Publications

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20 Dec 2006
Working Paper Summaries

The Demise of Cost and Profit Centers

Keywords: by Robert S. Kaplan

Research Summary

Dynamic Demand Estimation in Platform and Two-Sided Markets

This paper develops techniques to structurally estimate consumer demand in general platform-intermediated and two-sided markets. By estimating both sides of the market simultaneously, the methodology presented here is able to (1) endogenize the utility of a platform as... View Details

2023
Article

M4: A Unified XAI Benchmark for Faithfulness Evaluation of Feature Attribution Methods across Metrics, Modalities, and Models

By: Himabindu Lakkaraju, Xuhong Li, Mengnan Du, Jiamin Chen, Yekun Chai and Haoyi Xiong

While Explainable Artificial Intelligence (XAI) techniques have been widely studied to explain predictions made by deep neural networks, the way to evaluate the faithfulness of explanation results remains challenging, due to the heterogeneity of explanations for... View Details

Keywords: AI and Machine Learning

2019
Working Paper

Design Rules, Volume 2: How Technology Shapes Organizations: Chapter 17 The Wintel Standards-based Platform

By: Carliss Y. Baldwin

The purpose of this chapter is to use the theory of bottlenecks laid out in previous chapters to better understand the dynamics of an open standards-based platform. I describe how the Wintel platform evolved from 1990 through 2000 under joint sponsorship of Intel and... View Details

Keywords: Open Platforms; Bottlenecks; Wintel Platform; Disintermediation; Information Infrastructure; Applications and Software; Business History; Digital Platforms; Computer Industry

SSRN

April 2011
Case

Designs by Kate: The Power of Direct Sales

By: John A. Deighton and Sarah Abbott

The sales representatives at Designs by Kate (DBK) sell private label jewelry at hosted parties and through online social media channels. They are also responsible for recruiting, training, and managing new sales reps. CEO and founder Kate Creevey designed the... View Details

Keywords: Direct Sales; Consumer Marketing; Marketing Management; Personal Selling; Sales Compensation; Sales Organization; Motivation and Incentives; Marketing Strategy; Salesforce Management; Performance; Compensation and Benefits; Apparel and Accessories Industry

Educators

2010
Working Paper

From Bench to Board: Gender Differences in University Scientists' Participation in Commercial Science

This paper examines gender differences in the participation of university life science faculty in commercial science. Based on theory and field interviews, we develop hypotheses regarding how scientists' productivity, co-authorship networks, and institutional... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; For-Profit Firms; Gender Characteristics; Higher Education; Entrepreneurship; Governing and Advisory Boards; Science-Based Business; Nonprofit Organizations; Biotechnology Industry

2009
Working Paper

Fluid Tasks and Fluid Teams: The Impact of Diversity in Experience and Team Familiarity on Team Performance

By: Robert S. Huckman and Bradley R. Staats

In this paper, we consider how the structures of tasks and teams interact to affect team performance. We study the effects of diversity in experience on a team's ability to respond to task changes, by separately examining interpersonal team diversity (i.e., differences... View Details

Keywords: Familiarity; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Groups and Teams; Projects; Experience and Expertise; Diversity; India

April 2005
Case

FBI: Mission Extended

Following the bombing of the World Trade Center in 1993, there was consensus that the FBI needed to make organizational changes. The FBI had long distinguished itself as the world's pre-eminent organization for conducting after-the-fact investigations that laid the... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Law Enforcement; United States

Educators

2007
Working Paper

Accountability in Complex Organizations: World Bank Responses to Civil Society

By: Alnoor Ebrahim and Steve Herz

Civil society actors have been pushing for greater accountability of the World Bank for at least three decades. This paper outlines the range of accountability mechanisms currently in place at the World Bank along four basic levels: (1) staff, (2) project, (3) policy,... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Accountability; Corporate Governance; Governing and Advisory Boards; Compensation and Benefits; Business and Community Relations; Social Enterprise; Motivation and Incentives

Web

Entrepreneurship - Faculty & Research

describes its co-founders' motivations and their strategy for disrupting an industry in the midst of dramatic structural change; and asks whether a16z's success to date has been due to its novel organization structure. a16z's 22... View Details

Web

General Management - Faculty & Research

Designing a Board," a chapter for the newly released Public Company Series: Board Structure and Composition, a manual of corporate governance published by the NYSE and J.P. Morgan. In our chapter, we outline six key decisions every board... View Details

June 2020 (Revised October 2020)
Case

What Went Wrong with Boeing's 737 Max?

By: William W. George and Amram Migdal

This case describes the development of the Boeing 737 Max airplane model and the events leading up to two tragic plane crashes, in which a total of 346 people died: the crash of Lion Air flight 610 on October 29, 2018, in Indonesia, and the crash of Ethiopian Airlines... View Details

Keywords: Communication; Communication Intention and Meaning; Communication Strategy; Forms of Communication; Announcements; Decision Making; Decision Choices and Conditions; Judgments; Ethics; Moral Sensibility; Values and Beliefs; Globalization; Global Strategy; Governance; Corporate Accountability; Governance Controls; Human Resources; Resignation and Termination; Leadership; Leadership Style; Management; Business or Company Management; Crisis Management; Management Practices and Processes; Management Skills; Management Style; Management Systems; Risk Management; Time Management; Markets; Demand and Consumers; Digital Platforms; Supply and Industry; Duopoly and Oligopoly; Industry Structures; Operations; Product Development; Organizations; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Culture; Outcome or Result; Failure; Success; Planning; Strategic Planning; Problems and Challenges; Relationships; Business and Community Relations; Business and Government Relations; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Risk and Uncertainty; Safety; Strategy; Transportation; Air Transportation; Aerospace Industry; Air Transportation Industry; Africa; Ethiopia; Asia; Indonesia; North and Central America; United States; Seattle; Chicago

Educators

Web

About - Business & Environment

instrumental in driving the firm’s successful growth in fixed income ETFs and sustainable indexing. Before joining BlackRock, Carolyn created structured derivatives solutions for corporations at Citibank, where she was Head of the North... View Details

23 Jan 2024
Book

More Than Memes: NFTs Could Be the Next Gen Deed for a Digital World

that creates surprisingly flexible value. NFTs can turn images into event tickets, and event tickets into brand anchors. They will usher in the next generation of customer loyalty programs, creating structures that benefit both businesses... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Information Technology; Technology; Financial Services

17 Jan 2023
In Practice

8 Trends to Watch in 2023

As 2023 begins, businesses and employees face an uncertain economy and labor market, as the twin dilemmas of inflation and interest rates weigh on forecasts. Harvard Business School faculty share the top trends that they believe will shape the workplace and markets... View Details

Keywords: by Avery Forman

02 Nov 2010
First Look

First Look: November 2, 2010

http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/10-063.pdf Do Bonuses Enhance Sales Productivity? A Dynamic Structural Analysis of Bonus-Based Compensation Plans Authors:Doug J. Chung, Thomas Steenburgh, and K. Sudhir Abstract We estimate a dynamic View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

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