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Faculty & Research

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    • HBS Book

    Build the Life You Want: The Art and Science of Getting Happier

    By: Arthur C. Brooks and Oprah Winfrey

    In Build the Life You Want, Arthur C. Brooks and Oprah Winfrey invite you to begin a journey toward greater happiness no matter how challenging your circumstances. Drawing on cutting-edge science and their years of helping people translate ideas into action, they show you how to improve your life right now instead of waiting for the outside world to change.

    • HBS Book

    Build the Life You Want: The Art and Science of Getting Happier

    By: Arthur C. Brooks and Oprah Winfrey

    In Build the Life You Want, Arthur C. Brooks and Oprah Winfrey invite you to begin a journey toward greater happiness no matter how challenging your circumstances. Drawing on cutting-edge science and their years of helping people translate ideas into action, they show you how to improve your life right now instead of waiting for the...

    • Management Science 69, no. 8 (August 2023): 4864–4887.

    Do Rating Agencies Behave Defensively for Higher Risk Issuers?

    By: Samuel B. Bonsall IV, Kevin Koharki, Pepa Kraft, Karl A. Muller III and Anywhere Sikochi

    We examine whether rating agencies act defensively toward issuers with a higher likelihood of default. We find that agencies' qualitative soft rating adjustments are more accurate as issuers' default risk grows, as evidenced by the adjustments leading to lower Type I and Type II error rates and better prediction of default and default recovery losses. We also find that soft adjustments' relevance increases with issuers' default risk, as evidenced by the adjustments being more predictive of initial offering yields and leading to a greater market reaction to rating changes.

    • Management Science 69, no. 8 (August 2023): 4864–4887.

    Do Rating Agencies Behave Defensively for Higher Risk Issuers?

    By: Samuel B. Bonsall IV, Kevin Koharki, Pepa Kraft, Karl A. Muller III and Anywhere Sikochi

    We examine whether rating agencies act defensively toward issuers with a higher likelihood of default. We find that agencies' qualitative soft rating adjustments are more accurate as issuers' default risk grows, as evidenced by the adjustments leading to lower Type I and Type II error rates and better prediction of default and default recovery...

    • Business History

    The Irredeemability of the Past: Determinants of Reconciliation and Revenge in Post-Conflict Settings

    By: Kristen Kao, Kristin Fabbe and Michael Bang Petersen

    In the aftermath of violent conflict, identifying former enemy collaborators versus innocent bystanders forced to flee violence is difficult. In post-conflict settings, internally displaced persons (IDPs) risk becoming stigmatized and face difficulties reintegrating into society. This work considers the role of moral disapproval and future social value in processes of post-conflict reconciliation with stigmatized IDPs. We run two conjoint experiments embedded within a large-N face-to-face survey across three areas of Iraq (n=4,592) experiencing the return of stigmatized IDPs, many of whom are suspected of having collaborated with the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS).

    • Business History

    The Irredeemability of the Past: Determinants of Reconciliation and Revenge in Post-Conflict Settings

    By: Kristen Kao, Kristin Fabbe and Michael Bang Petersen

    In the aftermath of violent conflict, identifying former enemy collaborators versus innocent bystanders forced to flee violence is difficult. In post-conflict settings, internally displaced persons (IDPs) risk becoming stigmatized and face difficulties reintegrating into society. This work considers the role of moral disapproval and future social...

    • Featured Case

    Optimalen Capital

    By: Malcolm Baker, Elisabeth Kempf and Jonathan Wallen

    A new client portfolio manager at a quantitative investment management firm must explain why her firm, Optimalen Capital, has rebalanced a client portfolio with a set of trades that seem unintuitive. In particular, Optimalen has added to its position of Walmart (ticker = WMT) and reduced its position in Tesla (TSLA) despite the latter having a much higher forecast return. She also must compute breakeven returns for two other stocks, Exxon Mobil (XOM) and Duke Energy (DUK).

    • Featured Case

    Optimalen Capital

    By: Malcolm Baker, Elisabeth Kempf and Jonathan Wallen

    A new client portfolio manager at a quantitative investment management firm must explain why her firm, Optimalen Capital, has rebalanced a client portfolio with a set of trades that seem unintuitive. In particular, Optimalen has added to its position of Walmart (ticker = WMT) and reduced its position in Tesla (TSLA) despite the latter having a...

