Publications
Publications
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- All HBS Web
(2,768)
- Faculty Publications (537)
- 2018
- Article
Overcoming Barriers to Time-Saving: Reminders of Future Busyness Encourage Consumers to Buy Time
By: A. V. Whillans, Elizabeth W. Dunn and Michael I. Norton
Spending money on time-saving purchases improves happiness. Yet, people often fail to spend their money in this way. Because most people believe that the future will be less busy than the present, they may underweight the value of these purchases. We examine the impact... View Details
- January 2018 (Revised January 2021)
- Background Note
Customer Lifetime Social Value (CLSV)
By: Elie Ofek, Barak Libai and Eitan Muller
One of the hallmarks of the digital revolution is the rise of the socially connected consumer. Concomitantly, the ability of companies to affect and measure the social interactions among customers has grown tremendously. Consequently, in assessing the full value of... View Details
- January 2018 (Revised June 2018)
- Case
Medtronic: Navigating a Shifting Healthcare Landscape
By: Robert S. Kaplan, Michael E. Porter, Thomas W. Feeley and Alee Hernandez
Medtronic is adapting its strategy to changes in healthcare competition and payments. It has decided to develop new relationships with payers, hospitals, and physicians to become more accountable for patient outcomes and total costs. The case describes new forms of... View Details
- December 2017 (Revised March 2019)
- Case
Armarium: Luxury Fashion Brands for Rent
By: Jill Avery, David Fubini, Natasha Dossa and Devon Stewart
Armarium, a two-sided online platform that offered consumers the opportunity to rent the most coveted, current season high fashion clothing and accessories from the top global luxury brands, had emerged from its first sales season with two distinct customer segments:... View Details
Keywords: Brand Management; Retailing; Sharing Economy; Luxury Brand; Ecommerce; Startup; Fashion; Brand Positioning; Customer Acquisition; Internet Marketing; Marketing; Marketing Channels; Marketing Strategy; Brands and Branding; Business Startups; Luxury; Consumer Behavior; Growth and Development Strategy; Social Media; E-commerce; Fashion Industry; Retail Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry; United States; North America
- December 2017
- Supplement
Bega Cheese: Bidding to Bring Vegemite Back Home
By: Benjamin C. Esty and Lauren G. Pickle
In January 2017, the leadership team of Bega Cheese—the Australian dairy company—was considering a bid for Mondelēz International’s Australia and New Zealand (ANZ) grocery business which included several leading consumer brands (Vegemite—the iconic Australian spread,... View Details
Keywords: Mergers ＆ Acquisitions; Value Drivers; Discounted Cash Flow (DCF); Dairy Industry; Corporate Scope; Diversification; Consumer Goods; Iconic Brands; Australia; Corporate Finance; Bidding Strategy; Cross Border; Mergers and Acquisitions; Valuation; Value Creation; Business Divisions; Capital Structure; Food; Bids and Bidding; Retail Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Australia; United States
- 2020
- Working Paper
The Real Exchange Rate, Innovation and Productivity
By: Laura Alfaro, Alejandro Cuñat, Harald Fadinger and Yanping Liu
We evaluate manufacturing firms' responses to changes in the real exchange rate (RER) using detailed firm-level data for a large set of countries for the period 2001–2010. We uncover the following stylized facts about regional variation of manufacturing firms'... View Details
- November 2017 (Revised July 2018)
- Case
Royal Philips: Designing Toward Profound Change
By: Srikant M. Datar, Rajiv Lal and Caitlin N. Bowler
This case explores Royal Philips CEO Frans van Houten's bold use of design research to inform a critical strategic decision: Should Philips leave its storied lighting business behind in favor of complete focus on health technology and consumer lifestyle products?... View Details
- November 2017 (Revised August 2018)
- Case
Fair Value Accounting at Noble Group (A)
By: Siko Sikochi, Suraj Srinivasan and Quinn Pitcher
