
- 23 Feb 2021
- Cold Call Podcast
Examining Race and Mass Incarceration in the United States
The late 20th century saw dramatic growth in incarceration rates in the United States. Of the more than 2.3 million people in US prisons, jails, and detention centers in 2020, 60 percent were Black or Latinx. Harvard Business School assistant professor Reshmaan Hussam probes the assumptions underlying the current prison system, with its huge racial disparities, and considers what could be done to address the crisis of the American criminal justice system in her case, “Race and Mass Incarceration in the United States.” Open for comment; 0 Comment(s) posted.
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- 08 Apr 2019
- Sharpening Your Skills
The Life of Luxury and How to Sell It
Luxury is its own market, but who shops there? Who sells there? What's the best strategy? Researchers at Harvard Business School examine consumerism at the top of the curve. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

- 21 Mar 2019
- HBS Case
The Ferrari Way
Secretive sports car maker Ferrari opens up to Stefan Thomke about how it has bucked industry trends to achieve success. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

- 27 Feb 2019
- Research & Ideas
The Hidden Cost of a Product Recall
Product failures create managerial challenges for companies but market opportunities for competitors, says Ariel Dora Stern. The stakes have only grown higher. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

- 11 Dec 2018
- Research & Ideas
Free Trade Needs Nurturing—and Other Lessons from History
Global free trade is not the natural order of things, so it needs to be carefully tended to and maintained. Sophus Reinert and Dante Roscini discuss trade over time and what history teaches. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

- 29 Aug 2018
- What Do You Think?
What Should Harley-Davidson’s Management Do?
SUMMING UP Stuck between a rock and a critical POTUS, Harley-Davidson should ignore the politics and operate where best business practices lead it, most of James Heskett's readers advise. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

- 12 Apr 2018
- Op-Ed
Op-Ed: The Trouble with Tariffs
The world's economies are interconnected by globalization, which makes threats of tariff wars doubly dangerous, says Willy Shih. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

- 22 May 2017
- Lessons from the Classroom
A Luxury Industry Veteran Teaches the Importance of Aesthetics to Budding Business Leaders
Pauline Brown, a former top executive with French luxury goods conglomerate LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton, now teaches a Harvard Business School course called The Business of Aesthetics, which culminates in a competition called “Aesthetic Idol.” Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

- 24 Apr 2017
- Op-Ed
Op-Ed: Courage: The Defining Characteristic of Great Leaders
Courageous leaders inspire employees, energize customers, and position their companies on the front lines of societal change. Bill George explains why there aren't more of them. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.
- 05 Apr 2017
- Research & Ideas
For Women Especially, It Pays to Know What Car Repairs Should Cost
Consumers can negotiate cheaper auto repair prices by convincing service reps they know something about market rates—helping women overcome gender discrimination, according to recently published research by Ayelet Israeli and co-authors. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

- 07 Sep 2016
- Working Paper Summaries
Decision-Making by Precedent and the Founding of American Honda (1948–1974)
While the production and distribution of goods in a firm is commonly overseen by a hierarchy of management, decision-making within these organizations is often frenetic. This paper demonstrates empirically that the president of American Honda made important strategic decisions by following the precedent set by his boss and former mentor, Honda’s chief strategist, Takeo Fujisawa—by making careful, educated guesses about how Fujisawa would have addressed similar issues. This study identifies the guiding influence of historical precedent and hypothesized intentions and emphasizes the social character of strategic decision-making.

