Publications

February 2004 (Revised September 2006)
Case

Apax Partners and Xerium S.A.

By: Josh Lerner, G. Felda Hardymon and Ann Leamon

In 2002, Apax Partners had to decide whether to accept a less-than-perfect offer for one of its portfolio companies or to refinance it. This company, a maker of paper industry consumables with a global presence, had been purchased in 1999 and performed extremely well... View Details

Keywords: Leveraged Buyouts; Globalized Markets and Industries; Business Exit or Shutdown; Borrowing and Debt; Investment; Cash Flow; Pulp and Paper Industry

September 2003 (Revised January 2005)
Case

Bridges to Excellence: Bringing Quality Health Care to Life

By: Richard M.J. Bohmer, Ingrid Marie Nembhard and Robert Galvin

General Electric launched Bridges to Excellence Diabetes Care Link, a program through which enrolled physicians receive bonuses of up to 10% of their salary for delivering quality care to diabetic patients covered by a participating employer or health plan. A day... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Motivation and Incentives; Programs; Ethics; Quality; Moral Sensibility; Service Delivery; Compensation and Benefits; Health Industry

April 2000 (Revised November 2000)
Case

Computer Power Group: Designing Brand Architecture

Computer Power Group (CPG), an Australian-based consulting, education, and staffing placement firm in the IT industry, is contemplating a brand architecture capable of structuring its eight branded business units. CEO Peter James is particularly curious about whether a... View Details

Keywords: Brands and Branding; Employment Industry; Education Industry; Consulting Industry; Australia

27 Aug 2013
News

The Global Dominance of ESPN

30 Oct 2020
News

The Pandemic Is Costing Americans More Money Than Official Numbers Suggest

Mandi Nerenberg

Mandi is a doctoral student in Organizational Behavior at Harvard Business School. She is interested in the impact of how gender and racial dynamics shape workplace evaluations. Her research explores gender biases in interpersonal professional contexts,... View Details

Research Summary

The Ownership of Deep Metaphors

By: Gerald Zaltman

Deep metaphors are basic orienting structures of human thought. They guide in subtle and overt ways how customers and managers process information about any product, service, or activity and event. It is essential for a firm to understand deep metaphors as they are... View Details

2024
Working Paper

Incorporating Micro Data into Differentiated Products Demand Estimation with PyBLP

We delineate a general framework for incorporating many types of micro data from summary statistics to full surveys of selected consumers into Berry, Levinsohn, and Pakes (1995) style estimates of differentiated products demand systems. We extend recommended practices... View Details

September–October 2023
Article

Building Brand Engagement: Lessons from NFTs and Collectibles

By: Frank V. Cespedes and Ben Plomion

The financial hype about Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) has cooled considerably since trading in that market went from more than $780 million on May 1, 2022 to less than $295 million for the entire month of May, 2023. But brands launch marketing campaigns in this medium,... View Details

Keywords: Opportunities; Digital Strategy; Brands and Branding; Marketing Strategy

May 2021
Article

Private and Social Returns to R&D: Drug Development and Demographics

By: Efraim Benmelech, Janice Eberly, Dimitris Papanikolaou and Joshua Krieger

Investment in intangible capital such as R&D has increased dramatically since the 1990s. However, productivity growth remains sluggish in recent years. One potential reason is that a significant share of the increase in intangible investment is geared toward consumer... View Details

Keywords: Drug Development; Research and Development; Investment Return; Demographics; Pharmaceutical Industry

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2020
Working Paper

Contract Duration and the Costs of Market Transactions

By: Alexander MacKay

The optimal duration of a supply contract balances the costs of reselecting a supplier against the costs of being matched to an inefficient supplier when the contract lasts too long. I develop a structural model of contract duration that captures this tradeoff and... View Details

Keywords: Vertical Relationships; Transaction Costs; Contract Duration; Identification; Supply Chain; Cost; Contracts; Auctions; Mathematical Methods

SSRN

November 2016 (Revised November 2016)
Case

Mark43

By: Thomas Eisenmann, Mitch Weiss and Halah AlQahtani

The founders of Mark43, an early-stage startup that provides software for law enforcement agencies, must decide whether to bid on a request for proposals (RFP) from the Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD). On the one hand, LAPD would be a second large and influential... View Details

Keywords: Start-up; Software Applications; Government Markets; Rapid Growth Stage; Public Entrepreneurship; Entrepreneurship; Public Sector; Business Startups; Applications and Software; Growth and Development Strategy; United States; New York (city, NY)

May 2017
Article

When Discounts Raise Costs: The Effect of Copay Coupons on Generic Utilization

By: Leemore S. Dafny, Christopher Ody and Matt Schmitt

Branded pharmaceutical manufacturers frequently offer “copay coupons” that insulate consumers from cost sharing, thereby undermining insurers’ ability to influence drug utilization. We study the impact of copay coupons on branded drugs first facing generic entry... View Details

Keywords: Brands and Branding; Insurance Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry

September 2010
Case

Angie's List

Angie's List is a paid subscription-based service that gives consumers online access to member-submitted reviews of plumbers, electricians, and other home service providers. Customer and revenue growth are strong, but customer acquisition costs are high and the company... View Details

Keywords: Internet and the Web; Price; Competitive Advantage; Product Launch; Service Industry; United States

October 2003 (Revised March 2004)
Case

Symbian: Setting the Mobility Standard

By: Fernando F. Suarez and Thomas R. Eisenmann

Symbian, a joint venture owned by companies who collectively sold a dominant share of the world's cell phones, faced competition from Microsoft in developing the operating system for "smartphones," which integrated mobile communications and computing functions. In... View Details

Keywords: Competition; Joint Ventures; Information Technology; Software; Wireless Technology; Mobile Technology; Information Technology Industry; Telecommunications Industry

17 Jun 2020
News

Harvard Business School Introduces 2020-2021 Blavatnik Fellows in Life Science Entrepreneurship

03 Mar 2017
News

Do Search Ads Really Work?

When Discounts Raise Costs: The Effect of Copay Coupons on Generic Utilization

Branded pharmaceutical manufacturers frequently offer “copay coupons” that insulate consumers from cost-sharing, thereby undermining insurers’ ability to influence drug utilization. We study the impact of copay coupons on branded drugs first facing generic entry... View Details

November 22, 2021
Article

Manage Your Talent Pipeline Like a Supply Chain

By: Joseph B. Fuller and Matthew Sigelman

In supply-chain management, you get what you plan for. Companies understand that principle when it comes to the goods that they consume and produce, but not when it comes to the people they hire and train. For decades, companies have adopted a short-term, ad hoc... View Details

Keywords: Talent Management; Talent and Talent Management; Labor; Strategic Planning