Noble Group was a large commodities trader based in Hong Kong and listed on the Singapore Stock Exchange. In 2012, Noble shifted its business strategy towards an asset-light model. Under this model, Noble did not own mines or farms to produce commodities but built... View Details
- October 2017
- Case
The Transformation of Microsoft
By: C. Fritz Foley, E. Scott Mayfield and F. Katelynn Boland
In early 2015, Amy Hood, CFO of Microsoft, and the rest of the senior leadership team faced a set of fundamental choices. The firm had opportunities to serve customers in ways that would be associated with higher growth but lower margin. Some of these opportunities... View Details
- September 2017
- Case
Blackstone's Julia Kahr at the Summit
By: Paul A. Gompers, John D. Dionne and Amram Migdal
In 2009, Blackstone, the New York-based alternative asset and financial services firm, committed to invest up to $750 million into Summit Materials, a new company in the aggregates sector (i.e., construction materials, such as crushed stone, sand, gravel, cement,... View Details
Keywords: Roll Up; Private Equity Roll Up; Aggregates; Aggregates Materials; Construction Materials; Business Ventures; Acquisition; Leveraged Buyouts; Business Growth and Maturation; Engineering; Construction; Finance; Capital; Equity; Private Equity; Financial Instruments; Investment; Housing; Management; Goals and Objectives; Growth and Development Strategy; Growth Management; Personal Development and Career; Management Teams; Planning; Problems and Challenges; Value; Valuation; Value Creation; Construction Industry; Financial Services Industry; United States
- September 2017 (Revised April 2022)
- Supplement
Tempur Sealy International (A)
By: Benjamin C. Esty
This case explores the long-term relationship between Tempur Sealy (TPX, a mattress manufacturer) and Mattress Firm (MFRM, a bedding retailer and TPX's largest customer). For almost 20 years, the firms enjoyed a mutually beneficial and commercially prosperous... View Details
Keywords: Porter's 5 Forces; Bargaining Power; Buyer Power; Customer Power; Supplier Power; Negotiations; Value Capture; Private Equity; Consumer Durables; Consumer Discretionary; Mattresses; B-2-B; Industry Dynamics; Leadership; Compensation; Corporate Strategy; Business Strategy; Value Creation; Competition; Cooperation; Distribution; Negotiation; Industry Structures; Customers; Relationships; Distribution Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Retail Industry; Consumer Products Industry; United States; South Africa
- September 2017 (Revised April 2022)
- Case
Tempur Sealy International (A)
By: Benjamin C. Esty and Lauren G. Pickle
This case explores the long-term relationship between Tempur Sealy (TPX, a mattress manufacturer) and Mattress Firm (MFRM, a bedding retailer and TPX's largest customer). For almost 20 years, the firms enjoyed a mutually beneficial and commercially prosperous... View Details
Keywords: Porter's 5 Forces; Bargaining Power; Buyer Power; Customer Power; Supplier Power; Negotiations; Value Capture; Consumer Durables; Consumer Discretionary; Mattresses; B-2-B; Industry Dynamics; Compensation; Corporate Strategy; Business Strategy; Value Creation; Competition; Cooperation; Private Equity; Distribution; Negotiation; Industry Structures; Customers; Relationships; Leadership; Distribution Industry; Manufacturing Industry; Retail Industry; Consumer Products Industry; United States; South Africa
- September 2017 (Revised June 2021)
- Supplement
Tempur Sealy International (B)
By: Benjamin C. Esty and Lauren G. Pickle
Analyzes the commercial relationship between Tempur Sealy and Mattress Firm following the events discussed in the (A) case. View Details
Keywords: Porter's 5 Forces; Bargaining Power; Buyer Power; Customer Power; Supplier Power; Negotiations; Value Capture; Consumer Durables; Consumer Discretionary; Mattresses; B-2-B; Industry Dynamics; Compensation; Corporate Strategy; Business Strategy; Value Creation; Competition; Cooperation; Private Equity; Distribution; Negotiation; Industry Structures; Customers; Relationships; Leadership; Distribution Industry; Manufacturing Industry
