Publications

2019
Working Paper

Soul and Machine (Learning)

By: Davide Proserpio, John R. Hauser, Xiao Liu, Tomomichi Amano, Alex Burnap, Tong Guo, Dokyun Lee, Randall Lewis, Kanishka Misra, Eric Schwarz, Artem Timoshenko, Lilei Xu and Hema Yoganarasimhan

Machine learning is bringing us self-driving cars, improved medical diagnostics, and machine translation, but can it improve marketing decisions? It can. Machine learning models predict extremely well, are scalable to “big data,” and are a natural fit to rich media... View Details

Keywords: Machine Learning; Technological Innovation; Marketing; AI and Machine Learning

SSRN

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May 2017 (Revised March 2018)
Case

Predicting Consumer Tastes with Big Data at Gap

By: Ayelet Israeli and Jill Avery

CEO Art Peck was eliminating his creative directors for The Gap, Old Navy, and Banana Republic brands and promoting a collective creative ecosystem fueled by the input of big data. Rather than relying on artistic vision, Peck wanted the company to use the mining of big... View Details

June 2024
Case

SnapTravel: Betting on 'Super.com'

By: Reza Satchu and Tom Quinn

This case explores SnapTravel, a travel startup offering discounted hotel rooms, and its founders’ desire to pivot to a “super app” that saved customers money across many different purchase types. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Hussein Fazal and Henry Shi saw SnapTravel... View Details

08 Mar 2012
Working Paper Summaries

Customer-Driven Misconduct: How Competition Corrupts Business Practices

Keywords: by Victor Manuel Bennett, Lamar Pierce, Jason A. Snyder & Michael W. Toffel; Auto

2008
Working Paper

Organizational Design and Control across Multiple Markets: The Case of Franchising in the Convenience Store Industry

By: Dennis Campbell

Many companies operate units which are dispersed across different types of markets, and thus serve significantly diverging customer bases. Such market-type dispersion is likely to compromise the headquarters' ability to control its local managers' behavior and... View Details

Keywords: Business Headquarters; Customer Focus and Relationships; Geographic Location; Governance Controls; Organizational Design; Franchise Ownership; Retail Industry

December 18, 2023
Article

Are Everywhere Stores the New Face of Retail?

By: David R. Bell, Santiago Gallino and Antonio Moreno

Historically, customer engagement and product fulfillment occurred in the same place — a traditional retail store. But today, retailers are beginning to explore how they can create opportunities for customers to engage with products in native environments. A related... View Details

Keywords: Customer Focus and Relationships; Consumer Behavior; Distribution; Logistics; Retail Industry

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18 Apr 2007
HBS Case

How Magazine Luiza Courts the Poor

"Magazine Luiza: Building a Retail Model of 'Courting the Poor.'" "Magazine Luiza has made a business of targeting the bottom of the pyramid and is beloved as a company by employees and customers alike," Frei says.... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Retail

19 Jun 2007
First Look

First Look: June 19, 2007

also show that the internal control provisions of section 404 of Sarbanes-Oxley make royalty arrangements based on self-reporting more attractive. Download the paper: http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/07-100.pdf Toward a Theory of View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

February 2021 (Revised May 2021)
Case

SafeGraph: Selling Data as a Service

By: Ramana Nanda, Abhishek Nagaraj and Allison Ciechanover

Set in January 2021, the CEO of SafeGraph, a four-year-old startup that sold Data as a Service, looked to the future. His aim was to become the most trusted source for data about a physical place. The company provided points of interest (POI) and foot traffic data on... View Details

Keywords: Data As A Service; Monetization; Pricing; Business Startups; Analytics and Data Science; Consumer Behavior; Analysis; Business Model; Health Pandemics; Information Industry; United States

15 May 2013
Research & Ideas

From McRibs to Maseratis: The Power of Scarcity Marketing

Editor's note: Think money can't buy happiness? Behavioral economists Elizabeth Dunn and Michael Norton beg to differ. It actually can, they say—but only if we spend it the right way. In their book released this week, Happy Money: The... View Details

Keywords: Re: Michael I. Norton

October 2024
Article

Canary Categories

By: Eric Anderson, Chaoqun Chen, Ayelet Israeli and Duncan Simester

Past customer spending in a category is generally a positive signal of future customer spending. We show that there exist “canary categories” for which the reverse is true. Purchases in these categories are a signal that customers are less likely to return to that... View Details

Keywords: Churn; Churn Management; Churn/retention; Assortment Planning; Retail; Retailing; Retailing Industry; Preference Heterogeneity; Assortment Optimization; Customers; Retention; Consumer Behavior; Forecasting and Prediction; Retail Industry

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17 Mar 2021
Research & Ideas

Beyond Pajamas: Sizing Up the Pandemic Shopper

When working professionals were shifting to home offices a year ago as COVID-19 was spreading, comedians and pundits predicted that people would no longer need bras and pants that aren’t stretchy. Instead customers would make room for... View Details

Keywords: by Ayelet Israeli, Eva Ascarza, and Laura Castrillo; Retail

05 Dec 2023
Cold Call Podcast

Tommy Hilfiger’s Adaptive Clothing Line: Making Fashion Inclusive

Keywords: Fashion; Consumer Products; Apparel & Accessories; Retail

June 2011
Case

Reed Supermarkets: A New Wave of Competitors

By: John A. Quelch and Carole Carlson

Reed Supermarkets is a high-end supermarket chain with operations in several Midwestern states. Meredith Collins, vice president of marketing, visits stores located in Columbus, Ohio, an important region with the largest market and the greatest impact on revenue... View Details

Keywords: Product Positioning; Marketing Strategy; Business Growth and Maturation; Competitive Strategy; Consumer Behavior; Brands and Branding; Retail Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Ohio