- 11 Feb 2019
- Working Paper Summaries
Gender Stereotypes in Deliberation and Team Decisions
Professional success requires the ability to contribute ideas, and receive credit for them. This paper explores gender differences in how men and women communicate and reward each other in team decision-making problems. We find that women are recognized less often for their contributions in male-typed domains.
- 26 Jan 2019
- Working Paper Summaries
Marketplace Scalability and Strategic Use of Platform Investment
One well-known feature of marketplace platforms like Airbnb and eBay is their scalability. This paper identifies the strategic trade-off and implications for scalability when a platform provides services to existing and potential sellers that help reduce their fixed costs of running the business. Timing this investment is an important consideration for maximizing marketplace scalability.
- 05 Dec 2018
- Research & Ideas
Why Managers Should Reveal Their Failures
If you want to get your messages through to employees, be ready to confess your own management shortcomings, counsels Alison Wood Brooks. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.
- 22 Aug 2016
- Research & Ideas
Master the One-on-One Meeting
The one-on-one meeting between supervisor and staff is an invaluable tool for managing, but requires much attention to detail. Julia B. Austin explains best practices for getting the most out of the 1:1. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.
- 18 May 2009
- Research & Ideas
The Unseen Link Between Savings and National Growth
Professor Diego Comin and fellow researchers find a little observed link between private savings and country growth. The work may offer a simple interpretation for the East Asia "miracle" and for failures in Latin America. Q&A. Key concepts include: Companies in poor countries must attract FDI to gain access to "frontier technologies" that drive productivity and growth. Savings become key to attracting these investors, who expect the local company to have colateral in the deal. A 10 percent increase in the savings rate over the previous 10 years leads to an increase in the average growth rate over the next 10 years of 1.3 percent. Developing countries should consider policies that foster domestic savings. Closed for comment; 0 Comment(s) posted.
- 20 Feb 2009
- Working Paper Summaries
When Does Domestic Saving Matter for Economic Growth?
The researchers begin with a simply stated question: Can a country grow faster by saving more? Long-run growth theories imply that a country can grow faster by investing more in human or physical capital or in R&D, but that a country with access to international capital markets cannot grow faster by saving more. Domestic saving is therefore not considered an important ingredient in the growth process because investment can be financed by foreign saving. From the point of view of standard growth theory, the positive cross-country correlation between saving and growth that many commentators have noted appears puzzling. HBS professor Diego Comin and colleagues develop a theory of local saving and growth in an open economy with domestic and foreign investors. Key concepts include: Domestic saving is more critical for adopting new technologies in developing rather than developed economies. Familiarity with the technology frontier reduces its cost of adoption. Advanced countries readily adopt the frontier technology, but for countries far from the technology frontier, it is too expensive to adopt such technology without outside help. Entrepreneurs in these countries need to rely on foreign investors. However, domestic entrepreneurs may not deliver on their input contribution unless they have invested sufficient capital in the project. This co-investment is in turn financed out of domestic saving, highlighting the role of domestic saving in economic growth. Closed for comment; 0 Comment(s) posted.
Updating the Balanced Scorecard for Triple Bottom Line Strategies
Society increasingly expects businesses to help solve problems of environmental degradation, inequality, and poverty. This paper explains how the Balanced Scorecard and Strategy Map should be modified to reflect businesses’ expanded role for society.