Publications

12 Apr 2017
Research & Ideas

Why Productivity Suffers When Employees Are Allowed to Schedule Their Own Tasks

recommended schedule tends to erode productivity, even among the most experienced workers. “We wanted to find out what happens when people deviate from the sequencing structure that their organization has set for them, and how do they... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Health

Web

Summer Fellowships | Social Enterprise | Harvard Business School

offered to students in the summer between their RC and EC year, supporting student founders in the development of their social impact startup. The program is for students who are serious about pursuing their idea and are committed to a View Details

Maxim Alekseev

Maxim Alekseev is a doctoral student in Business Economics at Harvard Business School. His research interests include international trade and financial intermediation.

Before coming to HBS, Maxim received his B.A. summa cum laude in Economics from... View Details

Dutch Leonard

Herman B. ("Dutch") Leonard is Eliot I. Snider and Family Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School and the George F. Baker, Jr. Professor of Public Sector Management at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government. In... View Details

Keywords: education industry; federal government; health care; nonprofit industry; state government

Research Summary

"Creating Competitive Advantage Through Knowledge Management" (with Elie Ofek)

This project explores how the concept of Knowledge Management (KM) is likely to impact competition among professional services firms (e.g. Consultants, Accounting Firms and Advertising Agencies). Assuming that the "KM technology" exhibits economies of scale, first we... View Details

July 2021
Article

Big Data for Social Benefits: Innovation as a Mediator of the Relationship between Big Data and Corporate Social Performance

By: Goran Calic and Maryam Ghasemaghaei

Over the last decade, the use big data in firms has seen a rapid increase. Whilst scholars have begun to unpack the relationship between big data utilisation and financial performance, significant uncertainty exists about the ethical uses of this new asset. Whether... View Details

Keywords: Analytics and Data Science; AI and Machine Learning; Performance Improvement; Organizational Change and Adaptation

December 2019
Article

Invest in Information or Wing It? A Model of Dynamic Pricing with Seller Learning

By: Guofang Huang, Hong Luo and Jing Xia

Pricing idiosyncratic products is often challenging because the seller, ex ante, lacks information about the demand for individual items. This paper develops a model of dynamic pricing for idiosyncratic products that features the optimal stopping structure and a seller... View Details

Keywords: Dynamic Pricing; Idiosyncratic Products; Item-specific Demand; Demand Uncertainty; Active Seller Learning; The Value Of Information; Price; Information; Value; Learning

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June 2012
Article

A Reexamination of Tunneling and Business Groups: New Data and New Methods

By: Jordan I. Siegel and Prithwiraj Choudhury

One of the most rigorous methodologies in the corporate governance literature uses firms' reactions to industry shocks to characterize the quality of governance. This methodology can produce the wrong answer unless one considers the ways firms compete. Because... View Details

Keywords: Governance; System Shocks; India

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February 2005 (Revised June 2006)
Case

UAL, 2004: Pulling Out of Bankruptcy

By: Daniel Baird Bergstresser, Kenneth A. Froot and Darren Robert Smart

UAL is a large air transportation company with roots that go back to the 1920s. As a legacy carrier, going back to before the 1978 deregulation of air transportation markets, United Airlines is burdened with cost structures that make it difficult to compete with newer... View Details

Keywords: Bankruptcy; Compensation; Costs; Loans; Reorganization; Cost; Restructuring; Financing and Loans; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Compensation and Benefits; Air Transportation Industry; United States

November 2002 (Revised November 2006)
Case

Tax-Motivated Film Financing at Rexford Studios

By: Mihir A. Desai, Gabriel J. Loeb and Mark Veblen

The head of production for Rexford Studios must analyze the terms and value consequences of an international financing involving a German film fund. The financing involves a sale-leaseback structure where international tax rules give rise to a sizable economic pie that... View Details

Keywords: International Finance; Financing and Loans; Taxation; Cash Flow; Financial Strategy; Financial Management; Competition; Film Entertainment; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Financial Services Industry; Germany

2006
Working Paper

Future Lock-In: Future Implementation Increases Selection of 'Should' Choices

By: Todd Rogers and Max H. Bazerman

People often experience tension over certain choices (e.g., they should reduce their gas consumption or increase their savings, but they do not want to). Some posit that this tension arises from the competing interests of a deliberative "should" self and... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Attitudes; Conflict and Resolution; Cognition and Thinking

Web

Measure Outcomes & Cost for Every Patient - Institute For Strategy And Competitiveness

these, while often easy to measure, do not always correlate with clinical outcomes. Similarly, structural measures, patient experience, and other indicators are often substituted for outcomes. There are several basic principles of outcome... View Details

29 Nov 2022
Research & Ideas

Is There a Method to Musk’s Madness on Twitter?

structure is a bit out of hand and, by any metric, above comparable social media companies. And so, there is definitely an incentive here for them to try to get that in line sooner rather than later. If you compare Meta/Facebook to... View Details

Keywords: by Christina Pazzanese, Harvard Gazette; Technology

Web

Drivers of Competitiveness - Institute For Strategy And Competitiveness

capacity of firms in terms of skills, capabilities and management practices. Fiscal Policy: Effective public spending aligned with revenues over time Monetary Policy: Low levels of inflation Economic Stabilization: Avoiding structural... View Details

Research Summary

Vicarious Learning in Organizations

To advance the study of how individuals learn through their interactions with others, Professor Myers has adopted a vicarious learning theory lens. Vicarious learning allows individuals to learn from the outcomes of others’ experiences, rather than solely their own... View Details

Keywords: Learning And Development; Learning; Health Industry

May 2018 (Revised October 2018)
Case

Argentina Power—Don't Cry for Me Argentina

By: Nori Gerardo Lietz and Sayiddah Fatima McCree

In 2016, Bruce Wayne, Managing Director of Energy Finance Corporation (“EFC”), was refining the Investment/Credit Committee materials for the development of up to 10 power generating plants in Argentina. As a subsidiary of the much larger International Conglomerate... View Details

Keywords: Cross Border; Energy Markets; Infrastructure Finance; Infrastructure Development; Business Subsidiaries; Business Cycles; Macroeconomics; Energy Generation; International Finance; Project Finance; Government and Politics; Demand and Consumers; Infrastructure; Utilities Industry; Energy Industry; Financial Services Industry; Argentina; Latin America

Carl Kester is a Baker Foundation Professor and the George Fisher Baker Jr. Professor of Business Administration, Emeritus at Harvard Business School. He is a member of the Finance Unit. He served as Deputy Dean for Academic Affairs (2006-2010), Chairman of the... View Details

Keywords: asset management; banking; education industry; financial services; investment banking industry; pharmaceuticals; private equity (LBO funds)

27 Apr 2016
Research & Ideas

How the FBI Reinvented Itself After 9/11

on the United States, killing nearly 3,000 people with four hijacked airliners—and throwing the FBI’s structure and identity into question. Since its founding in 1908, the organization had focused primarily on solving domestic crimes and... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

April 2025
Case

#FutureFresenius: Implementing a New Strategy to Transform the Company and Advance Patient Care

By: David J. Collis, Benjamin C. Esty and Haisley Wert

In February 2024, Fresenius CEO Michael Sen reflected on the company’s transformation journey from his office in Bad Homburg, Germany. With revenues of €22 billion and a mission to advance patient care, Fresenius had built a strong reputation through decades of... View Details

Keywords: Strategic Planning; Corporate Strategy; Transformation; Finance; Leading Change; Organizational Culture; Organizational Structure; Alignment; Health Industry; Germany; United States