Publications

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2017
Article

Frictions or Mental Gaps: What's Behind the Information We (Don't) Use and When Do We Care?

By: Benjamin Handel and Joshua Schwartzstein

Consumers suffer significant losses from not acting on available information. These losses stem from frictions such as search costs, switching costs, and rational inattention, as well as what we call mental gaps resulting from wrong priors/worldviews, or relevant... View Details

Keywords: Information; Consumer Behavior

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16 May 2023
In Practice

After Silicon Valley Bank's Flameout, What's Next for Entrepreneurs?

The collapse of Silicon Valley Bank (SVB) in March left the startup world reeling. The biggest lender to fail since the 2008 financial crisis, SVB had become the preferred funder of the startup, tech, and... View Details

Keywords: by Avery Forman; Technology; Financial Services

16 Jul 2007
Research & Ideas

Understanding the ‘Want’ vs. ’Should’ Decision

should purchase the used Toyota Camry. How consumers weigh those decisions is crucial information for retailers, and is the subject of recent research by Harvard Business School doctoral candidates Todd... View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert; Retail; Entertainment & Recreation

November 2001
Case

Naming the Edsel (Condensed)

Reveals the interesting and unusual story behind Ford's selection of "Edsel" as the new brand name for its ill-fated 1957 new product launch. Noteworthy as perhaps the most extensive, creative, and politically charged naming stories on record. Although both... View Details

Keywords: Customers; Marketing Strategy; Brands and Branding; Auto Industry

10 Apr 2008
Working Paper Summaries

Where Does it Go? Spending by the Financially Constrained

Keywords: by Shawn A. Cole, John Thompson & Peter Tufano; Financial Services

17 Jul 2023
Blog Post

Sustainability Career Advice from the Career & Professional Development Office

about, whether it’s by eating a primarily plant-based diet or using clean products in my home. I am interested in the psychology of what will drive consumer decisions to make... View Details

Research Summary

Overview

When information is digitized, it can be aggregated and shared nearly instantly. I am interested in how this acceleration in the aggregation and availability of information, via digitization, affects firms and firm strategy. Platforms have emerged as marketplaces for... View Details

2011
Working Paper

The 'IKEA Effect': When Labor Leads to Love

By: Michael I. Norton, Daniel Mochon and Dan Ariely

In a series of studies in which consumers assembled IKEA boxes, folded origami, and built sets of Legos, we demonstrate and investigate the boundary conditions for what we term the "IKEA effect&"—the increase in valuation of self-made products. Participants saw their... View Details

Keywords: Investment; Labor; Resource Allocation; Valuation

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03 Aug 2017
Blog Post

“I Can Acquire Important Skills, But Also Gain the Big Picture Perspective of a Founder.”

ideas that hold his greatest interest involve digital marketing, and he has turned to his HBS base for support. “I emailed one of my professors, Mark Roberge, who gave me suggestions for getting started with... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship

November 2006 (Revised March 2012)
Case

Clocky: The Runaway Alarm Clock

By: Elie Ofek and Eliot Sherman

Gauri Nanda is the creator of an innovative new product: an alarm clock named Clocky that, in addition to ringing, rolls around the room in order to force its owner to get out of bed. Beset by media attention and consumer interest but still at least a year away from... View Details

Keywords: Management; Product Positioning; Partners and Partnerships; Production; Marketing Strategy; Media; Entrepreneurship; Independent Innovation and Invention; Product Launch

January 2021 (Revised March 2021)
Exercise

E-Commerce Analytics for CPG Firms (A): Estimating Sales

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

January 2016
Case

COFCO

By: David E. Bell and Natalie Kindred

In 2015, COFCO, China's state-owned agribusiness giant, was working to protect China's food security (a key national security priority) by extending its control of the global food system through overseas acquisitions. At the same time, COFCO sought to grow its market... View Details

Web

Blending Traditional Models of Philanthropy with Business | Social Enterprise | Harvard Business School

have had a strong interest in emerging markets and economic development, stemming from both a desire to have an impact as well as a natural curiosity about people, history, culture, and how they all relate. Careers & Connections I know... View Details

07 Aug 2006
Research & Ideas

Whatever Happened to Caveat Emptor?

Many of us learned at an early age the expression caveat emptor, or let the buyer beware. The phrase conjured up an image of a roiling, rollicking market that consumers best... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Retail

19 Mar 2014
Research & Ideas

A Brand Manager’s Guide to Losing Control

Thanks (or no thanks) to social media, brand managers have lost the power to control the perception of their products through carefully orchestrated advertising campaigns. These days, consumers are in... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Advertising

October 2016
Case

La-Z-Boy (A)

By: Joseph B. Fuller and Natalie Kindred

Kurt Darrow, CEO of La-Z-Boy furniture, must decide whether to continue an overhaul of the company's strategy in the face of a collapse in demand during the great recession. Having pared back La-Z-Boy's portfolio of brands and manufacturing network, he intends to... View Details

Keywords: Retail; Manufacturing; Organizational Transformations; Reorganization; Furniture Industry; Corporate Strategy; Home Fashion; Turnaround; Portfolio Rationalization; Globalization Of Supply Chain; Brand Repositioning; Business Growth and Maturation; Brands and Branding; Competitive Strategy; Vertical Integration; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry; United States

February 2023 (Revised March 2025)
Case

Graphic Packaging: Project Cowboy (A)

By: Benjamin C. Esty and E. Scott Mayfield

In July 2019, Graphic Packaging CEO Michael Doss was proposing a $600 million investment in a new machine to produce coated recycled board (CRB), a type of paper packaging used for consumer products (cups, cereal boxes, beverage boxes, etc.) that utilized recycled... View Details

Keywords: Capital Budgeting; Growth Management; Demand and Consumers; Duopoly and Oligopoly; Competitive Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Expansion; Value Creation; Supply and Industry; Pulp and Paper Industry; Manufacturing Industry; United States; North America

March 1993 (Revised July 2008)
Case

Liability Management at General Motors

By: Peter Tufano

An analyst at General Motors charged with managing the structure of the automaker's debt must decide whether and how to modify the interest rate exposure of the firm's most recent debt offering. The analyst must take into consideration GM's liability management policy... View Details

Keywords: Borrowing and Debt; Capital Structure; Financial Management; Interest Rates; Risk Management; Auto Industry; North America

March 2018 (Revised April 2018)
Case

Designing a Compliance Program at AB InBev

By: Eugene Soltes

Compliance programs help companies align the interests and behavior of employees with external expectations and regulation. The case discusses how AB InBev, a major brewer, developed its compliance program. View Details

Keywords: Governance; Crime and Corruption; Governance Compliance; Consumer Products Industry; Africa; Europe; India; North America