Publications

12 Jun 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, June 12, 2018

Agarwal Abstract—Machine learning process technologies usher new questions regarding their potential complementarity with existing human capital. Within the context of the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office examination process, our... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

06 Oct 2020
Sharpening Your Skills

18 Tips Managers Can Use to Lead Through COVID's Rising Waters

Protect and Pivot Boris Groysberg, Richard P. Chapman Professor of Business Administration. MARKETING Tip: Tailor your brand stories to the new reality. Which types of brand stories should companies tell? After KFC was chastised by the U.K. View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

August 2018 (Revised October 2020)
Case

Tailor Brands: Artificial Intelligence-Driven Branding

By: Jill Avery

Using proprietary artificial intelligence technology, startup Tailor Brands set out to democratize branding by allowing small businesses to create their brand identities by automatically generating logos in just minutes at minimal cost with no branding or design skills... View Details

October 2021 (Revised June 2022)
Case

PittaRosso: Artificial Intelligence-Driven Pricing and Promotion

By: Ayelet Israeli

PittaRosso, a traditional Italian shoe retailer, is implementing an AI system to provide pricing and promotion recommendations. The system allows them to implement changes that would affect both the top of funnel and bottom of funnel activities for the company: once... View Details

06 Dec 2017
What Do You Think?

Is It Time To Break Up Amazon, Apple, Facebook, or Google?

ourselves not only to revenue-producing advertising but also a stream of advertising reminders based on information that follows us for a lifetime. Can you name Google’s closest competitor in search and... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Technology; Technology

24 Oct 2011
Research & Ideas

The Yelp Factor: Are Consumer Reviews Good for Business?

part to big-budget advertising behind the chains. But review sites are leveling the playing field by allowing consumers to learn as much about independent restaurants as they know about the chains. "This is one reason why consumer... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Food & Beverage

March 2017 (Revised September 2017)
Case

Facebook Fake News in the Post-Truth World

By: John R. Wells and Carole A. Winkler

In January 2017, Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Facebook, was surrounded by controversy. The election of Donald Trump as the next president of the United States in November 2016 had triggered a national storm of protests, and many attributed Trump’s victory to... View Details

27 Mar 2018
First Look

First Look at New Research, March 27, 2018

reforms have the strongest impact in medical fields in which the probability of facing a malpractice claim is the largest, and they do not seem to affect the amount of new technologies of the highest and lowest quality. Our results... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

February 2011 (Revised February 2012)
Case

Online Marketing at Big Skinny

By: Benjamin Edelman and Scott Duke Kominers

Describes a wallet maker's application of seven Internet marketing technologies: display ads, algorithmic search, sponsored search, social media, interactive content, online distributors, and A/B testing. Provides concise introductions to the key features of each... View Details

Keywords: Advertising Campaigns; Digital Marketing; Resource Allocation; Marketing Strategy; Performance Evaluation; Internet and the Web; Retail Industry

September 2017
Case

Tencent

By: John R. Wells and Gabriel Ellsworth

Tencent had undergone many transformations since it was founded in 1998 as a simple messaging service. In 2017, it was the largest online games provider in China with a wide range of game types, China’s largest social networking service provider with several of the... View Details

27 Nov 2000
Research & Ideas

The Dynamics of Standing Still: Firestone Tire & Rubber and the Radial Revolution

independent. "Firestone's historical excellence and disastrous response to global competition and technological innovation," writes Sull, "posed a paradox for industry observers: Why had the industry's best managed company... View Details

Keywords: by Donald N. Sull; Manufacturing; Transportation

30 Jan 2018
First Look

January 30, 2018

practice related to AI in developing countries. Publisher's link: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=52296 December 2017 Journal of Advertising Research Rethinking the Profession Formerly Known as Advertising: How Data... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

28 Aug 2012
First Look

First Look: August 28

Centralization is predicted when the value of firm-wide coordination dominates these adaptation and information-processing concerns. Based on a novel data set containing information on establishment-level decision rights over information View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

26 Sep 2011
HBS Case

HBS Cases: Lady Gaga

right. As revenues from recorded music steadily declined from 2004 to 2008, concert revenues steadily rose, according to data presented in the case. "Advances in digital technology have had a strong negative impact on recorded-music... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Entertainment & Recreation; Music

13 Feb 2017
Research & Ideas

Paid Search Ads Pay Off for Lesser-Known Restaurants

For business executives trying to decide where exactly in the digital realm to invest their advertising dollars, new research indicates that paid search ads on review sites such as Yelp can be a good way to go—at least for small,... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Food & Beverage

27 Jul 2009
Research & Ideas

Social Network Marketing: What Works?

When marketers want to reach users of social networks such as Facebook, MySpace, or Cyworld, they have two choices: buy advertising or start a viral campaign. New research by Harvard Business School professor Sunil Gupta suggests that... View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert; Advertising; Advertising; Advertising

November 2017
Teaching Note

Amazon.com, 2016

By: John R. Wells and Gabriel Ellsworth

Teaching Note for HBS No. 716-402. On January 28, 2016, Amazon announced record 2015 operating profits of $2.2 billion on $107 billion of sales, and the markets responded with cautious optimism. For years, founder and CEO Jeffrey Bezos had prioritized growth and... View Details

November 2013 (Revised June 2014)
Case

E-Cigarettes: Marketing Versus Public Health

By: John A. Quelch and Margaret L. Rodriguez

Electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes) were heralded by some as a healthcare game changer, enabling smokers to switch to a new product which carried lower risk of cancer. However, there were concerns about the public health risk of e-cigarettes, particularly the chance... View Details

Keywords: Public Health; Tobacco; Smoking; Cigarettes; Electronic Cigarettes; Cancer; Lung; Lorillard; Philip Morris; Safety; Technological Innovation; Conflict of Interests; Market Entry and Exit; Marketing; Health; Advertising; Consumer Products Industry; Health Industry