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    • HBS Book

    Complicit: How We Enable the Unethical and How to Stop

    By: Max H. Bazerman

    It is easy to condemn obvious wrongdoers such as Elizabeth Holmes, Adam Neumann, Harvey Weinstein, and the Sackler family. But we rarely think about the many people who supported their unethical or criminal behavior. In each case there was a supporting cast of complicitors: business partners, employees, investors, news organizations, and others. And, whether we’re aware of it or not, almost all of us have been complicit in the unethical behavior of others. In Complicit, HBS professor Max Bazerman confronts our complicity head-on and offers strategies for recognizing and avoiding the psychological and other traps that lead us to ignore, condone, or actively support wrongdoing in our businesses, organizations, communities, politics, and more.

    • HBS Book

    Complicit: How We Enable the Unethical and How to Stop

    By: Max H. Bazerman

    It is easy to condemn obvious wrongdoers such as Elizabeth Holmes, Adam Neumann, Harvey Weinstein, and the Sackler family. But we rarely think about the many people who supported their unethical or criminal behavior. In each case there was a supporting cast of complicitors: business partners, employees, investors, news organizations, and others....

    • Harvard Business Review 101, no. 1 (Jan-Feb 2023): 45-49.

    Rethink Your Employee Value Proposition: Offer Your People More Than Just Flexibility

    By: Mark Mortensen and Amy C. Edmondson

    A lot of leaders believe that the formula for attracting and keeping talent is simple: Just ask people what they want and give it to them. The problem is, that approach tends to address only the material aspects of jobs that are top of employees’ minds at the moment, like pay or flexibility. And those offerings are easy for rivals to imitate and have the least enduring impact on retention. Companies instead should focus on what workers need to thrive over the long term, balancing material offerings with opportunities to grow, connection and community, and meaning and purpose.

    • Harvard Business Review 101, no. 1 (Jan-Feb 2023): 45-49.

    Rethink Your Employee Value Proposition: Offer Your People More Than Just Flexibility

    By: Mark Mortensen and Amy C. Edmondson

    A lot of leaders believe that the formula for attracting and keeping talent is simple: Just ask people what they want and give it to them. The problem is, that approach tends to address only the material aspects of jobs that are top of employees’ minds at the moment, like pay or flexibility. And those offerings are easy for rivals to imitate and...

    • Digital Initiative

    Improving Human-Algorithm Collaboration: Causes and Mitigation of Over- and Under-Adherence

    By: Maya Balakrishnan, Kris Ferreira and Jordan Tong

    Even if algorithms make better predictions than humans on average, humans may sometimes have “private” information which an algorithm does not have access to that can improve performance. How can we help humans effectively use and adjust recommendations made by algorithms in such situations? When deciding whether and how to override an algorithm’s recommendations, we hypothesize that people are biased towards following a naïve advice weighting (NAW) heuristic: they take a weighted average between their own prediction and the algorithm’s, with a constant weight across prediction instances, regardless of whether they have valuable private information.

    • Digital Initiative

    Improving Human-Algorithm Collaboration: Causes and Mitigation of Over- and Under-Adherence

    By: Maya Balakrishnan, Kris Ferreira and Jordan Tong

    Even if algorithms make better predictions than humans on average, humans may sometimes have “private” information which an algorithm does not have access to that can improve performance. How can we help humans effectively use and adjust recommendations made by algorithms in such situations? When deciding whether and how to override an algorithm’s...

    • Featured Case

    Hugging Face: Serving AI on a Platform

    By: Shane Greenstein, Daniel Yue, Kerry Herman and Sarah Gulick

    It is fall 2022, and open-source AI model company Hugging Face is considering its three areas of priorities: platform development, supporting the open-source community, and pursuing cutting-edge scientific research. As it expands services for enterprise clients, which services should it prioritize? Will these projects be in line with Hugging Face’s volunteer community? Further, Hugging Face decided to remove a model uploaded by a contributor, due to the potential harm the leadership felt it could propagate. Was it the right decision?

