- 21 Mar 2018
- Research & Ideas
Why Artificial Intelligence Isn't a Sure Thing to Increase Productivity
As companies adopt artificial intelligence to increase efficiency, are their employees skilled enough to use those technologies effectively? Prithwiraj Choudhury looks to the US Patent and Trademark Office for a case study. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 03 Aug 2015
- Research & Ideas
Why Fierce Competitors Apple and Amazon Became ’Frenemies’ Over eReaders
New research by Feng Zhu and colleagues reveals why sometimes it's better for fierce competitors like Apple and Amazon to work together. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 31 Jul 2015
- Research & Ideas
The Faculty Reader: Who is Reading What This Summer?
What titles made the Harvard Business Faculty short list for summer reading? Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 07 Nov 2014
- Working Paper Summaries
Do Experts or Collective Intelligence Write with More Bias? Evidence from Encyclopædia Britannica and Wikipedia
Britannica and Wikipedia are sources that aspire to provide comprehensive information. They both face similar challenges over the length, tone, and factual basis of controversial, unverifiable, and subjective content. Such challenges are pervasive in the production of encyclopedic knowledge about current events and political debates surrounding topics like taxation, health care policies, biographical details of presidential candidates, and the funding of stem-cell research, for example. In this paper the authors begin with a simple observation: Each source resolves these challenges differently in distinct production processes. Britannica, for example, produces its final content after consultation between editors and experts. Wikipedia, on the other hand, relies on the "crowd" for its content, receiving contributions from tens of millions of individual users. Examining 3,918 pairs of articles about US politics that appeared in both outlets, the authors compare bias and slant from the two production models. Results suggest that the allocation of editorial time and user contributions is central to the minimization of differences in bias and slant between the two outlets. Among the managerial implications, community managers can work towards a balanced view if intervention alleviates disputes and generates the right kind of participation. Key concepts include: The costs of producing, storing, and distributing knowledge shape different biases and slants in the collective intelligence (Wikipedia) and the expert-based model (Britannica). Many of the differences between Wikipedia and Britannica arise because Wikipedia faces insignificant storage, production, and distribution costs. This leads to longer articles with greater coverage of more points of view. The number of revisions of Wikipedia articles results in more neutral point of view. In the best cases, it reduces slant and bias to a negligible difference with an expert-based model. As the world moves from reliance on expert-based production of knowledge to collectively-produced intelligence, it is unwise to blindly trust the properties of knowledge produced by the crowd. Their slants and biases are not widely appreciated, nor are the properties of the production model as yet fully understood. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 31 Mar 2014
- Research & Ideas
Encouraging Niche Content in an Ad-Driven World
Research by Feng Zhu and Monic Sun explores how advertising drives bloggers to shift their writing to subjects that will grab more eyeballs—namely, the stock market, celebrities, and salacious behavior. But surprise: Ads might also help generate more niche content. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 19 Feb 2014
- Research & Ideas
Racist Umpires and Monetary Ministers
Are baseball umpires racist? Are ministers motivated by money? Christopher Parsons teases important economic lessons from unlikely sources. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 07 Jan 2013
- Lessons from the Classroom
Culture Changers: Managing High-Impact Entrepreneurs
In her new Harvard Business School course, Creative High-Impact Ventures: Entrepreneurs Who Changed the World, professor Mukti Khaire looks at ways managers can team with creative talent in six "culture industries": publishing, fashion, art-design, film, music, and food. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 26 Apr 2012
- Working Paper Summaries
What Makes a Critic Tick? Connected Authors and the Determinants of Book Reviews
The professional critic has long been heralded as the gold standard for evaluating products and services such as books, movies, and restaurants. Analyzing hundreds of book reviews from 40 different newspapers and magazines, Professor Michael Luca and coauthors Loretti Dobrescu and Alberto Motta investigate the determinants of professional reviews and then compare these to consumer reviews from Amazon.com. Key concepts include: The data suggest that media outlets do not simply seek to isolate high-quality books, but also to find books that are a good fit for their readers. This is a potential advantage for professional critics, one that cannot be easily replicated by consumer reviews. Expert ratings are correlated with Amazon ratings, suggesting that experts and consumers tend to agree in aggregate about the quality of a book. However, there are systematic differences between these sets of reviews. Relative to consumer reviews, professional critics are less favorable to first-time authors. This suggests that one potential advantage of consumer reviews is that they are quicker to identify new and unknown books. Relative to consumer reviews, professional critics are more favorable to authors who have garnered other attention in the press (as measured by number of media mentions outside of the review) and who have won book prizes. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 06 Jan 2012
