Publications

SSRN

17 May 2018
Sharpening Your Skills

You Probably Have a Bias for Making Bad Decisions. Here's Why.

beliefs (confirmation bias), to give ourselves too much credit or not enough blame (self-serving bias), or to place more value on losing $100 than making $100 (loss aversion). In business, a bias-clouded decision can have disastrous... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

October 2020 (Revised November 2020)
Case

Wilderness Safaris: Impact Investing and Ecotourism Conservation in Africa

By: James E. Austin, Megan Epler Wood and Herman B. "Dutch" Leonard

In 2018 the majority ownership of publicly owned Wilderness Safaris, the leading high-end ecotourism company in Africa with safari operations in eight countries, was acquired by The Rise Fund, one of the world’s largest private social impact investing funds, and by FS... View Details

Educators

August 28, 2019
Article

How to Make Your Sales Forecasts More Accurate

By: Lou Shipley

Companies need consistently accurate sales forecasts — but unfortunately they are rare. That’s because many companies fail to align their sales and marketing departments, and that alignment is a prerequisite for forecast accuracy. Companies can achieve better alignment... View Details

Keywords: Sales; Forecasting and Prediction; Marketing; Alignment; Technology

Read Now

14 Oct 2016
Working Paper Summaries

A Welfarist Role for Nonwelfarist Rules: An Example with Envy

Keywords: by Matthew Weinzierl

December 2019
Case

Steemit: A New Social Media?

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell, Alexander White and Karen Elterman

This case discusses the alternative social media site Steemit, including the principles it was founded on in 2016 and the challenges it faced in 2019. Steemit was a blockchain-based platform that aimed to differentiate itself from other social media companies by... View Details

Educators

17 Mar 2022
Research & Ideas

Navigating Tradeoffs: How Purpose Becomes a Company's ‘Lighthouse in the Storm’

Every business leader faces difficult tradeoffs when working to make a company both profitable and purposeful. But leaders who articulate a company’s deep purpose can tap into that broader vision to help them navigate short-term decisions... View Details

Keywords: by Ranjay Gulati

21 Feb 2022
News

Why Identity Matters When Asking for Career Help

2016
Working Paper

Bias in Official Fiscal Forecasts: Can Private Forecasts Help?

By: Jeffrey A. Frankel and Jesse Schreger

Government forecasts of GDP growth and budget balances are generally more over optimistic than private sector forecasts. When official forecasts are especially optimistic relative to private forecasts ex ante, they are more likely also to be over optimistic relative to... View Details

Keywords: Forecasting and Prediction; Macroeconomics

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2011
Chapter

How Does Simplified Disclosure Affect Individuals' Mutual Fund Choices?

By: John Beshears, James J. Choi, David Laibson and Brigitte C. Madrian

We use an experiment to estimate the effect of the SEC's Summary Prospectus, which simplifies mutual fund disclosure. Our subjects chose an equity portfolio and a bond portfolio. Subjects received either statutory prospectuses or Summary Prospectuses. We find no... View Details

Keywords: Information; Corporate Disclosure; Decision Choices and Conditions; Consumer Behavior; Retirement; Personal Finance; Investment Funds; Microeconomics

January 2009 (Revised June 2010)
Case

Cisco Business Councils (2007): Unifying a Functional Enterprise with an Internal Governance System

By: Ranjay Gulati

In response to the 2001 market downturn, Cisco Systems implemented a major restructuring that transformed the company from a decentralized to centralized organization. While recognizing that a centralized, functional structure was necessary to avoid product and... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Customer Focus and Relationships; Governing and Advisory Boards; Resource Allocation; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Structure; Corporate Strategy; Technology Industry

Educators

17 Sep 2001
Research & Ideas

Is There Help for the Big Ticket Buyer?

computer-literate consumers fail to do this homework before visiting a car dealer? Helping consumers appreciate and effectively use this information should be at the forefront of the consumer research agenda. Decision analysts also try to... View Details

Keywords: by Max H. Bazerman

July–August 2021
Article

Why You Aren't Getting More from Your Marketing AI

By: Eva Ascarza, Michael Ross and Bruce G.S. Hardie

Fewer than 40% of companies that invest in AI see gains from it, usually because of one or more of these errors: (1) They don’t ask the right question, and end up directing AI to solve the wrong problem. (2) They don’t recognize the differences between the value of... View Details

Keywords: Artificial Intelligence; Marketing; Decision Making; Communication; Framework; AI and Machine Learning

17 Oct 2011
Research & Ideas

How ‘Hybrid’ Nonprofits Can Stay on Mission

as spin-offs from existing NGOs. Both set out to avoid mission drift. But each took a different tack in hiring new employees. BancoSol hired employees based on their previous experience and proven capabilities. Because the mission... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

February 2013
Article

Daily Horizons: Evidence of Narrow Bracketing in Judgments from 9,000 MBA Admission Interviews

By: U. Simonsohn and F. Gino

Many professionals, from auditors and lawyers, to clinical psychologists and journal editors, divide a continuous flow of judgments into subsets. College admissions interviewers, for instance, evaluate but a handful of applicants a day. We conjectured that in such... View Details

Keywords: Judgments; Forecasting and Prediction; Research

November 5, 2021
Article

Leaders: Stop Confusing Correlation with Causation

By: Michael Luca

We’ve all been told that correlation does not imply causation. Yet many business leaders, elected officials, and media outlets still make causal claims based on misleading correlations. These claims are too often unscrutinized, amplified, and mistakenly used to guide... View Details

Keywords: Behavioral Economics; Data Analysis; Organizations; Decision Making; Analytics and Data Science; Analysis; Learning

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05 Oct 2021
News

The One Thing Ruining Your Free Time

24 Jan 2024
Op-Ed

Why Boeing’s Problems with the 737 MAX Began More Than 25 Years Ago

program to upgrade to the 737 MAX. This decision required the redesign to stay within FAA’s original type-certification with the same flying characteristics. Boeing also agreed with customers like Southwest Airlines to View Details

Keywords: by Bill George; Air Transportation; Transportation; Aerospace

February 2010 (Revised June 2014)
Supplement

CityCenter (D): Financial Crisis, Grand Opening, and a New Paradigm

By: John D. Macomber and Griffin James

"CityCenter (D)" follows the (A), (B), and (C) cases with subsequent chronological events through CityCenter's grand opening in December 2009 and financial results through March 2010. The case includes a simple valuation exercise intended to explore CEO Jim Murren's... View Details

Keywords: Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Private Equity; Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Decision Choices and Conditions; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Nevada; New Jersey

August 2008
Supplement

Iceland (B): Redefining Aaa-Rated Sovereigns

By: Aldo Musacchio

In May of 2008, a team of sovereign debt analysts at Moody's had to decide whether to downgrade the country's sovereign long-term debt from Aaa to Aa1 or lower. Investor sentiment toward Iceland had changed radically in March, and the Moody's team was fearful that the... View Details

Keywords: Sovereign Finance; Financial Crisis; Borrowing and Debt; Currency; Financial Condition; Decision Choices and Conditions; Iceland; European Union