Publications

1991
Article

Job Satisfaction, Service Capability and Customer Satisfaction: An Examination of Linkages and Management Implications

By: Leonard A. Schlesinger and Jeffrey Zornitsky

Survey data from 1,277 employees and 4,269 customers of a personal lines insurance organization were analyzed with the following results: (a) employee perceptions of service quality are positively related to both job satisfaction and self-perceived service capability;... View Details

Keywords: Service Delivery; Satisfaction; Jobs and Positions; Customer Satisfaction

August 2001 (Revised August 2012)
Case

BestDoctors, Inc.

By: Regina E. Herzlinger and Seth Bokser

Upon learning the news of a critical illness, patients and their families are shocked, saddened, fearful, and angry all at once. And just as soon as they catch their collective breath, they all ask the same question—a question that has the potential to infuse hope into... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Entrepreneurship; Health Care and Treatment; Medical Specialties; Knowledge Sharing; Demand and Consumers; Health Industry

25 Jul 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas: July 25, 2017

forthcoming Journal of Political Economy Reserve Design: Unintended Consequences and the Demise of Boston's Walk Zones By: Dur, Umut, Scott Duke Kominers, Parag A. Pathak, and Tayfun Sönmez Abstract—Admissions policies often use reserves to grant certain applicants... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

27 Jan 2020
Research & Ideas

Hard Work Isn't Enough: How to Find Your Edge

Associate Professor Laura Huang, who studies early entrepreneurship, where failure is common. “You can take two people who work equally hard, and one person will naturally have an advantage and achieve success, while the other can’t climb... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

June 2024 (Revised June 2025)
Case

Dylan Mulvaney and Bud Light

By: Jill Avery and Celine Chammas

On April 1, 2023, social media content creator and influencer Dylan Mulvaney recorded a promotional post. It featured a video of herself drinking from a can of Bud Light beer, offering a virtual toast to her followers. Alongside the video, she posted a photograph of a... View Details

Keywords: Brand Crises; Brand Management; Influencer Marketing; Boycott; Marketing Strategy; Marketing Communications; Brands and Branding; Consumer Behavior; Social Media; Advertising; Social Issues; Public Opinion; Consumer Products Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; United States

June 16, 2014
Article

Working With Your In-Laws Isn't Always a Terrible Idea

By: Josh Baron and Rob Lachenauer

This article delves into the complex dynamics involving in-laws within family-owned enterprises. In-laws often face a challenging dual role as they must conform to the same professional standards as non-family employees while concurrently grappling with perceptions of... View Details

Keywords: Family and Family Relationships; Family Ownership; Employees

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October 2019 (Revised November 2019)
Case

C16 Biosciences: Lab-Grown Palm Oil

By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang and Olivia Hull

Synthetic biology start-up C16 Biosciences wants to solve a big problem: replace palm oil, a major contributor to deforestation and climate change, with a lab-grown substitute. CEO Shara Ticku has ambitious plans to supply her lab-grown palm oil to food manufacturers,... View Details

Keywords: Science-Based Business; Environmental Sustainability; Social Entrepreneurship; Product Development; Product Positioning; Venture Capital; Strategy; Decision Making; Food and Beverage Industry; Consumer Products Industry

April 2015
Article

Self-serving Justifications: Doing Wrong and Feeling Moral

By: Shaul Shalvi, F. Gino, Rachel Barkan and Shahar Ayal

Unethical behavior by "ordinary" people poses significant societal and personal challenges. We present a novel framework centered on the role of self-serving justification to build upon and advance the rapidly expanding research on intentional unethical behavior of... View Details

Keywords: Motivation and Incentives; Moral Sensibility

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August 2011
Case

Denise Frazer and Paolo Canto: A Case Vignette on Feedback - Paolo Canto's Perspective

By: Joshua D. Margolis and Anthony J. Mayo

Denise Frazer and Paolo Canto, two HBS students, have decided to give each other feedback on their class participation. While Paolo believes that he has been sensitive to Denise in providing feedback, he does not feel that Denise is reciprocating. Her feedback seems to... View Details

Keywords: Interpersonal Communication; Perspective; Outcome or Result; Performance Evaluation

November 2002 (Revised April 2004)
Case

TCS: An Entrepreneurial Air-Express Company in Pakistan

Introduces Khalid Awan, co-founder of TCS, an entrepreneurial air-express company in Pakistan. Awan has succeeded in building a sizeable company despite serious obstacles, including pressure from the public postal system, an environment prone to corruption, and a... View Details

Keywords: Family Business; Emerging Markets; Entrepreneurship; Leasing; Transportation Industry; United Arab Emirates; Pakistan

04 May 2021
News

Hubert Joly from Best Buy

Identity Workspaces for Leadership Development

Profound changes in individuals' relationship with their employers and expectations for their work lives have generated an increasing demand for leadership development, while at the same time exposing the limitations of traditional leadership programs focused on... View Details

Searching for a Corporate Savior

Corporate CEOs are headline news. Stock prices rise and fall at word of their hiring and firing. Business media debate their merits and defects as if individual leaders determined the health of the economy. Yet we know surprisingly little about how CEOs are selected... View Details

19 Dec 2023
Research & Ideas

The 10 Most Popular Articles of 2023

for companies trying to instill an owner's mindset in employees. Failing Well: How Your ‘Intelligent Failure’ Unlocks Your Full PotentialWe tend to avoid failure at all costs. But our smarter missteps are worthwhile because they can force us to take a different path... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost

01 Nov 2021
What Do You Think?

How Long Does It Take to Improve an Organization’s Culture?

any kind of change. "Are Nadella and Microsoft the exception to the rule?" Exhibit A is CEO Satya Nadella, who is credited with leading the reshaping of Microsoft’s culture. In 2014, he found an organization that, among other things, had “lost its soul,” honored “the... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

14 Feb 2022
Research & Ideas

Curiosity, Not Coding: 6 Skills Leaders Need in the Digital Age

learning, pivoting all along the way. Though it won’t be easy, even perfectionist Type-A personalities must open their minds to a more experimental approach. Those who rely on traditional strategic thinking—an approach one roundtable... View Details

Keywords: by Linda A. Hill, Ann Le Cam, Sunand Menon, and Emily Tedards; Technology

March 2021
Article

Deliberately Prejudiced Self-driving Vehicles Elicit the Most Outrage

By: Julian De Freitas and Mina Cikara

Should self-driving vehicles be prejudiced, e.g., deliberately harm the elderly over young children? When people make such forced-choices on the vehicle’s behalf, they exhibit systematic preferences (e.g., favor young children), yet when their options are unconstrained... View Details

Keywords: Moral Judgment; Autonomous Vehicles; Driverless Policy; Moral Outrage; Moral Sensibility; Judgments; Transportation; Policy

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2008
Working Paper

Attitude-Dependent Altruism, Turnout and Voting

By: Julio J. Rotemberg

This paper presents a goal-oriented model of political participation based on two psychological assumptions. The first is that people are more altruistic towards individuals that agree with them and the second is that people's well-being rises when other people share... View Details

Keywords: Voting; Political Elections; Market Participation; Attitudes