- September 2017 (Revised June 2021)
- Supplement
Tempur Sealy International (C)
By: Benjamin C. Esty and Lauren G. Pickle
Analyzes the commercial relationship between Tempur Sealy and Mattress Firm following the events discussed in the (B) case. View Details
Keywords: Porter's 5 Forces; Bargaining Power; Buyer Power; Customer Power; Supplier Power; Negotiations; Value Capture; Consumer Durables; Consumer Discretionary; Mattresses; B-2-B; Industry Dynamics; Compensation; Corporate Strategy; Business Strategy; Value Creation; Competition; Cooperation; Private Equity; Distribution; Negotiation; Industry Structures; Leadership; Customers; Relationships; Distribution Industry; Manufacturing Industry; United States; South Africa
- Article
Channel Integration, Sales Dispersion, and Inventory Management
By: Santiago Gallino, Antonio Moreno and Ioannis Stamatopoulos
We study the effects of the introduction of cross-channel functionalities on the overall sales dispersion of retailers and the implications of these effects for inventory management. To do that, we analyze data from a leading U.S. retailer who introduced a... View Details
- September–October 2017
- Article
Managing Our Hub Economy: Strategy, Ethics, and Network Competition in the Age of Digital Superpowers
By: Marco Iansiti and Karim R. Lakhani
A small number of digital superpowers—Alibaba, Amazon, Microsoft, and others—have become “hub firms” because they control access to billions of mobile customers coveted by all kinds of product and service providers. These hubs drive increasing returns to scale and... View Details
- August 2017 (Revised November 2017)
- Case
Accounting for Political Risk at AES
By: Gerardo Pérez Cavazos and Suraj Srinivasan
As a global energy generating company, AES frequently faces challenges from political changes and instability. This is exacerbated by the fact that in many instances AES' primary customer is the government, which is also in charge of law-making. For example, AES'... View Details
- August 2017 (Revised May 2019)
- Case
Hilti (A): Fleet Management?
By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell, Oliver Gassmann and Roman Sauer
This case explores the strategic decision-making process of premium power tools manufacturer Hilti in 1999, when the company was considering implementing a fleet management system in the construction industry. Fleet management would involve a shift from selling power... View Details
Keywords: Hilti; Business Model Innovation; BMI; Fleet Management; Decision-making; Implementation; Power Tools Industry; Business Model; Restructuring; Transformation; Transition; Customer Value and Value Chain; Customer Focus and Relationships; Construction; Innovation and Invention; Leasing; Strategy; Decision Making; Construction Industry; Switzerland; Liechtenstein; Germany; Austria; Europe; United States; Asia; Brazil; China; Latin America; North America; Africa; Japan; Hong Kong
- July 2017 (Revised November 2017)
- Case
Propel
By: Mitchell Weiss and Sarah McAra
In 2014, Jimmy Chen, a former product manager at Facebook, founded the start-up Propel to build software for low-income Americans. After conducting in-depth behavioral research, Chen and his small team in New York City began to develop technology to address the... View Details
Keywords: Public Entrepreneurship; Govtech; Food Stamps; EBT; Mobile App; User Research; Financial Services Referrals; Grocery Marketing; Customer Discovery; Social Entrepreneurship; Entrepreneurship; Public Sector; Business Model; Research; Social Enterprise; Poverty; Welfare; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Applications and Software; Technology Industry; United States
- June 2017 (Revised January 2019)
- Case
Signet Jewelers: Assessing Customer Financing Risk
By: Gerardo Pérez Cavazos, Suraj Srinivasan and Monica Baraldi
Marc Cohodes, a renowned short seller, has identified weaknesses in Signet's business strategy, which he argues is heavily reliant on providing loans to customers with subprime credit scores. He believes that the company accounts for its receivables portfolio using... View Details