Publications

SSRN

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Research Summary

Managing Innovation

I continue to study the disruptive processes by which innovation transforms -- or fails to transform -- industries and companies. There are three elements to these transformations. The first is a technological enabler -- an innovation that makes complicated, expensive... View Details

August 2007 (Revised September 2008)
Case

Marketing the "$100 Laptop" (A)

By: John A. Quelch and Carin-Isabel Knoop

In 2002, Professor Nicholas Negroponte, a successful venture capitalist, author, and co-founder and chairman emeritus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) Media Lab, announced his intention to build a PC so cheap as to make it possible to provide... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Internet and the Web; Information Technology; Product Development; Technological Innovation; Nonprofit Organizations; Marketing Strategy; Information Infrastructure; Developing Countries and Economies; Manufacturing Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Cambridge

January 2021
Supplement

E-Commerce Analytics for CPG Firms (B): Optimizing Assortment for a New Retailer

By: Ayelet Israeli and Fedor (Ted) Lisitsyn

The E-Commerce Analytics group at the traditional CPG firm was in charge of compiling various online sales reports, as well as making data-driven recommendations for sales and marketing tactics. In a series of exercises, students address different data challenges for... View Details

Keywords: Data Analysis; Data Analytics; CPG; Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG); Online Channel; Retail; Retail Analytics; Retailing Industry; Data; Data Sharing; Ecommerce; Assortment Optimization; Assortment Planning; Analytics and Data Science; Retention; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; United States

2014
Working Paper

Digital Discrimination: The Case of Airbnb.com

By: Benjamin Edelman and Michael Luca

Online marketplaces often contain information not only about products, but also about the people selling the products. In an effort to facilitate trust, many platforms encourage sellers to provide personal profiles and even to post pictures of themselves. However,... View Details

Keywords: Prejudice and Bias; Internet and the Web; Race; Trust; Renting or Rental; Accommodations Industry; Accommodations Industry

SSRN

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January 2009
Supplement

Live Nation Faces the Music (B)

By: Stephen P. Bradley, Frank V. Cespedes and Kerry Herman

In 2008, concert producer and promoter Live Nation, faces a decision about its strategy in light of the tumultuous changes in the music industry and the increasing power of the major artists. As the music business once again recreates itself in response to new... View Details

Keywords: Arts; Transformation; Revenue; Framework; Five Forces Framework; Demand and Consumers; Industry Structures; Relationships; Opportunities; Power and Influence; Business Strategy; Music Industry

09 Feb 2024
HBS Case

Slim Chance: Drugs Will Reshape the Weight Loss Industry, But Habit Change Might Be Elusive

Watchers, Jenny Craig, the Atkins Diet, and Noom. “The weight loss industry was not a terribly significant part of the health care system until we got two technological innovations: Bariatric surgery to the... View Details

Keywords: by Lane Lambert; Health; Pharmaceutical

July 1993 (Revised September 1994)
Case

Goodyear: The Aquatred Launch

By: John A. Quelch

After many years of R&D, Goodyear has developed the Aquatred, an innovative new tire. However, the tire industry has matured and evolved, raising questions concerning the Aquatred's ability to gain support from Goodyear's independent tire dealers. Students must use... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Consumer Behavior; Distribution Channels; Brands and Branding; Innovation and Invention; Auto Industry; Auto Industry; United States

15 Jul 2014
First Look

First Look: July 15

(Search-Based Peers or SBPs) are fundamentally similar on multiple dimensions. In direct tests, SBPs dominate GICS6 industry peers in explaining cross-sectional variations in base firms' out-of-sample (a) stock returns, (b) valuation... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

05 Sep 2019
Sharpening Your Skills

Making the Right Technical Hire

If I had a nickel for every time I get an email or text asking if I know any full stack developers for hire, I could cover the cost of my next trip to San Francisco. I’m also struck by the number of founders who say they’re raising more money simply because they need... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Austin; Technology

