Publications

November 1980 (Revised February 1983)
Case

Repair Technology, Inc.

June 2001 (Revised May 2002)
Case

Innovation at Progressive (C): Auto Repair

By: Frances X. Frei and Hanna Rodriguez-Farrar

Analyzes whether Progressive should enter the auto repair industry. The critical decision is whether the competencies that made Progressive succeed in the auto insurance industry can translate to the auto repair industry. View Details

Keywords: Market Entry and Exit; Innovation and Invention; Insurance Industry; Service Industry; Auto Industry

September 1986
Supplement

Eastern Electric Apparatus Repair Co. (B)

By: Carliss Y. Baldwin

Keywords: Service Industry

September 1986 (Revised July 2001)
Case

Eastern Electric Apparatus Repair Company (A)

By: Carliss Y. Baldwin and Harry Gruner

As principals engaged in structuring leveraged buyouts for a well-capitalized risk arbitrage firm, Bob Meehan and George Schwartz are preparing to bid for the business and assets of a Westinghouse subsidiary. The case focuses on the value of the opportunity, methods of... View Details

Keywords: Leveraged Buyouts; Bids and Bidding; Opportunities; Business Subsidiaries; Strategy; Valuation; Equity; Electronics Industry

March 2010 (Revised May 2012)
Case

Myelin Repair Foundation: Accelerating Drug Discovery Through Collaboration

By: Karim R. Lakhani and Paul R. Carlile

This case presents the Myelin Repair Foundation's accelerated research collaboration model for drug discovery. It highlights the challenges of building a multi-disciplinary and multi-institutional research collaboration that is attempting to create a treatment for... View Details

Keywords: Research and Development; Intellectual Property; Risk and Uncertainty; Strategic Planning; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Health Disorders; Pharmaceutical Industry; Biotechnology Industry; Health Industry

05 Apr 2017
Research & Ideas

For Women Especially, It Pays to Know What Car Repairs Should Cost

Women who come prepared to challenge an auto repair quote can overcome gender discrimination and negotiate a fairer price, according to recently published research. That's one conclusion from the research study View Details

Keywords: by Wendy Guild Swearingen; Auto; Service

March 2024
Case

Dungeons & Dragons: Repairing Ecosystem Trust

By: Gabriel Rossman, Oliver Schilke and Julian Zlatev

April 2006
Case

Adrian Ivinson at the Harvard Center for Neurodegeneration and Repair

By: Robert Steven Kaplan and Ayesha Kanji

Adrian Ivinson is the director of Harvard Center for Neurodegeneration and Repair (HCNR), a not-for-profit research center at the Harvard Medical School (HMS). The center was started in late 2000 with a gift of $37.5 million from an anonymous donor. Its mandate was to... View Details

Keywords: Leadership Style; Power and Influence; Organizational Culture; Research and Development; Nonprofit Organizations; Motivation and Incentives; Change Management; Alignment; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Health Industry; Massachusetts

Article

Repairing the Damage: The Effect of Price Knowledge and Gender on Auto-Repair Price Quotes

By: Meghan Busse, Ayelet Israeli and Florian Zettelmeyer

In this paper we investigate whether sellers treat consumers differently on the basis of how well informed consumers appear to be. We implement a large-scale field experiment in which callers request price quotes from automotive repair shops. We show that sellers alter... View Details

Keywords: Pricing; Price Discrimination; Automobiles; Field Experiment; Information; Fairness; Price; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Internet and the Web; Gender; Service Industry; Auto Industry

March 2011
Teaching Note

Myelin Repair Foundation: Accelerating Drug Discovery Through Collaboration (TN)

By: Karim R. Lakhani

Teaching Note for 610074. View Details

August 2006
Teaching Note

Adrian Ivinson at the Harvard Center for Neurodegeneration and Repair (TN)

By: Robert Steven Kaplan

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment

Research Summary

Overview

Erin's research focuses on how organizations can and should respond to employee failures. She is interested in understanding the effects that organizational responses have on subsequent employee behavior, and how organizational policies can be designed to more... View Details

Keywords: Repair; Recovery; Reintegration; Prosocial Behavior; Field Experiment; Psychology; Networks; Punishment; Giving and Philanthropy; Social Psychology; Motivation and Incentives; Social and Collaborative Networks; Ethics

24 Jan 2024
Op-Ed

Why Boeing’s Problems with the 737 MAX Began More Than 25 Years Ago

Once again, Boeing’s 737 MAX is back in the headlines. After two crashes that killed 346 people in 2018 and 2019 and five years of ensuing design changes and regulatory scrutiny, the 737 MAX is grounded again after a mid-air blowout of a fuselage panel on January 5.... View Details

Keywords: by Bill George; Air Transportation; Transportation; Aerospace

20 Jan 2022
Op-Ed

3 Steps to Help Companies Rebuild Trust During the Pandemic

to retrench and soften the piece. In the wake of such decisions, leaders are left needing to rebuild trust with a workforce that’s already been battered. Moreover, trust repair is an opportunity to rebuild stronger trust. Three steps to... View Details

Keywords: by Sandra J. Sucher and Shalene Gupta

January 1966 (Revised April 1983)
Case

Economy Shipping Co.

The situation requires a decision to repair a steam river boat, to substitute a diesel-powered boat, or to lease a diesel boat. View Details

Keywords: Decision Making; Corporate Finance; Shipping Industry

12 Apr 2016
First Look

April 12, 2016

link: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=50897 forthcoming Journal of Marketing Research Repairing the Damage: The Effect of Gender and Price Knowledge on Auto-Repair Price Quotes By: Busse, Meghan, Ayelet Israeli, and Florian... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

July 1993 (Revised December 2003)
Case

Sears Auto Centers (A)

By: Lynn S. Paine and Michael Santoro

The CEO of Sears must decide how to respond to allegations that the company's auto repair division has been misleading consumers and charging them for unnecessary repairs. View Details

Keywords: Corporate Governance; Corporate Accountability; Ethics; Organizational Culture; Compensation and Benefits; Management Teams; Employees; Behavior; Motivation and Incentives; Performance Improvement; Auto Industry

May 1992
Supplement

Fabtek (B)

By: Rowland T. Moriarty Jr. and Benson P. Shapiro

Presents an urgent order for repair service from an important customer who had purchased an item from a competitor. The item, which TiFab had bid on, went out at a price that TiFab predicted was below the amount necessary to ensure quality manufacture. Now the customer... View Details

Keywords: Price; Bids and Bidding; Production; Quality; Competitive Strategy

January 20, 2022
Article

3 Steps to Help Companies Rebuild Trust During the Pandemic

By: Sandra J. Sucher and Shalene Gupta

Many workers feel battered and distrustful after almost two years of COVID-19 instability. But it's not too late for managers—even those who made damaging missteps—to repair these relationships, say Sandra Sucher and Shalene Gupta. View Details

Keywords: COVID-19; Trust; Employee Relationship Management