Publications

May 1995 (Revised April 1998)
Case

AT&T Paradyne

By: Robert S. Kaplan

A company making data communication devices has adopted a Total Quality philosophy for working with suppliers, employees, and customers. The finance group finds its existing cost system has become obsolete because of a shift from manual to automatic production... View Details

Keywords: Decisions; Product; Corporate Accountability; Activity Based Costing and Management; System; Performance Efficiency; Financial Reporting; Operations; Technology Industry; Telecommunications Industry

November 2017 (Revised December 2019)
Case

Redfin: Redefine Real Estate

By: Hong Luo and Huafeng Yu

Founded in 2004, Redfin envisioned a light-touch model in which clients self-served using the digital platform in exchange for a significantly lower fee than traditional agents. Realizing the narrow appeal of its initial model, Redfin had made significant changes to... View Details

Keywords: Adaptation; Growth and Development Strategy; Decision Choices and Conditions; Real Estate Industry; North America

May 2022 (Revised October 2022)
Supplement

The Freedom Fund (B)

By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Courtney Han

The Freedom Fund (B) case describes the management’s plan of how to use the windfall of $35 million granted by philanthropist Mackenzie Scott. The case also describes the process by which the decisions were arrived at. View Details

Keywords: Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Spending; Decision Making

19 Jun 2014
Working Paper Summaries

Wisdom or Madness? Comparing Crowds with Expert Evaluation in Funding the Arts

Keywords: by Ethan R. Mollick & Ramana Nanda

20 Dec 2011
First Look

First Look: December 20

investment-banking revenues. To assess the generality of our findings, we test the same relations using compensation data from a second high-status bank and obtain similar results. The Best of Both Worlds: Integrating Conscious and Unconscious Thought Best Solves... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

2023
Chapter

Manage Your Work, Manage Your Life

By: Boris Groysberg and Robin Abrahams

Work/life balance is at best an elusive ideal and at worst a complete myth, today's senior executives will tell you. But by making deliberate choices about which opportunities they'll pursue and which they'll decline, rather than simply reacting to emergencies, leaders... View Details

Keywords: Work-Life Balance; Management Teams

June 2010 (Revised August 2011)
Case

Tennant Company: Innovating Within and Beyond the Core

By: Lynda M. Applegate, Toby E. Stuart and James Weber

Tennant, a leading producer of floor cleaning equipment, must determine the business model to use for its new chemical-free cleaning technology. In 2005, Tennant Company had developed an innovative, environmentally friendly cleaning technology that could potentially... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Business Startups; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Disruptive Innovation; Organizational Structure; Business Strategy; Value Creation; Consumer Products Industry; Industrial Products Industry

Article

How to Capture Value from Innovation: Shaping Intellectual Property and Industry Architecture

By: Gary P. Pisano and David J. Teece

Capturing value from innovation requires innovators to figure out how to blunt inroads into the profit stream by imitators, customers, suppliers, and other providers of complementary products and services. In making strategic decisions around technology... View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Intellectual Property; Knowledge Management; Knowledge Sharing; Industry Structures; Standards; Commercialization; Value

April 1982 (Revised June 1985)
Case

Westinghouse Electric Corp.: Quality of Earnings Analysis

Westinghouse had just issued its annual report to shareholders for the year ending December 31, 1973. The report indicates that sales have increased to a record $5.7 billion but that net income is down almost 20% from its record level of $199 million in the previous... View Details

Keywords: Business Earnings; Financial Reporting; Corporate Finance; Electronics Industry

November 1976
Article

Partial Equilibrium Approach to the Free-Rider Problem

By: Jerry R. Green, Elon Kohlberg and Jean-Jacques Laffont

Groves and others have shown that truthful answers concerning preferences for public goods can be elicited as dominant strategies if appropriate tax-subsidies rules are applied. This paper studies the statistical properties of the total revenues generated by one of the... View Details

Keywords: Problems and Challenges

2006
Working Paper

The Limits of Authority: Motivation versus Coordination

By: Eric J. Van den Steen

This paper studies the effects of open disagreement on motivation and coordination. It shows how, in the presence of differing priors, motivation and coordination impose conflicting demands on the allocation of authority, leading to a trade-off between the... View Details

