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    • COVID-19 Business Impact Center
      COVID-19 Business Impact Center
      New Research and Ideas, March 26, 2019

      First Look

      26 Mar 2019

      Of special interest among new research papers, case studies, articles, and books released this week by Harvard Business School faculty:

      Let’s work together

      Some workgroups are more cohesive and built on trust than others. How these factors impact the perceived effectiveness of workgroups is studied in a recent article in Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes by Jeffrey T. Polzer and colleagues. Thin Slices of Workgroups.

      Does biometric technology improve health care?

      More and more, developing countries are using biometric identification to deliver health care services. Vincent Pons, Thomas Bossuroy, and Clara Delavallade study biometric devices in tuberculosis treatment centers in India to explore whether the technology is effective in improving care in challenging areas. Can Biometric Tracking Improve Healthcare Provision and Data Quality? Experimental Evidence from Tuberculosis Control in India.

      How companies respond to takeover threats

      When managers are faced with the threat that their companies will be acquired, they often strengthen their antitakeover provisions to protect long-term innovation efforts, according to a new working paper by Aiyesha Dey and Joshua White. Trade Secrets Protection and Antitakeover Provisions.

      A complete list of new research and publications from Harvard Business School faculty follows.

      —Dina Gerdeman
      LinkedIn
      Email
      • March 2019
      • Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes

      Thin Slices of Workgroups

      By: Satterstrom, Patricia, Jeffrey T. Polzer, Lisa Kwan, Oliver P. Hauser, Wannawiruch Wiruchnipawan, and Marina Burke

      Abstract—In this paper, we explore whether perceivers can accurately assess the effectiveness of groups, how perceivers use group properties to inform their judgment, and the contextual and individual differences that allow some perceivers to be more accurate. Across seven studies, we present consistent evidence that perceivers can judge workgroup effectiveness in videos of different lengths—60, 30, and 10 seconds—and in 10-second silent videos and 10-second audio clips. We find that perceptions of collective properties of groups, including cohesion, affective trust, and cognitive trust partially mediate perceivers’ ability to accurately judge groups. Furthermore, increased attentional focus improves perceivers’ ability to judge group effectiveness. Finally, we find that perceivers with higher levels of social sensitivity are more accurate at judging group effectiveness. We discuss the implications of these findings for the groups literature and social perception literature.

      Publisher's link: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=55886

      Can Biometric Tracking Improve Healthcare Provision and Data Quality? Experimental Evidence from Tuberculosis Control in India

      By: Bossuroy, Thomas, Clara Delavallade, and Vincent Pons

      Abstract—Developing countries increasingly use biometric identification technology to improve the reliability of administrative information and deliver social services more efficiently. This paper exploits the random placement of biometric devices in tuberculosis (TB) treatment centers in urban slums across four Indian states. The devices record health worker attendance and patient adherence to protocol, and they automatically prompt follow-up treatment. We combine data from surveys, independent field visits, and government registers to identify impacts on TB-control outcomes and the quality of data. First, we find that patients enrolled at centers with biometric monitoring are 25% less likely to interrupt their treatment than those at regular centers—an improvement driven by increased attendance and efforts by health workers and greater protocol adherence by patients. Second, the biometric devices decrease overreporting of patient numbers in both NGO data and government registers by 20% and underreporting of treatment interruptions by 25%. We find no effect on worker or patient satisfaction. This suggests biometric technology is both an effective and sustainable way to improve the state capacity to deliver healthcare in challenging areas.

      Download working paper: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=55885

      Learning or Playing? The Effect of Gamified Training on Performance

      By: Buell, Ryan W., Wei Cai, and Tatiana Sandino

      Abstract—Gamified training is a novel management control system in which companies use gamification techniques to engage and motivate employees to learn. This study empirically examines the performance consequences of gamified training by conducting a field experiment in a professional services firm. We find that the main effect of adopting the gamified training platform on performance is not statistically significant at conventional levels. However, we also find that the effect is moderated by employee engagement, such that the gamified training platform improved performance in offices with high employee engagement and worsened performance in offices with low employee engagement. In offices with high levels of employee engagement—with above-median rates of employee retention and willingness to log onto the training platform—each additional minute of average platform engagement per employee led to an additional 0.28 new clients per month. In offices with below-median rates of employee retention and willingness to log onto the training platform, each additional minute of average platform engagement per employee resulted in 0.78 fewer new clients per month. Taken together, these results suggest that gamified training, which, in part, is intended to help engage and motivate employees to learn, may only yield performance benefits among those who are already highly engaged and motivated.

