Publications

July 2013 (Revised May 2024)
Case

BMVSS: Changing Lives, One Jaipur Limb at a Time

By: Srikant Datar and Saloni Chaturvedi

Bhagwan Mahaveer Viklang Sahayata Samiti (BMVSS) is an Indian not-for-profit organization engaged in assisting differently-abled persons by providing them with the legendary low-cost prosthesis, the Jaipur Foot, and other mobility-assisting devices, free of cost. Known... View Details

Keywords: Nonprofit Organizations; Financial Condition; Health Care and Treatment; Diversity; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Growth and Development Strategy; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Health Industry; India; Asia

September 2010 (Revised December 2012)
Case

Assembling Smartphones: Takt Time ≠ Cycle Time?

By: Willy Shih and Ethan Bernstein

The case was prepared to be used as part of a process review in the first year Technology and Operations Management course at HBS. It offers students an opportunity to discuss the context of a manufacturing process choice, and then examine actual production numbers... View Details

Keywords: Cognition and Thinking; Research and Development; Design; Six Sigma; Measurement and Metrics; Production

Research Summary

Capitalism as a System of Governance

My research interest is in further exploration of the analytic utility of an original conception of capitalism as an indirect, three level system of governance for the economic relationships within political entities, and mostly within nation states. This three level... View Details

2021
Working Paper

An Empirical Study of Time Allotment and Delays in E-commerce Delivery

By: M. Balakrishnan, MoonSoo Choi and Natalie Epstein

Problem definition: We study how having more time allotted to deliver an order affects the speed of the delivery process. Furthermore, we seek to predict orders that are likely to be delayed early in the delivery process so that actions can be taken to avoid delays.... View Details

Keywords: Logistics; E-commerce; Mathematical Methods; AI and Machine Learning; Performance Productivity

SSRN

Article

The Value of Trading Relations in Turbulent Times

By: Marco Di Maggio, Amir Kermani and Zhaogang Song

This paper investigates how dealers’ trading relations shape their trading behavior in the corporate bond market. Dealers charge lower spreads to dealers with whom they have the strongest ties and more so during periods of market turmoil. Systemically important dealers... View Details

Keywords: OTC Markets; Network; Corporate Bonds; Crisis; Intermediation Chains; Leaning Against The Wind; Networks; Bonds; Behavior; Financial Crisis

Find at Harvard

02 Jun 2011
What Do You Think?

Is it Time for a National Bankruptcy?

example, debt seems to be on the mind of a lot of people. That's ironic at a time when, as one CEO recently told me, "There is a sale on money." (One company with which I am familiar acted on that... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett

17 Mar 2011
Working Paper Summaries

Marketplace Institutions Related to the Timing of Transactions

Keywords: by Alvin E. Roth

31 Jan 2018
Research & Ideas

American Idle: Workers Spend Too Much Time Waiting for Something to Do

Brodsky. “With idle time, the organization is often hurt by it, and it’s not enjoyable for employees either.” Involuntary idle time can have a variety of causes, including built-in excess capacity, in which a company intentionally... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

September 2021
Article

Income More Reliably Predicts Frequent Than Intense Happiness

By: Jon M. Jachimowicz, Ruo Mo, Adam Eric Greenberg, Bertus Jeronimus and Ashley V. Whillans

There is widespread consensus that income and subjective well-being are linked, but when and why they are connected is subject to ongoing debate. We draw on prior research that distinguishes between the frequency and intensity of happiness to suggest that higher income... View Details

Keywords: Life Satisfaction; Time Use; Happiness; Income; Money; Satisfaction

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Register to Read

22 Feb 2012
Working Paper Summaries

The Dynamic Effects of Bundling as a Product Strategy

Keywords: by Timothy Derdenger & Vineet Kumar; Video Game

January 2011
Article

Building a Better America—One Wealth Quintile at a Time

By: Michael I. Norton and Dan Ariely

Disagreements about the optimal level of wealth inequality underlie policy debates ranging from taxation to welfare. We attempt to insert the desires of "regular" Americans into these debates, by asking a nationally representative online panel to estimate the current... View Details

Keywords: Taxation; Policy; Perspective; Wealth; Equality and Inequality; Income; Demography; Debates; Welfare; Diversity; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; United States

01 Aug 2008
What Do You Think?

Has the Time Come for “Stretch” in Management?

Summing Up Stretch—its meaning, uses, and pitfalls—could fill a book, judging from responses to this month's column. First, there appears to be limited agreement about what stretch is and how it works. Some saw it as a variation on... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett

27 Jan 2014
Research & Ideas

Family CEOs Spend Less Time at Work

manufacturing firms, asking whether they would be willing to take part in a study of how CEOs spend their time. Some 356 CEOs agreed to participate. Some family CEOs spend less time at work than professional CEOs, especially during major... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

18 Jul 2005
Research & Ideas

Time to Rethink the Corporate Tax System?

between book and tax income, and yet this disparity has been growing. Other factors such as the peculiar accounting treatment of stock option compensation and differential treatment of overseas income, subsidiary income, and pension... View Details

Keywords: by Ann Cullen

10 Jan 2023
Op-Ed

Time to Move On? Career Advice for Entrepreneurs Preparing for the Next Stage

luxury of long breaks between jobs or extended periods of time to think about their transition before they step into the next thing. Additionally, as Bridges points out, we often don’t see when we are in a... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Austin

16 Aug 2022
Op-Ed

Now Is the Time for Entrepreneurs to Play Offense

Developing skill as an effective acquirer is an important muscle for scaling companies and now is a great time to test out that skill. 6. Consider financing There is a ton of View Details

Keywords: by Jeffrey Bussgang

24 Jun 2009
Working Paper Summaries

Don’t Just Survive—Thrive: Leading Innovation in Good Times and Bad

Keywords: by Lynda M. Applegate & J. Bruce Harreld

October 2015 (Revised August 2019)
Background Note

Higher Education in China: Internationalization in Turbulent Times

By: William C. Kirby, Joycelyn W. Eby and Yuanzhuo Wang

The rapid growth in quantity and quality of universities in China since 1978 is the most recent evolution in a long history of higher education. From as early as the Tang Dynasty, academies existed to prepare scholars for the civil service examination, but by the... View Details

Keywords: Non-profit Management; University Administration; University Faculty; University Curriculum; Education Reform; Nonprofit Organizations; Management; Higher Education; History; Governance; Education Industry; China