The HBS Doctoral Course Catalog is a list of doctoral courses offered by HBS over the past four years.

4001 Management and Markets: Administration and Human Behavior
Last offered: FA 2011
Last taught by: Rakesh Khurana and Amy Cuddy
The first part of this course will expose students to the classic works in administrative theory, as well as more recent work on organizational processes, the management of change and the management of technology. In the second part, the course will cover theories of human motivation and human interaction from numerous perspectives. It will include psychological, sociological, and economic theories of motivation, as well as normative and positive theories.

4003 Management and Markets: Organizational Economics and Finance
Last offered: WI 2012
Last taught by: Dennis Yao, Ian Larkin, and Belen Villalonga
This course will cover the foundations of corporate strategy and organizational design as informed by industrial and organizational economics. In the second part, the class will look at the functioning of modern capital markets and the interactions of firms within this market.

4006 DBA Research Workshop
Last offered: FA 2011
Last taught by: Dennis Yao and William Simpson
The objectives of this course are to provide a structured research experience in which students can work on both the substance of a project and learn about the process of research; provide a continual stimulus to getting work done on the second-year paper; and build a supportive research community across the DBA class and teach students to be good presenters of research as well as being good critics and discussants of others research. This workshop is required of 2nd year DBA students.

4010 Microeconomic Theory I
Last offered: FA 2011
Last taught by: Chris Avery and Elon Kholberg
The course will focuson the theory of microeconomic behavior and its applications. Topics include consumption, production, uncertainty, markets, and general equilibrium theory. The course will cover applications to policy analysis, business decisions, industrial organization, finance, and the legal system. The emphasis will be on the use of economic theory in analyzing and understanding practical problems. This is designed for doctoral students in all parts of the university.
Offered jointly with the Faculty of Arts and Sciences as Economics 2020a and the Kennedy School as KSG API-111.

4011 Microeconomic Theory II
Last offered: WI 2012
Last taught by: Chris Avery, Elon Kholberg, Julian Jamison
A continuation of Economics 2020a. This course covers game theory, economics of information, incentive theory, and welfare economics.
Offered jointly with the Faculty of Arts and Sciences as Economics 2020b and the Kennedy School as KSG API-112.

4070 Design of Field Research Methods
Last offered: WI 2012
Last taught by: Michel Anteby
Field research involves collecting original data (qualitative or quantitative) in field sites. The course will combine informal lecture and discussion with practical sessions designed to build specific skills for conducting field research in organizations. Readings include books and papers about research methodology, as well as articles that provide exemplars of field research, including both theory driven and phenomenon driven work. Specific topics covered include variance versus process models, blending qualitative and quantitative data (in one paper, one study, or one career), collecting and analyzing different kinds of data (observation interview, survey, archival), levels of analysis, construct development, and writing up field research for publication. A core aim of the course is to help students understand the contingent relationship between the nature of the research question and the field research methods used to answer it, and to use this understanding to design and carry out original field research. Course requirements include several short assignments assessing readings and a final paper designed to help students' further their own field research goals. This seminar fulfills a requirement for HBS Organizational Behavior and Management students. Students are required to be in or beyond their second year of study. Other students permitted by permission of the instructor.

4110 The Foundations of Strategy
Last offered: WI 2012
Last taught by: Hagiu, Halaburda, Montgomery, Sadun, Van den Steen, Wulf, Yao
The course provides a broad, multi-disciplinary introduction to the study of business strategy, with a particular emphasis on its behavioral and economic foundations. Different schools of thought and their evolution will be analyzed, discussed and compared.

4150 Market Design
Last offered: FA 2011
Last taught by: Peter Coles and Alvin Roth
This course deals with the theory and practice of market design, with prominent examples drawn from auctions and labor markets.
Offered jointly with the the Faculty of Arts and Sciences as Economics 2056.

4160 Experimental Economics
Last offered: WI 2012
Last taught by: Alvin Roth
This course provides an introduction to experimental economics, its methods, and some of the major subject areas that have been addressed by laboratory experiments. Effort is made to concentrate on a series of experiments, in order to see how experiments build on one another and allow researches with different theoretical dispositions to narrow the ranges of potential disagreement. Open to 2nd years graduate students in economics and also to Harvard Business School students. Others welcome to attend with permission of instructor.
Offered jointly with the Faculty of Arts and Sciences as Economics 2040.