    • Featured Case

    Dena Almansoori at e&: Fostering Culture Change at a UAE Telco Transforming to a Global Techco

    By: Emily Truelove, Michelle Zhang and Alpana Thapar

    Dena Almansoori, the first female and one of the youngest members of the United Arab Emirates-based e&’s leadership team, joined in 2020 just before e& began a strategic transition from being a regional telecommunications company to becoming a global technology company. As the group’s chief HR officer, Almansoori had a key role to play in this transition. Her mandate was to build a culture that was a “magnet” for top global talent, such that e& would compete with the likes of Amazon and Google not only for customers, but employees too. Many deemed this to be a radically ambitious goal.

    • Featured Case

    Dena Almansoori at e&: Fostering Culture Change at a UAE Telco Transforming to a Global Techco

    By: Emily Truelove, Michelle Zhang and Alpana Thapar

    Dena Almansoori, the first female and one of the youngest members of the United Arab Emirates-based e&’s leadership team, joined in 2020 just before e& began a strategic transition from being a regional telecommunications company to becoming a global technology company. As the group’s chief HR officer, Almansoori had a key role to play in this...

    • HBS Working Paper

    Corporate Leaders Say They Are for Stakeholder Capitalism—But Which Version Exactly?: A Critical Look at Four Varieties

    By: Lynn S. Paine

    The past few years have seen an outpouring of articles and statements heralding the arrival of a new and more inclusive form of capitalism often called stakeholder capitalism. The new capitalism promises to strengthen companies, improve outcomes for their constituencies, produce better returns for long-term shareholders, and ultimately strengthen the economy and society as a whole. In line with the new ideology, corporate boards and business leaders are being urged to replace the shareholder-centered approach to governance that has guided their work for the past several decades and, instead, to adopt a multi-stakeholder approach. In speaking with hundreds of corporate directors, executives, investors, governance professionals, and academics over the years, I’ve found wide differences in how stakeholder capitalism is understood and what it is thought to require of companies and their leaders.

    • HBS Working Paper

    Corporate Leaders Say They Are for Stakeholder Capitalism—But Which Version Exactly?: A Critical Look at Four Varieties

    By: Lynn S. Paine

    The past few years have seen an outpouring of articles and statements heralding the arrival of a new and more inclusive form of capitalism often called stakeholder capitalism. The new capitalism promises to strengthen companies, improve outcomes for their constituencies, produce better returns for long-term shareholders, and ultimately strengthen...

    • HBS Working Paper

    Residential Battery Storage - Reshaping The Way We Do Electricity

    By: Christian Kaps and Serguei Netessine

    In this paper, we aim to understand when private households invest in rooftop solar installations and battery storage, and how these investment decisions affect their electricity usage patterns as well as the market structure overall. We answer three main research questions: 1) What drives customers to combine solar power with storage installations; 2) How does privately-owned storage change consumer autonomy and the grid provider business model, and how heterogeneous is this effect across the population; 3) What effects do subsidies have on investments, demands, and carbon emissions. We develop a structural estimation model of residential electricity usage, that allows us to estimate a household's hourly consumption preferences, and a non-financial utility the household has for using self-generated solar power over grid-procured electricity; we call this utility greenness valuation.

    • HBS Working Paper

    Residential Battery Storage - Reshaping The Way We Do Electricity

    By: Christian Kaps and Serguei Netessine

    In this paper, we aim to understand when private households invest in rooftop solar installations and battery storage, and how these investment decisions affect their electricity usage patterns as well as the market structure overall. We answer three main research questions: 1) What drives customers to combine solar power with storage...