      Download working paper: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=55888

      In Search of Organizational Alignment Using a 360-Degree Assessment System: A Field Experiment in a Retail Chain

      By: Deller, Carolyn, Susanna Gallani, and Tatiana Sandino

      Abstract—We analyze the effects of a field experiment introducing a values-based 360-degree assessment system at an Indian retailer. The director intended to encourage store managers, rewarded based on high-powered incentives linked to financial results, to behave according to the organization’s long term values and goals. Surprisingly, we find that the intervention drove even higher effort on performance associated with pre-existing monetary incentives but, on average, did not affect nonfinancial performance dimensions linked to long-term goals. We integrate our statistical results with qualitative information from interviews, which highlighted the importance of reinforcing the organizational goals’ message and providing support for their attainment. We also show more favorable effects for stores with tenured managers and higher availability of inventory (a proxy for support). Our findings highlight important factors for successful implementations of 360-degree systems as complements to explicit incentives. Finally, we share some lessons learned with respect to performing field experiments.

      Download working paper: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=53888

      Trade Secrets Protection and Antitakeover Provisions

      By: Dey, Aiyesha, and Joshua White

      Abstract—We examine whether and why managers strengthen antitakeover provisions when facing an increased threat of being acquired. Our tests exploit the Inevitable Disclosure Doctrine (IDD), which exogenously decreases knowledge-worker mobility, thereby increasing firms’ likelihood of being acquired. Managers respond by increasing specific antitakeover provisions, especially when employees have greater ex-ante mobility. Firms that strengthen antitakeovers experience a reduced takeover likelihood. Cross-sectional tests indicate that firms with higher innovative activity increase antitakeovers more after IDD, and those that do, experience greater ex-post innovation outcomes. Our results are consistent with managers increasing antitakeovers to protect long-term innovation output rather than for private benefits.

      Download working paper: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=55640

      Code Contingencies: Designing Monitoring Regimes to Promote Improvement in Supply Chain Working Conditions

      By: Short, Jodi L., Michael W. Toffel, and Andrea R. Hugill

      Abstract—Worker rights advocates seeking to improve labor conditions in global supply chains have engaged in activism that led transnational corporations to adopt codes of conduct and monitor their suppliers for compliance, but it is not clear whether these organizational structures raise labor standards. Drawing on thousands of audits conducted by a major social auditor, we identify structural contingencies in the institutional environment and in program design under which codes and monitoring are more likely to be associated with improvements in working conditions. At the institutional level, suppliers improve more when they face greater exposure risk and when their buyers are more sensitive to such exposure. At the program design level, suppliers improve more when the monitoring regime signals a cooperative approach, when auditors are highly trained, and especially when both of these elements are present. These findings should inform monitoring strategies aimed at improving working conditions in global supply chains.

      Download working paper: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=51347

      • Harvard Business School Case 919-411

      AIME High: A Social Entrepreneur's Moon Shot

      Describes the entrepreneurial leadership of Jack Manning Bancroft (JMB), a young Indigenous Australian university student who created the Australian Indigenous Mentoring Experience (AIME), a nonprofit organization he formed to respond to the problem of Indigenous high school students completing high school at less than half the rate of non-Indigenous students. The case traces the strategic, organizational, and cultural challenges JMB faced in building an organization that eventually offered mentoring partnerships to 8,000 Indigenous students in 350 high schools throughout Australia. Furthermore, the AIME students were completing school and going on to university at the same rate as non-Indigenous students. The case concludes as JMB contemplates taking his successful, sophisticated model to the United States.

      Purchase this case:
      https://hbsp.harvard.edu/product/919411-PDF-ENG

      • Harvard Business School Case 919-412

      AIME High: A Social Entrepreneur's Moon Shot (B)

      Supplements the (A) case.