- Op-Ed
Where Green Corporate Ratings Fail
Many companies receiving high marks in environmental sustainability are hurting the planet in other ways, write professor Michael Toffel and executive Auden Schendler. Here's where green rankings fall short. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 27 Sep 2011
- Working Paper Summaries
Salience in Quality Disclosure: Evidence from the U.S. News College Rankings
Why are the U.S. News and World Report College Rankings so influential? According to this paper by Michael Luca and Jonathan Smith, it's at least in part because U.S. News makes the information so simple. While earlier college guides had already provided useful information about schools, U.S. News did the work of aggregating the information into an easy-to-use ranking, making it more salient for prospective students. The authors show that these rankings matter in a big way: a one-rank improvement leads to a 0.9 percent increase in applicants. However, students tend to ignore the underlying details even though these details carry more information than the overall rank. Key concepts include: College applicants pay attention to a school's overall rank, rather than the more informative (but more complicated) underlying information. When U.S. News and World Report chooses how much weight to apply to different categories (such as faculty/student ratio and alumni giving rate), they are exerting a large amount of influence over students' application decisions. U.S. News presents many of these details, but it's the bottom line (i.e., the weights chosen by U.S. News) that matters. When deciding how to present information, managers should keep in mind that simple metrics are most effective. Providing detailed information to consumers may seem useful, but aggregate statistics (such as a ranking or grade) tend to have a larger impact on decision making. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 05 Apr 2010
- Research & Ideas
HBS Cases: iPads, Kindles, and the Close of a Chapter in Book Publishing
Book publishing is changing before our very eyes, even if the industry itself is fighting the transition with every comma it can muster. Harvard Business School professor Peter Olson, former CEO of Random House, wonders if books themselves may be in jeopardy. Key concepts include: The traditional book publishing and distribution system is under pressure to change to digital e-books. Publishers should consider a strategy of cooperation rather than competition with online retailers. Adding video and other multimedia capabilities will make e-books more attractive in the textbook industry. The fundamental question to be asked in the Internet age is, how popular will books remain? Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 16 Aug 2006
- Research & Ideas
Is MySpace.com Your Space?
Social networking sites such as MySpace.com have demographics to die for, but PR problems with parents, police, and policymakers. Are they safe for advertisers? A Q&A with Professor John Deighton. Key concepts include: Social networking sites such as MySpace.com are emerging as powerful advertising platforms reaching millions of desirable consumers. They will be advertising rivals to established Internet sites such as Google and Yahoo. Although MySpace has been the subject of some community criticism, MySpace advertisers don't seem frightened off. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 17 Apr 2006
- Research & Ideas
Resisting the Seductions of Success
"The basic problem with the flow of success is that life can look very good when it really isn't," writes Harvard Business School's Joseph L. Badaracco Jr. His new book, Questions of Character, uses literature to look closely at issues of leadership. Here's an excerpt. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 30 Jan 2006
- HBS Case
The Case of the Mystery Writer’s Brand
A look behind how professor John Deighton developed a case study of mystery writer James Patterson. From the HBS Alumni Bulletin. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 28 Jan 2002
- Research & Ideas
Read All About It! Newspapers Lose Web War
Newspapers saw a threat to their livelihood from the Internet, and aggressively put their own competing products online. Problem is, says Harvard Business School professor Clark Gilbert, they didn't take advantage of the power of disruptive technology. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 24 Jul 2000
- Research & Ideas
Linking the Globe: The Role of Media and Communications
The media industry today is at its most critical juncture since an earlier rush of new technologies made mass media possible. Top executives from three global media firms—Bertelsmann, Vivendi and Reuters—joined HBS Professor Debora Spar in Berlin for a look at the industry at the crossroads of the Information Revolution. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
With Subscription Fatigue Setting In, Companies Need to Think Hard About Fees
Subscriptions are available for everything from dental floss to dog toys, but are consumers tiring of monthly fees? Elie Ofek says that subscription revenue can provide stability, but companies need to tread carefully or risk alienating customers.