Publications

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July 2024 (Revised December 2024)
Background Note

District Heating: An Overview

By: Willy Shih and Michael W. Toffel

This note provides an overview of district heating: systems in which central plants generate heat that is conveyed by steam or water through a set of insulated pipes to send heat to residential and/or commercial buildings. It describes key elements of the system (heat... View Details

Keywords: Decarbonization; Energy Efficiency; Energy Storage; Energy Transmission; Construction; Energy; Buildings and Facilities; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Climate Change; Operations; Energy Industry; Denmark; Europe; United States

April 1995 (Revised November 1995)
Case

Human Resources at Hewlett-Packard (A)

By: Michael Beer and Gregory C. Rogers

Provides an overview of the human resource policies and practices applied by Hewlett-Packard (HP). Discusses HP's reactions as an organization to changes in its business environment. As such, it is an opportunity to analyze HP's practices, and how they have been... View Details

Keywords: Human Resources; Change; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Policy; Computer Industry

June 2001 (Revised September 2010)
Exercise

Deal-crafting Toolkit

By: Michael A. Wheeler

Illustrates the potential sources of value creation as well as practical barriers to its achievement. Students analyze five brief scenarios that would yield efficient trades over valuation, discount rates, expectations, and risk tolerance, but that might be thwarted by... View Details

Keywords: Negotiation Deal; Negotiation Process; Behavior; Valuation; Value Creation

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2007
Chapter

Microfinance: Business, Profitability, and the Creation of Social Value

By: Michael Chu

The chapter examines the development of microfinance from its NGO origins to the present stage in which it is characterized by regulated commercial institutions capable of superior financial returns. It then looks at the creation of social value under these... View Details

Keywords: Microfinance; Investment Return; Profit; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Social Enterprise; Non-Governmental Organizations; Perspective; Value Creation

01 Feb 2012
News

Harvard Business School Professor Discusses Importance of ISO Standards

24 Jul 2015
News

Why CEO Activism Could Change the World of Public Companies

October 14, 2019
Article

Designing Better Online Review Systems

By: Geoff Donaker, Hyunjin Kim and Michael Luca

Online reviews are transforming the way consumers choose products and services of all sorts. We turn to TripAdvisor to plan a vacation, Zocdoc to find a doctor, and Yelp to choose a new restaurant. Reviews can create value for buyers and sellers alike, but only if they... View Details

Keywords: Reviews; Internet and the Web; Design; Quality; Reputation

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2019
Working Paper

Judgment Aggregation in Creative Production: Evidence from the Movie Industry

By: Hong Luo, Jeffrey T. Macher and Michael Wahlen

This paper studies a novel, light-touch approach to aggregate judgment from a large number of industry experts on ideas that they encounter in their normal course of business. Our context is the movie industry, in which customer appeal is difficult to predict and... View Details

Keywords: Judgment Aggregation; Creativity; Film Entertainment; Judgments; Motion Pictures and Video Industry

SSRN

2011
Working Paper

Managerial Practices That Promote Voice and Taking Charge among Frontline Workers

By: Julia Adler-Milstein, Sara J. Singer and Michael W. Toffel

Process-improvement ideas often come from frontline workers who speak up by voicing concerns about problems and by taking charge to resolve them. We hypothesize that organization-wide process-improvement campaigns encourage both forms of speaking up, especially voicing... View Details

Keywords: Communication; Employees; Knowledge Sharing; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Management Practices and Processes; Operations; Business Processes; Performance Improvement

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January 1978 (Revised February 1983)
Case

Polaroid-Kodak (B1)

By: Michael E. Porter

Describes additional events in battle between Polaroid and Kodak outlined in Polaroid-Kodak. Includes the competitive actions taken by the companies such as the introduction of customer rebates and bonus plans with dealers. Details the new products of each company and... View Details

Keywords: Customer Focus and Relationships; Marketing Strategy; Market Entry and Exit; Product; Competitive Strategy; Electronics Industry

18 Feb 2020
News

Business leaders see U.S. unprepared for economic downturn

2011
Chapter

On Knowing and Doing: A Perspective on the Synergies between Research and Practice

By: Michael Tushman

The current rigor/relevance debate is a central strategic issue for business schools and their faculty. I argue that ongoing relationships with firms, rooted on the joint acknowledgement of the importance of faculty research by firms and respect for practice by... View Details

Keywords: Business Ventures; Business Education; Executive Education; Practice; Relationships; Research

October 2007
Case

iPhone vs. Cell Phone

By: David B. Yoffie and Michael Slind

The launch of Apple's iPhone marked a pivotal new chapter in the story of mobile music (the uniting of digital music players with mobile phones). The iPhone combined an iPod music player, a cell phone, and a mobile Internet device, along with a camera and other... View Details

Keywords: Communication Technology; Music Entertainment; Product Launch; Partners and Partnerships; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Communications Industry; Music Industry

2008
Chapter

I Read Playboy for the Articles: Justifying and Rationalizing Questionable Preferences

By: Zoe Chance and Michael I. Norton

When people behave in ways that might appear selfish, prejudiced or perverted, they engage in a host of strategies designed to justify questionable behavior with rational excuses: “I hired my son because he's more qualified”; “I promoted Ashley because she does a... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Ethics; Behavior; Strategy