Publications

02 Feb 2018
Working Paper Summaries

Last Place Aversion in Queues

Keywords: by Ryan W. Buell; Retail

December 16, 2019
Article

Why Your Startup Won't Last

By: Ranjay Gulati and Vasundhara Sawhney

Why do some startups that have crossed the threshold of “product-market fit” and have a viable business model still fail? This article begins by exploring the argument that most startups need more professionalization to thrive. Founders resist putting in place... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Organizational Structure; Growth and Development Strategy

July 2024
Article

Demographic 'Stickiness': The Demographic Identity of Departing Group Members Influences Who Is Chosen to Replace Them

By: Edward H. Chang and Erika Kirgios

People tasked with replacing a departing group member are disproportionately likely to choose a replacement with the same demographic identity, leading to demographic “stickiness” in group composition. We examine this effect in 2,163 U.S. federal judge appointments... View Details

Keywords: Loss Aversion; Diversity; Race; Gender; Decisions

11 Oct 2004
Research & Ideas

Four Ways to Create Lasting Change

systems and processes. Moreover, the firm had experienced a slight decline in performance and increasing competition from major rivals prior to his arrival. We were intrigued by the changes taking place at Alpha, particularly as we... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

23 Jul 2001
Research & Ideas

Looking for CEOs in All the Wrong Places

business publication, for example, recently cited a survey that found that two-thirds of the world's largest companies had replaced their CEOs since 1995. More than one thousand left US companies last year alone. Khurana's interest in CEO... View Details

Keywords: by Peter K. Jacobs; Employment

20 Mar 2017
Book

Why Companies Are Placing Users at the Core of Their Innovation Strategies

convinced Lakhani to drop his engineering aspirations and become a scholar of innovation. Lakhani has devoted much of his research at HBS exploring how communities and contests can be designed to achieve innovative outcomes. Last year, he... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

20 Mar 2000
Research & Ideas

No Place Like Home: America’s Housing Crisis and Its Impact on Business

expensive precisely because of the country's prosperity. With the wages and purchasing power of working people largely stagnant over the last two decades, the cost of adequate housing in a decent neighborhood has soared beyond the reach... View Details

Keywords: by Garry Emmons; Construction; Real Estate

2011
Working Paper

'Last-place Aversion': Evidence and Redistributive Implications

By: Ilyana Kuziemko, Ryan W. Buell, Taly Reich and Michael I. Norton

Why do low-income individuals often oppose redistribution? We hypothesize that an aversion to being in "last place" undercuts support for redistribution, with low-income individuals punishing those slightly below themselves to keep someone "beneath" them. In laboratory... View Details

Keywords: Wages; Surveys; Wealth and Poverty; Behavior; Income; Research; Rank and Position; Attitudes; Personal Characteristics; Economics

February 2014
Article

'Last-place Aversion': Evidence and Redistributive Implications

By: Ilyana Kuziemko, Ryan W. Buell, Taly Reich and Michael Norton

We present evidence from laboratory experiments showing that individuals are "last-place averse." Participants choose gambles with the potential to move them out of last place that they reject when randomly placed in other parts of the distribution. In... View Details

Keywords: Income; Rank and Position; Attitudes

09 Jan 2018
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, January 9, 2018

Aversion in Queues By: Buell, Ryan W. Abstract—This paper investigates whether people exhibit last place aversion in queues and its implications... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

December 2010
Article

Social Preferences and Strategic Uncertainty: An Experiment on Markets and Contracts

This paper reports a three-phase experiment on a stylized labor market. In the first two phases, agents face simple games, which we use to estimate subjects' social and reciprocity concerns. In the last phase, four principals compete by offering agents a contract from... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Risk and Uncertainty; Markets; Contracts; Decisions; Distribution; Labor; Game Theory

23 Jan 2008
Op-Ed

A House Divided: Investment or Shelter?

Dictionaries are not static. Some words go unused for so long that lexicographers dub them archaic. Definitions also gravitate to that catch-bin. The plummeting housing market has forced a reevaluation, not just of the financial value of a home, but of its meaning.... View Details

Keywords: by Nicolas P. Retsinas; Banking; Construction; Real Estate

November 2008
Article

Getting off the Hedonic Treadmill, One Step at a Time: The Impact of Regular Religious Practice and Exercise on Well-Being

By: Daniel Mochon, Michael I. Norton and Dan Ariely

Many studies have shown that few events in life have a lasting impact on subjective well-being because of people's tendency to adapt quickly; worse, those events that do have a lasting impact tend to be negative. We suggest that while major events may not provide... View Details

Keywords: Health; Religion; Behavior; Happiness; Welfare

12 Feb 2018
Research & Ideas

Customers at the Back of the Line Are Anxious—Can You Keep Them from Leaving?

simulation to quiz respondents about their anxieties while waiting in line. (From Last Place Aversion in Queues) Respondents were told they would be paid 50 cents to answer a... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Retail; Service

11 Mar 2019
Research & Ideas

Branding Sells Cereal, Handbags, and Vacations. Can It Sell a Country?

The 70th anniversary of Israel’s founding last year stirred reflection about the country’s image, values, and position in the world among everyone from former diplomats to Hollywood actors. Despite efforts to portray Israel as modern and... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost; Tourism

03 Jun 2014
Working Paper Summaries

Eliciting Taxpayer Preferences Increases Tax Compliance

Keywords: by Cait Lamberton, Jan-Emmanuel De Neve & Michael I. Norton

July 2013
Case

B. Zaitz & Sons Co. Farmland Investing

By: Andre F. Perold

In April 2013, Ben Zaitz was looking down at an expanse of agricultural land as his plane flew over the Midwest. He would soon arrive in northern Minnesota to meet with farmers regarding land he had recently purchased there. The vast tracts of row-crop acreage below... View Details

Keywords: Plant-Based Agribusiness; Investment; Market Participation; Business Strategy; Financial Services Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Minnesota; Latin America; Africa; United States; Europe

Educators

Purchase

16 Feb 2023
HBS Case

ESG Activists Met the Moment at ExxonMobil, But Did They Succeed?

The impact-investment hedge fund Engine No. 1 made a big splash in May 2021 when it managed to get three nominees elected to the ExxonMobil board of directors. It was an open effort to prod the oil giant toward renewable energy and test whether activist investing could... View Details

Keywords: by Lane Lambert; Financial Services

March 18, 2014
Article

The Seven Skills You Need to Thrive in the C-Suite

By: Boris Groysberg

What executive skills are most prized by companies today? How has that array of skills changed in the last decade, and how is it likely to change in the next ten years? To find out, I surveyed senior consultants in 2010 at a top-five global executive-search firm.... View Details

Keywords: Executive Ability; Management Skills; Leadership; Competency and Skills