    • Featured Case

    Hugging Face: Serving AI on a Platform

    By: Shane Greenstein, Daniel Yue, Kerry Herman and Sarah Gulick

    It is fall 2022, and open-source AI model company Hugging Face is considering its three areas of priorities: platform development, supporting the open-source community, and pursuing cutting-edge scientific research. As it expands services for enterprise clients, which services should it prioritize? Will these projects be in line with Hugging...

    • Featured Case

    Navya: Steering Toward a Driverless Future

    By: Julian De Freitas, Elie Ofek, Shaun Ingledew and Tonia Labruyere

    In 2022, Sophie Desormière arrived at French roboshuttle producer Navya, tasked with charting a new course in a challenging sector. The company, which had recently listed on the Paris Stock Exchange, was burning through cash reserves and needed to transform the promise of its technology into a credible business with a solid revenue stream. In the short term, Desormière had to decide whether, and if so under what pricing terms, to accept an opportunity that recently emerged in the U.S. However, the opportunity involved renting, rather than selling, and also required Navya to operate the service.

    • Featured Case

    Navya: Steering Toward a Driverless Future

    By: Julian De Freitas, Elie Ofek, Shaun Ingledew and Tonia Labruyere

    In 2022, Sophie Desormière arrived at French roboshuttle producer Navya, tasked with charting a new course in a challenging sector. The company, which had recently listed on the Paris Stock Exchange, was burning through cash reserves and needed to transform the promise of its technology into a credible business with a solid revenue stream. In the...

    • HBS Working Paper

    How Do Investors Value ESG?

    By: Malcolm Baker, Mark Egan and Suproteem K. Sarkar

    Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) objectives have risen to near the top of the agenda for corporate executives and boards, driven in large part by their perceptions of shareholder interest. We quantify the value that shareholders place on ESG using a revealed preference approach, where shareholders pay higher fees for ESG-oriented index funds in exchange for their financial and non-financial benefits. We find that investors are willing, on average, to pay 20 basis points more per annum for an investment in a fund with an ESG mandate as compared to an otherwise identical mutual fund without an ESG mandate, suggesting that investors as a group expect commensurately higher pre-fee, gross returns, either financial or non-financial, from an ESG mandate.

    • HBS Working Paper

    How Do Investors Value ESG?

    By: Malcolm Baker, Mark Egan and Suproteem K. Sarkar

    Environmental, social, and governance (ESG) objectives have risen to near the top of the agenda for corporate executives and boards, driven in large part by their perceptions of shareholder interest. We quantify the value that shareholders place on ESG using a revealed preference approach, where shareholders pay higher fees for ESG-oriented index...

    • Working Paper

    The Retail Habitat

    By: Toomas Laarits and Marco Sammon

    Retail investors trade hard-to-value stocks. Controlling for size, stocks with a high share of retail-initiated trades are composed of more intangible capital, have longer duration cash-flows and a higher likelihood of being mispriced. Consistent with retail-heavy stocks being harder to value, we document that such stocks are less sensitive to earnings news. As an additional consequence, the well-known earnings announcer risk premium is limited to low retail stocks only. Further, high-retail stocks are more sensitive to retail order flow and are especially expensive to trade around earnings announcements. Overall, the findings document a new dimension of investor heterogeneity and suggest the comparative advantage of retail in holding hard-to-value stocks.

    • Working Paper

    The Retail Habitat

    By: Toomas Laarits and Marco Sammon

    Retail investors trade hard-to-value stocks. Controlling for size, stocks with a high share of retail-initiated trades are composed of more intangible capital, have longer duration cash-flows and a higher likelihood of being mispriced. Consistent with retail-heavy stocks being harder to value, we document that such stocks are less sensitive to...

