Publications

Research Summary

Institutional influences on the firm: cross-country comparisons

A third stream of work examines the influence of country institutions on firms in a cross-country comparative context. In a paper co-authored with Jordan Siegel (published in Management Science in 2009), we employed a quasi-natural experiment: a... View Details

14 Apr 2015
First Look

First Look: April 14

Additionally, labor quality and the structure of demand and a long tradition of work in organizational behavior suggests that the successful adoption of productivity enhancing managerial practices requires complementary changes in the... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

March 2016 (Revised May 2018)
Case

ASOS PLC

By: John R. Wells and Gabriel Ellsworth

Launched in 2000, ASOS was one of the world’s largest online fashion specialists in 2018. Focusing on young consumers aged 16–25 years, the company offered over 85,000 items on its websites, many times more than the largest fashion stores, and added several thousand... View Details

Keywords: ASOS; AsSeenOnScreen; Online Fashion; Online Apparel; Nick Beighton; Nick Robertson; E-commerce; E-Commerce Strategy; Online Retail; Multichannel Retailing; Omnichannel; Social Media; Marketplaces; Shipping; Advertising; Digital Marketing; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Model; Business Startups; For-Profit Firms; Customer Focus and Relationships; Age; Gender; Currency Exchange Rate; Profit; Revenue; Geography; Geographic Scope; Global Range; Global Strategy; Globalized Firms and Management; Globalized Markets and Industries; Business History; Selection and Staffing; Journals and Magazines; Human Capital; Business or Company Management; Crisis Management; Goals and Objectives; Growth and Development; Growth and Development Strategy; Growth Management; Management Succession; Brands and Branding; Marketing Channels; Marketing Communications; Marketing Strategy; Product Positioning; Social Marketing; Media; Distribution; Distribution Channels; Order Taking and Fulfillment; Infrastructure; Logistics; Public Ownership; Problems and Challenges; Strategy; Adaptation; Business Strategy; Competition; Competitive Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Expansion; Vertical Integration; Segmentation; Internet and the Web; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Fashion Industry; Retail Industry; United Kingdom; England; London

2011
Working Paper

The Institutional Logic of Great Global Firms

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter

Theories of the firm have been dominated by a legacy of ideas from early industrialization that pose zero-sum opposition between capital and labor (or capital and nearly everything else), differentiating the economy from society and often posing irreconcilable... View Details

Keywords: Economy; Capital; Globalized Firms and Management; Labor; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Practice; Conflict of Interests; Social Issues; Theory

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26 Nov 2007
Research & Ideas

Best Practices of Global Innovators

firm to master all these skills, let alone house them under one roof. Second, a pool of low-cost yet highly skilled labor has emerged in developing countries, creating incentives to substitute these for higher-cost equivalents. Indeed,... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

23 May 2013
Working Paper Summaries

Board Games: Timing of Independent Directors’ Dissent in China

Keywords: by Juan Ma & Tarun Khanna

2020
Working Paper

Aggregate Advertising Expenditure in the U.S. Economy: What's Up? Is It Real?

By: Alvin J. Silk and Ernst R. Berndt

The two components of the advertising industry—the creative sector that develops and produces messages, and the communications sector that transmits messages via various media—have each been greatly affected by advances in creative design and communications... View Details

Keywords: Economy; Advertising; Spending; Media

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09 Dec 2008
First Look

First Look: December 9, 2008

the world's various workweek schedules can put a strain on a small start-up's staff. Second is managing the challenges (and opportunities) of context—that is, the different nations' political, regulatory, judicial, tax, and labor... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

Research Summary

Research Thrust

By: Rakesh Khurana

I am trained in organizational sociology and my main areas of interest lie in macro-organizational theory and the dynamics of executive labor markets. To date, my research has focused on two themes. The first revolves around understanding the forces that govern the... View Details

14 May 2013
First Look

First Look: May 14

market development, the tax system, labor market regulations, and public spending on research and development correlate with venture capital activities across countries. Our case study suggests these institutional differences led to the... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

February 2009 (Revised September 2011)
Case

Big Spaceship: Ready to Go Big?

By: Boris Groysberg and Michael Slind

Big Spaceship, a digital marketing agency, faced a rather big challenge: How to scale the distinctive culture that was essential to its competitive strategy? Renowned for the cutting-edge websites that it developed to market major Hollywood movies and leading consumer... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Innovation and Management; Human Capital; Growth and Development Strategy; Marketing; Organizational Culture; Organizational Design; Groups and Teams; Competitive Strategy; Value Creation

16 Feb 2024
Research & Ideas

As AI Upends Recruiting, Job Seekers Need a Waze App for Careers

low-wage jobs, the authors note. Those workers, along with younger first-time job seekers and adults reentering the workforce, are an untapped resource in the labor market. Many have the “soft skills” to complement emerging technologies,... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Information Technology; Technology

03 Sep 2013
First Look

First Look: September 3

Government Efficiency, and Profitability Around the World By: Healy, Paul M., George Serafeim, Suraj Srinivasan, and Gwen Yu Abstract—We examine how cross-country differences in product, capital, and labor market competition, and... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

24 Jul 2023
Research & Ideas

Part-Time Employees Want More Hours. Can Companies Tap This ‘Hidden’ Talent Pool?

recommends three actions to business leaders: Label the issue for employees. For too long, workplace norms around benefits have continued unchallenged. “Make it discussable,” Fuller says. “The issue of... View Details

Keywords: by Kara Baskin

March 1987 (Revised July 1996)
Case

Kansas City Zephyrs Baseball Club, Inc.

By: Kenneth A. Merchant, Krishna G. Palepu and Joseph P. Mulloy

Describes a dispute between the owners of the major league baseball teams and the players' union about the profitability of the baseball teams. The issue is important because of the ongoing collective bargaining negotiations. A consultant is brought in to decide... View Details

Keywords: State Ownership; Compensation and Benefits; Entrepreneurship; For-Profit Firms; Accounting; Activity Based Costing and Management; Resource Allocation; Cost Accounting; Cost Management; Labor and Management Relations; Financial Management; Sports; Sports Industry; Kansas

January 2020
Case

SK Group: Social Progress Credits

By: George Serafeim, Ethan Rouen and David Freiberg

SK Group was one of the largest companies South Korea. A family-run conglomerate consisting of around 120 subsidiaries and employing more than 100,000, SK was tightly knit into the fabric of Korean society. SK viewed their future success as contingent upon the strength... View Details

19 May 2015
First Look

First Look: May 19

wealth of data it provides about agents' behavior and about the Bitcoin system itself. This article presents the platform's design principles and properties for a non-technical audience; reviews its past, present, and future uses; and points out risks and regulatory... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

2015
Chapter

Firms and the Economics of Skilled Immigration

By: Sari Pekkala Kerr, William R. Kerr and William F. Lincoln

Firms play a central role in the selection, sponsorship, and employment of skilled immigrants entering the United States for work through programs like the H-1B visa. This role has not been widely recognized in the literature, and the data to better understand it have... View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Human Capital; Immigration; Innovation and Invention; United States