Publications

February 2011
Article

It's the Recipient That Counts: Spending Money on Strong Social Ties Leads to Greater Happiness Than Spending on Weak Social Ties

By: Lara B. Aknin, Gillian M. Sandstrom, Elizabeth W. Dunn and Michael I. Norton

Previous research has shown that spending money on others (prosocial spending) increases happiness. But, do the happiness gains depend on who the money is spent on? Sociologists have distinguished between strong ties with close friends and family and weak... View Details

Keywords: Happiness; Relationships; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving

Winter 2012
Article

Is a Nuclear Deal with Iran Possible?: An Analytical Framework for the Iran Nuclear Negotiations

By: James K. Sebenius and Michael K. Singh

Varied diplomatic approaches by multiple negotiators over several years have failed to conclude a nuclear deal with Iran. Mutual hostility, misperception, and flawed diplomacy may be responsible. Yet, more fundamentally, no mutually acceptable deal may exist. To assess... View Details

Keywords: Nuclear Proliferation; Zone Of Possible Agreement; International Relations; Negotiation; Iran; United States

September 2010
Article

Making Self-Regulation More Than Merely Symbolic: The Critical Role of the Legal Environment

By: Jodi L. Short and Michael W. Toffel

Using data from a sample of U.S. industrial facilities subject to the federal Clean Air Act from 1993 to 2003, this article theorizes and tests the conditions under which organizations' symbolic commitments to self-regulate are particularly likely to result in improved... View Details

Keywords: Adoption; Code Law; Environmental Sustainability; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Organizations; Governance Compliance; Strategy; Motivation and Incentives; United States

2017
Working Paper

Empowering Bureaucracy: Achieving Non-Hierarchical Control and Employee Autonomy Through Dynamic Formal Roles

By: Michael Lee

Hierarchy and formal structure are conventionally viewed as two tightly coupled dimensions of organization design. As organizations move from more hierarchical to less hierarchical authority structures, they also tend to reduce formal structure. However, organic... View Details

Keywords: Organization Design; Autonomy; Decentralization; Self-Managed Organizations; Formalization; Roles; Organizational Design; Organizational Structure; Management Systems

21 Aug 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, August 21, 2018

issues far more seriously, before a point of no return was reached. Download working paper: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=54864 Survival of the Fittest: The Impact of the Minimum Wage on Firm Exit By: Luca, Dara Lee, and View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

December 2023
Article

Brokerage Relationships and Analyst Forecasts: Evidence from the Protocol for Broker Recruiting

By: Braiden Coleman, Michael Drake, Joseph Pacelli and Brady Twedt

In this study, we offer novel evidence on how the nature of brokerage-client relationships can influence the quality of equity research. We exploit a unique setting provided by the Protocol for Broker Recruiting to examine whether relaxed broker non-compete agreement... View Details

Keywords: Brokers; Analysts; Forecasts; Bias; Protocol; Investment; Research; Forecasting and Prediction

17 Feb 2010
First Look

First Look: Feb. 17

Framework Authors:Herman B. Leonard and Arnold M. Howitt Publication:Chap. 2 in Learning from Catastrophes: Strategies for Reaction and Response, edited by Howard Kunreuther and Michael Useem, 18-41. Wharton... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

23 Mar 2010
First Look

First Look: March 23

United States. In recent years, however, this centralized approach to the collection and analysis of adverse events through doctor-initiated case reports has been superseded by innovative, though episodic, pharmacoepidemiological studies... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

10 Feb 2015
First Look

First Look: February 10

Publications February 2015 RAND Journal of Economics Performance Responses to Competition Across Skill-Levels in Rank Order Tournaments: Field Evidence and Implications for Tournament Design By: Boudreau, Kevin J., Karim R. Lakhani, and View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

Other Article

Introduction

By: Stefano Brusoni, Joachim Henkel, Michael G Jacobides, Samina Karim, Alan MacCormack, Phanish Puranam and Melissa Schilling

In 2000, Carliss Baldwin and Kim Clark published Design Rules: The Power of Modularity, a book that introduced new ways of understanding and explaining the architecture of complex systems. This Special Issue of Industrial and Corporate Change celebrates... View Details

Keywords: Complex Systems; Industry Structure; Systems Design; Complexity; Organizational Design; Competitive Strategy; Innovation and Management

July 2002 (Revised December 2002)
Case

Mercer Management Consulting (A)

By: Thomas J. DeLong and Michael Echenberg

Insurance giant Marsh & McLennan acquires management consulting firms Temple, Barker & Sloane (TBS) in 1987 and Strategic Planning Associates (SPA) in 1990 and sets out to merge the two. The merger proceeds slowly and painfully. Following the February 1990 merger,... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Model; Decision Making; Organizational Culture; Personal Development and Career; Horizontal Integration; Consulting Industry

Educators

19 Jan 2011
First Look

First Look: Jan. 18

Influence (Un)ethical Behavior Authors:F. Gino and Joshua D. Margolis Publication:Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes (forthcoming) Abstract In four laboratory studies, we find that regulatory focus induced by situational... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

08 Sep 2010
First Look

First Look: September 8, 2010

adult decision maker. Finally, we list a set of open questions that could be profitably addressed by future research. Social Preferences and Strategic Uncertainty: An Experiment on Markets and Contracts Authors:Marco Piovesan, Antonio... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

2016
Book

Strategy Beyond Markets

By: John de Figueiredo, Michael Lenox, Felix Oberholzer-Gee and Rick Vanden Bergh

Strategy beyond markets has been an active area of research inquiry since the early 1990s. Since its inception, the scholarship emanating from this research stream has grown substantially in quantity, quality, and breadth. Likewise, firms across the world have... View Details

Keywords: Strategy

2021
Working Paper

COVID-19, Government Performance, and Democracy: Survey Experimental Evidence from 12 Countries

By: Michael Becher, Nicholas Longuet Marx, Vincent Pons, Sylvain Brouard, Martial Foucault, Vincenzo Galasso, Eric Kerrouche, Sandra León Alfonso and Daniel Stegmueller

Beyond its immediate impact on public health and the economy, the COVID-19 pandemic has put democracy under stress. While a common view is that people should blame the government rather than the political system for bad crisis management, an opposing view is that... View Details

Keywords: COVID-19 Pandemic; Government Performance; Democracy; Health Pandemics; Government and Politics; Crisis Management; Public Opinion

05 Apr 2011
First Look

First Look: April 5

case:http://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cb/product/709469-PDF-ENG Gilt Groupe Michael J. Roberts, William A. Sahlman, and Tamara ObradovHarvard Business School Case 811-049 The case explores decisions faced by Gilt... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

21 Apr 2009
First Look

First Look: April 21, 2009

Working PapersHow Firms Respond to Being Rated (revised) Authors:Aaron K. Chatterji and Michael W. Toffel Abstract While many rating systems seek to help buyers overcome information asymmetries when making purchasing decisions, we... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

12 Dec 2017
First Look

New Research and Ideas, December 12, 2017

in common? Why do their extraordinary stories continue to amaze and inspire? In delivering the answers to those questions, I offer a remarkable template by which to judge those in our own time to whom the public has given its trust. The... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

October 2021
Article

Can Self-Regulation Save Digital Platforms?

By: Michael A. Cusumano, Annabelle Gawer and David B. Yoffie

This article explores some of the critical challenges facing self-regulation and the regulatory environment for digital platforms. We examine several historical examples of firms and industries that attempted self-regulation before the Internet. All dealt with similar... View Details

Keywords: Self-regulation; Government Regulation; Digital Platforms; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms