Publications

Research Summary

"Modeling B2B Exchanges" (with Gabor Fath)

B2B exchanges are revolutionizing the way businesses will buy and sell a variety of intermediary products and services. It is estimated that most of the roughly $7 trillion worth of business transactions are likely to go through these new institutions within the next... View Details

November 2016
Case

But, It's For a Good Cause

By: Elizabeth Keenan and John Gourville

Companies have long tried to enhance consumers’ perceptions of their firms and the products they sell in a variety of ways. Such efforts include the development of a brand image that the public views favorably, as in the case of Apple. It extends to the development of... View Details

Keywords: Social Change; Marketing And Society; Social Marketing; Brands and Branding; Customers; Perception; Advertising; Advertising Campaigns; Partners and Partnerships; Trends; Environmental Sustainability

2008
Working Paper

Modern Management: Good for the Environment or Just Hot Air?

By: Nicholas Bloom, Christos Genakos, Ralf Martin and Raffaella Sadun

We use an innovative methodology to measure management practices in over 300 manufacturing firms in the UK. We then match this management data to production and energy usage information for establishments owned by these firms. We find that establishments in better... View Details

Keywords: Energy Conservation; Management Practices and Processes; Performance Productivity; Environmental Sustainability; Pollutants; Manufacturing Industry; United Kingdom

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February 2002
Background Note

Legal Aspects of Entrepreneurship: A Conceptual Framework

Identifies many of the legal issues likely to arise in the course of starting and growing a company. Suggests strategies not only for ensuring compliance with the law but also for using the law and the legal system to increase predictability, maximize value, marshal... View Details

Keywords: Law; Entrepreneurship

17 Feb 2010
First Look

First Look: Feb. 17

information content. The theory yields interesting results about the informational role of targeted advertising and its consequences. First, targeting can itself serve as a signal on product attributes. Second, the effectiveness of... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

05 May 2008
Research & Ideas

Connecting with Consumers Using Deep Metaphors

varied the set of customers or consumers being studied were in other ways. It was as if we had identified a secret code of thought. The seven deep metaphors discussed in Marketing Metaphoria are those appearing most often across a variety... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Consumer Products

September 28, 2021
Editorial

A Guide to Implementing the 4-Day Workweek

By: A.V. Whillans and Charlotte Lockhart

As organizations continue to explore a variety of flexible work options, one promising avenue is the four-day workweek: The standard 40 hours per week is reduced to 32 hours, with the same pay and the same productivity expectations. Research suggests reducing hours can... View Details

Keywords: Workweek; Stress; Employees; Health; Performance Productivity; Organizational Change and Adaptation

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01 Jul 2020
Blog Post

How SVMP Helped Me Take My Next Steps (2+2) and Find Myself

grateful for was the opportunity to understand and live through a wide variety of circumstances. It built my empathy towards others and instilled in me a sense of gratitude for the small things in life. I went to MIT undergrad and studied... View Details

Research Summary

How Does Foreign Direct Investment Promote Economic Growth? Exploring the Effects of Financial Markets on Linkages (with Areendam Chanda, Sebnem Kalemli-Ozcan and Selin Sayek)

By: Laura Alfaro

The empirical literature finds mixed evidence on the existence of positive productivity externalities in the host country generated by foreign multinational companies. We propose a novel mechanism, which emphasizes the role of local financial markets in enabling... View Details

10 Oct 2008
Working Paper Summaries

The Architecture of Platforms: A Unified View

Keywords: by Carliss Y. Baldwin & C. Jason Woodard

October 1995 (Revised June 1996)
Case

Li & Fung (Trading) Ltd.

Li & Fung, one of the largest export trading companies in Asia, works primarily as an agent to connect U.S. and European manufacturers and retailers of nondurable, mass-market consumer goods with suppliers located all over East Asia who manufacture products according... View Details

Keywords: Networks; Marketplace Matching; Supply Chain Management; Trade; Manufacturing Industry; Retail Industry; Asia; United States; Europe

December 2022
Case

To Feed the Planet: Juan Luciano at ADM

By: Joshua D. Margolis, David E. Bell, Damien McLoughlin, Stacy Straaberg and James Weber

In December 2022, Juan Luciano, Chairman and CEO of agribusiness and nutrition giant ADM, considered the next phase of the historic company’s future. Beginning in 2011 when he joined as COO and moving into his tenure as CEO in 2015, Luciano led a transformation of ADM... View Details

January 1999 (Revised March 2001)
Case

MindSpring

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport

In a business environment where Internet Service Providers (ISP) has become increasingly commodity-like, Charles Brewer, founder and CEO of MindSpring, the nation's sixth largest ISP and the recognized leader in customer satisfaction, ponders a proposed merger with... View Details

Keywords: Internet and the Web; Entrepreneurship; Mergers and Acquisitions; Customer Satisfaction; Growth and Development Strategy; Web Services Industry; United States

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December 1994 (Revised May 2008)
Case

Jensen Shoes: Jane Kravitz's Story

Jane Kravitz (Caucasian female), strategic product manager, and Lyndon Twitchell (African American male), a member of her staff at Jensen Shoes, a successful producer and marketer of casual, athletic, and children's footwear, are assigned to new positions and to each... View Details

Keywords: Prejudice and Bias; Race Characteristics; Attitudes; Personal Development and Career; Performance Evaluation; Gender Characteristics; Apparel and Accessories Industry

2017
Article

Agricultural Insurance and Economic Development

By: Shawn A. Cole and Wentao Xiong

This article provides a review of recent research on agricultural insurance (AI) in developing countries. Agricultural producers face a variety of significant risks; historically, only government-subsidized products have achieved widespread adoption. A recent... View Details

Keywords: Agribusiness; Insurance; Developing Countries and Economies; Adoption; Risk Management; Research; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry

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01 Oct 2012
Research & Ideas

Better by the Bundle?

Sales can soar when companies bundle products together into one cheaper package—Happy Meal, anyone? Yet a buyer's affinity for such deals comes with a big caveat, according to new research: These groupings are often successful only if the... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

28 Nov 2005
Research & Ideas

Unilever: Transformation and Tradition

possessed, first, strong capabilities in branding and marketing. It understood local markets, and it knew how to market to them. It was at the frontier of market segmentation strategies in packaged consumer products. It opened up new View Details

Keywords: by Geoffrey Jones; Consumer Products

25 Jan 2017
HBS Case

How Should Advertisers Respond to Consumer Demand for Whiter Skin?

superior to those with darker skin colors, are marketers crossing a line? Cream makers say they are merely meeting a market need, but social activists argue that these companies have an ethical responsibility to avoid marketing products... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Beauty & Cosmetics

2006
Book

Design-Inspired Innovation

By: James Utterback, Bengt–Arne Vedin, Eduardo Alvarez, Sten Ekman, Susan Walsh Sanderson, Bruce Tether and Roberto Verganti

When an innovation is inspired by design, it transcends technology and utility. The design delights the user, seamlessly integrating the physical object, a service, and its use into something whole. A design-inspired innovation is so simple that it becomes an extension... View Details

Keywords: Innovation and Invention; Product Design; Product Development

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