Publications

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May 2010
Article

Bye Bye Bundles: The Unbundling of Music in Digital Channels

By: Anita Elberse

Fueled by digital distribution, unbundling is prevalent in many information industries. What is the effect of this unbundling on sales? And what bundle characteristics drive this effect? I empirically examine these questions in the context of the music industry, using... View Details

Keywords: Unbundling; Bundling; Digital Distribution; System-of-equations Modeling; Sales; Distribution Channels; Framework; Mathematical Methods; Revenue; Reputation; Internet and the Web; System; E-commerce; Information Industry; Music Industry

Article

Does Observability Amplify Sensitivity to Moral Frames? Evaluating a Reputation-Based Account of Moral Preferences

By: Valerio Capraro, Jillian J. Jordan and Ben Tappin

A growing body of work suggests that people are sensitive to moral framing in economic games involving prosociality, suggesting that people hold moral preferences for doing the “right thing”. What gives rise to these preferences? Here, we evaluate the explanatory power... View Details

Keywords: Moral Preferences; Moral Frames; Observability; Trustworthiness; Trust Game; Trade-off Game; Moral Sensibility; Reputation; Behavior; Trust

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February 2001 (Revised February 2002)
Background Note

Leader's (Dis)Advantage, The

Provides a rigorous description of the economic dynamics that may produce inherent advantages for large and/or first-mover firms within an industry, as well as those factors that may result in disadvantages for such leading firms. The leader advantages discussed... View Details

Keywords: Competitive Advantage; Semiconductor Industry

January 2014 (Revised May 2014)
Case

Tech Mahindra and the Acquisition of Satyam Computers (A)

By: Srikant M. Datar, Anjali Raina and Namrata Arora

Set in 2008, the case details Tech Mahindra, an information technology (IT) company within the Mahindra Group, an Indian multi-industry company with a diverse stable of businesses including automotives, farm equipment, and financial services, and its decision to... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Corporate Governance; Computer Industry; India

May 2011 (Revised June 2011)
Case

The Crisis at Tyco - A Director's Perspective

By: Suraj Srinivasan and Aldo Sesia

In 2002, Wendy Lane had been a member of the board of directors at Tyco International a little more than a year when the company's CEO Dennis Kozlowski and other top executives were accused of fraud, which ultimately led to resignations, imprisonments, lawsuits, and... View Details

Keywords: Management Teams; Reputation; Governing and Advisory Boards; Crisis Management; Accounting Audits; Problems and Challenges; Risk Management; Finance; Managerial Roles; Lawsuits and Litigation; Service Industry; United States

06 Apr 2010
First Look

First Look: April 6

punishment for its role in the accounting fraud at Kanebo. This action was unprecedented, and followed a sequence of events that seriously damaged ChuoAoyama's reputations for audit quality. We use these events to provide evidence on the... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

03 Sep 2014
Working Paper Summaries

Supply Chain Screening Without Certification: The Critical Role of Stakeholder Pressure

Keywords: by Susan A. Kayser, John W. Maxwell & Michael W. Toffel

July 2024
Article

Chatbots and Mental Health: Insights into the Safety of Generative AI

By: Julian De Freitas, Ahmet Kaan Uğuralp, Zeliha Uğuralp and Stefano Puntoni

Chatbots are now able to engage in sophisticated conversations with consumers. Due to the ‘black box’ nature of the algorithms, it is impossible to predict in advance how these conversations will unfold. Behavioral research provides little insight into potential safety... View Details

Keywords: Autonomy; Chatbots; New Technology; Brand Crises; Mental Health; Large Language Model; AI and Machine Learning; Behavior; Well-being; Technological Innovation; Ethics

June 2020 (Revised April 2022)
Case

AFC Ajax

By: Anita Elberse

In July 2019, AFC Ajax’s chief executive officer Edwin van der Sar finalized one of the biggest transfers in soccer—that of Matthijs de Ligt, only 19 years old but already one of the sports world’s brightest stars—from AFC Ajax to Italian powerhouse Juventus FC for a... View Details

Keywords: Soccer; Talent and Talent Management; Sports; Globalization; Competitive Advantage; Strategy; Sports Industry; Europe

