Publications

June 2012 (Revised August 2013)
Case

Driving Towards a Disruption?

By: Willy Shih and William Noble

As Clayton Christensen drove to the studio to deliver an online executive education class, he pondered the future of management education. How big a threat did online degree programs, corporate universities, and other innovations in the delivery of management training... View Details

Keywords: Disruptive Technology; Performance Trajectories; Disruptive Innovations; Business Education; Business School; Internet And Online Services Industries; Disruptive Innovation; Higher Education; Corporate Strategy; Internet; Performance; Education Industry; Boston

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

23 Jul 2012
Research & Ideas

The Power of Conversational Leadership

of which applies to a particular attribute of an organization. "Intimacy is about leadership," Groysberg explains. "Interactivity is about channels. Inclusion is about content. And intentionality is about... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

June 2014 (Revised November 2014)
Case

Investing in Online Marketplaces

By: Andrei Hagiu and Hermes Alvarez

Simon Rothman had recently been promoted from executive-in-residence to Partner at esteemed venture capital firm Greylock Partners and placed in charge of managing a $100 million early-stage fund commitment dedicated to online marketplaces. In Greylock's view, 2014 was... View Details

Keywords: Business Models; Competitive Advantage; Entrepreneurship; Internet; Investments; Networks; Technology; Venture Capital

2011
Article

The Consumer Psychology of Mail-in Rebates

By: John T. Gourville and Dilip Soman

Consumers who buy a product intending to use an accompanying mail-in rebate often do not redeem the rebate. To explain this behavior, we argue that consumers use an anchoring and adjustment approach to predicting the likelihood of redeeming a rebate. In keeping with... View Details

Keywords: Product Marketing; Consumer Behavior; Sales; Motivation and Incentives

October 2000 (Revised April 2001)
Case

Cost of Capital at Ameritrade

By: Mark L. Mitchell and Erik Stafford

Ameritrade Holding Corp. is planning large marketing and technology investments to improve the company's competitive position in deep-discount brokerage by taking advantage of emerging economies of scale. In order to evaluate whether the strategy would generate... View Details

Keywords: Developing Countries and Economies; Asset Pricing; Cash Flow; Cost of Capital; Investment; Marketing; Mathematical Methods; Competition; Information Technology; Internet and the Web; Financial Services Industry

19 Apr 2004
Research & Ideas

Birth of the American Salesman

and Internet age? A: Today there are more sales workers than ever before, though I would not call them "Willy Lomans." They are a vital and essential part of the economy. The number View Details

Keywords: by Laura Linard

30 Mar 2003
Research & Ideas

The Future of IT Consulting

Johnston: Your research refers to the PC in the 80's and the Internet in the 90's as triggers of explosive growth for the IT consulting industry. Have you identified a third trigger for this decade? Nolan... View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Johnston; Consulting

04 Aug 2003
Research & Ideas

Shackleton: An Entrepreneur of Survival

have waited it out and not encountered the ice floes that the whalers at South Georgia predicted were coming. Both groups of students pointed to his impetuosity in hiring. They also pointed out that he didn't seem to have a rich personal... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

June 2019
Case

Airbnb, Etsy, Uber: Expanding from One to Many Millions of Customers

By: Thales S. Teixeira

By 2019, two-sided online platforms (or marketplaces) were among the highest-growing internet startups around. These marketplaces sought to match suppliers of assets for rent, physical products, or services with customers demanding them. Among the most notable... View Details

Keywords: Airbnb; Etsy; Uber; Growth Hacking; Two-Sided Markets; Digital Marketing; Customer Acquisition; Two-Sided Platforms; Growth Management; Marketing Strategy; Customers; Acquisition; Organizational Change and Adaptation

2012
Article

A Study of Economic Impact of Cloud Computing

By: Marco Iansiti and Gregory L. Richards

In this paper we find that advances in cloud computing likely will extend the IT induced economic growth in developed economies and foster growth in economies where IT penetration is not yet fully mature. We conclude that governments should work together to take... View Details

Keywords: Globalized Economies and Regions; Internet and the Web; Information Technology; Economic Growth; Cooperation; Government and Politics; Innovation and Invention; Information Technology Industry; Public Administration Industry

2011
Book

Flying Without a Net: Turn Fear of Change into Fuel for Success

By: Thomas J. DeLong

Confronted by omnipresent threats of job loss and change, even the brightest among us are anxious. In response, we're hunkering down, blocking ourselves from new challenges. This response hurts us and our organizations, but we fear making ourselves even more vulnerable... View Details

Keywords: Leadership Style; Personal Development and Career; Problems and Challenges; Attitudes; Behavior

2013
Working Paper

Digital Dark Matter and the Economics of Apache

By: Shane Greenstein and Frank Nagle

Researchers have long hypothesized that spillovers from government, university, and private company R&D contribute to economic growth, but these contributions may be difficult to measure when they take a non-pecuniary form. The growth of networking devices and the... View Details

Keywords: Measurement and Metrics; Internet and the Web; Performance Productivity; Applications and Software; Economic Growth; Research and Development

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14 Mar 2023
In Practice

What Does the Failure of Silicon Valley Bank Say About the State of Finance?

the confidence is eroded—banks tend to face revolving credit runs and market funding runs. The deposits run in the US might feel like a thing of the past, but the history of... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Financial Services; Banking

April 2021
Case

The Clean Network and the Future of Global Technology Competition

By: Meg Rithmire and Courtney Han

In May 2019, amidst of an ever-worsening trade war between the U.S. and China, President Donald Trump added Chinese telecom giant Huawei to the Department of Commerce’s “entity list,” essentially forbidding American firms from doing business with the company. Huawei,... View Details

Keywords: 5G; Telecommunications; Information Technology; Internet and the Web; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Trade; Competition; International Relations; Telecommunications Industry; China

27 Jan 2023
Op-Ed

Have We Lost Sight of Integrity?

Every month, another leader creates an onslaught of media coverage for being dishonest. Have we lost sight of the importance of leaders with integrity? Why do failed leaders... View Details

Keywords: by Bill George

Article

Creating Value in the Age of Distributed Capitalism

By: Shoshana Zuboff

Capitalism is a book of many chapters—and we are beginning a new one. Every century or so, fundamental changes in the nature of consumption create new demand patterns that existing enterprises can't meet. When a majority of people want things that remain priced at a... View Details

Keywords: Value Creation; Economic Systems; Transformation