High Switching Costs - Publications - Faculty & Research

05 Dec 2023
Research & Ideas

Are Virtual Tours Still Worth It in Real Estate? Evidence from 75,000 Home Sales

remains white-hot despite high interest rates. “Maybe it doesn't help you to get a 5 percent sales price rise by using visual tools—but it might help sellers in many other ways,” Troncoso says. Virtual reality for house hunting To parse... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Real Estate

18 Mar 2024
Research & Ideas

When It Comes to Climate Regulation, Energy Companies Take a More Nuanced View

Common wisdom holds that oil and gas companies, electric utilities, and other industries known for their large carbon emissions generally oppose clean energy policies. Now, a study of corporate advocacy spanning 30 years reveals that many companies are more flexible... View Details

Keywords: by Desmond Dodd; Energy; Utilities

May 2022
Supplement

Maestro Pizza (B): The Competition Awakens

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Fares Khrais

Maestro pizza opened its first store in 2013 after its founder, Khalid Al Omran, recognized an opportunity in Saudi Arabia to offer high quality pizza at affordable prices. The business grew rapidly and under the radar at first, but soon enough caught the attention of... View Details

Citation

Purchase

30 Jun 2022
HBS Case

Peloton Changed the Exercise Game. Can the Company Push Through the Pain?

off by the original products’ cost. In August 2021, the company dropped the original bike’s price to $1,495; the treadmill that was still on the market cost $2,495, with a similar name but not the higher price of its recalled sister... View Details

Keywords: by Lane Lambert; Media & Broadcasting; Health; Bicycle

15 Jun 2010
First Look

First Look: June 15

hiring and socialization policies. Institutional Demand Pressure and the Cost of Corporate Loans Authors:Victoria Ivashina and Zheng Sun Publication:Journal of Financial Economics (forthcoming) Abstract Between 2001 and 2007, annual... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

01 Nov 2017
What Do You Think?

What Are the Real Lessons of the Wells Fargo Case?

Fargo was asking its sales force to sell 8 products (‘Going for gr-eight’) to customers that needed fewer products.” This was coupled, as Thomas Dean put it, “with high, high pressure on line employees to perform or be fired.” Hamad... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Banking

12 Dec 2023
Research & Ideas

COVID Tested Global Supply Chains. Here’s How They’ve Adapted

chains will have on US businesses and consumers, with worrying signs that it could result in higher costs and prices, say Alfaro and her coauthor Davin Chor, an associate professor at Dartmouth College’s Tuck School of Business. Yet,... View Details

Keywords: by Scott Van Voorhis

26 Aug 2002
Research & Ideas

High-Stakes Decision Making: The Lessons of Mount Everest

and insufficient confidence on the other. Leaders must act decisively when faced with challenges, and they must inspire others to do so as well. A lack of confidence can enhance anticipatory regret, or the apprehension that individuals often experience prior to making... View Details

Keywords: by Michael A. Roberto

Research Summary

Platform Competition

Technology has challenged the underlying foundations of business, and firms must evaluate and change strategies accordingly. Professor Halaburda studies the interaction of technology and economic theory, and her findings indicate that conventional wisdom and rules... View Details

Research Summary

The New Social Contract: Contractors, Firms, and Agencies

The emergence of a 'new social contract' linking employees and organizations - perhaps most notable for the absence of a promise of lifelong job security - has been widely remarked. A related trend, less noted but potentially important, has been the emergence of a... View Details

01 Jun 2023
HBS Case

A Nike Executive Hid His Criminal Past to Turn His Life Around. What If He Didn't Have To?

lives and make people choose a completely different path.” Yet incarcerated people typically have low levels of education. About 40 percent lack high school diplomas, more than twice the general population—and the View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Apparel & Accessories

09 Dec 2002
Research & Ideas

Unilever—A Case Study

"impressive." 21 By 1939 Spry's sales had reached 75 percent of Crisco's, but the resulting price war meant that Lever made no profit on the product until 1941. Lever's sales in general reached as high as 43 percent of P&G's... View Details

Keywords: by Geoffrey Jones; Consumer Products; Entertainment & Recreation; Food & Beverage; Manufacturing; Retail

14 May 2018
Research & Ideas

Amazon vs. Whole Foods: When Cultures Collide

co-written with James Barnett and Christine Snively. A tale of two cultures From the very start, Amazon made its name on being fast, cheap, and efficient—using data to drive its product mix and enforcing strict employee discipline to squeeze out View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Food & Beverage

08 May 2018
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, May 8, 2018

in HAI and present-on-admission (POA) infection reporting rates that are strongly suggestive of upcoding. We conservatively estimate that 10,000 out of 60,000 annual reimbursed claims for POA infections (18.5%) were upcoded HAIs, costing... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

14 Feb 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research: February 14

in queue characteristics, we find that, on average, deviations lead to slower completion times, providing evidence of the costs of exercising discretion. Doctors tend to deviate more, and deviations tend to be less detrimental with... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

03 Jul 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, July 3, 2018

alleging that the company had misstatements in its financial reports. Mayhem’s report involved IGT’s practice of refurbishing used parts in one of its reporting segments and then transferring those parts to another reporting segment. Mayhem indicated that IGT’s method... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

14 Feb 2023
HBS Case

Is Sweden Still 'Sweden'? A Liberal Utopia Grapples with an Identity Crisis

same time, she says the current problems aren’t likely to dim the high regard other nations place on the Swedish model, in part because none of them have managed to replicate it. While she sees strong echoes of the model in Taiwan, and... View Details

Keywords: by Lane Lambert

05 Dec 2013
Working Paper Summaries

Heterogeneous Technology Diffusion and Ricardian Trade Patterns

Keywords: by William R. Kerr

14 Aug 2018
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, August 14, 2018

cost of moving to the suburbs. I find that black in-migration imposed a strong, negative fiscal externality on receiving places by lowering property values and, mechanically, reducing tax revenues. Unable or unwilling to raise tax rates,... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

Web

Finance - Faculty & Research

variation in bond risk premia. Specifically, bond risk premia are high when aggregate MBS duration is high. The model offers an explanation for why long-term rates could appear to be excessively sensitive to movements in short rates and... View Details

Publications