Publications

December 2016
Case

thredUP: Think Secondhand First

By: Thomas Eisenmann, Allison Ciechanover and Jeff Huizinga

In the fall of 2016, the management team at thredUP, the largest U.S. online retailer of second hand clothing, is deciding whether to expand into international markets. Over the past 12 months the 7-year-old startup, which had raised over $130 million in venture... View Details

Keywords: Scaling Start-ups; International Expansion; Online Consignment; Apparel; Internet and the Web; Expansion; Entrepreneurship; Global Strategy; Business Startups; E-commerce; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry; San Francisco

September 2016 (Revised February 2017)
Case

Angie's List: Ratings Pioneer Turns 20

By: Robert J. Dolan and Ayelet Israeli

In 1995, before people “googled” or “yelped,” Angela Hicks (HBS, 2000) was establishing her Angie’s List as a pioneer in the accumulation and dissemination of consumer rating information. Hicks focused on the home repair and maintenance market and, as she put it,... View Details

19 Jan 2011
First Look

First Look: Jan. 18

analysts' forecasts of firm performance actually reflect any of these factors and which are considered most important. We use survey data from 967 analysts ranking 837 companies to judge how their forecasts are related to evaluations of firms' View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

November 2020
Teaching Note

DayTwo: Going to Market with Gut Microbiome

By: Ayelet Israeli

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 519-010. DayTwo is a young Israeli startup that applies research on the gut microbiome and machine learning algorithms to deliver personalized nutritional recommendations to its users in order to minimize blood sugar spikes after meals.... View Details

26 Jul 2010
Research & Ideas

Yes, You Can Raise Prices in a Downturn

almost any business action, especially in tough and uncertain economic conditions when price is a key and visible strategic choice. Conventional wisdom has firms cutting price in these circumstances. But most industries typically allow... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Retail; Consumer Products

11 Apr 2000
Research & Ideas

Financial Services 24/7

week for it to clear will be equally unfathomable. Technology is transforming the banking industry so rapidly that anything less than around-the-clock electronic access to bank accounts seems unthinkable. While predictions vary widely as... View Details

Keywords: by Susan Young

14 Oct 2002
Research & Ideas

The Widening Rift Between Corporations and Society

adversarialism, relationships in place of transactions. They want to take their lives in their own hands and they are willing to pay for what we call the deep support that will enable them to do so. These new markets for deep support are an important force in the shift... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

25 Sep 2007
First Look

First Look: September 25, 2007

Purchase this case: http://www.hbsp.harvard.edu/b01/en/common/item_detail.jhtml?id=608053 Dell Computers (B): The Transition Harvard Business School Supplement 607-081 The case presents the outcome of the (A) case and explores challenges in the PC View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

08 Jul 2014
First Look

First Look: July 8

retirement crisis in the wake of the dot-com crash, when companies in major industries went bankrupt in large part because of their inability to meet their pension obligations. The result was an acceleration of America's shift away from... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

September 2017
Teaching Note

Dick's Sporting Goods

By: Jose B. Alvarez and Matthew G. Preble

This is the teaching note to accompany Rajiv Lal, Jose B. Alvarez, and Matthew G. Preble, “Dick’s Sporting Goods,” HBS No. 517-007 (Boston, Massachusetts: Harvard Business School Publishing, 2017). View Details

31 Jul 2012
First Look

First Look: July 31

121-year old mission-driven organization for a world of accelerating digital convergence and decreasing magazine sales. Historically a proponent of evolutionary change, he is considering a radical move: creating a senior management position responsible for View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

19 Jun 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, June 19, 2018

investors, could provide this commitment mechanism. Common ownership of competitors within industries and long-time horizons in ownership of shares are key characteristics for investors that could act as stewards of the commons. Social... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

30 May 2000
Research & Ideas

Market Makers Bid for Success

of FairMarket, which provides online auction services for a variety of merchant and community sites. Meakem is the founder and CEO of FreeMarkets, which creates business-to-business online auctions for industrial parts and suppliers.... View Details

Keywords: by Staff; Web Services; Technology

January 2024
Case

ECOALF: Fashion for the Future

By: Elizabeth A. Keenan, Diego Aparicio, Carlota Moniz and María José Satrústegui

ECOALF, a Spanish fashion brand and sustainability pioneer, aimed to tackle the industry's challenges of excessive consumption and production. The brand's mission was to create timeless apparel exclusively from recycled and eco-responsible materials, matching the... View Details