- 23 Jun 2016
- Cold Call Podcast
Who Makes the Eyes for Driverless Cars?
Professor David Yoffie discusses why a company many have never heard of, Mobileye, will be a linchpin in the future of self-driving automobiles. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.
- 11 May 2016
- Research & Ideas
Fix This! Why is it so Painful to Buy a New Car?
Car-buying sends shivers up the backbones of American consumers, so why hasn’t the industry stepped up to create a better experience? Leonard Schlesinger, Jill Avery, and Ryan Buell tell their own war stories and talk about how the battle might yet be won. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.
- 06 Jan 2016
- What Do You Think?
Why Do Leaders Get Their Timing Wrong?
SUMMING UP: Is good management timing primarily a function of strategy or culture? James Heskett's readers add their opinions. What do YOU think? Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.
- 24 Nov 2015
- Research & Ideas
Developing Your Next CEO for the Family Business
Family businesses have four options when considering a new CEO, but the crucial decision is whether a family member or outsider would be the best choice. John A. Davis looks at each option. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

- 25 Sep 2015
- Working Paper Summaries
Invest in Information or Wing It? A Model of Dynamic Pricing with Seller Learning
Dealers who need to price idiosyncratic products--like houses, artwork, and used cars--often struggle with a lack of information about the demand for their specific items. Analyzing sales data from the used-car retail market, the authors of this paper develop a model of dynamic pricing for idiosyncratic products, showing that seller learning has an impact on pricing dynamics through a rich set of mechanisms. Overall, findings suggest a potentially high return to taking a more serious information-based approach to pricing idiosyncratic products.
- 14 Jan 2015
- Research & Ideas
Thriving in the Turbulence of Emerging Markets
Entrepreneurs in developing market economies face special management challenges. Company leaders in India, Turkey, and Africa discuss their experiences with Harvard Business School's Creating Emerging Markets project. Open for comment; 4 Comment(s) posted.
- 13 Mar 2014
- Research & Ideas
Can We Get To Where We Need To Go?
America's infrastructure woes and how to fix them were front and center at the recent summit, America on the Move: Transportation and Infrastructure for the 21st Century, led by Rosabeth Moss Kanter. Open for comment; 2 Comment(s) posted.

- 12 Feb 2014
- Working Paper Summaries
Management Practices, Relational Contracts, and the Decline of General Motors
What led to General Motors' decline? Long regarded as one of the best managed and most successful firms in the world, its share of the US market fell from 62.6 to 19.8 percent between 1980 and 2009, and in 2009 the firm went bankrupt. The authors argue that the conventional explanations for GM's decline are seriously incomplete. They discuss a number of causes for the firm's difficulties, and make the case that one of the reasons that GM began to struggle was because rival Toyota's practices were rooted in the widespread deployment of effective relational contracts--agreements based on subjective measures of performance that could neither be fully specified beforehand nor verified after the fact and that were thus enforced by the shadow of the future. GM's history, organizational structure, and managerial practices made it very difficult to maintain these kinds of agreements either within the firm or between the firm and its suppliers. The authors also argue that at least two aspects of GM's experience seem common to a wide range of firms. First, past success often led to extended periods of denial: Indeed a pattern of denial following extended success appears to be a worldwide phenomenon. Second, many large American manufacturers had difficulty adopting the bundle of practices pioneered by firms like Toyota. The paper concludes by discussing the implications of this history for efforts to revive American manufacturing. Key concepts include: Public support for economic growth has usually focused on the diffusion of technology-based insights. Learning more about when (and what type of) relational contracts are likely to be valuable may be just as important. For General Motors, the historical success of the firm led its senior managers to deny and/or misperceive the nature of the threat presented by Japanese competition for much of the 1970s and 1980s. GM faced difficulties in the 1990s once the firm had made the decision to adopt Toyota's managerial practices. It took time for GM to understand exactly what Toyota was doing. Then problems in building new relational contracts greatly slowed GM's efforts to respond effectively, either through innovation or by imitating Toyota's efforts. Closed for comment; 0 Comment(s) posted.
- 13 Nov 2013
- Research & Ideas
Should Men’s Products Fear a Woman’s Touch?
Recent research shows that loyal customers often get upset when a brand associated with men expands to include products perceived as feminine. Senior Lecturer Jill J. Avery discusses the problem of "gender contamination." Closed for comment; 17 Comment(s) posted.
Autonomous Vehicles Are Ready to Disrupt Society, Business—and You
The rise of autonomous vehicles has enormous implications for business and society. Professors William R. Kerr and Elie Ofek explore the factors influencing their development and commercialization. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.