Publications

Find at Harvard

27 Sep 2011
First Look

First Look: September 27

explain how to generate ideas with these skills, collaborate with "delivery-driven" colleagues to implement ideas, and build innovation skills throughout your organization to sharpen its competitive edge. They also provide a... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

February 2017
Case

Yemeksepeti: Growing and Expanding the Business Model through Data

By: William R. Kerr, Gamze Yucaoglu and Eren Kuzucu

In October 2016, Nevzat Aydin, co-founder and CEO of Yemeksepeti, the Turkish online food-ordering company, was looking over the company's quarterly results and projections for the upcoming year with his management team. It had been almost a year and a half since Aydin... View Details

02 Aug 2016
First Look

August 2, 2016

increasingly valuable offerings change where households go online, but not their general online attention patterns. This conclusion has important implications for competition and welfare in other markets for... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

02 Sep 2015
What Do You Think?

What's Wrong With Amazon’s Low-Retention HR Strategy?

low-retention HR strategy, its customers probably regard it as a highly successful application of that idea. Advocates of a high-retention strategy may wonder why Amazon hasn’t learned something from online retailer Zappos, a... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Web Services; Retail; Apparel & Accessories; Consumer Products; Fashion

January 2017 (Revised August 2019)
Case

X Fire Paintball & Airsoft: Is Amazon a Friend or Foe? (A)

By: Feng Zhu and Angela Acocella

Three years after launching his brick-and-mortar store, X Fire Paintball and Airsoft, Steve Herbert Sr. and his sons began selling products on Amazon.com’s third-party Marketplace, and online sales expanded rapidly. Over time, X Fire noticed that products of which it... View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Competition; Digital Platforms; Internet and the Web; Small Business; Retail Industry; Canada

22 Mar 2010
Research & Ideas

One Strategy: Aligning Planning and Execution

deep culture of direct sales to corporate customers, the company was slow to take advantage of a rapidly emerging consumer market—at least until founder Michael Dell returned to shake things up. "Our past is littered with firms that failed to adapt to View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Video Game; Web Services

20 Dec 2016
First Look

December 20, 2016

Non-Repatriation of Foreign Cash Negatively Affect U.S. Firms’ Operations? Evidence from Product Market Competitiveness By: Alhusaini, Badryah, Rick Laux, Henock Louis, and Anywhere Sikochi Abstract—Cash holdings provide the crucial... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

05 Dec 2018
Research & Ideas

Why Managers Should Reveal Their Failures

strategies for tamping it down. In one online study, participants were asked to read a biography by a fictitious peer who had achieved professional success, for example by landing a prestigious, lucrative job. People who read only about... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

14 Nov 2017
First Look

New Research and Ideas: November 14, 2017

Benjamin Abstract—I present the institutions and incentives of online reviews, including attracting initial reviews, assuring truthful reviews of genuine experiences, and avoiding inflated or deceptive reviews. I also explore the View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

18 Jun 2013
First Look

First Look: June 18

make its service worthwhile for all. Drivers hesitate to pay for SaferTaxi's smartphones and service unless these will deliver passenger bookings-and passengers have no reason to sign up unless drivers are available. Meanwhile, regulators question the permissibility of... View Details

Keywords: Anna Secino

08 Oct 2020
Research & Ideas

Keep Your Weary Workers Engaged and Motivated

concert. To some extent this is because of the balance required between two pairs of drives. The drives to acquire and to bond are in tension with each other because the first is competitive and the second cooperative. A major part of... View Details

Keywords: by Boris Groysberg and Robin Abrahams

14 Aug 2018
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, August 14, 2018

Publisher's link: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=54823 June 2018 Strategy Science Integrated Strategy: Residual Market and Exchange Imperfections as the Foundation of Sustainable Competitive Advantage By: Oberholzer-Gee,... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

February 2017
Case

Dick's Sporting Goods

By: Rajiv Lal, Jose B. Alvarez and Matthew G. Preble

Edward Stack, chairman and CEO of Dick’s Sporting Goods (DKS), faced a rapidly changing sporting goods landscape in October 2016. Two large competitors—The Sports Authority and Sport Chalet—had folded earlier that year, and DKS had to contend with increasingly robust... View Details

September 2017 (Revised June 2019)
Case

Dianrong: Marketplace Lending, Blockchain, and 'The New Finance' in China

By: Christopher J. Malloy, Lauren H. Cohen and Anthony K. Woo

This case examines the strategic positioning of Dianrong, one of the largest online peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platforms in China, in its attempt to become a foundational player in the expansion of the FinTech sector in Asia. Dianrong had recently announced the... View Details

Keywords: Financing and Loans; Internet and the Web; Supply Chain; Finance; Innovation and Invention; Competition; Product Positioning; Strategy; Financial Services Industry; China

May 2002 (Revised October 2002)
Case

Telewest Communications plc

By: Lynda M. Applegate and Laure Mougeot Stroock

Created in 1992, Telewest has become the second largest broadband communication provider in the United Kingdom, offering telephone, cable television, and cable Internet services, as well as television and online content to the U.K. entertainment market. The first to... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Technological Innovation; Growth and Development Strategy; Industry Structures; Competition; Competitive Strategy; Expansion; Telecommunications Industry; Europe; United Kingdom

Find at Harvard

15 Sep 2015
First Look

September 15, 2015

Operations Management Analytics for an Online Retailer: Demand Forecasting and Price Optimization By: Ferreira, Kris J., Bin Hong Alex Lee, and David Simchi-Levi Abstract—We present our work with an online... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

January 2022 (Revised November 2023)
Supplement

Uber in China (C): The Cost of Success for Didi

By: William C. Kirby and Noah B. Truwit

On June 30, 2021, ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing (Didi) raised $4.4 billion in its initial public offering (IPO) on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), the largest IPO of a Chinese company listed on an American exchange since Alibaba raised $25 billion in 2014.... View Details

Keywords: Uber; Didi Chuxing; Start-up Growth; Regulation; Ride-sharing; Transportation; Business Startups; Business and Government Relations; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Growth and Development; Policy; Competition; Laws and Statutes; Transportation Industry; Technology Industry; China