Publications

August 2022
Background Note

Retail Media Networks

By: Eva Ascarza, Ayelet Israeli and Celine Chammas

In 2022, retail media was one of the fastest growing segments in digital advertising. A retail media network (RMN) allows a retailer to use its assets for advertising. Retailers set up an advertising business by allowing marketers to buy advertising space across their... View Details

29 Nov 2022
Research & Ideas

How Much More Would Holiday Shoppers Pay to Wear Something Rare?

holiday shopping season. With record inflation, rising interest rates, and economic jitters weighing on consumers, pricing strategies could become more critical to getting customers to buy during the coming weeks and beyond. The rare red... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Retail

October 1996 (Revised January 1997)
Case

MacTemps: Building Commitment in the Interim Workforce

MacTemps is a provider of temporary workers skilled in computer graphics and database management. Unlike many temporary agencies that treat temps as a commodity, MacTemps has attempted to build relationships with temps through offering benefits and training. This case... View Details

Keywords: Selection and Staffing; Organizational Design; Personal Development and Career; Information Technology Industry; Employment Industry

08 Sep 2014
Research & Ideas

The Strategic Way To Hire a Sales Team

Too often, there's a huge gap between a company's overall business strategy and the way its salesforce operates in the field. In fact, says Frank V. Cespedes, articles and books about strategy rarely take... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

2017
Working Paper

Why and How Investors Use ESG Information: Evidence from a Global Survey

By: Georgios Serafeim

Using survey data from a sample of senior investment professionals from mainstream (i.e., not SRI funds) investment organizations, we provide insights into why and how investors use reported environmental, social, and governance (ESG) information. The primary reason... View Details

Keywords: Investment Management; Sustainability; ESG; ESG (Environmental, Social, Governance) Performance; Investment Fund; Investment Strategy; Corporate Accountability; Activist Shareholder; Engagement; Environment; Climate Change; Customers; Customer Satisfaction; Employee Engagement; Global Warming; Investment; Decision Making; Environmental Sustainability; Performance Expectations

SSRN

November 1988 (Revised July 1998)
Case

WaterTest Corporation

Describes the founding and subsequent growth of WaterTest, a New Hampshire firm run by a entrepreneur with little business background. Three Harvard Business School students are working on a project to help the firm refine its marketing strategy. The students collect a... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Customers; Entrepreneurship; Data and Data Sets; Marketing Strategy

October 1997
Case

L'Oreal of Paris: Bringing 'Class to Mass' with Plenitude

By: Robert J. Dolan

L'Oreal's strategy is to "trickle down" technology over time from high-end outlets like department stores to mass-markets, such as drugstores. The mass market brand Plenitude has become the market leader in France, but even eight years after introduction in the United... View Details

Keywords: Problems and Challenges; Marketing Strategy; Brands and Branding; Globalization; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; Retail Industry; France; United States

23 Oct 2000
Research & Ideas

The Strategy-Focused Organization

illustrate how major organizations have used the Scorecard to create an entirely new performance management framework that puts strategy at the center of a company's key management processes and systems. Mobil North America Marketing and... View Details

Keywords: by Robert S. Kaplan & David P. Norton

October 2016 (Revised January 2020)
Case

All Traffic Solutions

By: Rajiv Lal and Scott F. Johnson

All Traffic Solutions traditionally sold traffic signs that collected vehicle data to cities. In recent years, the firm connected their signs to the internet and began selling software that enabled cities to operate their signs remotely and collect data in a more... View Details

Keywords: IoT; Internet Of Things; Smart Connected Products; All Traffic Solutions; Traffic; Internet and the Web; Information Technology; Digital Platforms; Information Infrastructure; Applications and Software; Transportation; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Manufacturing Industry; Technology Industry; Information Technology Industry; United States

03 Mar 2023
Research & Ideas

When Showing Know-How Backfires for Women Managers

demonstrate their capabilities before an audience. But this can be dangerous: Feldberg found that when women put off private office tasks such as strategic planning or data analysis, their departments’ profits and customer service ratings... View Details

Keywords: by Kara Baskin; Retail; Consumer Products

12 Sep 2023
Cold Call Podcast

Can Remote Surgeries Digitally Transform Operating Rooms?

Keywords: Health

July–August 2018
Article

How CEOs Manage Time

By: Michael E. Porter and Nitin Nohria

In 2006 Harvard Business School’s Michael E. Porter and Nitin Nohria launched a study tracking how large companies’ CEOs spent their time, 24/7, for 13 weeks: where they were, with whom, what they did, and what they were focusing on. To date, Porter and Nohria have... View Details

Keywords: CEOs; Executives; Time Management; Attitudes; Managerial Roles; Leadership; Performance Effectiveness; Strategy; Decision Making; Organizational Culture

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2017
Working Paper

Cluster Mapping as a Tool for Development

By: Christian H.M. Ketels

This report builds on the foundational work on cluster mapping that Prof. Michael E. Porter has led at the Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness (ISC), Harvard Business School over the last two decades. He launched the U.S. Cluster Mapping Initiative in the late... View Details

Keywords: Industry Clusters; Development Economics

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March 2016
Case

Evive Health and Workplace Influenza Vaccinations

By: John Beshears

Evive Health is a company that manages communication campaigns on behalf of health insurance plans and large employers. Using big data techniques and insights from behavioral economics, Evive deploys targeted and effective messages that improve individuals' health... View Details

Keywords: Vaccination; Influenza; Flu Shot; Preventive Care; Health Care; Behavioral Economics; Choice Architecture; Nudge; Experimental Design; Randomized Controlled Trial; RCT; Causal Inference; Consumer Behavior; Health Care and Treatment; Health Testing and Trials; Communication Strategy; Health Industry

March 2015 (Revised April 2015)
Case

The Heat Is On: Emerging Ecosystems in the Thermostat Industry

By: David Collis and Ashley Hartman

Beth Wozniak, President of Honeywell Environmental and Combustion Controls (ECC) at Honeywell International Inc., spun around in her office chair, reflecting about how the classic, mature thermostat industry was rapidly evolving. In February 2014, Google paid $3.2... View Details

06 Dec 2017
Working Paper Summaries

Does Financial Misconduct Affect the Future Compensation of Alumni Managers?

Keywords: by Boris Groysberg, Eric Lin, and George Serafeim

July 2020
Case

Amanda and Kristen: Mented Cosmetics

By: Steven Rogers, Jeffrey J. Bussgang and Alterrell Mills

The co-founders (Black HBS alumnae) of an e-commerce beauty startup explore the unmet needs within the beauty industry. This case study examines the entrepreneurial opportunities that come from identifying an underserved market, specifically within the Black community... View Details

2022
Working Paper

Human-Computer Interactions in Demand Forecasting and Labor Scheduling Decisions

By: Caleb Kwon, Ananth Raman and Jorge Tamayo

We empirically analyze how managerial overrides to a commercial algorithm that forecasts demand and schedules labor affect store performance. We analyze administrative data from a large grocery retailer that utilizes a commercial algorithm to forecast demand and... View Details

Keywords: Employees; Human Capital; Performance; Applications and Software; Management Skills; Management Practices and Processes; Retail Industry

SSRN

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March 2016 (Revised March 2022)
Teaching Note

Evive Health and Workplace Influenza Vaccinations

By: John Beshears

Evive Health is a company that manages communication campaigns on behalf of health insurance plans and large employers. Using big data techniques and insights from behavioral economics, Evive deploys targeted and effective messages that improve individuals' health... View Details