Keywords: Decisions; Governance Controls; Organizational Culture; Agency Theory; Conflict and Resolution; Motivation and Incentives

SSRN

November 2000 (Revised December 2000)
Background Note

Online Content Providers

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Alastair Brown

Describes the business model for online content providers, companies that distribute copyright content via the Internet. Focuses on their revenue and cost drivers and on the ways that online content providers create value for consumers. Also investigates the benefits... View Details

Keywords: Internet and the Web; Customers; Value Creation; Business Model; Internet and the Web; Cash Flow; Risk and Uncertainty; Growth and Development Strategy; Problems and Challenges; Decision Making; Profit; Information Industry

May 2000
Article

Maxmin Expected Utility over Savage Acts with a Set of Priors

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell, Peter Klibanoff and Emre Ozdenoren

This paper provides an axiomatic foundation for a maxmin expected utility over a set of priors (MMEU) decision rule in an environment where the elements of choice are Savage acts. This characterization complements the original axiomatizations of MMEU developed in a... View Details

Keywords: Uncertainty Aversion; Ambiguity; Expected Utility; Set Of Priors; Knightian Uncertainty; Decision Making; Game Theory; Risk and Uncertainty; Mathematical Methods

March 2021
Article

Active Choice, Implicit Defaults, and the Incentive to Choose

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

Home-delivered prescriptions have no delivery charge and lower copayments than prescriptions picked up at a pharmacy. Nevertheless, when home delivery is offered on an opt-in basis, the take-up rate is only 6%. We study a program that makes active choice of either home... View Details

Keywords: Active Choice; Defaults; Implicit Defaults; Incentives; Consumer Behavior; Decision Choices and Conditions; Motivation and Incentives

April 2001 (Revised November 2001)
Case

AvantGo

By: Alan D. MacCormack and Kerry Herman

Richard Owen, CEO of AvantGo, is preparing for a meeting in which he will set the human resource policy for the firm going forward. It has been three months since the company's IPO, and given the tremendous cramp in hiring over the six months prior to the IPO, he knows... View Details

Keywords: Initial Public Offering; Management Teams; Selection and Staffing; Retention; Growth and Development Strategy; Performance Evaluation; Information Technology; Decisions; Information Technology Industry; Service Industry; United States

June 2024 (Revised September 2024)
Case

Sequoia Capital

By: Jo Tango, Christina Wallace, Srimayi Mylavarapu and Johnson Elugbadebo

Sequoia Capital, a venture capital firm founded in 1972, quickly grew to become one of the most storied venture capital firms in the world. Fueled by a strong culture, Sequoia's investment track record included the names of some of the largest global successes.... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Organizational Culture; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Restructuring; Corporate Strategy; Financial Services Industry

September 26, 2022
Article

Is Your Family Office Built for the Future?

By: Josh Baron and Rob Lachenauer

Family offices can provide a number of benefits, including privacy, customization, and having your own team to handle a wide range of services, such as guiding family philanthropy, managing shared properties, or even managing household help. Successful principals in... View Details

Keywords: Business Offices; Family and Family Relationships

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March 2021
Supplement

Artea (A), (B), (C), and (D): Designing Targeting Strategies

By: Eva Ascarza and Ayelet Israeli

Power Point Supplement to Teaching Note for HBS No. 521-021,521-022,521-037,521-043. This collection of exercises aims to teach students about 1)Targeting Policies; and 2)Algorithmic bias in marketing—implications, causes, and possible solutions. Part (A) focuses on... View Details

Keywords: Targeted Advertising; Targeting; Algorithmic Data; Bias; A/B Testing; Experiment; Advertising; Gender; Race; Diversity; Marketing; Customer Relationship Management; Prejudice and Bias; Analytics and Data Science; Retail Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Technology Industry; United States

2017
Working Paper

The Accounting Rookie Job Market: A Practitioner's Guide

By: Ethan Rouen

This paper offers guidance and shares collective wisdom for accounting Ph.D. students who will be entering the academic job market. It is divided into two sections. The first offers subjective advice on the dissertation process—from choosing a topic to surviving the... View Details

Keywords: Accounting; Jobs and Positions; Job Search