Initiatives & Projects

Laboratory for Innovation Science at Harvard

The Laboratory for Innovation Science at Harvard (LISH) is spurring the development of a science of innovation through a systematic program of solving real-world innovation challenges while simultaneously conducting rigorous scientific research and analysis.
→All Initiatives & Projects

Seminars & Conferences

Oct 02
  • 02 Oct 2023

Bart Elmore, The Ohio State University

Oct 02
  • 02 Oct 2023

Bart Elmore, The Ohio State University

→More Seminars & Conferences

Recent Publications

Open Source Software and Global Entrepreneurship

By: Nataliya Langburd Wright, Frank Nagle and Shane Greenstein
  • November 2023 |
  • Article |
  • Research Policy
This is the first study to consider the relationship between open source software (OSS) and entrepreneurship around the globe. This study measures whether country-level participation on the GitHub OSS platform affects the founding of innovative ventures, and where it does so, for what types of ventures. We estimate these effects using cross-country variation in new venture founding and OSS participation. We propose an approach using instrumental variables, and cannot reject a causal interpretation. The study finds that an increase in GitHub participation in a given country generates an increase in the number of new technology ventures within that country in the subsequent year. The evidence suggests this relationship is complementary to a country’s endowments, and does not substitute for them. In addition to this positive change in the rate of entrepreneurship, we also find a change in direction—OSS contributions lead to new ventures that are more mission- and global-oriented and are of a higher quality. Together, the results suggest that OSS can boost entrepreneurial activity, albeit with a human capital prerequisite. Finally, we consider the implications for policies that encourage OSS as a lever for stimulating entrepreneurial growth.
Citation
SSRN
Related
Wright, Nataliya Langburd, Frank Nagle, and Shane Greenstein. "Open Source Software and Global Entrepreneurship." Art. 104846. Research Policy 52, no. 9 (November 2023).

A Quantity-Driven Theory of Term Premia and Exchange Rates

By: Robin Greenwood, Samuel G. Hanson, Jeremy C. Stein and Adi Sunderam
  • November 2023 |
  • Article |
  • Quarterly Journal of Economics
We develop a model in which specialized bond investors must absorb shocks to the supply and demand for long-term bonds in two currencies. Since long-term bonds and foreign exchange are both exposed to unexpected movements in short-term interest rates, a shift in the supply of long-term bonds in one currency influences the foreign exchange rate between the two currencies, as well as bond term premia in both currencies. Our model matches several important empirical patterns, including the co-movement between exchange rates and term premia, as well as the finding that central banks' quantitative easing policies impact exchange rates. An extension of our model links spot exchange rates to the persistent deviations from covered interest rate parity that have emerged since 2008.
Citation
Purchase
Related
Greenwood, Robin, Samuel G. Hanson, Jeremy C. Stein, and Adi Sunderam. "A Quantity-Driven Theory of Term Premia and Exchange Rates." Quarterly Journal of Economics 138, no. 4 (November 2023): 2327–2389.

Building Brand Engagement: Lessons from NFTs and Collectibles

By: Frank V. Cespedes and Ben Plomion
  • September–October 2023 |
  • Article |
  • European Business Review
Citation
Related
Cespedes, Frank V., and Ben Plomion. "Building Brand Engagement: Lessons from NFTs and Collectibles." European Business Review (September–October 2023): 2–5.

Health System Perspective on Cost for Delivering a Decision Aid for Prostate Cancer Using Time-Driven Activity-Based Costing

By: David R. Ho, Robert S. Kaplan, Jonathan Bergman, David F. Penson, Benjamin Waterman, Kristin C. Williams, Jefersson Villatoro, Lorna Kwan and Christopher S. Saigal
  • October 2023 |
  • Article |
  • Medical Care
Previsit decision aids (DAs) have been shown to improve decisional quality. But the cost to deploy a DA has not been previously estimated. We interviewed or observed relevant personnel at three institutions that had implemented DA programs for men with prostate cancer. We used time-driven activity-based costing to estimate cost. Total average costs (USD) per patient were $38 (UCLA), $60 (Olive View-UCLA), and $42 (Vanderbilt), respectively, with labor costs being the largest component. Electronic health record (EHR) integration streamlined DA delivery efficiency and produced substantial cost savings. DA use was also associated with shorter clinic visit length and high levels of decision quality.
Citation
Related
Ho, David R., Robert S. Kaplan, Jonathan Bergman, David F. Penson, Benjamin Waterman, Kristin C. Williams, Jefersson Villatoro, Lorna Kwan, and Christopher S. Saigal. "Health System Perspective on Cost for Delivering a Decision Aid for Prostate Cancer Using Time-Driven Activity-Based Costing." Medical Care 61, no. 10 (October 2023): 681–688.