May 2012
Case

Evergreen Natural Markets 2012

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and Paul S. Myers

Evergreen Natural Markets is a successful food retailer located in the Rocky Mountain region of the U.S. Having grown through acquisition, it has a reputation for improving the companies it purchases while retaining previous management. This strategy has succeeded due... View Details

Keywords: United States; Operating Systems; Acquisitions; Strategy; Human Resource Management; Consolidations; Retail Trade; Food; Growth Management; Organizational Culture; Consolidation; Acquisition; Business Processes; Retail Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Las Vegas; Western United States

June 2008 (Revised October 2012)
Case

Big to Small: The Two Lives of Barry Nalls

By: Noam T. Wasserman and Rachel Galper

Barry Nalls describes lessons learned during his 25-year career—his rise at GTE and shorter-lived ventures—and how these prepared him to found MASERGY, a telecommunications start-up. Even as a young boy in a family of entrepreneurs, Nalls had a reputation as a hard... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Experience and Expertise; Entrepreneurship; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Personal Development and Career

January 2024 (Revised August 2024)
Case

Essex County Community Foundation: Pivot to Systems Philanthropy

By: V. Kasturi Rangan, Brian Trelstad and Courtney Han

2023 marked five years of the Essex County Community Foundation (ECCF)’s “systems philanthropy” approach to grantmaking. Located in northeastern Massachusetts, the community foundation served 800,000 residents across 34 cities and towns that varied widely by... View Details

Keywords: Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Reputation; Civil Society or Community; Social Issues; Alignment; Nonprofit Organizations; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Leading Change; Massachusetts

2010
Book

Buy-In: Saving Your Good Idea from Getting Shot Down

By: John P. Kotter and Lorne A. Whitehead

You've got a good idea. You know it could make a crucial difference for you, your organization, your community. You present it to the group but get confounding questions, inane comments, and verbal bullets in return. Before you know what's happened, your idea is dead,... View Details

Keywords: Communication Intention and Meaning; Cost vs Benefits; Problems and Challenges; Interests; Value

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October 2024 (Revised February 2025)
Case

AI and Brand Management: Promises and Perils

By: Julian De Freitas and Elie Ofek

As AI gains traction across industries, companies anticipate that AI will revolutionize both backend processes and customer-facing interactions—with brands eager to leverage AI for tailored marketing materials and automated consumer engagements. Yet, despite a dramatic... View Details

Keywords: AI and Machine Learning; Brands and Branding; Reputation; Technology Adoption; Competitive Advantage

11 Oct 2006
Research & Ideas

The Success of Reverse Leveraged Buyouts

As Hertz approaches what is expected to be a $1 billion "quick flip" IPO just ten months after being acquired, critics are again taking aim at reverse leveraged buyouts and wondering whether investors are being set up for a fall. RLBOs have come under... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Banking; Financial Services

May 2017
Case

Vicki Fuller: Chief Investment Officer of New York State's $150+ Billion Employee Pension Fund

By: Steven Rogers and Valerie Mosley

Vicki Fuller traveled from a four-room tenement bordering Chicago’s infamous Cabrini-Green housing projects to speaking at conferences around the world and typically holding court wherever she went. As a teenager, she helped raise her siblings. As a Wall Street... View Details

September 12, 2022
Article

Merit or Inherit: How to Approach Succession in a Family Business

By: Josh Baron

One of the most critical questions facing family businesses is how to treat the next generation. They are clearly different from other employees, as current or potential owners of the company, whose wealth and reputation are on the line. On the flip side, most parents... View Details

Keywords: Family Business; Family and Family Relationships; Management Succession

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2022
Working Paper

A Conceptualization of Sub-Living Wages: Liabilities, Leverage, and Risk

By: Drew Keller, Katie Panella and George Serafeim

Currently the accounting system records employee wages as an expense in the income statement. However, paying below living wages can expose an organization to reputational and operational risks. In this paper, we offer an alternative conceptualization of the issue of... View Details

Keywords: Accounting; Impact Accounting; Leverage; Wages; Compensation and Benefits; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Business and Government Relations; Social Issues; Human Capital