      Purchase this case:
      https://hbsp.harvard.edu/product/919412-PDF-ENG

      • Harvard Business School Case 819-003

      ProdEng: Services for Oil & Gas Extraction

      ProdEng is a venture created as part of a PE fund and provides oil field services in Argentina. In 2016, an industry-wide unforeseen oil and gas demand slump drove ProdEng’s average service rates down by more than 37%, with EBITDA margins falling from 50% to 24% in the second half of 2016. Although the partners remained optimistic about ProdEng’s long-term fundamentals and management team, the short-term challenges required that they act rapidly. However, they had divergent views on the path forward. Should they stay the course and focus on their core competencies, or should they rethink their approach to sales and drive profitability via spot contracts in a highly uncertain time? The key issues in this case are pricing, customer selection, and management of prices and accounts in an inherently uncertain, volatile demand environment.

      Purchase this case:
      https://hbsp.harvard.edu/product/819003-PDF-ENG

      • Harvard Business School Case 719-424

      The a2 Milk Company

      The a2 Milk Company (a2MC) became the most valuable company listed on the New Zealand stock exchange in 2018 by capitalizing on a biochemical discovery related to the protein composition of cow's milk. Because many people find the A1 protein difficult to digest, and that protein may be related to other health problems (e.g., diabetes), a2MC sells dairy products containing the A2 protein only primarily in Australia and China. With sales of NZ$730 million in 2017 and a desire to grow, a2MC formed a strategic relationship with Fonterra, the world's sixth largest dairy company, in February 2018. But one month later, Nestle, the world's largest dairy company, confirmed that it had begun selling A2 infant formula in China, and people speculated that it would start selling A2 products in Australia and New Zealand later in the year. a2MC's retiring CEO Geoffrey Babidge and newly appointed CEO Janyne Hrdlicka must decide how to respond to Nestle's entry. Can this successful entrant become an incumbent with a sustainable competitive advantage?

      Purchase this case:
      https://hbsp.harvard.edu/product/719424-PDF-ENG

      • Harvard Business School Case 718-056

      Morocco

      No abstract available.

      Purchase this case:
      https://hbsp.harvard.edu/product/718056-PDF-ENG

      • Harvard Business School Case 819-049

      Careem: Base Camp or Mountain Peak? Designing an OS for Scaling

      No abstract available.

      Purchase this case:
      https://hbsp.harvard.edu/product/819049-PDF-ENG

      • Harvard Business School Case 819-038

      Alvogen: Scaling Entrepreneurship

      No abstract available.

      Purchase this case:
      https://hbsp.harvard.edu/product/819038-PDF-ENG

      • Harvard Business School Case 516-005

      BancoSol and Microfinance in Bolivia

      BancoSol, a microfinance bank headquartered in La Paz, Bolivia, was forced to adjust its lending strategy and business model because of a regulatory change—60% of the bank's lending portfolio would have to move to the productive sector of the Bolivian economy by 2018, and these loans would have a controlled interest rate of 11.5%. How would BancoSol meet these targets, fulfill its mission, and remain profitable?

      Purchase this case:
      https://hbsp.harvard.edu/product/516005-PDF-ENG

      • Harvard Business School Case 218-107

      The TARP Bailouts: Saving the Banking and Automotive Industries

      Comparison of the U.S. Government response, using the $700 billion TARP fund, to downturns in the banking and auto industries during the global financial crisis.

      Purchase this case:
      https://hbsp.harvard.edu/product/218107-PDF-ENG

      • Harvard Business School Case 719-001

      Populism in Bolivia: From Goni's Neoliberal Shock to Evo's Oil Contract Renegotiations

      No abstract available.

