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Show Results For
- All HBS Web
(1,049)
- People (1)
- News (186)
- Research (704)
- Events (9)
- Multimedia (3)
- Faculty Publications (361)
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- 21 Feb 2007
- Op-Ed
What a U.N. Partnership with Big Business Could Accomplish
As Ban Ki-moon begins his tenure as secretary-general of the United Nations, the world's poor continue to cry out for help and hope. One-sixth of the world's population lives in "deep poverty"—generally defined as surviving on half or less of the annual... View Details
Keywords: by George C. Lodge & Craig Wilson
- Research Summary
Information Technology and Vertical Integration: Evidence from Plant-level Data (with Chris Forman)
We study the relationship between different margins of information technology (IT) use and vertical integration using plant-level data from the U.S. Census of Manufactures. Focusing on the short-run decision of whether to allocate production output to downstream plants... View Details
- April 2025 (Revised May 2025)
- Background Note
Customer Acquisition and the Cash Flow Trap
By: E. Ofek, Barak Libai and Eitan Muller
Startups as well as existing firms recognize the need to invest in order to acquire customers for their new ventures. And as each customer is expected at some point to have generated sufficient gross margins to cover their CAC, management expects that, soon enough, the... View Details
Keywords: Business Model; Customers; Forecasting and Prediction; Cash Flow; Business or Company Management
Ofek, E., Barak Libai, and Eitan Muller. "Customer Acquisition and the Cash Flow Trap." Harvard Business School Background Note 525-056, April 2025. (Revised May 2025.)
- April 2021
- Case
Distinct Software
By: Das Narayandas, Arijit Sengupta and Jonathan Wray
Distinct Software (disguised name), a global enterprise software company, is at an important point in its growth trajectory where the luster of its mantra of “grow and win at any cost” has dimmed with increasing competition and margin pressures. To help navigate its... View Details
Keywords: Artificial Intelligence; Marketing; Sales; Performance Productivity; Technological Innovation; AI and Machine Learning
Narayandas, Das, Arijit Sengupta, and Jonathan Wray. "Distinct Software." Harvard Business School Case 521-101, April 2021.
- Article
Relational Reconciliation: Socializing Others Across Demographic Differences
By: Lakshmi Ramarajan and Erin M. Reid
In demographically diverse organizations, employees charged with socializing others—
socialization agents—must navigate a deep tension between the organization’s needs to
integrate individuals into a collective and individuals’ needs for recognition of their
unique... View Details
Ramarajan, Lakshmi, and Erin M. Reid. "Relational Reconciliation: Socializing Others Across Demographic Differences." Academy of Management Journal 63, no. 2 (April 2020): 356–385.
- December 2019
- Article
The Impact of Increasing Search Frictions on Online Shopping Behavior: Evidence from a Field Experiment
By: Donald Ngwe, Kris J. Ferreira and Thales Teixeira
Many online stores are designed such that shoppers can easily access any available discounted products. We propose that deliberately increasing search frictions by placing small obstacles to locating discounted items can improve online retailers’ margins and even... View Details
Keywords: Online Retailing; Friction; Effor; Search Costs; Price Discrimination; Marketing; Consumer Behavior; Strategy; Price; E-commerce; Retail Industry; Fashion Industry
Ngwe, Donald, Kris J. Ferreira, and Thales Teixeira. "The Impact of Increasing Search Frictions on Online Shopping Behavior: Evidence from a Field Experiment." Journal of Marketing Research (JMR) 56, no. 6 (December 2019): 944–959.
- May 2015 (Revised September 2017)
- Case
Generating Higher Value at IBM (A)
By: Benjamin C. Esty and E. Scott Mayfield
This case analyzes IBM's financial performance and its capital allocation decisions over a 10-year period from 2004-2013, during which IBM returned more than $140B to shareholders through a combination of dividends and share repurchases. During this time, CEO Sam... View Details
Keywords: Dividends; Share Repurchases; Earnings Guidance; Financial Statement Analysis; Financial Ratios; Payout Policy; Earnings Per Share (EPS); Earnings Management; Change Management; Leadership; Transformation; Financial Strategy
Esty, Benjamin C., and E. Scott Mayfield. "Generating Higher Value at IBM (A)." Harvard Business School Case 215-058, May 2015. (Revised September 2017.)
