Publications

04 May 2010
First Look

First Look: May 4

firm, which utilizes a large distributor base and depends on this individual distributor base to sell its products, giving explicit incentives for these individual distributors to both sell its products and... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

22 Jun 2011
Sharpening Your Skills

Sharpening Your Skills: Motivation

Dynamic Structural Analysis of Bonus-Based Compensation Plans Companies generally pay their sales staff with some combination of salary, commissions, and bonuses for meeting quotas—with sales force costs averaging about 10 percent of... View Details

Keywords: Re: Multiple Faculty

11 Jun 2012
Research & Ideas

When Business Competition Harms Society

testing operations against those micro-markets that were peppered with facilities, reasoning that the more facilities in any given area, the higher the competition—and the higher the incentive to bestow leniency on customers. "We... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Auto

March 2024 (Revised July 2024)
Case

The CHIPS Program Office

By: Mitchell B. Weiss and Sebastian Negron-Reichard

In February 2023, U.S. Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo weighed signing off on a Notice of Funding Opportunity (“NOFO”) with at least one unconventional provision: a pre-application (“pre-app”) to the actual application for parts of $39 billion in direct semiconductor... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Public Sector; Government Administration; Government Legislation; Motivation and Incentives; Semiconductor Industry; Public Administration Industry; United States

2022
Working Paper

Motivated Errors

By: Christine L Exley and Judd B. Kessler

In three sets of experiments involving 5,432 subjects, we show that agents make more errors when doing so allows them to justify selfish behavior. We show that errors relating to addition arise when they can help to justify selfishness but are eliminated when selfish... View Details

Keywords: Information; Behavior; Motivation and Incentives; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving

SSRN

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December 2012
Article

Inducement Prizes and Innovation

By: Liam Brunt, Josh Lerner and Tom Nicholas

We examine the effect of prizes on innovation using data on awards for technological development offered by the Royal Agricultural Society of England at annual competitions between 1839 and 1939. We find that the effects of prizes on competitive entry are large, and we... View Details

Keywords: Motivation and Incentives; Patents; Innovation and Invention; Information Technology; Growth and Development; England

Find at Harvard

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03 Mar 2009
First Look

First Look: March 3, 2009

relative to one-sided markets. Download the paper: http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/08-011.pdf Why Do Intermediaries Divert Search? (revised) Authors:Andrei Hagiu and Bruno Jullien Abstract We analyze the incentives to divert search View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

24 Jul 2000
Research & Ideas

Linking the Globe: The Role of Media and Communications

companies. For years, he said, the media industry has operated in a very fragmented economic structure that gave an individual company "a perverse incentive to defend its territory instead of attacking... View Details

Keywords: by Kenneth Liss; Information; Publishing; Journalism & News; Media & Broadcasting

May 2011 (Revised March 2012)
Supplement

Global Knowledge Management at Danone (C)

By: Amy C. Edmondson, Ruth Dittrich and Daniela Beyersdorfer

The (C) case provides an update on the B-case decision and describes the introduction of Dan 2.0, an internal social virtual network for the purpose of knowledge sharing in a company that was only used to face-to-face networking. View Details

Keywords: Innovation and Management; Knowledge Sharing; Information Infrastructure; Opportunities; Problems and Challenges; Networks; Employees; Motivation and Incentives; Knowledge Management; Management Practices and Processes

23 Oct 2012
First Look

First Look: October 23

model, poor people give little because they expect donations to come mainly from richer individuals. In others, donations by poor individuals constitute a large fraction of donations, and this raises the incentive View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

September 2010
Article

Making Self-Regulation More Than Merely Symbolic: The Critical Role of the Legal Environment

By: Jodi L. Short and Michael W. Toffel

Using data from a sample of U.S. industrial facilities subject to the federal Clean Air Act from 1993 to 2003, this article theorizes and tests the conditions under which organizations' symbolic commitments to self-regulate are particularly likely to result in improved... View Details

Keywords: Adoption; Code Law; Environmental Sustainability; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Organizations; Governance Compliance; Strategy; Motivation and Incentives; United States

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January 2021 (Revised March 2022)
Teaching Note

Maritz Automotive

By: Ashley V. Whillans and Lamar Pierce

This case focuses on Charlotte Blank, the Chief Behavioral Officer at Maritz, as she tries to assist a major automotive manufacturer (CarCo) with increasing their sales by prepaying monthly bonuses to independently franchised car dealers and clawing them back if the... View Details

Keywords: Loss-framing; Sales; Performance Improvement; Compensation and Benefits; Motivation and Incentives; Behavior; Theory; Auto Industry

March 2005 (Revised April 2007)
Case

Oprah!

By: William W. George and Andrew N. McLean

Oprah Winfrey believed in sharing the experiences that shaped her development and enabled her to become the wealthiest women in the entertainment industry and first African American billionaire. Traces her childhood and entertainment career, drawing connections in... View Details

Keywords: Motivation and Incentives; Wealth; Leadership; Personal Development and Career; Gender; Biography; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Entertainment and Recreation Industry

03 Dec 2008
What Do You Think?

Can Housing and Credit be “Nudged” Back to Health?

for another ... we have no choice but to let things be as they will, no matter how ludicrous and painful, until the understanding becomes knowledge." Tom Dolembo put it this way: "Nudge this back? Never ... As dumb as we are, we... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett

May 2024
Case

Leading Culture Change at Microsoft Western Europe

By: Amy C. Edmondson and Cat Huang

In 2023, Cindy Rose, President of Microsoft Western Europe, faced a critical decision. Rose grappled with the potential impact of widespread layoffs on psychological safety and the cultural transformation she had championed since her arrival. When Rose had first joined... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Organizational Culture; Transformation; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Problems and Challenges; Motivation and Incentives; Groups and Teams; Business or Company Management; Technology Industry; Europe