4180 Organizational Economics
Last offered: WI 2009
Last taught by: George Baker and Oliver Hart
Theoretical and empirical work on organizations. Topics include agency problems inside organizations, boundaries of the firm, relational contracting, authority, hierarchies, delegation, decentralization, and nonstandard organizational arrangements (including joint ventures, venture capital, and public ownership).
Offered jointly with the the Faculty of Arts and Sciences as Economics 2670.

4209 Asset Pricing I
Last offered: FA 2011
Last taught by: John Campbell
First half is an introduction to financial economics emphasizing discrete-time models and empirical applications. Reviews basic asset pricing theory. Second half deals with theoretical and empirical approaches to the study of financial markets using psychological or behavioral ideas.
Offered jointly with the the Faculty of Arts and Sciences as Economics 2723.

4220 Empirical Methods in Corporate Finance
Last offered: WI 2011
Last taught by: Robin Greenwood, Paul Gompers, and Joshua Lerner
Examines empirical research in corporate finance. Covers empirical research methodology, financial institutions, and financial policy. Major emphasis is on how to do well-executed and persuasive research in corporate finance. Seminar format; students write referee reports and a research paper.
Offered jointly with the Faculty of Arts and Sciences as Economics 2727. Structured to minimize overlap with Economics 2725.

4243 Corporate Finance
Last offered: WI 2011
Last taught by: David Scharfstein and Jeremy Stein
Theory and empirical evidence of capital structure, dividends, investment policy, managerial incentives and takeovers. Topics include market efficiency, agency problems and ownership.
Offered jointly with the the Faculty of Arts and Sciences as Economics 2725.

4250 Empirical Research in Financial Reporting and Analysis
Last offered: WI 2012
Last taught by: Suraj Srinivasan
This course is a survey of financial accounting research intended for doctoral students. The primary purpose of the course is to introduce fundamental research themes and methodologies used in empirical financial accounting research. Participants will become acquainted with the relevant literature through classroom discussions of assigned readings, paper summaries, problem sets, and individual research proposals.

4340 The Role of the Corporation in Society
Last offered: WI 2012
Last taught by: Robert Eccles and Georgios Serafeim
Classical financial economic theory defines the role of the corporation to be shareholder value maximization. According to this view, meeting the needs of other stakeholders along social and environmental dimensions should only be done if it contributes to creating shareholder value. Making these decisions assumes that the information is available for doing the necessary analysis and that management and shareholders have the same risk profiles and time frames for value creation. However, this classic view of the corporation is coming under pressure as the government and civil society are increasingly interested in the role companies should play in contributing to environmental and social sustainability. They are essentially arguing for a multi-stakeholder view which does not take the primacy of one particular type of stakeholder, shareholders, as a given. Others argue that, with a sufficiently long-term view, no tradeoffs need to be made since value can only be created for shareholders if the company is not destroying value for other stakeholders. Globalization, recurring crises in the world's capital markets, and the failure of companies to adequately manage risk are also contributing to a growing debate about the role corporations should have in society today. We are at the early stages of even framing the discussion. The purpose of this doctoral seminar is to first put some structure to the debate and second to pose alternative models to the dominant one in place today. The seminar is a broad and interdisciplinary one with readings from a variety of fields and disciplines. Each student will write a paper on a topic of their choice that is intended to help them set a research agenda that will lead to a published article in a refereed journal.

4350 Theoretical & Empirical Perspective on Entrepreneurship: Econ & Fin
Last offered: WI 2012
Last taught by: William Kerr, Joshua Lerner, and Ramana Nanda
Entrepreneurship--the formation and growth of new firms--is a complex phenomenon that has historically attracted relatively little academic attention. In recent years, however, scholars in a variety of disciplines have been devoting increasing attention to this topic. This course will explore the emerging work in this dynamic area. Reflecting the complex nature of the entrepreneurship, the course will touch on literature in a variety of academic disciplines, but the readings will primarily focus on discipline-oriented research from an economics, finance, and sociological perspective. Students taking the course for credit will be expected to complete two referee reports and a paper.
Offered jointly with the Faculty of Arts and Sciences as Economics 2726.

