Jonathan Warsh, John Brennan, Kyle E. Dempsey and Ali S. Raja
Value in emergency medicine is determined by both patient-important outcomes and the costs associated with achieving them. However, measuring true costs is challenging. Without an understanding of costs, emergency department (ED) leaders will be unable to determine... View Details
- May 2016 (Revised November 2018)
- Supplement
Moleskine (B)
By: Ryan Raffaelli, Raffaella Sadun and Kathy Qu
This case discusses the decisions and outcomes of CEO Arrigo Berni and founder Maria Sebregondi that the Moleskine (A) case laid out. View Details
Keywords: Creative Industries; Brand Building; Digital Innovation; Digital Services And Strategy; Process Improvement; Organization Change And Adaptation; Culture; Identity Construction; Growth and Development Strategy; Leadership; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Technological Innovation; Creativity; Brands and Branding; Consumer Products Industry
- Article
Crowdsourcing City Government: Using Tournaments to Improve Inspection Accuracy
By: Edward Glaeser, Andrew Hillis, Scott Duke Kominers and Michael Luca
The proliferation of big data makes it possible to better target city services like hygiene inspections, but city governments rarely have the in-house talent needed for developing prediction algorithms. Cities could hire consultants, but a cheaper alternative is to... View Details
- April 2016 (Revised March 2019)
- Case
Moleskine (A)
By: Ryan Raffaelli, Raffaella Sadun and Kathy Qu
Describes the founding and growth challenges facing Moleskine, an Italian-based consumer products company known for its oilcloth-covered notebooks once used by Ernest Hemingway and Vincent van Gogh. CEO Arrigo Berni and co-founder Maria Sebregondi aim to transform the... View Details
Keywords: Creative Industries; Brand Building; Digital Innovation; Digital Services And Strategy; Process Improvement; Culture; Identity Construction; Innovation; Growth and Development Strategy; Leadership; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Innovation Strategy; Consumer Products Industry
- Article
Making Exit Interviews Count
By: Everett Spain and Boris Groysberg
In the knowledge economy, skilled employees are the assets that drive organizational success. Thus companies must learn from them—why they stay, why they leave, and how the organization needs to change. A thoughtful exit interview—whether it be a face-to-face... View Details
- March 2016 (Revised March 2022)
- Teaching Note
Express Scripts: Promoting Prescription Drug Home Delivery (A) and (B)
By: John Beshears
The pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) sector processes prescription drug claims on behalf of companies that offer a prescription drug benefit to their employees. The case associated with this teaching note follows Bob Nease, chief scientist at Express Scripts, as he... View Details
Keywords: Pharmaceuticals; Prescription Drugs; Pharmacy Benefit Manager; PBM; Healthcare; Behavioral Economics; Choice Architecture; Active Choice; Service Delivery; Decision Choices and Conditions; Consumer Behavior; Distribution Channels; Health Care and Treatment; Service Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry
- February 2016
- Case
Express Scripts: Promoting Prescription Drug Home Delivery (A)
By: John Beshears, Patrick Rooney and Jenny Sanford
The pharmacy benefit manager (PBM) sector processes prescription drug claims on behalf of companies that offer a prescription drug benefit to their employees. This case follows Bob Nease, Chief Scientist at Express Scripts, as he considers methods to promote home... View Details
Keywords: Pharmaceuticals; Prescription Drugs; Pharmacy Benefit Manager; PBM; Healthcare; Behavioral Economics; Choice Architecture; Active Choice; Service Delivery; Decision Choices and Conditions; Health Care and Treatment; Order Taking and Fulfillment; Compensation and Benefits; Pharmaceutical Industry