- September 2014 (Revised March 2021)
- Case
La Ribera Health Department (A)
By: Regina E. Herzlinger, Emer Moloney and Daniela Beyersdorfer
The La Ribera case studies depict an innovative low cost/high quality privately financed hospital model struggling to achieve alignment with the Six Factors. It is reimbursed by the public sector in a Spanish environment whose Consumers, Structure, and Public Policy... View Details
Keywords: Health Care; Health Care Financing; Health Care Industry; Health Care Operations; Health Care and Treatment; Operations; Business Model; Government and Politics; Programs; Innovation Strategy; Vertical Integration; Health Industry; Europe; Spain
Herzlinger, Regina E., Emer Moloney, and Daniela Beyersdorfer. "La Ribera Health Department (A)." Harvard Business School Case 315-006, September 2014. (Revised March 2021.)
- July 2010 (Revised December 2011)
- Background Note
Marketing Analysis Toolkit: Pricing and Profitability Analysis
By: Thomas J. Steenburgh and Jill Avery
Pricing is one of the most difficult decisions marketers make and the one with the most direct and immediate impact on the firm's financial position. This toolkit will introduce the fundamental terminology and calculations associated with pricing and profitability... View Details
Keywords: Forecasting and Prediction; Price; Profit; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Marketing Strategy; Demand and Consumers; Measurement and Metrics; Strategic Planning; Mathematical Methods; Retail Industry
Steenburgh, Thomas J., and Jill Avery. "Marketing Analysis Toolkit: Pricing and Profitability Analysis." Harvard Business School Background Note 511-028, July 2010. (Revised December 2011.)
- October 2024
- Case
Ranger Energy Services: Bridging Public & Private Markets
By: Joseph Pacelli, Ravi Ramniklal Gondalia and James Weber
In August of 2017, CSL Capital, a private equity fund founded and operated by Charlie Leykum (HBS ’04), was deciding to take one of its portfolio companies, Ranger Energy Services, public. Founded in 2014, Ranger Energy was an oilfield service company providing... View Details
Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Initial Public Offering; Financial Strategy; Valuation; Private Equity; Business Strategy; Investment Portfolio; Investment Return; Financial Services Industry; Energy Industry; United States
Pacelli, Joseph, Ravi Ramniklal Gondalia, and James Weber. "Ranger Energy Services: Bridging Public & Private Markets." Harvard Business School Case 125-023, October 2024.
- January 2021 (Revised March 2021)
- Case
Jumia's Path to Profitability
By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell, Pippa Tubman Armerding and Gamze Yucaoglu
The case opens in September 2019 as Sacha Poignonnec and Jeremy Hodara, co-founders and co-CEOs of Jumia, the leading Pan-African e-commerce platform, are contemplating the company’s path to profitability in the aftermath of a fragile investor sentiment, as the company... View Details
Keywords: Retail; Business Models; Business Model; Business Startups; Emerging Markets; For-Profit Firms; Strategy; Digital Platforms; Information Technology; Technology Adoption; Value Creation; Globalization; Entrepreneurship; Competition; Expansion; Logistics; Profit; Resource Allocation; Diversification; Corporate Strategy; Retail Industry; Technology Industry; Africa
Casadesus-Masanell, Ramon, Pippa Tubman Armerding, and Gamze Yucaoglu. "Jumia's Path to Profitability." Harvard Business School Case 721-355, January 2021. (Revised March 2021.)