4355 Sociological and Organizational Perspectives in Entrepreneurship Research
Last offered: WI 2012
Last taught by: Mary Tripsas
The aim of the course is to survey the contemporary organization theory and sociology literature as it relates to phenomena that are of central interest to scholars of entrepreneurship. Broadly, research on entrepreneurship examines factors that affect the identification, evaluation and exploitation of opportunities, especially concerning the creation of new organizations. Insofar as there is a central theme in the readings in the course, it is that an actor's social position is a critical influence on the likelihood that he, she or it (when the actor is an organization) will engage in entrepreneurial activity. This course is offered as a half-course.

4420 Behavioral Approaches to Decision Making and Negotiation
Last offered: FA 2011
Last taught by: Amy Cuddy, Francesca Gino, and Marteen Bos
This course will provide a research overview of the field of behavioral decision making and decision analytic perspectives to negotiation. A core focus of the course will be the individual as a less than perfect decision making in individual and competitive contexts. On the decision making side, we will start with March and Simon's (1958) work on bounded rationality, work through the groundbreaking research of Kahneman and Tversky, and update this line of inquiry through the turn of the millennium. On the negotiation side, we will start with Raiffa's (1982) critical work on the interaction of prescriptive and descriptive research on negotiation, continue through the development of a behavioral decision perspective to negotiation, and examine how the field is currently evolving. We will examine the implications of imperfect behavior for theoretical development, as well as for how to train individuals to make wiser decisions.
Offered jointly with the the Faculty of Arts and Sciences as Psychology 2650.

4425 Decision Making and Negotiation: Research Seminar
Last offered: WI 2012
Last taught by: Francesca Gino
This seminar provides lab experience in behavioral approaches to decision making and negotiation.
Offered jointly with the the Faculty of Arts and Sciences as Psychology 2553r.

4430 Field Experiments
Last offered: WI 2011
Last taught by: Nava Ashraf
This course is for doctoral students who want to learn how to design and run field experiments as a research methodology. The objective is for students to refine their own experimental designs and be able to run them by the end of the course, leading to an academic paper. The course will be hands-on and oriented towards providing technical skills for the design and implementation of field experiments, including overcoming the many possible associated pitfalls. We will examine in-depth examples of how field experiments are designed, implemented and analyzed, including the "back story" of several published field experiments. We will also discuss at length throughout the course how to use field experiments to test academic theory as opposed to only for policy/impact evaluation. The last third of the course is dedicated to introducing and studying particularly fruitful areas for research using field experiments and to students' presentations of their own research ideas. Advanced MBAs, MPPs, and MPA-IDS, who want to learn the technical skills of running and managing a field experiment, for the purpose of conducting random mized impact evaluations of innovative programs in the companies and NGOs that they will be part of and/or advising, will be allowed to take the course upon permission of the instructor. The course assignment will be a completed proposal (of approximately 15 pages) outlining the theory and design for the field experiment, and a completed IRB application for human subjects approval.
Offered jointly with the Faculty of Arts and Sciences as Economics 2041.

4460 Advanced Optimization
Last offered: FA 2011
Last taught by: Ozlem Ergun
Advanced techniques for modeling and solving large and difficult optimization problems as well as the core theory and geometry of linear inequalities, integer programming and combinatorial optimization. Topics covered: geometry and theory of linear programming, solving large scale optimization problems using column and constraint generation, network flows, computational complexity, basic integer programming models and algorithms, paths and trees, matchings, integrality of polyhedra, and matroids. Emphasis will be on developing an understanding of the core theory and solution methods. Exercises and the class project will involve developing and implementing optimization algorithms possibly using standard solvers such as AMPL. Pre-requisites: Applied Mathematics 21b or Mathematics 21b (linear algebra) and AM 121 or equivalent or permission of instructor. Comfort with programming.
Offered jointly with the Faculty of Arts and Sciences as Applied Math 221.

4480 Operations Management
Last offered: WI 2011
Last taught by: Ananth Raman
This course introduces students to the academic literature and current problems in Operations Management as well as classic Harvard Business Review articles that substantially affected the way managers thought about operations management. The seminar will cover topics such as production scheduling, inventory systems, supply chain management, new product development, and processes for and consequences of particular operational performance. Management of the supply chain, and the mathematical models that may be used to describe supply chain operational decisions, are one emphasis of the course. Enrollment limited to students planning to run a field experiment soon.

4630 Doctoral Seminar in Consumer Behavior
Last offered: WI 2012
Last taught by: Anat Kienan and Jason Riis
This course will provide a research overview of the field of consumer behavior and consumer decision making. Drawing principally from research papers from the fields of economics, psychology, and sociology, the course will cover topics including persuasion, affect, learning and memory, and behavioral decision making. Students will be expected to prepare the readings, critically critique the research, and actively participate in discussions. An exploratory research paper will be required for completion of the course.

