Publications

2017
Book

HBR Guide to Buying a Small Business: Think Big, Buy Small, Own Your Own Company

By: Richard S. Ruback and Royce Yudkoff

Find, acquire, and run your own business. Are you looking for an alternative to a career path at a big firm? Does founding your own start-up seem too risky? There is a radical third path open to you: you can buy a small business and run it as CEO. Purchasing a small... View Details

Find at Harvard

01 Nov 2017
What Do You Think?

What Are the Real Lessons of the Wells Fargo Case?

leadership might begin by changing the Visions and Values section on the current company web page to read: “We believe in our vision and values more strongly today than we did the first time we put them on paper more than 20 years ago.... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Banking

Teaching Interest

Data Science for Managers

Served as a teaching fellow; assisted MBA students with classroom coding exercises.
Developed course materials, including new case studies, technical notes, and code notebooks students used to analzye case data.
Developed interactive web... View Details

05 May 2022
Research & Ideas

Why Companies Raise Their Prices: Because They Can

including whether the move to online sales during this time period spurred consumers to pay more for products. While they saw some categories were more affected by online shopping than others, web shopping “really doesn't seem to explain... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

12 Apr 2017
Research & Ideas

Why Productivity Suffers When Employees Are Allowed to Schedule Their Own Tasks

decentralize decision-making? Please share your thoughts in the comment section below! Related Reading: Web Surfers Have a Schedule and Stick to It How Electronic Patient Records Can Slow Doctor Productivity Hiding from Managers Can... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Health

January 2019 (Revised October 2019)
Case

Glossier: Co-Creating a Cult Brand with a Digital Community

By: Jill Avery

Glossier’s proclaimed strategy was “born from content; fueled by community.” The digital-first, direct-to-consumer beauty brand had experienced rapid growth, with sales up 600% in 2017 and a customer portfolio that grew by threefold. But, its founder, Emily Weiss, was... View Details

July 2022
Case

boAt Lifestyle

By: Rajiv Lal and Kairavi Dey

boAt began as a lifestyle brand in the consumer electronics category in 2016 with the aim of bringing affordable, durable, and fashionable audio products and accessories to millennials and Gen-Z customers in India. Born in 2016 with Amazon India as its only sales... View Details

Keywords: Marketing; Brands and Branding; Initial Public Offering; Digital Marketing; Product Development; Product Marketing; Business or Company Management; Web Services Industry; Web Services Industry; Web Services Industry; Asia; India

August 2001 (Revised April 2002)
Case

Strategic Capital Management, LLC (A)

By: Mark L. Mitchell, Erik Stafford and Todd Pulvino

Strategic Capital Management, LLC, is a hedge fund that is planning to make financial investments in Creative Computers and Ubid. Creative Computers recently sold approximately 20% of its Internet auction subsidiary, Ubid, to the public at $15 per share. Ubid's stock... View Details

Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Business Subsidiaries; Internet and the Web; Investment Funds; Price; Performance Efficiency; Capital Markets; Auctions; Investment Return; Equity; Planning; Financial Services Industry

06 Oct 2008
Research & Ideas

Updating a Classic: Writing a Great Business Plan

written as Web pages. Should entrepreneurs avail themselves of these tools for business plans, or do they clutter the message too much? A: On the first floor of the Rock Center at HBS there is a copy of the original business plan that... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

13 May 2024
Research & Ideas

Picture This: Why Online Image Searches Drive Purchases

In a visual world, most online retailers still rely on consumers to define and enter their own search keywords. But using images to help shoppers sharpen their queries could push them to buy more, spend more, and feel happier about their purchases. “For a long time,... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Information Technology; Technology; Consumer Products; Retail

27 Jul 2020
Book

Reflection: The Pause That Brings Peace and Productivity

praying and thanking God; others kept a journal of things they are grateful for. Marc Andreesen, the high-profile venture capitalist who helped create the Mosaic Web browser, keeps an “anti-to-do list,” which displays everything he has... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

04 May 2015
Research & Ideas

Need to Solve a Problem? Take a Break From Collaborating

Got a problem? Throw some collaboration software at it. It's a common strategy among today's managers: Organizations spend a lot of money on technology that enables employees to tackle problems collectively. Hence, the market is rife with connectivity tools and... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Web Services; Web Services

04 Jun 2024
Research & Ideas

Navigating Consumer Data Privacy in an AI World

Harnessing customer data well is central to any modern business, as is earning consumers’ trust that their information will stay private. With data breaches growing more common, regulations are tightening across the globe to bolster security, creating a new View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Technology; Information Technology

July 2016 (Revised January 2019)
Case

Cyber Breach at Target

By: Suraj Srinivasan, Lynn S. Paine and Neeraj Goyal

In November and December of 2013, Target Corporation suffered one of the largest cyber breaches to date. The breach that occurred during the busy holiday shopping season resulted in personal and credit card information of approximately 110 million Target customers... View Details

Keywords: Safety; Credit Cards; Customer Relationship Management; Internet and the Web; Governing and Advisory Boards; Crisis Management; Retail Industry

May 2016 (Revised January 2018)
Case

Airbnb, Etsy, Uber: Acquiring the First Thousand Customers

By: Thales S. Teixeira and Morgan Brown

By 2016, two-sided online platforms (or marketplaces) were pervasive 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 Market; Internet and the Web; Marketing Strategy; Digital Platforms; Digital Marketing; Business Startups; Transportation Industry; Accommodations Industry

06 Feb 2020
Research & Ideas

What We Learned from Reading Jeff Bezos’ Patents

near future. One other surprising finding is that Bezos does not appear to have any patents obviously related to Amazon Web Services (AWS), a business line that analysts we talked to agreed has largely contributed to Amazon’s overall... View Details

Keywords: by Tricia Gregg and Boris Groysberg; Retail

August 2014 (Revised October 2014)
Case

Beyoncé

By: Anita Elberse and Stacie Smith

In December 2013, music superstar Beyoncé is about to surprise her fans with the release of her self-titled album. The team at her company Parkwood Entertainment, which general manager Lee Anne Callahan-Longo described as "a management, music, and production company... View Details

Keywords: Marketing; Beyoncé; Internet and the Web; Music Entertainment; Distribution Channels; Product Launch; Music Industry