Publications

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March 22, 2024
Article

It’s Time to Give Up on Ending Social Media’s Misinformation Problem

By: Scott Duke Kominers and Jesse Shapiro

Keywords: Social Media; Lawsuits and Litigation; Information Publishing; Policy

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April 2025
Case

Giving Up on a Passion: Elizabeth Rowe at the Boston Symphony Orchestra

By: Jon M. Jachimowicz, Maisie Wiltshire-Gordon and Alexis Lefort

For 20 years, Elizabeth Rowe was a world-renowned principal flutist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. But in 2024, Rowe decided to leave her position to pursue a new full-time career as a leadership coach. At 50, Rowe was well under the typical retirement age, and,... View Details

Educators

Research Summary

Fitting In Without Giving In: Addressing the Effectiveness-Authenticity Dilemma in Cross-Cultural Interactions

In this project, Andy Molinsky and I examine the process of adapting to a new culture as it unfolds in specific episodes. A common assumption in practice and research is that when faced with a new cultural context, one needs to either adopt the cultural scripts of... View Details

Keywords: Cultural Adaptation; Cross-cultural Dynamics; Authenticity

April 2012
Article

Proposing a Welfare Framework for the Society and Local Community Stakeholders: A Mixed Method Study

By: Shashank Shah

Keywords: Corporate Social Responsibility; Community Engagement; Philanthropy; India

08 Jul 2009
Working Paper Summaries

Truth in Giving: Experimental Evidence on the Welfare Effects of Informed Giving to the Poor

Keywords: by Christina Fong & Felix Oberholzer-Gee

May 2012
Course Overview Note

Managing Stakeholders with Corporate Social Responsibility

By: Christopher Marquis and Laura Velez Villa

This note articulates the ways in which strong stakeholder-company relationships developed through corporate social responsibility initiatives and other types of social strategies deliver bottom line benefits. The analysis follows stakeholder logic models connecting... View Details

Keywords: Business And Society; Social Responsibility; Stakeholder Management; Government And Business; Philanthropy; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Revenue

December 2019 (Revised August 2022)
Exercise

Janet Ames (B)

By: Brian Trelstad and Brian Trelstad

The series of Janet Ames cases follow a fictional alumna of Harvard Business School into her consulting career in Boston. Over the series of cases, Ames is first offered the opportunity to join the board of a Boston-based non-profit organization, which offers students... View Details

Keywords: Philanthropy; Board; Non-profit Management; Career Changes And Transitions; Evaluation; Personal Development and Career; Opportunities; Decision Choices and Conditions; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Governing and Advisory Boards; Social Enterprise; Social Entrepreneurship; Nonprofit Organizations; Management; United States

February 2018
Article

The Impact of a Surprise Donation Ask

By: Christine L. Exley and Ragan Petrie

Individuals frequently exploit "flexibility" built into decision environments to give less. They use uncertainty to justify options benefiting themselves over others, they avoid information that may encourage them to give, and they avoid the ask itself. In this paper,... View Details

Keywords: Charitable Giving; Prosocial Behavior; Self-serving Biases; Excuses; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Behavior

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27 Jun 2024
Research & Ideas

Gen AI Marketing: How Some 'Gibberish' Code Can Give Products an Edge

suggest and prioritize. Lakkaraju conducted the analysis with HBS postdoctoral researcher Aounon Kumar. The ability to manipulate product comparison could give some companies an unfair advantage, but it... View Details

Keywords: by Ben Rand; Technology

December 2019 (Revised August 2022)
Exercise

Janet Ames (C)

By: Brian Trelstad and Brian Trelstad

The series of Janet Ames cases follow a fictional alumna of Harvard Business School into her consulting career in Boston. Over the series of cases, Ames is first offered the opportunity to join the board of a Boston-based non-profit organization, which offers students... View Details

Keywords: Philanthropy; Board; Non-profit Management; Career Changes And Transitions; Evaluation; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Governing and Advisory Boards; Social Enterprise; Social Entrepreneurship; Nonprofit Organizations; Management; Personal Development and Career; United States

March 2021 (Revised May 2021)
Supplement

Blue Meridian Partners (B): Pivoting in a Crisis

By: V. Kasturi Rangan

The (B) case situated in 2020 describes the many quick decisions taken by the fund in response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the calls for social justice, and raises the question of whether and how these decisions are aligned with the long range strategy of the fund. View Details

Keywords: Venture Philanthropy; COVID-19; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Venture Capital; Social Issues; Health Pandemics; Decisions; Strategy

March 2014
Course Overview Note

Creating and Sustaining Competitive Advantage

By: Eric Van den Steen

This note gives an overview (for instructors) of the MBA elective course "Creating and Sustaining Competitive Advantage" (CSCA). The course gives students a deep dive on competitive advantage, on its relation to overall strategic performance (defined as performance... View Details

Keywords: Strategic Analysis; Strategic Theory; Economic Analysis; Sustainable Competitive Advantage; Value Capture; Performance And Value Analysis; Strategy And Leadership; Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Competition; Competitive Strategy; Value Creation; Values and Beliefs; Leadership

December 2019 (Revised August 2022)
Exercise

Janet Ames (A)

By: Brian Trelstad and Brian Trelstad

The series of Janet Ames cases follow a fictional alumna of Harvard Business School into her consulting career in Boston. Over the series of cases, Ames is first offered the opportunity to join the board of a Boston-based non-profit organization, which offers students... View Details

Keywords: Philanthropy; Board; Non-profit Management; Career Changes And Transitions; Evaluation; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Governing and Advisory Boards; Social Enterprise; Social Entrepreneurship; Nonprofit Organizations; Management; Personal Development and Career; United States

Article

Give Them What They Want: The Benefits of Explicitness in Gift Exchange

By: F. Gino and F. Flynn

August 2022
Teaching Plan

Janet Ames (A), (B), (C), (D)

By: Brian Trelstad

Teaching Plan for HBS Case Nos. 320-076, 320-077, 320-078, and 322-051. The series of Janet Ames cases follow a fictional alumna of Harvard Business School into her consulting career in Boston. Over the series of cases, Ames is first offered the opportunity to join... View Details

Keywords: Philanthropy; Board; Non-profit Management; Career Changes And Transitions; Evaluation; Personal Development and Career; Opportunities; Decision Choices and Conditions; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Governing and Advisory Boards; Social Enterprise; Social Entrepreneurship; Nonprofit Organizations; Management; United States

16 Nov 2020
Working Paper Summaries

Private Equity and COVID-19

Keywords: by Paul A. Gompers, Steven N. Kaplan, and Vladimir Mukharlyamov; Financial Services

30 Nov 2016
Working Paper Summaries

The Stock Market and Bank Risk-Taking

Keywords: by Antonio Falato and David Scharfstein; Financial Services; Banking

16 May 2023
HBS Case

How KKR Got More by Giving Ownership to the Factory Floor: ‘My Kids Are Going to College!’

the road.” “That’s what I remember from growing up, this constant conflict and fight over hours,” recounts Stavros, a partner at private equity firm KKR, in a new series of Harvard Business School case studies that detail his radical... View Details

Keywords: by Avery Forman

Article

Contingent Match Incentives Increase Donations

By: Lalin Anik, Michael I. Norton and Dan Ariely

We propose a new means by which non-profits can induce donors to give today and commit to giving in the future: contingent match incentives, in which matching is made contingent on the percentage of others who give (e.g., "if X% of others give, we will match all... View Details

Keywords: Matching Donations; Social Proof; Prosocial Behavior; Charitable Giving; Plausibility; Motivation and Incentives; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving