Publications

November 2022
Background Note

The Future of E-Commerce: Lessons from the Livestream Wars in China

By: Ayelet Israeli, Jeremy Yang and Billy Chan

This note explores the emerging multi-billion dollar commerce trend of livestream commerce. Livestream commerce is the sale of goods or services directly to consumers via live shows on digital platforms (such as social media or e-commerce platforms). It is a form of... View Details

2009
Working Paper

Systemic Risk and the Refinancing Ratchet Effect

By: Amir E. Khandani, Andrew W. Lo and Robert C. Merton

The confluence of three trends in the U.S. residential housing market—rising home prices, declining interest rates, and near-frictionless refinancing opportunities—led to vastly increased systemic risk in the financial system. Individually, each of these trends is... View Details

Keywords: Housing; Mortgages; Risk and Uncertainty; Value; Mathematical Methods; Real Estate Industry; United States

14 Feb 2018
Blog Post

HBS Partner Feature: Love Doesn’t Need a Zip Code

Partners and families play an important role at HBS. Today, we want to celebrate the partners who have been an instrumental part in adding value to the lives of HBS students and their community. Together, HBS MBA student Frances and her... View Details

July–August 2018
Article

Learning by Contributing: Gaining Competitive Advantage Through Contribution to Crowdsourced Public Goods

By: Frank Nagle

As the economy becomes more information based, firms are increasingly using crowdsourced public goods as inputs for innovation and production. Counterintuitively, some firms pay their employees to contribute to the creation of these goods, which can be used freely by... View Details

Keywords: Open Source Distribution; Applications and Software; Competitive Strategy; Learning; Competitive Advantage

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2021
Report

The Economic Impact of the Market-Making Internet Advertising, Content, Commerce, and Innovation

By: John A. Deighton and Leora Kornfeld

This research about the economic value of the Internet is conducted approximately every four years and highlights the importance of the internet ecosystem, which enables job creation and market-making opportunities. This highly valued, extensive piece of economic... View Details

Keywords: Internet and the Web; Digital Marketing; Innovation and Invention; Communication Technology; Social Media; Advertising; Value; Brands and Branding

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April 2005
Background Note

Strategies of Unrelated Diversification

By: Bharat N. Anand and Samhita Patwardhan Jayanti

Conglomerates lie at the heart of debates in corporate strategy. They include, perhaps, the best known companies in history--Beatrice Corp., General Electric, ITT, Siemens, and ABB--and at various times over the last few decades have been both admired and vilified as a... View Details

Keywords: Diversification; Business Conglomerates; Corporate Strategy; Value

Frances Frei is a Professor of Technology and Operations Management at Harvard Business School. Her research investigates how leaders accelerate performance and design for excellence in leadership, strategy, and operations. She regularly advises senior executives... View Details

Keywords: airline; banking; fast food; financial services; health care; hotels ＆ motels; management consulting; media; nonprofit industry; professional services; retail financial services; service industry; sports; telecommunications; tourism; travel

Research Summary

What Makes the Bonding Stick? A Natural Experiment Involving the U.S. Supreme Court and Cross-Listed Firms

On March 29, 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court signaled its intention to geographically limit the reach of the U.S.securities antifraud regime and thus differentially exclude U.S.-listed foreign firms from the ambit of formal U.S.antifraud enforcement. We exploit this... View Details

Keywords: Cross-listing; Corporate Governance; Civil Liability; Bonding

June 2020
Article

Frenemies in Platform Markets: Heterogeneous Profit Foci as Drivers of Compatibility Decisions

By: Ron Adner, Jianqing Chen and Feng Zhu

We study compatibility decisions of two competing platform owners that generate profits through both hardware sales and royalties from content sales. We consider a game-theoretic model in which two platforms offer different standalone utilities to users. We find that... View Details

Keywords: Compatibility; Platform Competition; Profit Foci; Digital Platforms; Competition; Profit; Decision Making

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December 2016
Article

Corporate Sponsorship in Culture—A Case of Collaborative Marketing by a Global Bank and a Major Art Museum

By: Ragnar Lund and Stephen A. Greyser

This paper examines cultural sponsorship from a partnership perspective. It studies the collaboration between two international institutions, a bank and a museum, and their value co-creation with customers and audiences. This in-depth case study of a sponsorship... View Details