July 1991 (Revised May 1995)
Case

Samuel Slater, Francis Cabot Lowell, and the Beginnings of the Factory System in the United States

Deals with the coming of the mechanized textile industry to the United States, and with it, the nation's first factories. Considers the introduction of small spinning mills in Rhode Island, and the appearance of large integrated spinning and weaving mills in... View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Business History; Production; Industry Growth; Manufacturing Industry; Rhode Island; Massachusetts

December 2013
Case

Grupo Beta San Miguel

By: David E. Bell and Natalie Kindred

In November 2013, Dr. Jose Pinto, head of Grupo Beta San Miguel (BSM), Mexico's largest private sugar producer, is weighing the future prospects of the Mexican sugar industry as he considers whether BSM should bid on one of the state-owned sugar mills slated for... View Details

Keywords: Mexico; Jose Pinto; Beta San Miguel; Polycrom; Sugar; World Sugar Trade; NAFTA; Strategy; Trade; Futures and Commodity Futures; Agribusiness; Price; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Mexico; United States; North America

July 2003 (Revised December 2003)
Case

Mitchells/Richards

By: Amy C. Edmondson and Corey B. Hajim

Describes a small, luxury retail chain's operational sophistication achieved through the use of technology and high-touch customer service. A family-run business, Mitchells has built its success with a customer service strategy know internally as "hugging." The term is... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Expansion; Family Business; Attitudes; Organizational Culture; Luxury; Customer Focus and Relationships; Retail Industry

December 2022
Case

Taylor Farms: Adding Value to Fresh Produce

By: José B. Alvarez, Forest L. Reinhardt, Jenyfeer Martinez Buitrago and Pedro Levindo

In October 2022, Bruce Taylor (HBS MBA, 1981), Chairman and CEO of Taylor Farms, the leading producer of salads and healthy fresh foods in the United States, wondered whether this was the right time for Taylor Farms to venture into the Controlled Environment... View Details

Keywords: Technology Adoption; Cost vs Benefits; Logistics; Environmental Sustainability; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry

03 May 2023
Research & Ideas

Why Confronting Racism in AI 'Creates a Better Future for All of Us'

turns out that the people who created the internet, primarily White men, didn’t classify or tag themselves as anything. This means that when you ask the AI system – which uses information up to the year 2020—to show an image of a white... View Details

Keywords: by Barbara DeLollis

October 2022
Background Note

Note on Cyberattacks and Regulatory Regimes

By: Frank Nagle, George A. Riedel, William R. Kerr and David Lane

Describes common types of cyberattacks on enterprises and their costs, as well as the fragmentary regulatory regimes through which U.S. states and regulatory agencies at the start of 2021 attempted to encourage disclosure of cyberattacks and to pursue enforcement... View Details

Keywords: Regulations; Regulatory Agencies; Cyberattacks; Governance; Corporate Disclosure; Cybersecurity; Information Industry; Information Industry; Information Industry; Information Industry; United States

2011
Working Paper

Discretion Within the Constraints of Opportunity: Gender Homophily and Structure in a Formal Organization

By: Adam M. Kleinbaum, Toby E. Stuart and Michael L. Tushman

Homophily in social relations is widely documented. We know that homophily results from both individual preferences and uneven opportunities for interaction, but how these two mechanisms interact in formal organizations is not well understood. We argue that... View Details

Keywords: Interactive Communication; Analytics and Data Science; Organizational Structure; Partners and Partnerships; Behavior; Internet and the Web; Theory; Information Technology Industry

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August 2022
Supplement

Atlanta Ransomware Attack (B)

By: Amit Goldenberg and Julian Zlatev

This case describes the March 2018 Ransomware attack on the information technology (IT) systems of the city of Atlanta and the response by Mayor Keisha Lance Bottoms and her administration. The case includes a brief background on Bottoms and her young administration at... View Details