Publications

We introduce the concept of an underdog brand biography to describe an emerging trend in branding in which firms author a historical account of their humble origins, lack of resources, and determined struggle against the odds. We identify two essential... View Details

Research Summary

Understanding the Drivers and Limits of Corporate Growth

By: Gary P. Pisano

Perhaps no issues garners more attention of senior executives and Boards of Directors than growth. Yet, the underlying factors shaping and limiting corporate growth are poorly understood. Empirically, we know that some corporations grow much faster than... View Details

2010
Working Paper

Local R&D Strategies and Multi-location Firms: The Role of Internal Linkages

By: Juan Alcacer and Minyuan Zhao

This study looks at the role of firms' internal linkages in highly competitive technology clusters, where much of the world's R&D takes place. The leading players in these clusters are multi-location firms that organize and integrate knowledge across sites worldwide.... View Details

Keywords: Geographic Location; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Technological Innovation; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Industry Clusters; Research and Development; Competitive Advantage; Semiconductor Industry

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October 2023 (Revised November 2023)
Case

Recycle & Re-Match: The Future of Soccer Turfs

By: George Serafeim, Lena Duchene and Carlota Moniz

By August 2023, Re-Match, an artificial turf waste-to-value company, had operations in Denmark and the Netherlands and had recycled over 160,000 tons of waste and plastic fiber. With recent capital injection from the VC firm Verdane and a dual revenue business model,... View Details

2023
Working Paper

Rising Markups and the Role of Consumer Preferences

By: Hendrik Döpper, Alexander MacKay, Nathan H. Miller and Joel Stiebale

We characterize the evolution of markups for consumer products in the United States from 2006 to 2019. We use detailed data on prices and quantities for products in more than 100 distinct product categories to estimate demand systems with flexible... View Details

Keywords: Market Power; Markups; Demand Estimation; Consumer Products; Retailers; Product; Price; Demand and Consumers; Consumer Behavior

SSRN

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01 Dec 1997
News

A Piece of the Action

summer, others will just use it as a satellite office for a day or two. Assistant Professor Jeffrey L. Bradach, for example, is currently studying the use of temporary personnel as high-level employees, and... View Details

Keywords: Susan Young

01 Sep 2016
News

The Taxi Wars of Jakarta

Jakarta has a reputation as an impenetrable place. Viewed from atop one of the many business hotels in the center of View Details

Keywords: Jeffrey Hutton; Illustrations by Josh Cochran

2009
Working Paper

Watch What I Do, Not What I Say: The Unintended Consequences of the Homeland Investment Act

By: Dhammika Dharmapala, C. Fritz Foley and Kristin J. Forbes

This paper analyzes the impact on firm behavior of the Homeland Investment Act of 2004, which provided a one-time tax holiday for the repatriation of foreign earnings by U.S. multinationals. The analysis controls for endogeneity and omitted variable bias by using... View Details

Keywords: Investment; Multinational Firms and Management; Government Legislation; Taxation; Business and Shareholder Relations; Behavior; United States

January 2013 (Revised April 2013)
Technical Note

Relational Contracts and the Roots of Sustained Competitive Advantage

By: Rebecca M. Henderson

This note focuses on organizational "competencies" or "capabilities" as a potential source of sustained competitive advantage. Research in this area hypothesizes that some firms outperform their competition because they can do things that their rivals cannot. View Details

Keywords: Competitive Advantage; Performance

TeachingInterests

Managing the Future of Work (MBA Education—Elective Curriculum)

By: Christopher T. Stanton

The nature and scope of work is changing rapidly, creating massive business challenges in the shadow of broader political and social shifts. HBS launched a major initiative in 2017 on Managing the Future of Work to define these workplace issues and... View Details

01 Dec 2004
News

The Future of Stem Cells

present, the business of stem cells remains a fledgling enterprise. Spar says that figures for 2003 reveal that only ten U.S. private-sector firms were actively involved in... View Details

Keywords: Garry Emmons

01 Dec 2014
News

Research Brief: The Power of Could

often do so by employing the lesson revealed by Zhang and her coauthors: The path to good might begin by embracing could.—Francis Storrs “Does ‘Could’ Lead to Good? Toward a View Details

October 2011 (Revised September 2014)
Case

Paddle8: Painting a New Picture of the Art Market

By: Mukti Khaire

The Paddle8 case is a short case that presents the idea for a new business in the global art market and asks students to evaluate whether it will work, given the structure and unique workings of the art market. Paddle8 is a New York-based startup that partners with... View Details

Keywords: Arts; Business Plan; Business Startups; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Internet and the Web; Trade; Fine Arts Industry; New York (city, NY)

2014
Article

Models of Caring, or Acting as if One Cared, About the Welfare of Others

By: Julio J. Rotemberg

This paper surveys the theoretical literature in which people are modeled as taking other people's payoffs into account either because this affects their utility directly or because they wish to impress others with their social-mindedness. Key experimental results that... View Details

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