      Purchase this case:
      https://hbsp.harvard.edu/product/719001-PDF-ENG

      • Harvard Business School Case 419-012

      The Reinvention of Kodak

      The Eastman Kodak Company (Kodak) was a name familiar to most Americans. The company had dominated the film and photography industry through most of the 20th Century and was known for making affordable cameras (and the “Kodak Moment”) and supplying the movie industry with film. At its peak in 1997, Kodak had a market value of $30 billion. Despite inventing the first digital camera, Kodak stumbled to capitalize on the new technology and by 2011 the company was in Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. In September 2013, Kodak emerged from bankruptcy as a smaller business-to-business (B2B) digital imaging company. The following March, Jeff Clarke took over as Kodak’s new CEO. The company continued to produce and sell film to moviemakers, but Clarke, who needed to reinvent Kodak, wondered if keeping that business line made sense. To some inside the company, film was a “sacred cow” and fundamental to Kodak’s identity. In January 2016, Clarke and his executive team traveled to Las Vegas, Nevada, for the annual Consumer Electronics Show (CES) where the company unveiled a prototype of its new Super 8 camera—an analog motion picture camera initially launched in 1965 to shoot home movies—with updated features. Over the course of the four-day event, media and other industry players had overwhelmed the Kodak booth, excited to catch a glimpse of the camera, asking when they could expect to see the Super 8 on shelves. While the business-to-business (B2B) side of the company appeared to be growing, the new Super 8 reflected the culture and identity of a firm originally rooted in film and consumer products. Sentiment aside, Clarke needed to decide if the new Super 8 fit into the company’s overall strategy and whether Kodak was focused on the right markets for growth. What was the optimal path to reinvention?

      Purchase this case:
      https://hbsp.harvard.edu/product/419012-PDF-ENG

      • Harvard Business School Case 819-075

      Yatooq: Longing for Arabic Coffee

      As one of the few female entrepreneurs in Saudi Arabia, Lateefa Alwaalan had been trying to produce the perfect cup of Arabic coffee for over a decade. In 2007, she began testing various coffee blends, which she later branded Yatooq, the Arabic word for “craving” or “longing.” She soon realized that the brewing process was just as important as the blend in consistently producing a great cup of Arabic coffee. Therefore, she developed the world’s first Arabic coffee machine in 2013 to complement her blend. Sales of the Yatooq coffee machines grew rapidly in Saudi Arabia, exceeding $2 million in sales in 2014. However, an increase in competition combined with an economic slowdown in the country led to declining sales and increasing costs for Yatooq. Alwaalan reflected on the decisions she made to date, wondering if the revenue decline could have been avoided. She also contemplated the path forward, specifically whether she should iterate on her go-to-market strategy with her existing product or pivot to an entirely different product.

      Purchase this case:
      https://hbsp.harvard.edu/product/819075-PDF-ENG

      • Harvard Business School Case 119-028

      Tapping Growth at Lord Hobo Brewing Company

      Lord Hobo Brewing Company accounts for its inventory process as it prepares to create its first set of professional financial statements for investors.

      Purchase this case:
      https://hbsp.harvard.edu/product/119028-PDF-ENG

      • Harvard Business School Case 119-088

      Control or Flexibility? Structured Empowerment Offers Both—Lessons from Retail & Service Chains (Abridged)

      This note explains how several retail and service organizations use a practice described here as “structured empowerment” to balance control and flexibility as they grow. I define structured empowerment as a practice that grants employees both (a) the power to make choices from narrow sets of options on a set of inputs and processes and (b) the responsibility to deliver results according to the company’s value proposition. This lets a company control operations by standardizing the options frontline employees can choose from to drive results as well as adapting to diverse markets. Combining choices from the options makes a large number of service offerings and routine sequences possible. This abridged version of the note does not reference the case "OXXO's Turf War Against Extra." It is intended to be used in a classroom setting where "OXXO's Turf War Against Extra" is also being taught, abridged so that it does not give away any relevant information about the case.

      Purchase this case:
      https://hbsp.harvard.edu/product/119088-PDF-ENG

      • Harvard Business School Case 706-413

      Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots (A)

      What happens when an MBA buys a football team and hires a bunch of MBAs and a coach with an economics degree to run it? In this case, a historic three Super Bowls in five years. The end run Bob Kraft (HBS '65) used to acquire the New England Patriots. Why Kraft ignored the advice of friends and hired Bill Belichick, a man with a losing record as a head coach. The strategies. The principles. The techniques. How the Patriots not only achieved success but sustained it.

      Purchase this case:
      https://hbsp.harvard.edu/product/706413-PDF-ENG

      • Harvard Business School Case 706-414

      Bill Belichick and the New England Patriots (B)

      Supplements the (A) case.

      Purchase this case:
      https://hbsp.harvard.edu/product/706414-PDF-ENG

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