Publications

June 2009 (Revised February 2010)
Case

Cirque du Soleil -- The High-Wire Act of Building Sustainable Partnerships

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Maxime Aucoin

The case describes the history and business model of Cirque du Soleil (CdS). The case allows for a rich discussion and analysis of Cirque du Soleil's business model with an emphasis on how it interacts with that of MGM Mirage. Le Cirque and MGM's business models... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Investment; Profit; Globalized Markets and Industries; Growth and Development Strategy; Market Entry and Exit; Partners and Partnerships; Trust; Entertainment and Recreation Industry

March 2015
Module Note

Power and Influence in Society

By: Julie Battilana

This module aims to help students understand how power and influence are employed, both to reproduce the status quo and to effect change in society. It first helps them to understand why, more often than not, power is used to reproduce the existing way individuals and... View Details

2019
Working Paper

The Wisdom of Crowds in Operations: Forecasting Using Prediction Markets

By: Achal Bassamboo, Ruomeng Cui and Antonio Moreno

Prediction is an important activity in various business processes, but it becomes difficult when historical information is not available, such as forecasting demand of a new product. One approach that can be applied in such situations is to crowdsource opinions from... View Details

Keywords: Wisdom Of Crowds; Demand Forecasting; Price Forecasting; Forecasting and Prediction; Social and Collaborative Networks; Size; Performance

2020
Working Paper

Performance Hacking: The Contagious Business Practice that Corrodes Corporate Culture, Undermines Core Values, and Damages Great Companies

By: Robert D. Austin and Richard L. Nolan

August 7, 1955 is an important date in commercial aviation history. You could say it began the jet airliner age, though other dates might also qualify. Jet engines had proven successful in military aircraft. But no one knew then whether members of the general public... View Details

Keywords: Performance; Organizational Culture; Values and Beliefs

February 2000 (Revised March 2004)
Case

Venture Law Group (A)

By: Thomas J. DeLong, Ashish Nanda and Scott D Landry

Craig Johnson, Venture Law Group's (VLG) chairman, founded VLG in 1993 with a goal of "zero voluntary turnover." In late 1998, Johnson faces the departure of three important partners, prompting himself to ask what VLG can do in the midst of an "economic hurricane" that... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Customer Relationship Management; Partners and Partnerships; Retention; Legal Services Industry

September 1997 (Revised September 1997)
Case

Koc Holding: Arcelik White Goods

By: John A. Quelch

Management is considering its options for future international expansion. Koc is the dominant supplier of white goods (kitchen appliances) in Turkey and has been increasing its export efforts. As lower import tariffs invite foreign competitors to enter Turkey, Koc must... View Details

Keywords: Expansion; Multinational Firms and Management; Emerging Markets; Consumer Products Industry; Distribution Industry; Turkey

28 Sep 2017
News

The Paradox of Confiding in (Near) Strangers

31 Mar 2020
News

Controlling the Emotion of Negotiation

05 Mar 2012
News

Get Creative

January 2023 (Revised April 2023)
Case

Cobalt Robotics: Scaling Workplace Robotics

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport, Nicole Tempest Keller and Kyung Keun Park

Founded in 2016, Cobalt Robotics, based in Fremont, California, was a Robot-as-a-Service (RaaS) company that built autonomous workplace robots that were designed to replace or supplement human security guards. Outfitted with over 60 sensors, Cobalt robots patrolled... View Details

Keywords: Information Infrastructure; Disruptive Innovation; Innovation and Invention; Marketing Strategy; Marketing Channels; Customers; Technology Industry; United States; California

15 Apr 2024
Book

Struggling With a Big Management Decision? Start by Asking What Really Matters

book Your True Moral Compass: Defining Reality, Responsibility, and Practicality in Your Leadership Moments. In the following excerpt from the book, Badaracco, the John Shad Professor of Business Ethics, explains why it’s important for... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

14 Dec 2015
HBS Seminar

Brian Tomlin, Professor of Business Administration, Tuck School of Business at Dartmouth

Canary Categories—Journal of Marketing Research

Typically, past spending in a category is a positive indicator of future purchasing. In this we show that there exist categories (which we name "canary categories") in which the reverse is true -
When customers purchase... View Details

2019
White Paper

Impact-Weighted Financial Accounts: The Missing Piece for an Impact Economy

By: George Serafeim, T. Robert Zochowski and Jennifer Downing

Reimagining capitalism is an imperative. We need to create a more inclusive and sustainable form of capitalism that works for every person and the planet. Massive environmental damage, growing income and wealth disparity, stress, and depression within developed... View Details

Keywords: Impact-Weighted Accounts; IWAI; Background; Economic Systems; Economy; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Measurement and Metrics; Financial Statements

2018
Working Paper

Averaging Probability Forecasts: Back to the Future

By: Robert L. Winkler, Yael Grushka-Cockayne, Kenneth C. Lichtendahl Jr. and Victor Richmond R. Jose

The use and aggregation of probability forecasts in practice is on the rise. In this position piece, we explore some recent, and not so recent, developments concerning the use of probability forecasts in decision-making. Despite these advances, challenges still exist.... View Details

Keywords: Probability Forecast; Forecast Combination; Forecast Evaluation; Decision Analysis; Forecasting and Prediction; Decision Making; Analysis

June 2020
Article

Informing Dissent

By: Hillary Greene and Dennis Yao

The first part of this commentary argues that because the production of dissent depends on the availability of information, greater attention should focus on government restrictions on access to official information. At no time is this more important than when... View Details

Keywords: Dissent; Information Monopoly; Economics Of Speech; Freedom Of Information Act (FOIA); Self-censorship; Social Pressure; Information; Government and Politics; Spoken Communication; Society

Find at Harvard

July 1995 (Revised September 1995)
Background Note

Technology for Teams

By: Lynda M. Applegate and Geoffrey Bock

The importance of groups in organizations has long been recognized but, until recently, groups were always "tacked onto" organizations that were designed around individuals. It was not just the logic of classical organizational theory that perpetuated this focus on the... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Groups and Teams

Find at Harvard

January 2002
Article

Organizational Endowments and the Performance of University Start-ups

By: Scott Shane and Toby E. Stuart

The question of how initial resource endowments—the stocks of resources that entrepreneurs contribute to their new ventures at the time of founding—affect organizational life chances is one of significant interest in organizational ecology, evolutionary... View Details

Keywords: Resource Allocation; Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Research; Company History; Initial Public Offering; Venture Capital; Financing and Loans