by HBS Working Knowledge - Publications - Faculty & Research

15 Feb 2017
Op-Ed

What Africa Can Teach the United States About Funding Infrastructure Projects

President Trump’s infrastructure plan and a counterproposal by Senate Democrats are rising toward the top of the national agenda. All agree that there is a pressing need to fix the collapsing bridges, potholed roads, crashing trains, and... View Details

Keywords: by John Macomber; Construction

19 Jul 2006
Research & Ideas

Political Turmoil and Mexico’s Economy

He lasted two years before being overthrown in a coup. "It's difficult to impose a liberal democracy," Maurer remarks. "A system of rules only works if you believe the other guy is also playing View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna

26 Sep 2005
Research & Ideas

What Perceived Power Brings to Negotiations

recruiter, and had to reach agreement on salary, vacation time, bonus, insurance coverage, and moving expenses. To vary perceived power, participants were given various levels of information regarding their own alternative and the alternative of their counterpart, as... View Details

Keywords: by Mallory Stark

06 Jun 2005
Research & Ideas

Microsoft vs. Open Source: Who Will Win?

of the market, it needs to successfully fight them. First, some developers see software as scientific knowledge to be shared "like the sharing of recipes among cooks." In fact, some describe software developers more like artists... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Technology

08 Dec 2003
Research & Ideas

Why Europe Lags in Pharmaceuticals and Biotech

Governmental, academic, and cultural differences are hurting Europe's chances of creating more competitive pharmaceutical and biotech industries—and not much hope is on the horizon, according to a panel of experts at the 2003 HBS European... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Biotechnology; Health; Pharmaceutical; Technology

13 Feb 2013
Research & Ideas

5 Weight Loss Tips From Behavioral Economists

The results were striking. Writer Julia Hanna described the experiment in a previous HBS Working Knowledge article: "Cuddy and coauthors Dana R. Carney and Andy J. Yap of... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

2016
Working Paper

The Mirroring Hypothesis: Theory, Evidence and Exceptions

By: Lyra J. Colfer and Carliss Y. Baldwin

The mirroring hypothesis predicts that organizational ties within a project, firm, or group of firms (e.g., communication, collocation, employment) will correspond to the technical patterns of dependency in the work being performed. A thorough understanding of the... View Details

Keywords: Modularity; Innovation; Product And Process Development; Organization Design; Design Structure; Organizational Ties; Mirroring Hypothesis; Industry Architecture; Product Architecture; Complex Technical Systems; Information Technology; Organizational Design; Organizational Structure; Relationships; Innovation and Invention; Product Development

Citation

SSRN

Read Now

12 Jun 2019
Research & Ideas

Investors Have More Than Money to Offer Entrepreneurs

forces, but patterns over time and how markets move and customers buy. They may not know your specific market details or the intimate buying patterns of your target customer, but as Bob Mason, managing partner of Project11 says, “We often ask the right questions... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Austin

10 Oct 2007
Research & Ideas

“Blank” Inside: Branding Ingredients

Harvard Business School professor John Quelch writes a blog on marketing issues, called Marketing Know: How, for Harvard Business Online. It is reprinted on HBS Working Knowledge.Why do we pay more for an... View Details

Keywords: by John Quelch; Aerospace; Consumer Products

26 Nov 2001
Research & Ideas

Women Entrepreneurs Use Springboard for Funding

What do a health food manufacturer, an infectious-diseases specialist and a content-management expert have in common? Answer: All are women, all are entrepreneurs. And by virtue of being women and entrepreneurs they share one... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

01 Dec 2015
Research & Ideas

What to Do When Your Organization Has Dueling Missions

so-called mission drift by focusing on profits to the detriment of their social mission. Battilana’s previous work suggests that hiring employees who embrace the social mission is not sufficient to avoid... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

17 Feb 2014
Research & Ideas

Companies Detangle from Legacy Pensions

depleted many pension plans by dramatically reducing the value of investments, even while companies were still responsible for paying predetermined benefits. Increasing the pressure are two other factors. Life expectancy has increased,... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Aerospace; Financial Services

18 Nov 2009
HBS Case

Customer Feedback Not on elBulli’s Menu

six months that elBulli, his restaurant, is open. The world is beating a path to Chef Ferran Adrià's door, but why? "Creativity comes first; then comes the customer," he has said. So what can HBS students learn about marketing... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Food & Beverage

30 Jan 2017
Research & Ideas

Vanguard, Trian And The Problem With 'Passive' Index Funds

On August 31, 2016, many investors celebrated the 40th birthday of one of the world’s most successful financial instruments: the mutual index fund, created by Vanguard founder John C. Bogle. Index funds, which automatically track an index... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Financial Services

23 Feb 2004
Research & Ideas

How Corporate Responsibility is Changing in Asia

Asia," held at the Asia Business Conference on February 14 at Harvard Business School. Ever since the public outcry in the 1990s over the wages paid by Nike to its Asian factory workers, the issue of multinational corporate social... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna

09 Jul 2013
Research & Ideas

Catching Up With Boards--Jay Lorsch

at length about the The Pay Problem posed by executive compensation in a May/June 2010 article in Harvard Magazine. There we argued that evidence of the link between executive compensation and company performance is not clear. We noted,... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Aisner

September 2012 (Revised September 2015)
Case

Doing Business in China

By: Felix Oberholzer-Gee, Michael Shih-ta Chen, Nancy Dai and G.A. Donovan

This case examines the challenges and opportunities of doing business in China. It highlights China's remarkable economic transformation in the decades leading up to 2012 in the context of its history, culture, and politics. The case summarizes the main obstacles faced... View Details

Keywords: Emerging Market Finance; Emergent Countries; Business History; Economic History; Emerging Markets; Business Ventures; Strategy; China

Citation

Educators

29 Oct 2008
Research & Ideas

The Next Marketing Challenge: Selling to ’Simplifiers’

Editor's Note: Harvard Business School professor John Quelch writes a blog on marketing issues, called Marketing Know: How, for Harvard Business Online. It is reprinted on HBS Working Knowledge. Watch out... View Details

Keywords: by John Quelch; Retail; Consumer Products; Entertainment & Recreation

25 Mar 2014
Research & Ideas

China’s Economic System has Difficult Road Overcoming its Political System

overcome the limits placed upon it by the Party. Or, as the authors call it, "Party, Inc." It's not spoiling anything to say that the book answers its own question with, if not an outright no, then at least a highly qualified maybe. Click... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

18 Mar 2009
Research & Ideas

Marketing After the Recession

Editor's Note: Harvard Business School professor John Quelch writes a blog on marketing issues, called Marketing Know: How, for Harvard Business Online. It is reprinted on HBS Working Knowledge.... View Details

Keywords: by John Quelch; Retail

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