- 24 Mar 2008
- Research & Ideas
Reducing Risk with Online Advertising
particulars of your business is different depending on how prevalent bad affiliates are, the profit margins of bad affiliates, and what I call the discount rate of good affiliates—how quickly your good suppliers need to get paid. If they... View Details
- 21 May 2007
- Research & Ideas
Fixing the Marketing-CEO Disconnect
In most companies, no one knows and understands your customers and their changing needs better than the marketing department. Certainly that knowledge should be routinely presented and understood by the chief executive and board of directors, right? But over time, and... View Details
Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne
- July 2021
- Article
Redistribution through Markets
By: Piotr Dworczak, Scott Duke Kominers and Mohammad Akbarpour
Policymakers frequently use price regulations as a response to inequality in the markets they control. In this paper, we examine the optimal structure of such policies from the perspective of mechanism design. We study a buyer-seller market in which agents have private... View Details
Keywords: Optimal Mechanism Design; Redistribution; Inequality; Welfare Theorems; Market Design; Equality and Inequality
Dworczak, Piotr, Scott Duke Kominers, and Mohammad Akbarpour. "Redistribution through Markets." Econometrica 89, no. 4 (July 2021): 1665–1698. (Authors' names are in certified random order.)
- November 2019
- Article
How Do Sales Efforts Pay Off? Dynamic Panel Data Analysis in the Nerlove-Arrow Framework
By: Doug J. Chung, Byungyeon Kim and Byoung G. Park
This paper evaluates the short- and long-term value of sales representatives’ detailing visits to different types of physicians. By understanding the dynamic effect of sales calls across heterogeneous physicians, we provide guidance on the design of optimal call... View Details
Keywords: Nerlove-Arrow Framework; Stock-of-goodwill; Dynamic Panel Data; Serial Correlation; Instrumental Variables; Sales Effectiveness; Detailing; Analytics and Data Science; Sales; Analysis; Performance Effectiveness; Pharmaceutical Industry
Chung, Doug J., Byungyeon Kim, and Byoung G. Park. "How Do Sales Efforts Pay Off? Dynamic Panel Data Analysis in the Nerlove-Arrow Framework." Management Science 65, no. 11 (November 2019): 5197–5218.
- May 2018 (Revised October 2020)
- Supplement
La Ribera Health Department (B): Epilogue
By: Regina E. Herzlinger, Emer Moloney and Daniela Beyersdorfer
The La Ribera case studies depict an innovative low cost/high quality privately financed hospital model struggling to achieve alignment with the Six Factors. It is reimbursed by the public sector in a Spanish environment whose Consumers, Structure, and Public Policy... View Details
- Spring 2013
- Article
The Growth of Finance
By: Robin Greenwood and David S. Scharfstein
The U.S. financial services industry grew from 4.9% of GDP in 1980 to 7.9% of GDP in 2007. A sizeable portion of the growth can be explained by rising asset management fees, which in turn were driven by increases in the valuation of tradable assets, particularly... View Details
Greenwood, Robin, and David S. Scharfstein. "The Growth of Finance." Journal of Economic Perspectives 27, no. 2 (Spring 2013): 3–28.
- 2012
- Article
Demand and Capacity Management in Air Transportation
This paper summarizes research trends and opportunities in the area of managing air transportation demand and capacity. Capacity constraints and resulting congestion and low schedule reliability currently impose large costs on airlines and their passengers. Significant... View Details
Keywords: Demand Management; Capacity Management; Mathematical Modeling; Congestion And Delays; Trends And Opportunities; Demand and Consumers; Air Transportation; Mathematical Methods; Performance Capacity; Air Transportation Industry
Barnhart, Cynthia, Douglas S. Fearing, Amedeo Odoni, and Vikrant Vaze. "Demand and Capacity Management in Air Transportation." EURO Journal on Transportation and Logistics 1, nos. 1-2 (2012): 135–155.
- July 2010
- Supplement
Marketing Analysis Toolkit: Pricing and Profitability Analysis (CW)
By: Thomas J. Steenburgh and Jill Avery
Pricing is one of the most difficult decisions marketers make and the one with the most direct and immediate impact on the firm's financial position. This toolkit will introduce the fundamental terminology and calculations associated with pricing and profitability... View Details
- 12 Nov 2008
- First Look
First Look: November 12, 2008
Working Papers Direct versus Indirect Colonial Rule in India: Long-term Consequences (revised) Author: Lakshmi Iyer Abstract This paper compares economic outcomes across areas in India which were under direct British colonial rule with areas which were under indirect... View Details
Keywords: Martha Lagace