Initiatives & Projects

The Digital, Data, and Design (D^3) Institute at Harvard

The Digital, Data, and Design (D^3) Institute at Harvard is a cross-unit venture that unites scholars and practitioners to explore and impact the transformation of business in today’s digital, networked, and media-rich environment.
→All Initiatives & Projects

Seminars & Conferences

Feb 08
  • 08 Feb 2023

Kiara Sanchez, Dartmouth

Feb 14
  • 14 Feb 2023

Luis Garicano, University of Chicago Booth School of Business & London School of Economics

→More Seminars & Conferences

Recent Publications

Giving-by-proxy Triggers Subsequent Charitable Behavior

By: Samantha Kassirer, Jillian J. Jordan and Maryam Kouchaki
  • March 2023 |
  • Article |
  • Journal of Experimental Social Psychology
How can we foster habits of charitable giving? Here, we investigate the potential power of giving-by-proxy experiences, drawing inspiration from a growing trend in marketing and corporate social responsibility contexts in which organizations make charitable donations on behalf of employees or consumers. We create laboratory models of giving-by-proxy in workplace (Studies 1a-3) and consumer (Study 4) contexts. We then investigate how giving-by-proxy experiences (with varying amounts of autonomy) influence subsequent charitable behavior. Across five preregistered studies (N = 3255), we provide evidence that (i) giving-by-proxy experiences (that mirror those that typically occur in both workplace and consumer contexts) trigger increases in subsequent charitable behavior, (ii) this process is mediated by participants taking “charitable credit” for their behavior, and (iii) manipulating the amount of autonomy involved in the giving-by-proxy experience does not moderate these effects. Results highlight potential societal impacts of giving-by-proxy policies and campaigns.
Citation
Related
Kassirer, Samantha, Jillian J. Jordan, and Maryam Kouchaki. "Giving-by-proxy Triggers Subsequent Charitable Behavior." Art. 104438. Journal of Experimental Social Psychology 105 (March 2023).

Migration Fear and Minority Crowd-Funding Success: Evidence from Kickstarter

By: John (Jianqui) Bai, William R. Kerr, Chi Wan and Alptug Yorulmaz
  • 2023 |
  • Working Paper |
  • Faculty Research
The US Migration Fear Index fluctuated substantially during 2009-2021, especially during the campaign and early administration of President Trump. During quarters of low anxiety, minorities are 2.4% less likely to achieve their crowd-funding goals than white creators on Kickstarter. This funding shortfall triples during quarters with the highest anxiety level, with deteriorations evident among Black, Hispanic, and Asian creators and across projects introduced by repeat creators. The effects are not explained by alternative macro factors like overall policy uncertainty nor reductions in friends and family support. Instead, the declines mostly follow from a generalized retraction of support for minority creators.
Citation
Related
Bai, John (Jianqui), William R. Kerr, Chi Wan, and Alptug Yorulmaz. "Migration Fear and Minority Crowd-Funding Success: Evidence from Kickstarter." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 23-046, January 2023.

EnergyNow: Powering a New Market

By: Alexander MacKay and James Barnett
  • February 2023 (Revised September 2022) |
  • Case |
  • Faculty Research
In August 2022, EnergyNow co-founder and CEO Stuart MacWilliam (MBA 2015) considers the company strategy for building solar panels to provide power in South Africa’s recently deregulated energy market.
Citation
Educators
Related
MacKay, Alexander, and James Barnett. "EnergyNow: Powering a New Market." Harvard Business School Case 723-361, February 2023. (Revised September 2022.)

How to Build a Life: The Hidden Link Between Workaholism and Mental Health

By: Arthur C. Brooks
  • February 2, 2023 |
  • Article |
  • The Atlantic
Citation
Related
Brooks, Arthur C. "How to Build a Life: The Hidden Link Between Workaholism and Mental Health." The Atlantic (February 2, 2023).

