Publications

SSRN

2017
Working Paper

Biased Beliefs About Random Samples: Evidence from Two Integrated Experiments

By: Daniel J. Benjamin, Don A. Moore and Matthew Rabin

This paper describes results of a pair of incentivized experiments on biases in judgments about random samples. Consistent with the Law of Small Numbers (LSN), participants exaggerated the likelihood that short sequences and random subsets of coin flips would be... View Details

Keywords: Probability; Economic Theory; Analysis; Incentives

August 2021 (Revised February 2022)
Case

Northvolt: Making the World's Greenest Battery

By: Jurgen R. Weiss and Emilie Billaud

In 2021, the demand for lithium-ion batteries increased rapidly, particularly for electric vehicles. Anxious not to be reliant on Asian players, Europe was keen on developing its own home-grown capacity to control the value chain, maintain employment in Europe, and get... View Details

March 2009
Article

Risk Management and Calculative Cultures

By: Anette Mikes

Enterprise risk management (ERM) has recently emerged as a widespread practice in financial institutions. It has been increasingly codified and encrypted into regulatory, corporate governance and organisational management blueprints. A burgeoning literature of... View Details

Keywords: Risk Management; Practice; Banks and Banking; Corporate Governance; Value; Business and Shareholder Relations; Managerial Roles; Culture; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Business or Company Management; Financial Services Industry

Article

How to Bounce Back from Adversity

By: Joshua D. Margolis and Paul G. Stoltz

The article focuses on how companies can be managed to overcome adversity with resilience. The characteristics of resilient managers who provide leadership for their teams and can build resilience in their employees are discussed. The manager's ability to shift... View Details

Keywords: Competency and Skills; Leadership; Crisis Management; Managerial Roles; Behavior; Cognition and Thinking

11 Nov 2021
Blog Post

ZONE DEFENSE: These self-driving, AI-powered drones do recon so soldiers don’t have to

Brandon Tseng (MBA 2017) remembers his aha moment. It was April 2015, and Tseng was a US Navy SEAL approaching the end of seven years’ service; his next step would be Harvard Business School. Tseng was reading about a military effort to... View Details

Teaching

Overview

In the MBA program, Professor Fearing teaches Technology and Operations Management (TOM), a required first-year MBA course.

In January 2013 he traveled with a cohort of... View Details

2012
Book

The Founder's Dilemmas: Anticipating and Avoiding the Pitfalls That Can Sink a Startup

By: Noam Wasserman

Often downplayed in the excitement of starting up a new business venture is one of the most important decisions entrepreneurs will face: Should they go it alone or bring in cofounders, hires, and investors to help build the business? More than just financial rewards... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Partners and Partnerships; Social Psychology; Outcome or Result

March 1999 (Revised June 2005)
Case

Saevig Corporation

By: Henry B. Reiling and Mark Pollard

The taxpayer purchased land and later transferred it to a family controlled corporation in return for an earn out. When funds were eventually received, the IRS treated them as dividends, whereas the individual and corporate taxpayers contended they were sums paid on... View Details

Keywords: Investment Return; Debt Securities; Taxation; Outcome or Result; Financial Reporting; Family Business; Assets; Business and Stakeholder Relations

February 2012 (Revised October 2012)
Case

Caijing Magazine (A)

By: Karthik Ramanna and G.A. Donovan

In late 2009, Wang Boming, publisher of Caijing Magazine, widely regarded as China's most independent newsmagazine, gathered his core team for an urgent meeting. His pioneering editor Hu Shuli, described for her fiercely independent journalism as "the most dangerous... View Details

Keywords: Journals and Magazines; Publishing Industry; China

October 1998
Case

"Pathways to Independence": Welfare-to-Work at Marriott International

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and Ellen Pruyne

In 1991 Marriott International established a program called Pathways to Independence to recruit and train people from the welfare rolls. The program graduated over 1,000 people in eight years and retained about 20% more of its participants than regular hires. Now the... View Details

Keywords: Recruitment; Retention; Training; Expansion; Quality; Poverty; Programs

18 Oct 2006
Research & Ideas

New at the Helm: A Talk with HBS Dean Light

Departments. "The underlying logic of much of decision and control theory was similar to the underlying structure of how we at JPL would... View Details

Keywords: by Roger Thompson; Education

December 2014
Other Article

Private Equity, Jobs, and Productivity—Online Appendix

By: Steven J. Davis, John Haltiwanger, Kyle Handley, Ron Jarmin, Josh Lerner and Javier Miranda

Private equity critics claim that leveraged buyouts bring huge job losses. To investigate this claim, we construct and analyze a new dataset that covers U.S. private equity transactions from 1980 to 2005. We track 3,200 target firms and their 150,000 establishments... View Details

Keywords: Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Private Equity; Performance Productivity

Teaching Interest

Business Analysis and Valuation Using Financial Statements

By: Suraj Srinivasan

This course provides hands-on experience in financial statement analysis. Students are exposed to tools of financial analysis, theoretical concepts, and practical valuation issues. By the end of the course, students become comfortable with using firms' financial... View Details

2007
Working Paper

Digital Interactivity: Unanticipated Consequences for Markets, Marketing, and Consumers

By: John A. Deighton and Leora Kornfeld

The digital interactive transformation in marketing is not unfolding, as many thought it would, on the model of direct marketing. That model anticipated that digital media using rich profiling data would intrude marketing messaging more deeply and more precisely into... View Details

Keywords: Communication Intention and Meaning; Interactive Communication; Marketing Communications; Consumer Behavior; Social and Collaborative Networks; Internet and the Web

Fall 2022
Article

China's Political Economy and International Backlash: From Interdependence to Security Dilemma Dynamics

By: Margaret Pearson, Meg Rithmire and Kellee Tsai

Contrary to expectations that economic interdependence might lessen security conflict between China and the U.S. and its allies, much of the contestation between China and several OECD countries has focused on firms and economic links. This paper explains the... View Details

Keywords: Globalized Markets and Industries; Government and Politics; Information Technology; China

13 May 2015
News

Small Wins Go a Long Way in Improving U.S. Rail Transportation

08 Jul 2014
News

Reframing infrastructure: It's really mobility

08 Nov 2023
Blog Post

Zone Defense: These self-driving, AI-powered drones do recon so soldiers don’t have to

This blog was originally published in 2021. Brandon Tseng (MBA 2017) remembers his aha moment. It was April 2015, and Tseng was a US Navy SEAL approaching the end of seven years’ service; his next step would be Harvard Business School.... View Details

Keywords: Technology; Entrepreneurship

January 2005 (Revised July 2005)
Case

Gretta Enterprises

Describes Gretchen ("Gretta") Monahan's founding and management of Gretta Enterprises, which has grown to five outlets--salons, day spas, and fashion boutiques--and $10 million in annual revenue in 10 years. Monahan's role as a television host on TLC's A Makeover Story... View Details

Keywords: Growth Management; Entrepreneurship; Leadership Style; Fashion Industry; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry