Publications

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July 2003 (Revised April 2011)
Case

Singapore Airlines: Customer Service Innovation

By: Rohit Deshpande and Hal Hogan

The members of Singapore Airlines' (SIA) management committee needs to decide whether to cancel the implementation of the new lie-flat seats in business class after the effects of the global recession on the travel industry in September 2001. SIA was considered the... View Details

Keywords: Customer Focus and Relationships; Economic Slowdown and Stagnation; Management Teams; Brands and Branding; Air Transportation Industry; Travel Industry; Singapore

June 1981 (Revised May 1988)
Case

L.L. Bean, Inc.: Corporate Strategy

By: Hirotaka Takeuchi

L.L. Bean, Inc., a Maine-based manufacturer and mail-order retailer of sporting goods and apparel, has grown from $3 million in sales (1967) to over $120 million (1980). Current projections predict an annual compounded growth of 25% through 1985. Management must decide... View Details

Keywords: Globalization; Growth and Development; Growth Management; Production; Quality; Sales; Situation or Environment; Corporate Strategy; Internet and the Web; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Retail Industry

31 Jul 2012
News

Two Harvard Business School Teams Win Chef Ferran Adrià's Global Ideas Challenge Competition

24 Jan 2018
News

Economics in Central Banking Award 2018: BPP and PriceStats

05 Dec 2023
Research & Ideas

Lessons in Decision-Making: Confident People Aren't Always Correct (Except When They Are)

time to revisit outdated branding or stick with an established image? Executives aspire to project confidence in their decisions, lest they seem incompetent. “In teams, and organizations more broadly, self-selection often plays a critical... View Details

Keywords: by Kara Baskin

2024
Working Paper

Why Has Construction Productivity Stagnated? The Role of Land-Use Regulation

By: Leonardo D’Amico, Edward Glaeser, Joseph Gyourko, William Kerr and Giacomo A. M. Ponzetto

We document a Kuznets curve for construction productivity in 20th-century America. Homes built per construction worker remained stagnant between 1900 and 1940, boomed after World War II, and then plummeted after 1970. The productivity boom from 1940 to 1970 shows... View Details

Keywords: Governance Controls; Performance Productivity; Local Range; Construction Industry

Article

Doing Business with Strangers: Reputation in Online Service Marketplaces

By: Antonio Moreno and Christian Terwiesch

Online service marketplaces allow service buyers to post their project requests and service providers to bid for them. To reduce the transactional risks, marketplaces typically track and publish previous seller performance. By analyzing a detailed transactional data... View Details

Keywords: Online Service Marketplace; Procurement; Auctions; Reputation; Bids and Bidding

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2014
Working Paper

Bridging Science and Technology Through Academic-Industry Partnerships

By: Sen Chai and Willy C. Shih

Scientific research and its translation into commercialized technology is a driver of wealth creation and economic growth. Partnerships to foster the translational processes from public research organizations, such as universities and hospitals, to private firms are a... View Details

Keywords: Innovation; Firm Performance; Public-private Partnership Funding; Translational Research; Small And Medium Enterprises; Partners and Partnerships; Public Sector; Private Sector; Performance; Science-Based Business; Innovation and Invention

SSRN

February 1997 (Revised September 1997)
Case

Bidding for Antamina

By: Peter Tufano

In June 1996, executives of the multinational mining company RTZ-CRA contemplate bidding to acquire the Antamina copper and zinc mine in Peru. The Antamina project is being offered for sale by auction as part of the privatization of Peru's state mining company. RTZ-CRA... View Details

Keywords: Valuation; Auctions; Bids and Bidding; Mining; Mining Industry; Peru

September 2016 (Revised October 2018)
Case

LabCDMX: Experiment 50

By: Mitchell Weiss and Maria Fernanda Miguel

There were probably 30,000 public buses, minibuses, and vans in Mexico City. Though, in 2015, no one knew for certain since no comprehensive schedule existed. This was why el Laboratorio para la Ciudad (or LabCDMX) had spawned an effort to generate a map of the... View Details

Keywords: Public Entrepreneurship; Experimentation; Lean Startup; Government; Innovation; Crowdsourcing; Open Data; Entrepreneurship; Social Entrepreneurship; Innovation and Invention; Innovation Leadership; Government Administration; Transportation; Transportation Industry; Mexico City; Mexico

15 Sep 2021
News

Answer to U.S. Labor Shortage? ‘Hidden’ Workforce

TeachingInterests

MBA Elective Curriculum Business-to-Business Marketing

Business markets differ from consumer markets in important ways. Typically, the buying process is more complex, the buying units and purchase criteria differ, and marketing decisions are more closely interrelated with firm-wide strategic choices. In addition,... View Details

Research Summary

Evolution of the Global Beauty Industry

By: Geoffrey G. Jones

This research examines the global beauty industry, which includes cosmetics, deodorants, fragrances, hair care, oral hygiene and skin care. Today global sales of cosmetics and toiletries are in excess of U.S. $380 billion. This research examines the growth of this... View Details

2024
Working Paper

Migration Fear and Minority Crowd-Funding Success: Evidence from Kickstarter

By: John (Jianqui) Bai, William R. Kerr, Chi Wan and Alptug Yorulmaz

We study racial biases on Kickstarter across multiple ethnic groups from 2009-2021. Scaling the concept of racially salient events, we quantify the close co-movement of minority funding gaps to inflamed political rhetoric surrounding migration. The racial funding gap... View Details

Keywords: Crowdfunding; Prejudice and Bias; Race; Immigration; Public Opinion

Article

Financing Innovation

By: William R. Kerr and Ramana Nanda

We review the recent literature on the financing of innovation, inclusive of large companies and new startups. This research strand has been very active over the past five years, generating important new findings, questioning some long-held beliefs, and creating its... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Borrowing and Debt; Innovation and Invention

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2013
Working Paper

Financial vs. Strategic Buyers

By: Marc Martos-Vila, Matthew Rhodes-Kropf and Jarrad Harford

This paper introduces the impact of debt misvaluation on merger and acquisition activity. Debt misvaluation helps explain the shifting dominance of financial acquirers (private equity firms) relative to strategic acquirers (operating companies). The effects of... View Details

Keywords: Misvaluation; Mergers and Acquisitions; Private Equity

September 2000 (Revised February 2025)
Case

Netflix (2000)

By: E. Scott Mayfield

The CEO of a successful Internet start-up must decide whether to delay the company's initial public offering following a significant decline in the NASDAQ market during the spring of 2000. The company's CFO is asked to reevaluate the company's projected cash flow needs... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Contracts; Initial Public Offering; Cash Flow; Service Delivery; Financial Strategy; Web Services Industry

May 1997
Teaching Note

Product Development Process, Organization and Improvement, Instructor's Note

By: Marco Iansiti

Explores how development projects fit (or do not fit) within a firm's development strategy and its wider competitive goals. Module materials, and this note, focus on two broad approaches to process design (sequential and flexible) that were originally introduced in the... View Details

Keywords: Goals and Objectives; Management Practices and Processes; Product Development; Performance Improvement; Competition

March 1992 (Revised April 2000)
Case

Joline Godfrey and the Polaroid Corporation (A)

By: Linda A. Hill and Nancy A Kamprath

Describes how Joline Godfrey, an intrapreneur at the Polaroid Corp., introduced and developed a project that could help Polaroid move to a more service- as opposed to product-oriented focus. Also depicts the mentor-protege relationship between Godfrey and Gerald... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Entrepreneurship; Rank and Position; Leading Change; Problems and Challenges; Change; Electronics Industry; Consumer Products Industry