Publications

March 2023 (Revised April 2024)
Case

Allianz Türkiye: Adapting to Climate Change

By: John D. Macomber and Fares Khrais

Allianz Turkey is a property casualty insurance company operating in a region experiencing increasing losses from natural catastrophe events related to climate change, for example hail, wildfire, and flooding. There are also substantial other natural catastrophe... View Details

Keywords: Insurance And Reinsurance; Natural Disasters; Turkey; Insurance; Climate Change; Analytics and Data Science; Insurance Industry; Financial Services Industry; Turkey

June 2009
Article

Highbrow Films Gather Dust: Time-inconsistent Preferences and Online DVD Rentals

By: Katherine L. Milkman, Todd Rogers and Max H. Bazerman

We report on a field study demonstrating systematic differences between the preferences people anticipate they will have over a series of options in the future and their subsequent revealed preferences over those options. Using a novel panel data set, we analyze the... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Forecasting and Prediction; Film Entertainment; Demand and Consumers; Renting or Rental; Power and Influence; Prejudice and Bias; Online Technology; Motion Pictures and Video Industry

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September 1999 (Revised April 2000)
Case

drugstore.com

By: Richard L. Nolan

On a clear day in August 1999 in the new headquarters of drugstore.com, against a backdrop of the Blue Angels flying in formation over Lake Washington practicing for their hydroplane Seafare Cup performance, Peter Neupert was pleased with his company's IPO performance.... View Details

Keywords: Business Growth and Maturation; Internet and the Web; Problems and Challenges; Business Startups; Retail Industry

2007
Working Paper

Highbrow Films Gather Dust: Time-inconsistent Preferences and Online DVD Rentals

By: Katherine L. Milkman, Todd Rogers and Max H. Bazerman

We report on a field study demonstrating systematic differences between the preferences people anticipate they will have over a series of options in the future and their subsequent revealed preferences over those options. Using a novel panel data set, we analyze the... View Details

Keywords: Internet and the Web; Decision Choices and Conditions; Attitudes; Conflict and Resolution; Emotions; Film Entertainment; Cognition and Thinking; Entertainment and Recreation Industry

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Web

Rock Summer Fellows - Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship. Founder applications will be evaluated based on the clarity and strength of the problem hypothesis, current status and milestones, strength of customer discovery findings, clarity and strength of key assumptions, and... View Details

June 29, 2022
Other Article

Strategic Complexity? Using Experiments to Understand and Overcome Obfuscation

By: Michael Luca, Ginger Zhe Jin and Daniel Martin

Credit card companies must decide what product features to disclose to consumers, such as payment schedules, penalties, and fees--and also whether to present them clearly or bury them in the fine print. Firms face similar choices in settings ranging from privacy... View Details

Keywords: Obfuscation; Credit Cards; Strategic Incentives; Complexity; Agreements and Arrangements; Customers; Consumer Behavior; Financial Services Industry

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November 2000
Case

Geocast Network Systems, Inc.

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann, Christina L. Darwall and Elizabeth Kind

Geocast, a venture-backed start-up, had developed innovative technology for "datacasting" broadband information and entertainment content to an external hard drive, where it was cached for later retrieval by a Web-enabled PC. By using terrestrial TV, direct broadcast... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Customer Value and Value Chain; Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Information Management; Technological Innovation; Marketing Channels; Corporate Strategy; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Web Services Industry

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11 Apr 2023
Op-Ed

The First 90 Hours: What New CEOs Should—and Shouldn't—Do to Set the Right Tone

whether they’re staying or leaving. Also, schedule introductory conversations with key customers and employees. You may even want to approach some former employees or board members and ask for their insights. When you arrive, you should... View Details

Keywords: by John Quelch

March 2025
Case

Harvey: AI for Lawyers

By: Suraj Srinivasan, Charles Krumholz and Radhika Kak

In early 2025, Winston Weinberg and Gabe Pereyra, co-founders of Harvey AI, reflected on the company’s meteoric rise as a pioneer in AI-powered legal technology. Since its founding in 2022, Harvey had transformed how lawyers approached research, drafting, and document... View Details

Keywords: Innovation Strategy; Business Startups; AI and Machine Learning; Technological Innovation; Growth and Development Strategy; Product Positioning; Legal Services Industry; Technology Industry; New York (city, NY); San Francisco; London

17 Oct 2007
Research & Ideas

Why Global Brands Work

Harvard Business School professor John Quelch writes a blog on marketing issues, called Marketing Know: How, for Harvard Business Online. It is reprinted on HBS Working Knowledge.Ford has finally woken up to what Toyota knew a long time ago: the power of a single... View Details

Keywords: by John A. Quelch; Auto

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

Research Summary

Product Policy and Pricing

By: Robert J. Dolan

Robert J. Dolan's continuing research on marketing issues focuses on pricing policy and new products. His research program encompasses the development of both cases and conceptual models. Dolan's focus is the proper utilization of customer input in the new-product... View Details

May 2025
Case

Boutiqaat: Influencing Retail in MENA

By: Juan Alcacer and Noor Al Qadhi

Boutiqaat, a Kuwait-based e-commerce platform, scaled an influencer-driven beauty retail model across MENA and now faces critical strategic choices about offline expansion and globalization. Founded in 2015, Boutiqaat combined social commerce, localized logistics, and... View Details

Keywords: Emerging Markets; Digital Strategy; Growth and Development; Expansion; Distribution Channels; Global Strategy; Business Model; Market Design; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; Retail Industry; Kuwait; Saudi Arabia; Middle East; North Africa

June 2019
Case

Monetizing Insurance at Trov

By: Thales Teixeira, Samy Dana and Leandro A Guissoni

Trov is a disruptive startup in the insurance space (“insurtech”). It allows consumers to simply turn on and turn off insurance for each of their possessions on a mobile app with the swipe of a finger. Consumers love the simple, on-demand, single-item coverage product.... View Details

Keywords: Monetization; Decoupling; Business Startups; Insurance; Disruption; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Strategy; Insurance Industry

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)

July 2007 (Revised February 2010)
Case

Launching Telmore (A)

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell, Celso Fernandez and Moritz Jobke

When the Danish mobile phone service provider Telmore entered the market in October 2000, few people took notice. Its business model was not perceived as particularly aggressive or threatening to the industry. Less than three years later, Telmore's creative adaptation... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Disruptive Innovation; Market Entry and Exit; Creativity; Adaptation; Competitive Advantage; Telecommunications Industry; Denmark

December 2003
Case

Manville Corporation Fiber Glass Group (C) (Abridged)

By: Lynn S. Paine

Manville Corp.'s senior managers are surprised when Japanese government officials advise them not to go forward with their plan to add a cancer warning label to diatomaceous earth (DE) products sold in Japan. The International Agency for Research on Cancer has ruled... View Details

Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Moral Sensibility; Safety; Government Administration; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Decision Choices and Conditions; Ethics; Announcements; Industrial Products Industry; Japan

November 1992 (Revised December 1992)
Case

Deere & Co. (A): The Computer Aided Manufacturing Services Division - A Window to the World (Abridged)

By: Robert H. Hayes

The Computer-Aided Manufacturing (CAM) Services Division of John Deere has just received approval to sell their software and computer systems to external customers. These tools, initially developed for internal use, have been widely used throughout Deere. Still,... View Details

Keywords: Information Infrastructure; Applications and Software; Machinery and Machining; Technological Innovation; Markets; Marketing Strategy; Product Launch; Outcome or Result; Computer Industry; Manufacturing Industry