Publications

08 Jun 2011
Lessons from the Classroom

Twenty-first Century Skill: Trading Carbon Credits

Cap and trade has become an increasingly popular mechanism used by governments to induce green behavior among corporate polluters, with news emerging almost daily. Just recently New Jersey Governor Chris Christie withdrew his state from the Regional Greenhouse Gas... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Energy; Utilities

January 1997 (Revised December 1999)
Case

OXO International

By: H. Kent Bowen, Marilyn Matis and Sylvie Ryckebusch

OXO, a kitchen tools and gadgets company, was started by a businessman who had 30 years of experience in the housewares industry. With his wife and son as founders, he creates a new niche in the gadgets industry for high-end gourmet stores. The company has headquarters... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Supply Chain Management; Production; Design; Ownership; Business Startups; Acquisition; Consumer Products Industry; Asia; New York (city, NY); Connecticut

March–April 2023
Article

Market Segmentation Trees

By: Ali Aouad, Adam Elmachtoub, Kris J. Ferreira and Ryan McNellis

Problem definition: We seek to provide an interpretable framework for segmenting users in a population for personalized decision making. Methodology/results: We propose a general methodology, market segmentation trees (MSTs), for learning market... View Details

Keywords: Decision Trees; Computational Advertising; Market Segmentation; Analytics and Data Science; E-commerce; Consumer Behavior; Marketplace Matching; Marketing Channels; Digital Marketing

May 1997
Supplement

Suzanne de Passe at Motown Productions

By: Linda A. Hill and Mara Willard

Suzanne de Passe talks to an MBA class in October 1996 and discusses her perspective on leadership, her experience making "Lonesome Dove," and her company: de Passe Entertainment. Designed for use with Suzanne de Passe at Motown Productions (A) (9-487-042), (A1)... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Perspective; Organizational Culture; Personal Development and Career; Entertainment and Recreation Industry

June 2014
Simulation

Balanced Scorecard Simulation

By: V.G. Narayanan

In this multi-player simulation, students experience the benefits and challenges of using a scorecard to implement strategic initiatives and monitor firm performance. Small teams of students work together to choose a strategy for their company, create a strategy map,... View Details

Research Summary

Consumer Response to Online Ratings and Recommendations

Jolie is currently conducting several laboratory and field experiments to assess the tendency of individuals to employ predictable heuristics in complex information aggregation tasks, thus leading to search and choice behavior that is suboptimal relative to the fully... View Details

Article

In Pursuit of Everyday Creativity

By: Teresa M. Amabile

Creativity researchers have long paid careful attention to individual creativity, beginning with studies of well-known geniuses and expanding to personality, biographical, cognitive, and social-psychological studies of individual creative behavior. Little is known,... View Details

Keywords: Creativity; Behavior; Innovation and Invention

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March 2021 (Revised August 2022)
Case

Seeding and Selling Asana

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport, Susie Ma and Amram Migdal

In December 2019, Oliver Jay, Asana’s Chief Revenue Officer (CRO), was reconsidering his go-to-market (GTM) strategy. Asana was cloud-based work management software that enabled users to break up projects into discrete tasks that could be assigned, scheduled, and... View Details

Keywords: SaaS; Customer Journey; Business Model; Business Organization; Change Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Growth Management; Marketing Channels; Marketing Strategy; Product Marketing; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Design; Organizational Structure; Digital Platforms; Internet and the Web; Technology Industry; United States

02 Apr 2015
Research & Ideas

Digital Initiative Summit: Big Messages, Small Screens, Many Choices

comScore. Apps suck up the majority of that time. In fact, app usage alone comprises 52 percent of total digital media engagement, according to comScore. So how do companies profit from the fact that mobile users are more engaged than... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Advertising

11 Mar 2015
Research & Ideas

How Do You Grade Out as a Negotiator?

is methodical and structured about keeping track of their negotiation experience meeting up with someone who is not, my money is on the former," says Wheeler. By gradually gaining confidence in their abilities, View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

September–October 2002
Article

Market Power and Power Markets

By: Jurgen Weiss

The paper provides results of a serious of experiments with experienced subjects exploring the relationship between elements of electricity market design and competitive outcomes. The two primary variables examined are a) the price formation (nodal versus uniform with... View Details

Keywords: Energy; Market Design; Competition

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2004
Working Paper

Thinking About Technology: Applying a Cognitive Lens to Technical Change

We apply a cognitive lens to understanding technology trajectories across the life cycle by developing a coevolutionary model of technological frames and technology. Applying that model to each stage of the technology life cycle, we identify conditions under which a... View Details

Keywords: Design; Fluctuation; Technology; Perception

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2011
Working Paper

The Contingent Effect of Absorptive Capacity: An Open Innovation Analysis

By: Andrew A. King and Karim R. Lakhani

Technological advancement and innovation requires the integration of both external knowledge and internal inventiveness. In this paper, we unpack the concept of absorptive capacity and separately explore the effect of different types of prior experience on the capacity... View Details

Keywords: Experience and Expertise; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Technological Innovation; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Performance Capacity; Technology Adoption

SSRN

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August 2019 (Revised August 2024)
Case

The Walt Disney Company: Theme Parks

By: Rory McDonald, Allison Mnookin and Iuliana Mogosanu

As he seeks to place the division he leads on a firm footing for the future, Tom Staggs, chairman of Walt Disney Parks and Resorts, is considering a range of investments designed either to upgrade the guest experience in the company’s existing parks or to expand access... View Details

Keywords: Entertainment; Investment; Expansion; Decision Making; Customer Satisfaction; Entertainment and Recreation Industry

December 1998
Case

Pioneer Hi-Bred: Turning Seeds Into Factories

By: F. Warren McFarlan and Melissa Dailey

The agricultural sector is among the preeminent information technology users in our economy," exclaimed an August 1998 Forbes ASAP survey of the U.S. economy's best and worst users of information technology (IT). The survey designated Pioneer Hi-Bred International,... View Details

Keywords: Agribusiness; Multinational Firms and Management; Information Management; Infrastructure; Business Strategy; Information Technology; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Iowa

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November 1994 (Revised October 2011)
Background Note

Innovation: A Customer-Driven Approach

By: Marco Iansiti, Thomas J. Kosnik and Ellen Stein

Provides a selection of methodologies for the investigation of user needs, concept development, and product design. View Details

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Product Design

Teaching Interest

Overview

Michael has experience in both lecture-based and experiential education teaching methods.

He designed and teaches a 2-day professional development course at Harvard titled “Collaborative Leadership: Building the Organization of the Future” that provides... View Details

26 Jun 2023
Research & Ideas

Want to Leave a Lasting Impression on Customers? Don't Forget the (Proverbial) Fireworks

with some surprises While some of these findings may seem intuitive, they help marketers design better experiences by investing in the elements that matter, says De Freitas. Based on their findings, the... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Entertainment & Recreation

March 2004 (Revised May 2004)
Case

Jack Smith (C): Becoming a Toyota Manager (II)

Jack Smith had a stellar career at Chrysler managing major design teams and manufacturing plants before deciding to join industry leader and benchmark Toyota. It is his first day on the job; what will his orientation entail? Cursory walkthroughs and introductions... View Details

Keywords: Transition; Organizational Structure; Organizational Culture; Personal Development and Career; Manufacturing Industry; Auto Industry