Wary Expectations - Publications - Faculty & Research

May 2014
Article

Information and Two-Sided Platform Profits

By: Andrei Hagiu and Hanna Halaburda

We study the effect of different levels of information on two-sided platform profits under monopoly and competition. One side (developers) is always informed about all prices and therefore forms responsive expectations. In contrast, we allow the other side (users) to... View Details

Keywords: Responsive Expectations; Passive Expectations; Wary Expectations; Information; Performance Expectations; Two-Sided Platforms; Monopoly

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05 Jul 2006
Working Paper Summaries

What Roosevelt Took: The Economic Impact of the Panama Canal, 1903-29

Keywords: by Noel Maurer & Carlos Yu

17 Nov 2020
In Practice

How Retailers Can Thrive in a Shopping Season Like No Other

American retailers are heading into a holiday shopping season unlike any other as the spiraling COVID-pandemic and limp economy threaten consumer spending. We asked Harvard Business School faculty members—in particular, authors of recent retail case studies—what... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost; Retail

23 Oct 2012
First Look

First Look: October 23

model, poor people give little because they expect donations to come mainly from richer individuals. In others, donations by poor individuals constitute a large fraction of donations, and this raises the incentive for poor people to... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

26 Aug 2002
Research & Ideas

High-Stakes Decision Making: The Lessons of Mount Everest

about why they wish to make additional investments in a particular initiative. Managers should be extremely wary if they hear responses such as: "Well, we have put so much money into this already. We don't want to waste all of those... View Details

Keywords: by Michael A. Roberto

25 Jul 2023
Research & Ideas

Could a Business Model Help Big Pharma Save Lives and Profit?

reasonable profits and reduced Hepatitis C, and rates of which are expected to fall by 86 percent between 2020 and 2030, according to Egypt’s Ministry of Health. This real-world example demonstrates how a business model can help Big... View Details

Keywords: by Esther Schrader; Pharmaceutical; Health

09 Jun 2021
Research & Ideas

How Tennis, Golf, and White Anxiety Block Racial Integration

and race of its residents. "The more time they expect to spend at a landmark, the more they concentrate other Whites around that landmark." The researchers found that White participants indicated a distinct preference for bringing other... View Details

Keywords: by Jay Fitzgerald

20 Nov 2019
Research & Ideas

It's No Joke: AI Beats Humans at Making You Laugh

computer-based recommendation technology to help consumers make decisions. Yeomans' findings shed light on the hurdles that AI technology will need to overcome to win over wary consumers. The team enlisted 75 pairs of people, including... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

11 Feb 2020
Sharpening Your Skills

10 Rules Entrepreneurs Need to Know Before Adopting AI

moving target, potential customers are wary of costs and implementation complexities, and use cases, while powerful, are still lacking in many areas. Take advantage of uncertainty All this uncertainty is a fertile breeding ground for... View Details

Keywords: by Rocio Wu

08 Oct 2010
What Do You Think?

Will Transparency in CEO Compensation Have Unintended Consequences?

reminder to shareholders and others of the reasonableness of CEO compensation. We can expect a deluge of stories comparing the compensation ratios for various CEOs. Reporters won't even have to do the math behind the stories. As a former... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett

08 Oct 2013
First Look

First Look: October 8

http://hbr.org/2013/10/fergusons-formula/ar/1 August 2013 Harvard Business Review Corporate Venturing By: Lerner, Josh Abstract—For decades, large companies have been wary of corporate venturing. But as R&D organizations face pressure... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

10 Jan 2011
Research & Ideas

Is Groupon Good for Retailers?

solution, but they understandably dislike this approach, finding it especially tacky. One first step is for merchants to review the exact text to be shown to consumers. Be wary of vague language: "excludes special offers"... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Advertising; Technology

14 Nov 2005
Research & Ideas

How Can Start Ups Grow?

growth. While I expected this based on theoretical frameworks, we have come to associate entrepreneurship with novelty so strongly that I was nevertheless surprised to see that mimicry was beneficial even to young firms that typically do... View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert; Advertising

30 Jan 2006
Research & Ideas

Looking Behind Bad Decisions

receive, they are very focused on comparisons. Q: In the discussion of dysfunctional competition you talk about the harm of using tax dollars to build new sports facilities to retain professional sports teams. Doesn't this type of spending bring income to a city? Why... View Details

Keywords: by Manda Salls

14 Nov 2012
Research & Ideas

New Agenda for Corporate Accountability Reporting

How do you measure corporate accountability? And can you do it credibly? Since the financial crisis of 2008-2009, for-profit corporations are facing greater demand to disclose more than revenues and expenses on annual financial reports. In response, some are pointing... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Accounting; Energy; Utilities

11 Mar 2001
Research & Ideas

Group Therapy

have important implications for leaders in three distinct areas. First, he points out, it is inappropriate for managers in developing countries to assume they can simply transfer American concepts and systems to their own economic settings and View Details

Keywords: by Peter Jacobs

22 Feb 2016
Research & Ideas

The ‘Mother of Fair Trade’ was an Unabashed Price Protectionist

Sawyer adds, “Gleason and others argued that their version of fair trade—albeit domestic oriented—offered higher wages, better services, and quality guarantees.” Prior to Gleason entering the scene, fair trade efforts had fallen flat. Americans had long been View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Retail; Health; Legal Services

18 Jul 2016
Research & Ideas

Is Greed Ruining Private Equity Firms?

impression that a private equity firm is unstable. That perception creates a wariness to invest, which means a PE firm often struggles in its attempts to raise the next fund. So in essence, founding partners are damaging their own firms,... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Banking; Financial Services

09 Jul 2024
Research & Ideas

Are Management Consulting Firms Failing to Manage Themselves?

firms ushered in increasingly accommodating policies to attract and retain staff. Turnover rates steadily decreased, while compensation expectations increased. This has fundamentally challenged the long-standing “up or out” model: As... View Details

Keywords: by David Fubini; Consulting

19 May 2014
Research & Ideas

Why Companies Should Compete for Your Privacy

Consumers are increasingly wary about sharing personal information with firms. Yet when they benefit from providing information in exchange for lower prices or better services, many consumers will gladly make the privacy trade-off. But... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Consumer Products

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