Publications

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March 2020
Case

Behavior Change for Good

By: Max Bazerman, Michael Luca and Marie Lawrence

In 2017, Katy Milkman and Angela Duckworth created Behavior Change for Good (BCFG)—a behavioral science initiative founded with the goal of helping people achieve long-term behavior change in the areas of personal health, financial decisions (savings), and education.... View Details

Keywords: Behavioral Science; Interventions; Behavior; Change; Health

July 2014
Article

Winners in the Spotlight: Media Coverage of Fund Holdings as a Driver of Flows

By: David H. Solomon, Eugene F. Soltes and Denis Sosyura

We show that media coverage of mutual fund holdings affects how investors allocate money across funds. Controlling for fund performance, fund holdings with high past returns attract extra flows only if these stocks were recently featured in major newspapers. In... View Details

Keywords: Prejudice and Bias; Media; Investment Funds; Financial Services Industry

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August 2014
Article

What Makes Annuitization More Appealing?

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

We conduct and analyze two large surveys of hypothetical annuitization choices. We find that allowing individuals to annuitize a fraction of their wealth increases annuitization relative to a situation where annuitization is an "all or nothing" decision. Very few... View Details

Keywords: Annuity; Pension; Retirement Income; Framing; Annuities; Retirement

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February 2009 (Revised March 2009)
Case

Publicis Groupe 2009: Toward a Digital Transformation

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and Matthew Bird

After a series of acquisitions, Maurice Levy, the Chairman and CEO of Publicis Groupe, had created the fourth largest marketing and communications company in the world. His next major challenge was managing the firm's digital transformation. In December 2006, the... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Transformation; Financial Crisis; Globalized Firms and Management; Leading Change; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Expansion; Information Technology; Advertising Industry; Communications Industry

December 2003
Case

Fox Bids for the NFL-1993

By: Bharat N. Anand and Catherine M. Conneely

The Fox television network, launched in 1987 by Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. was in a precarious position in 1993. Although it had met its business plan targets, its ratings in the recently concluded November "sweeps" were indifferent, several of its newly launched... View Details

Keywords: Valuation; Competitive Strategy; Financial Reporting; Bids and Bidding; Revenue; Television Entertainment; Media and Broadcasting Industry

July 1990 (Revised August 1995)
Case

Symantec--1982-90

By: Nitin Nohria

As Symantec grew from a small, upstart software development company to a major player in the software development industry, the channels of information flow and the internal communication needs of the company became more complex. The geographically-dispersed structure... View Details

Keywords: Applications and Software; Communication Technology; Communication; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Employee Relationship Management; Growth and Development; Knowledge Dissemination; Knowledge Sharing; Knowledge Management; Information Technology Industry; United States

September 1977 (Revised June 1984)
Case

Meeting of the Overhead Reduction Task Force

By: John J. Gabarro and James G. Clawson

Outlines events leading up to a meeting of a six-person task force which has been assigned to reduce overhead costs at a major manufacturing company. History of the company, and backgrounds of all the task force members are presented. Raises the following questions and... View Details

Keywords: Conflict Management; Cost Management; Cooperation; Planning; Manufacturing Industry

08 Mar 2017
News

H1B visa squeeze threatens US tech leadership

MARTINEZ-RODRIGUEZ, S. “Mistresses of Company Capital: Female Partners in Multiowner Firms, Spain (1886-1936)"

Contrary to the impression put forth in the literature, Spanish women at the turn of the twentieth century played an active and visible role in the business sphere. Using a unique database containing microdata on the founders of Spanish multi-owner firms from... View Details

May 2009 (Revised January 2011)
Case

Enel: Power, Russia, and Global Markets

By: Rawi E. Abdelal, Richard H.K. Vietor and Sogomon Tarontsi

Although the global trend toward liberalization of electric utilities forced Enel, the largest power company in Italy, to give up some of its assets in its home base, it also opened up many opportunities abroad, including in Russia, one of the largest electricity... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Energy Generation; Foreign Direct Investment; Global Strategy; Globalized Firms and Management; Globalized Markets and Industries; Business and Government Relations; Utilities Industry; Russia; Italy

Summer 2021
Article

The Cost and Evolution of Quality at Cipla Ltd, 1935–2016

By: Muhammad H. Zaman and Tarun Khanna

This article examines the evolution of Indian pharmaceutical manufacturer Cipla towards producing drugs that met the quality standards of European and U.S. regulators. It employs new research in Cipla’s corporate archives, the Creating Emerging Markets database, and... View Details

Keywords: Cipla; Pharmaceuticals; Drug Quality; Generics; Quality; Standards; Information Technology; Cost; Organizational Culture; Business History; Pharmaceutical Industry; India

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17 Nov 2009
First Look

First Look: Nov. 17

major role in propelling growth. But there were two key differences. First, the scale of Chinese currency intervention was without precedent, as were the resulting distortions of the world economy. Second, the Chinese have so far resisted... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

28 May 2024
In Practice

Job Search Advice for a Tough Market: Think Broadly and Stay Flexible

industry- or function-specific in focus, while other firms concentrate on small or family businesses, the public sector, and even private equity. By limiting your focus to the major strategic firms, you will significantly decrease the... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

10 Jan 2011
Research & Ideas

Is Groupon Good for Retailers?

spas, paintball parties, etc., at a major markdown—up to 90 percent off a retailer's usual prices—and then requiring the retailer to pay a big chunk of the voucher revenues back to Groupon. But the Chicago-based firm is "the fastest... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Advertising; Technology

23 Nov 2021
Book

What It Takes to Build an Organizational Culture That Wins

with a major competitive advantage, allowing for higher employee and customer engagement and loyalty, all of which translate into greater growth and profits. Although many business leaders are aware of these benefits, too few are focused... View Details

Keywords: by Avery Forman

17 Jan 2024
HBS Case

Psychological Pricing Tactics to Fight the Inflation Blues

Many consumers recovering from the worst inflation in 40 years continue to closely watch their spending—they want to know that every expense is worth it. Now companies must confront a major challenge: gauging how much, if any, of their... View Details

Keywords: by Jay Fitzgerald; Consumer Products; Retail

Research Summary

Overview

Professor Keenan studies barriers to and motivators of prosocial behavior, using a combination of field, laboratory, and online experimental methods. Her recent work investigates donors’ aversion to overhead spending by nonprofits, including its negative effects on the... View Details

August 2022 (Revised March 2025)
Case

Wasabi Technologies (A)

By: N. Louis Shipley and Mel Martin

After launching a successful hot cloud storage company, Founder and CEO David Friend is ready to scale the venture rapidly. Wasabi Technologies had focused primarily on direct sales, but an opportunity to pivot to channel sales was on the horizon. The company’s major... View Details

Keywords: Direct Sales; Channel Sales; Information Management; Sales; Product Development; Growth and Development Strategy; Business Divisions; Information Technology Industry; United States