4632 Consumer Decision Making
Last offered: WI 2011
Last taught by: Michael Norton
The primary goal of this course is to learn how to both develop intuitions for and conduct experiments - both in the laboratory and in the field. Most class sessions will consist of discussions of research papers that present both laboratory and field experiments on a given topic related to consumer decision making, broadly defined (for example, understanding the psychology of experiences, or exploring the triggers to civic behaviors like voting and volunteering. As part of this process, we will have several "guest professors" from HBS - from both Marketing and other units - visit class so that students can get acquainted with their research agendas. Students will write a final research proposal (10 pages long) that outlines a project that contains both a laboratory and a field experiment that they intend to run; students will be required to give a short presentation of their project in class. The course is intended for students with a broad interest in behavioral science.

4660 Marketing Models
Last offered: WI 2011
Last taught by: Elie Ofek
This course is designed to help satisfy the requirements of the DBA program in marketing at HBS. The course on Marketing Models will review the extant literature in the field of marketing models with special attention to pricing and promotions, sales force management, channels of distribution (retail and industrial), new product development and marketing planning and strategy. The course will use the book by Lilien, Kotler and Moorthy as a starting point and cover most of these issues through a set of current working and published papers that will have both a theoretical and empirical content to them. As the class reviews this literature, the focus will be on important problems and identify potential areas that remain under researched in the literature.

4720 The Economics of International Business
Last offered: FA 2011
Last taught by: Jordan Siegel
The goal of this seminar is to introduce doctoral students to the field of international business. While economics forms the disciplinary foundation of the course, we will also compare and contrast other approaches from sociology, political science, and social psychology. At the end of this course, students should have developed the ability to evaluate various empirical approaches in the field. Finally, students should also end the course with a well-defined research proposal. This proposal will include a theoretical question, a literature review, an evaluation of the available data sources, and a plan for gathering any additional data necessary to answer the theoretical question.

4808 Statistical Models and Methods
Last offered: WI 2009
Last taught by: William Simpson
This course focuses on multiple regression and related models. Course content includes statistical theory and hands-on data analysis. There is a strong emphasis on developing a conceptual understanding of the theory of regression, including an ability to use statistical theory to understand the assumptions and interpretation of the models. Mathematical foundations of regression analysis, such as linear and matrix algebra, are taught in the course; they are not assumed as prerequisites. Topics include exploratory data analysis, simple linear regression, multiple regression, logit and probit, count models, panel data, and multilevel models.

4809 Seminar in Applied Statistical Methods
Last offered: WI 2012
Last taught by: William Simpson
This course covers statistical methods and models used in management research. The focus will be on hands-on data analysis, including choosing appropriate models, understanding the assumptions and limitations of the models, and interpreting results. The course is designed for students who are already working on their own empirical research projects. Topics will be chosen from methods and models relevant to course participants' own research.

4810 Business History Seminar
Last offered: WI 2012
Last taught by: Walter Friedman and Tom Nicholas
This course provides a comparative approach to the historical process of industrialization and modernization in the West and Asia, drawing specifically on the examples of China, Japan, the United States and Western Europe. Starting from the mid-19th century to the present, this course will explore the economic, technological, cultural and political dimensions of economic growth and business development. Among the topics covered are the causes of wealth and poverty, the nature and impact of globalization, knowledge creation and transfer, the emergence of modern management, government policies, and the cultural transformation of societies. Each meeting will discuss the key literature by authors in the field, and explore and test the premises on which their works are based. The overall aim of the course is to introduce graduate students to central issues and theoretical discourses in the broad field of business history, and to explore the relevance of this literature to other disciplines. The course provides a unique opportunity to develop research skills through designing, researching and writing a paper using original sources, either quantitative or qualitative. Students will work closely with one of the instructors during the semester on this paper.

4825 Innovation and Organizations
Last offered: FA 2010
Last taught by: Michael Tushman
This doctoral seminar will explore the relations between innovation, organization designs, executive leadership, and organization evolution. We will explore the diverse literatures on the nature of innovation patterns as product/service classes evolve. We then explore the relations between organization designs and innovation outcomes. We conclude with an exploration of the role of senior teams in shaping organizational designs and organizational fate as product classes evolve. We will explore when and under what conditions organizational action shapes patterns of innovation.