Keywords: Sponsorship; Co-marketing; Partnerships; International Marketing; Arts Marketing; Relationship Marketing; Museums; Resource Integration; Marketing; Partners and Partnerships; Financial Institutions; Arts

2010
Working Paper

Report on the State of Available Data for the Study of International Trade and Foreign Direct Investment

By: Robert C. Feenstra, Robert E. Lipsey, Lee G. Branstetter, C. Fritz Foley, James Harrigan, J. Bradford Jensen, Lori Kletzer, Catherine Mann, Peter K. Schott and Greg C. Wright

This report, prepared for the Committee on Economic Statistics of the American Economic Association, examines the state of available data for the study of international trade and foreign direct investment. Data on values of imports and exports of goods are of high... View Details

Keywords: Trade; Foreign Direct Investment; Price; Globalization; Policy; Information; Intellectual Property

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2009
Chapter

Entrepreneurship and the History of Globalization

By: G. Jones and R. Daniel Wadhwani

In this article, we build on the recent efforts of scholars to reintroduce entrepreneurship into the research agenda of business historians. We examine the value and limitations of adapting recent social scientific theories and methods on entrepreneurship to research... View Details

Keywords: History; Multinational Firms and Management; Resource Allocation; Research; Entrepreneurship; Cognition and Thinking; Growth and Development Strategy

01 Aug 2023
What Do You Think?

As Leaders, Why Do We Continue to Reward A, While Hoping for B?

(iStockphoto/mikkelwilliam) Often the incentives we put in place to stimulate and reward performance produce unexpected behaviors. Causes vary from one individual to another, depending on what each of us values and what we are willing to... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

December 2022 (Revised February 2025)
Module Note

How Do You Compete and Cooperate? Understanding Strategic Interactions

By: Jorge Tamayo

This module examines how firms interact strategically, both competitively and cooperatively, as they create and capture value. Although the module focuses on strategic interactions between competitors, an organization's relationships with buyers, suppliers, and... View Details

Keywords: Competitive Strategy; Cooperation; Value Creation; Business and Stakeholder Relations

26 Jun 2023
Research & Ideas

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

people’s potential willingness to repurchase,” De Freitas says. Conversely, expressing a little thoughtfulness after a purchase can go a long way in endearing a customer to a brand. Investing in customer lifetime value Following these... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Entertainment & Recreation

09 Jan 2024
In Practice

Harnessing AI: What Businesses Need to Know in ChatGPT’s Second Year

previously complex and specialized software. Cost transformation. By broadening who can interface with software, generative AI allows businesses to achieve more with fewer resources, potentially transforming their organizational structures. Leveraging the limitations.... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Information Technology

August 2013 (Revised November 2013)
Case

Gordon Brothers: Collateralizing Corporate Loans by Brands

By: Paul Healy and Maria Loumioti

The case explores the collateralization of intellectual property in a loan agreement between a highly leveraged apparel company and a large US bank. Leveraging intangibles in the credit market is a new practice that has significantly grown over the past few years.... View Details

Keywords: Intangible Assets; Accounting; Valuation; Finance; Restructuring; United States

November 2010
Case

Lessons Learned? Brooksley Born & the OTC Derivatives Market (A)

By: Clayton S. Rose and David Lane

On May 7, 1998, the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission, chaired by Brooksley Born, issued a "Concept Release" inviting public comment on the relevance and appropriateness of existing regulation of the over-the-counter (OTC) derivatives market, a market with a... View Details

Keywords: Financial Crisis; Credit Derivatives and Swaps; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Policy; Business and Government Relations; Financial Services Industry; Public Administration Industry; District of Columbia

September 2019 (Revised December 2019)
Case

Anthony Soohoo at Dot & Bo: Bringing Storytelling to Furniture E-Commerce

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann, Allison M. Ciechanover and George Gonzalez

The case provides students an opportunity to examine the founding of an e-commerce startup that used storytelling and compelling images to sell furniture and home accessories to millennials. The case describes the rapid sales growth the company experienced, as well as... View Details

Keywords: E-commerce; Startups; Furnishing; Leadership; Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Internet and the Web; Failure; United States