Publications

SSRN

Article

Can You Cut 'Turn Times' Without Adding Staff?

By: Ethan Bernstein and Ryan W. Buell

The president of RSA Ground, the subsidiary of Rising Sun Airlines responsible for servicing its planes at airports across Japan, goes undercover as a service crew member to discover how and whether his employees can speed up cleaning, checking, restocking, and... View Details

Keywords: Employee Empowerment; Employee Motivation; Turnaround; Service Operations; Employees; Motivation and Incentives; Leadership; Air Transportation Industry; Japan

24 Mar 2008
Research & Ideas

Reducing Risk with Online Advertising

bottom of this quickly and successfully is tempered by the incentive of staff to do what is in their personal interest. Q: What are you working on next? A: I am working on other aspects of online advertising contracts that seem... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Video Game; Web Services

18 Feb 2022
Blog Post

Short Intensive Program (SIP): Climate Adaptation

Short Intensive Program (SIP) Recap: Climate Adaptation From January 18th through January 21st, approximately 40 students gathered in Aldrich Hall for a SIP on Climate Adaptation. This course was led by HBS Professor John Macomber with... View Details

July 9, 2019
Article

Setting Better Sales Goals with Analytics

By: Doug J. Chung, Isabel Huber, Vinay Murthy, Varun Sunku and Marije Weber

Sales compensation is a critical lever in motivating a salesforce and driving growth in the business-to-business sector: Studies show that revising compensation in line with market trends can have a 50% greater impact on sales than advertisements have, for instance. A... View Details

Keywords: Analytics; Salesforce Management; Compensation and Benefits; Motivation and Incentives; Goals and Objectives

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26 Oct 2009
Lessons from the Classroom

The New Deal: Negotiauctions

"boilerplate" to the agents' incentives to just lack of creative thinking and willingness to push the boundaries of what's done. One of the goals of the book is to put these kinds of moves on the table View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna

09 Jul 2009
Working Paper Summaries

Performance Pressure as a Double-Edged Sword: Enhancing Team Motivation While Undermining the Use of Team Knowledge

Keywords: by Heidi K. Gardner

20 Mar 2012
First Look

First Look: March 20

either system can lead to the subversion of expected relationships in the other. This book rejects the simple equation of capitalism with markets or with trade, in favor of a three-level system that embraces factor markets as well those View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

2016
Article

Buying to Blunt Negative Feelings: Materialistic Escape from the Self

By: Grant Edward Donnelly, Masha Ksendzova, Ryan Howell, Kathleen Vohs and Roy F. Baumeister

We propose that escape theory, which describes how individuals seek to free themselves from aversive states of self-awareness, helps explain key patterns of materialistic people’s behavior. As predicted by escape theory, materialistic individuals may feel dissatisfied... View Details

Keywords: Materialism; Escape; Self; Negative Emotions; Self-awareness; Emotions; Consumer Behavior; Identity; Motivation and Incentives

Find at Harvard

Article

Enfranchisement of Service Workers

By: Leonard A. Schlesinger and James Heskett

Enfranchisement is achieved through an integration of empowerment with methods of pay for performance. Evidence from Ito Yokado Group in Japan and Nordstrom in the US demonstrates the positive effects of enfranchisement. Successful efforts to enfranchise employees: 1.... View Details

Keywords: Motivation and Incentives; Franchise Ownership; Employees; Compensation and Benefits; Service Industry; Japan; United States

September 1998 (Revised April 2001)
Case

Sealed Air Taiwan (A)

By: Lynn S. Paine and Robert J. Crawford

The general manager for U.S.-based Sealed Air Corp.'s Taiwan subsidiary must decide whether he's hired the right person to bridge the gap between Sealed Air's corporate culture and Taiwan's business culture. This case details Bob Kayser's experiences in trying to... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Relationships; Service Operations; Motivation and Incentives; Management Skills; Compensation and Benefits; Taiwan; United States

Educators

25 Jan 2011
First Look

First Look: Jan. 25

founders serve as a director with a non-founder CEO (founder-director firms). We find that founder-director firms offer a different mix of incentives to their CEOs than other firms. Pay for performance... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

12 Oct 1999
Research & Ideas

Porter’s Perspective: Competing in the Global Economy

problems that hold back the rest of their economy. The problem is, isolated zones for processing foreign inputs and exporting all these outputs are the antithesis of cluster development. Emerging nations must create programs and View Details

Keywords: Re: Michael E. Porter

19 Dec 2017
First Look

New Research and Ideas, December 19, 2017

precision medicines (LPMs) as those that use one or more relevant biomarkers. We then further segment trials based on the nature of the biomarker(s) used and other trial features with economic implications. Given potential changes in the View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

June 2011
Article

The Paradox of Excellence

By: Thomas J. DeLong and Sara DeLong

Why is it that so many smart, ambitious professionals are less productive and satisfied than they could be? We argue that it's often because they're afraid to demonstrate any sign of weakness. They're reluctant to ask important questions or try new... View Details

Keywords: Employees; Innovation and Invention; Strength and Weakness; Performance Productivity; Risk and Uncertainty; Motivation and Incentives; Satisfaction

Find at Harvard

15 Dec 2009
First Look

First Look: Dec. 15, 2009

become the hubs of the network. Download the paper: http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/10-043.pdf Policy Bundling to Overcome Loss Aversion: A Method for Improving Legislative Outcomes (revised) Authors:Katherine L. Milkman, Mary Carol... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

December 16, 2021
Article

Avoid a One-Size-Fits-All Approach to Sales Coaching

By: Frank V. Cespedes

Coaching sales reps is about clarifying relevant behaviors and whether the issue is motivation or ability. Some reps may work hard, but lack certain capabilities while others demonstrate capability but seemingly lack motivation or effort. Good coaching helps to clarify... View Details

Keywords: Salesforce Management; Training; Competency and Skills; Motivation and Incentives

Find at Harvard

August 2024 (Revised November 2024)
Case

No Labels and the 2024 Presidential Insurance Plan

By: Robert F. White and Tom Quinn

After observing record voter dissatisfaction with the choices in the 2024 U.S. presidential election—Democratic nominee President Joe Biden and Republican nominee and former President Donald Trump—the bipartisan nonprofit No Labels decided to reserve ballot access in... View Details

Keywords: Disruption; Forecasting and Prediction; Lawsuits and Litigation; Failure; System Shocks; Political Elections; Motivation and Incentives; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; United States

Educators