4840 DBA Seminar for Technology and Operations Management
Last offered: WI 2012
Last taught by: Michael Toffel
This seminar provides a forum to provide feedback to TOM DBA students on their emerging and ongoing research projects. The seminar also seeks to bolster research collaboration among TOM DBA students and between them and TOM faculty. The seminar is offered as a Pass/Fail course and has three requirements: 1) Presenters will distribute to the students and faculty their working paper by 9am Wednesday, the day before their presentation; 2) Each student will present his or her work during one of the seminar sessions, leaving ample time for discussion throughout the presentation; and 3) Students will actively engage as audience members to provide constructive feedback to the presenter.

4852 Seminar on the Craft of Inductive Qualitative Research
Last offered: FA 2011
Last taught by: Michel Anteby and Leslie Perlow
This seminar provides a forum to demystify the craft of qualitative inductive research. How do field notes get transformed into published books and articles? How does theory get built and substantiated? What is the behind the scenes process successful scholars are using? Our goal is to look behind the curtain and understand the art and science of writing up this work. It is also to gain an appreciation for the variety of ways in which people work.

4853 Seminar on the Craft of Inductive Qualitative Research II
Last offered: WI 2012
Michel Anteby and Leslie Perlow
This seminar is a continuation of the Seminar on the Craft of Qualitative Inductive Research. How do field notes get transformed into published books and articles? How does theory get built and substantiated? What is the behind the scenes process successful scholars are using? Our goal is to look behind the curtain and understand the art and science of writing up this work. It is also to gain an appreciation for the variety of ways in which people work.

4865 Management Topics in Sustainability and Design
Last offered: WI 2010
Last taught by: Robert Eccles and Amy Edmondson
This doctoral seminar is focused on identifying ideas on how to transform the U.S. design and construction sector so that that the structures it produces satisfy high standards in economic, design and sustainability outcomes. Buildings account for more than 35% of CO2 emissions and thus affect the sustainability of our society from an environmental perspective. The built environment also has more general sustainability implications for other environmental issues, like water, and social issues, like its affect on the surrounding community and the quality and productivity of the people who work in it. This built environment is the result of a design and construction industry which has seen relatively little change over the past 50 years. It is inefficient, often misses its deadlines, is rife with conflict and produces buildings and other structures that are far from sustainable in many definitions of the term. While most industries have undergone dramatic transformations over the years-variously driven by new technologies, changing customer demands and laws and regulations-this has not occurred here. In order to do this, we will explore a wide range of literature from the fields of organizational behavior, sociology, economics, strategy and design. Readings will include academic articles, HBS and other teaching cases, the occasional article from a business or design professional publication, and books and book chapters. About half of the classes, mostly towards the end, will have industry experts/practitioners as guests who are involved in various initiatives to develop a new and better model for design and construction. Students will be expected to spend some time in the field. The final paper will be on a topic mutually agreed upon between the student and the professor. Broad examples include a general theory of industry transformation, an analysis of a specific industry transformation with lessons to the design and construction sector, an analysis of the transformation of the design and construction sector in another country with lessons to the U.S., and how public policy can lead to industry transformation. Many other topics are possible. Every student will be responsible for co-leading the class discussions with the professor.

4880 Macro Topics in Organizational Behavior
Last offered: WI 2012
Last taught by: Chris Marquis
Covers classical works in organization theory and surveys the main paradigms that are now active in the field. Also addresses how other disciplines such as economics and business history have shaped sociological thinking about organizations.
Offered jointly with the the Faculty of Arts and Sciences as Sociology 224: Organizational Analysis - Seminar

4882 Micro Topics in Organizational Behavior
Last offered: FA 2011
Last taught by: Kathleen McGinn
Micro Topics in Organizational Behavior is a survey course covering the study of individual, dyadic, small group and intra-organizational behavior, with special focus on research by Harvard Faculty. At the individual level, examples of possible topics include cognitive psychology, behavioral decision theory, motivation theory, and the study of attitudes and emotions. At the dyadic level, examples include negotiation, social perceptions, relationships and supervisor-subordinate ties. Teams, multiparty decision making and coalitions are possible topics at the group level. Examples of potential topics at the intra-organizational level include conflict, culture, person-organization fit, psychological contracts, justice and power. Most sessions will include a broad discussion of a topic, followed by a more focused discussion with a faculty member about her or his research in the area.