Short Fat Data - Publications - Faculty & Research

08 Apr 2014
First Look

First Look: April 8

different sectors to a common agenda for solving a specific social problem"-and the use of data to drive decision. In the case, managing director Jeff Edmondson is faced with two dilemmas: how to attract business engagement in the... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

16 Nov 2016
Research & Ideas

Turning One Thousand Customers into One Million

Among them are low setup cost, allowing companies to start advertising for as little as $10 a day; precise targeting—to specific demographics, or based on life events such as birthdays or similarity to current customers; short creative... View Details

Keywords: by Thales S. Teixeira and Michael Blanding; Retail; Transportation; Accommodations

04 Mar 2024
Research & Ideas

Want to Make Diversity Stick? Break the Cycle of Sameness

this tendency to keep demographics the same from one leader to the next stand in the way of meaningful change? “The data suggest that we’re unlikely to make serious progress on diversity without concerted effort, as people are otherwise... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

10 Feb 2022
Research & Ideas

Why Are Prices So High Right Now—and Will They Ever Return to Normal?

some categories,” he says. “Those shortages are putting pressure on prices. And they're still contributing to the high levels of inflation we see now.” Shifting shortages on store shelves To examine the relationship between stockouts and inflation, the researchers... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

29 Sep 2014
Research & Ideas

Why Do Outlet Stores Exist?

that companies are capturing more data on customers than ever before—recording not only demographic information, but also details on every product purchase they make. "So much attention is being put on retail analytics that it's like... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Apparel & Accessories; Fashion; Retail

30 Mar 2021
Research & Ideas

Commuting Hurts Productivity and Your Best Talent Suffers Most

negative health outcomes, including heart disease—Wu says this is the first study to analyze the impact on the innovation generated by firms and their workers. The research team analyzed a sample of 3,445 inventors and 1,180 firms in California and New England, drawing... View Details

Keywords: by Lane Lambert

13 Jan 2023
Research & Ideas

Are Companies Actually Greener—or Are They All Talk?

Most companies now account for social good in their financial reports in some way, but with regulation scattershot and evolving, it’s complicated for investors to assess so-called ESG reports. The disclosures, known as Environmental, Social, and Governance reports,... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

September 2010
Article

Making Self-Regulation More Than Merely Symbolic: The Critical Role of the Legal Environment

By: Jodi L. Short and Michael W. Toffel

Using data from a sample of U.S. industrial facilities subject to the federal Clean Air Act from 1993 to 2003, this article theorizes and tests the conditions under which organizations' symbolic commitments to self-regulate are particularly likely to result in improved... View Details

Keywords: Adoption; Code Law; Environmental Sustainability; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Organizations; Governance Compliance; Strategy; Motivation and Incentives; United States

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03 Mar 2011
Research & Ideas

HBS Faculty on Revolution in the Middle East and North Africa

these revolutions should be welcomed for increasing freedom and dignity for millions—but there are also hard-headed reasons to support them. Although they bring uncertainty and higher oil prices in the short term, we should cheer for the... View Details

Keywords: Re: Deepak Malhotra; Energy; Utilities

12 Feb 2018
Research & Ideas

Customers at the Back of the Line Are Anxious—Can You Keep Them from Leaving?

to learn how being last affects consumer behavior. To get started, Buell and Harvard student Jay Chakraborty observed customers at a local grocery store with five checkout lanes—a total of 286 customers over a cumulative five hour span. “These were relatively View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Retail; Service

29 Nov 2022
Research & Ideas

Is There a Method to Musk’s Madness on Twitter?

things or at least convince everyone that things are under control? Wu: It’s essential that he continue to actively engage with all stakeholders here. In the short term, calming the advertisers down is going to be very important, and Musk... View Details

Keywords: by Christina Pazzanese, Harvard Gazette; Technology

2024
Working Paper

Second- versus Third-party Audit Quality: Evidence from Global Supply Chain Monitoring

By: Maria R. Ibanez, Ashley Palmarozzo, Jodi L. Short and Michael W. Toffel

Capitalizing on the superior credibility and flexibility and potential lower cost of external assessments, many global buyers are relying less on their own employee (“second-party”) auditors and more on third-party auditors to monitor and prevent environmental and... View Details

Keywords: Auditing; Audit Quality; Working Conditions; Sustainability; Empirical Operations; Empirical Service Operations; Sustainability Management; Corporate Accountability; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Supply Chain Management

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02 Sep 2015
What Do You Think?

What's Wrong With Amazon’s Low-Retention HR Strategy?

supplanted job priorities. No data was provided, but the impression left by the article was that because so many good people have left Amazon, it pursues either intentionally or unintentionally what can be called a low-retention strategy... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Web Services; Retail; Apparel & Accessories; Consumer Products; Fashion

18 May 2022
Research & Ideas

Are Banks the ‘Bad Guys’? Overdraft Fees Are Crushing Low-Income Customers

people." “The misconception is that checking accounts are vanilla products that don't screw people,” says Marco Di Maggio, the Ogunlesi Family Associate Professor of Business Administration at HBS. “Well, overdraft fees are a form of credit. The bank is lending you... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Financial Services

17 Jan 2018
Research & Ideas

If the CEO’s High Salary Isn't Justified to Employees, Firm Performance May Suffer

what others around them are being paid” Rouen believes the results of these earlier studies fall short because they don’t take into account how CEO and employee compensation are determined. In essence, they ignore the reasons for the pay... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

23 Oct 2000
Research & Ideas

The Strategy-Focused Organization

far short of the budget. In April 1995, McCool led a meeting at headquarters to review the first quarter's results. People entered the room trembling, as they knew that financial performance would be below expectations and that, in the... View Details

Keywords: by Robert S. Kaplan & David P. Norton

26 Feb 2013
First Look

First Look: Feb. 26

Abstract Many scholars and practitioners have recently argued that corporate awards are a "free" way to motivate employees. We use field data from an attendance award program implemented at one of five industrial laundry plants... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

09 Jul 2020
Research & Ideas

It’s Time to Reset Decision-Making in Your Organization

experimentation. Uncertainty in this sense refers not to scientific questions about the coronavirus, but to what effect the virus will have on the future. What new realities will it generate? What will recovery look like? How long will it take? What will a post-COVID... View Details

Keywords: by Boris Groysberg and Sarah Abbott

24 Feb 2016
Research & Ideas

Why It's Best to Take Tests Early in the Day

scores decrease. Why? Because they suffer from cognitive fatigue. In other words, their brains get tired. However, test scores do increase slightly when students get to take a short break immediately before taking a test. These are among... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Education

01 Aug 2022
What Do You Think?

Does Religious Belief Affect Organizational Performance?

the question is extended more broadly to organizations in general, there is little for us to go on in responding to the question. The impact of culture on performance has interested me for several decades, having teamed in 1992 with John Kotter to explore the subject.... View Details

Keywords: Re: James L. Heskett

Publications