Learning By Doing - Publications - Faculty & Research

04 Apr 2023
Book

Two Centuries of Business Leaders Who Took a Stand on Social Issues

While shareholders still reign supreme at many companies, a widespread shift toward more responsible business practices is driving more leaders to take a stand on social and environmental issues today, says Harvard Business School Professor Geoffrey Jones. Jones... View Details

Keywords: by Lane Lambert; Consumer Products; Fashion; Retail; Green Technology

13 Aug 2012
Research & Ideas

When Good Incentives Lead to Bad Decisions

Among the culprits contributing to the recent financial crisis were bank loan officers who approved mortgage loans that were doomed to fail. Many of these frontline workers were motivated by bonuses and other incentives to approve... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Banking

02 Dec 2002
Research & Ideas

The Secret of How Microsoft Stays on Top

off by disruptive technologies. Critics often argue that Microsoft can't innovate its way out of a paper bag—instead it has used its monopoly position to stamp out competition and force an industry to bend to its standards. But now comes... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

11 Feb 2002
Research & Ideas

Guts and Bliss: The Entrepreneur’s Journey

it over there and jump on it." Now, she said, thanks to expert coaching, the kids have learned to communicate, coordinate, pass the ball off to their teammates and get it back. Good businesses that want to grow know how to View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

23 Oct 2006
Research & Ideas

Will the “Long Tail” Work for Hollywood?

long-tail and superstar effects take place—but that each comes with a twist," Elberse says. "Consumers can find videos online that they can't find anywhere else. And yes, there is a shift in sales to the tail—but there is also an increasing number of titles... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Entertainment & Recreation

02 Jan 2012
Research & Ideas

Most Popular Articles of 2011

make bad decisions? Using both field and quantitative data from the MGM-Mirage Group, this paper discusses how management controls affect the learning rates of lower-level employees. Research, focusing on hotel casino hosts, was conducted... View Details

Keywords: by Staff

12 Sep 2022
Research & Ideas

When Experts Play It Too Safe: Innovation Lessons from a NASA Experiment

colleagues studied how experts judged contest entries and found that the greater an evaluator’s expertise, the more likely they were to nix less feasible proposals in favor of safer bets. “Who we select to do our evaluations and to pick... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Aerospace

15 Aug 2016
Research & Ideas

Black Swans and Big Trends Can Ruin Anyone's Internet Prediction

years, curious to see if its ideas had stood the test of time. I was surprised by the book’s sober tone. It has a morning-after hangover vibe: “I guess last night was amazing, but I can’t remember it all; I must have blacked out. Now it... View Details

Keywords: by Thomas R. Eisenmann; Technology

02 Apr 2019
Working Paper Summaries

Managerial Quality and Productivity Dynamics

Keywords: by Achyuta Adhvaryu, Anant Nyshadham, and Jorge Tamayo; Fashion

18 Mar 2019
Research & Ideas

Stuck in Commuter Hell? You Can Still Be Productive

traveling by car. The researchers gave some commuters a prompt that said: “Please use your commuting time to focus on your goals and make plans about what to do (during your workday).” Other commuters were... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

02 Nov 2021
Research & Ideas

Why COVID-19 Probably Killed More People Than We Realize

leaders need to be brave and not afraid of criticism." The research team didn’t study data in 2021, so it’s unclear whether government officials are continuing to underreport COVID deaths. But Rouen hopes leaders have learned View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

30 Jun 2022
HBS Case

Peloton Changed the Exercise Game. Can the Company Push Through the Pain?

demand, which led to shipment delays, followed by pricing confusion and a series of public relations bungles—just as the pandemic eased and people began returning to gyms. Peloton scrambled by recalling... View Details

Keywords: by Lane Lambert; Media & Broadcasting; Health; Bicycle

07 Feb 2023
Research & Ideas

Supervisor of Sandwiches? More Companies Inflate Titles to Avoid Extra Pay

research out of Harvard Business School. In fact, these are just a handful of suspect titles companies are using to classify hourly workers as supervisors and avoid paying an estimated $4 billion in overtime a year, finds a study by... View Details

Keywords: by Scott Van Voorhis

15 Mar 2022
Research & Ideas

This Workplace Certification Made Already Safe Companies Even Safer

according to the working paper Do Management System Standards Indicate Superior Performance? Evidence from the OHSAS 18001 Occupational Health and Safety Standard. To earn the voluntary certification, workplaces need to demonstrate that... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

05 Mar 2008
What Do You Think?

Where Will Management Innovation Take Us?

not clear. Many suggested that the kind of management innovation described by Gary Hamel in his new book, The Future of Management, will more likely occur as a result of forces outside the organization. Tony Gattis described the... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett

October 2015 (Revised October 2016)
Case

Building Watson: Not So Elementary, My Dear! (Abridged)

By: Willy C. Shih

This case is set inside IBM Research's efforts to build a computer that can successfully take on human challengers playing the game show Jeopardy! It opens with the machine named Watson offering the incorrect answer "Toronto" to a seemingly simple question during the... View Details

Keywords: Analytics; Big Data; Business Analytics; Product Development Strategy; Machine Learning; Machine Intelligence; Artificial Intelligence; Product Development; AI and Machine Learning; Information Technology; Analytics and Data Science; Information Technology Industry; United States

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13 Aug 2021
Research & Ideas

Managers, Here’s How to Bond with New Hires Remotely

significantly improve the performance and satisfaction of workers and boost the chances of hiring them permanently, according to the results of the study by Harvard Business School professors Iavor I. Bojinov and Prithwiraj Choudhury and... View Details

Keywords: by Lane Lambert

06 Jan 2020
Working Paper Summaries

From Know-It-Alls to Learn-It-Alls: Executive Development in the Era of Self-Refining Algorithms, Collaborative Filtering and Wearable Computing

Keywords: by Mihnea Moldoveanu and Das Narayandas; Education

05 Apr 2004
What Do You Think?

Should We Brace Ourselves for Another Era of M&A Value Destruction?

promoting the best managers from each organization, (6) timed their integration activities to avoid significant disclosure prior to regulatory approval of the acquisition while doing whatever necessary to "survive" a sometimes... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

04 Mar 2020
Research & Ideas

How Schmoozing with the Boss Helps Men Get Promoted

has,” says Harvard Business School Assistant Professor Zoe B. Cullen, who coauthored the paper with Ricardo Perez-Truglia of the University of California, Anderson. Some companies have taken steps to break down barriers for women in the workplace—for instance, View Details