Unselfish Alibis Increase Choices of Selfish Autonomous Vehicles

By: Julian De Freitas
  • 2023 |
  • Working Paper |
  • Faculty Research
Human drivers routinely make implicit tradeoffs between their selfish interests and the safety of passengers, as when they perform a rolling stop in order to reach their destination faster. Here I explore whether they are comfortable with autonomous vehicles (AVs) that encode similar selfish preferences or prefer egalitarian AVs. Across seven studies involving 5,584 participants, I find evidence suggesting that consumers only express egalitarian preferences for AVs when their reputations are at stake, while otherwise evincing selfish preferences. Tellingly, they are more likely to make selfish choices when provided with a plausibly unselfish pretext for doing so, which I call an ‘unselfish alibi’. Firms wishing to appeal to selfish consumer instincts are better off doing so using unselfish alibis than overtly, even when targeting existing or prospective customers. I also explore how policymakers and competitors can encourage unselfish choices even when unselfish alibis are available, by providing options that implicitly undermine the need to make a selfish-prosocial dichotomy in the first place. The results suggest a fundamental tension between the vision of safe AVs and selfish consumer preferences, raising concerns about whether appeals to these preferences will jeopardize the promise of safer roads.
Citation
Related
De Freitas, Julian. "Unselfish Alibis Increase Choices of Selfish Autonomous Vehicles." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 23-043, February 2023.

Sarah Breedlove: Changing the World

By: Robert Simons and Shirley Sun
  • February 2023 |
  • Teaching Note |
  • Faculty Research
Citation
Purchase
Related
Simons, Robert, and Shirley Sun. "Sarah Breedlove: Changing the World." Harvard Business School Teaching Note 123-031, February 2023.

The Power of Modularity Today: 20 years of 'Design Rules'

By: Stefano Brusoni, Joachim Henkel, Michael G Jacobides, Samina Karim, Alan MacCormack, Phanish Puranam and Melissa Schilling
  • 2023 |
  • Article |
  • Industrial and Corporate Change
In 2000, Carliss Baldwin and Kim Clark published “Design Rules: The Power of Modularity,” a book that introduced new ways of understanding and explaining the architecture of complex systems This Special Issue of Industrial and Corporate Change celebrates this seminal work, the research it has inspired, and the insights that these collective efforts have generated. In this introductory essay, we review the impact of “Design Rules” across numerous fields, including organization theory, competitive strategy, industry structure, and innovation management. We offer perspectives on key themes that emerge from contributions in this issue, including the alignment between organizational and technical designs (“mirroring”), the dynamics of industry evolution, and the role that individuals play in shaping and responding to system designs. We close by highlighting opportunities to apply the theory in Design Rules to new phenomena and puzzles that have emerged in the past 20 years.
Citation
Related
Brusoni, Stefano, Joachim Henkel, Michael G Jacobides, Samina Karim, Alan MacCormack, Phanish Puranam, and Melissa Schilling. "The Power of Modularity Today: 20 years of 'Design Rules'." Industrial and Corporate Change 32 (2023): 1–10.

Peloton Interactive (B)

By: Suraj Srinivasan, Lynn S. Paine and David Lane
  • February 2023 |
  • Case |
  • Faculty Research
Supplements “Peloton Interactive (A)” (HBS No. 323-005), describing company restructuring and changes to management and the board of directors between February 8 and early October 2022.
Citation
Educators
Related
Srinivasan, Suraj, Lynn S. Paine, and David Lane. "Peloton Interactive (B)." Harvard Business School Case 323-046, February 2023.
More Publications

In The News

    • 01 Feb 2023
    • HBS Working Knowledge

    Will Hybrid Work Strategies Pull Down Long-Term Performance?

    By: James Heskett
    • 01 Feb 2023
    • New York Times

    The Dying Practice of Time and a Half

    Re: Lauren Cohen
    • 31 Jan 2023
    • HBS Working Knowledge

    It’s Not All About Pay: College Grads Want Jobs That ‘Change the World’

    Re: Letian (LT) Zhang
    • 31 Jan 2023
    • HBS Working Knowledge

    Can Insurance Technology Solve the Uninsured Driver Problem?

    Re: Raymond Kluender
→More Faculty News

The Case Method

Introduced by HBS faculty to business education in 1925, the case method is a powerful interactive learning process that puts students in the shoes of a leader faced with a real-world management issue and challenges them to propose and justify a resolution.
Today, HBS remains an authority on teaching by the case method. The School is also the world’s leading case-writing institution, with HBS faculty members contributing hundreds of new cases to the management curriculum a year via the School’s unique case development and writing process.
→Browse HBS Case Collection
→Purchase Cases

Faculty Positions

Harvard Business School seeks candidates in all fields for full time positions. Candidates with outstanding records in PhD or DBA programs are encouraged to apply.
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