Laboratory Safety and Research Productivity

By: Alberto Galasso, Hong Luo and Brooklynn Zhu
  • October 2023 |
  • Article |
  • Research Policy
Are laboratory safety practices a tax on scientific productivity? We examine this question by exploiting the substantial increase in safety regulations at the University of California following the shocking accidental death of a research assistant in 2008. Difference-in-differences analyses show that relative to "dry labs" that use theoretical and computational methods, the publication rates of "wet labs" that conduct experiments using chemical and biological substances did not change significantly after the shock. At the same time, we find that wet labs that used dangerous compounds more frequently before the shock reduced their reliance on flammable materials and unfamiliar hazardous compounds afterward, even though their overall research agenda does not appear to be affected. Our findings suggest that laboratory safety may shape the production of science, but they do not support the claim that safety practices impose a significant tax on research productivity.
Citation
Related
Galasso, Alberto, Hong Luo, and Brooklynn Zhu. "Laboratory Safety and Research Productivity." Art. 104827. Research Policy 52, no. 8 (October 2023).

Stock Market Stimulus

By: Robin Greenwood, Toomas Laarits and Jeffrey Wurgler
  • October 2023 |
  • Article |
  • Review of Financial Studies
We study the stock market effects of the arrival of the three rounds of “stimulus checks” to U.S. taxpayers and the single round of direct payments to Hong Kong citizens. The first two rounds of U.S. checks appear to have increased retail buying and share prices of retail-dominated portfolios. The Hong Kong payments increased overall turnover and share prices on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange. We cannot rule out that these price effects were permanent. The findings raise novel questions about the role of fiscal stimulus in the stock market.
Citation
Purchase
Related
Greenwood, Robin, Toomas Laarits, and Jeffrey Wurgler. "Stock Market Stimulus." Review of Financial Studies 36, no. 10 (October 2023): 4082–4112. (Also NBER Working Paper Series, No. 29827, January 2023.)

Equity Restructuring at Dell Technologies: Buy Out, Buy Up, Buy In (A)

By: Stuart C. Gilson and Sarah L. Abbott
  • September 2023 |
  • Supplement |
  • Faculty Research
Citation
Purchase
Related
Gilson, Stuart C., and Sarah L. Abbott. "Equity Restructuring at Dell Technologies: Buy Out, Buy Up, Buy In (A)." Harvard Business School Spreadsheet Supplement 224-709, September 2023.

Centralization and Organization Reproduction: Ethnic Innovation in R&D Centers and Satellite Locations

By: William R. Kerr
  • 2023 |
  • Working Paper |
  • Faculty Research
We study the relationship between firm centralization and organizational reproduction in satellite locations. For decentralized firms, the ethnic compositions of inventors in satellite locations mostly resemble their host cities, with little link to the inventor composition of their parent firms' R&D headquarters. For highly centralized firms, by contrast, organizational reproduction has an explanatory power equal to half or more of the host city effect. Reproduction is strongest when a firm exhibits a hands-on approach to the satellite facility, such as cross-facility team collaboration or internal talent mobility.
Citation
Related
Kerr, William R. "Centralization and Organization Reproduction: Ethnic Innovation in R&D Centers and Satellite Locations." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 24-015, September 2023.
More Publications

In The News

    • 27 Sep 2023
    • Harvard Business School

    Behind the Research: Tiona Zuzul

    Re: Tiona Zuzul
    • 27 Sep 2023
    • Harvard Business School

    Harvard Business School Announces 2023-2024 Kaplan Fellows

    Re: Robert Huckman
    • 26 Sep 2023
    • Cold Call

    The PGA Tour and LIV Golf Merger: Competition Vs. Cooperation

    Re: Alexander MacKay
    • 24 Sep 2023
    • The Australian Financial Review

    Consultants Using AI Do Better, Especially Underperformers: Study

    Re: Fabrizio Dell'Acqua & Edward McFowland III
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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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