minimal viable product - Publications - Faculty & Research

17 Sep 2001
Research & Ideas

Why E-commerce Didn’t Die With the Fall of Webvan

Packaged good manufacturers were eager to create a direct-to-consumer link like the one Dell found to sell computers. Such a link would minimize wasteful and inefficient marketing practices, which to date have mostly focused on broadcast... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Consumer Products; Consumer Products

13 May 2019
Research & Ideas

The Unexpected Way Whistleblowers Reduce Government Fraud

contracts.” In fixed-price contracts, the supplier provides a product or service to the government at a fixed price. In cost-plus contracts, the supplier bills the government based on reported production... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz; Service; Construction

09 Aug 2013
Research & Ideas

Read All About It: Digital CEO Buys Traditional Media!

understanding what they want. And there's the rub. Newspapers have historically not been centered around this. Instead, their natural center of gravity—and one that served it in good stead for a long time—has long been their product... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Aisner; Journalism & News; Publishing

12 Aug 2008
Op-Ed

Google-Yahoo Ad Deal is Bad for Online Advertising

these characteristics to influence prices. For example, consider an advertiser that is the sole bidder for a given term, e.g., a product that it alone sells. That advertiser's payment to Google does not reflect bidding to beat a... View Details

Keywords: by Benjamin G. Edelman; Advertising; Publishing

03 Jun 2015
What Do You Think?

Is the Time Right for Self-Management?

Martin when a long-term strategic plan was put in place that called for the company to distribute its products through more than 100,000 locations of various kinds. The 25-fold increase in the number of distribution points called for more... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Retail

02 Feb 2004
Research & Ideas

Where Does Apple Go From Here?

focused in his first couple of years. He got rid of a huge number of product lines. He streamlined the operations and he bet on a very small number of products. The combination of the early success of the iMac, the booming marketing in... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

21 Jul 2015
First Look

First Look: July 21, 2015

driver of macroeconomic fluctuations. We first exposit that in the presence of Cobb-Douglas production functions and consumer preferences there is a specific pattern of economic transmission whereby demand-side shocks propagate upstream... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

21 Apr 2020
Research & Ideas

7 Successful Battle Strategies to Beat COVID-19

complications (surging waves) arise. In the Agile environment, the purpose of rapid development is to produce a minimal workable product at the end of each delivery cycle, or "sprint." This short... View Details

Keywords: by Euvin Naidoo

06 Sep 2011
Research & Ideas

How Small Wins Unleash Creativity

All good managers understand the importance of making sure that every member of a team feels personally motivated and necessary throughout the workday, lest their work should stagnate and suffer. But what's the key to igniting creativity, joy, trust, and View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

04 Jun 2001
Research & Ideas

RealNetworks, CNET, and Judo Strategy

short time ago is that there is now no room for error. You need real businesses, real revenue, real profits, and real cash flows." Yoffie asked the panelists to consider three questions: Since click-through rates on Internet ads have been almost non-existent, is... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Aisner

01 May 2000
What Do You Think?

Can You Hard-Wire Performance?

Summing Up Hard-wiring Performance Is Great In Concept...but.... The responses to the concept of promising and delivering results rather than selling products or services are in, and you've agreed that hard-wiring performance is a winning... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

05 Jul 2004
Research & Ideas

Radical Change, Entrepreneurial Opportunity

very easily in some sense. Polaroid had a lot of really smart scientists, and viewed itself as the Bell Labs of photography. Q: How are some companies constrained by this framing? A: Let's continue with the Polaroid example. In translating its mindset into a View Details

Keywords: by Michael J. Roberts; Technology

30 Jan 2006
Research & Ideas

Looking Behind Bad Decisions

deciding in large numbers not to donate. Rather, they are not thinking about it. In other countries (e.g., Belgium), the default is that unless you specify that you do not want to donate your organs, you become a viable donor at death. In... View Details

Keywords: by Manda Salls

26 May 2009
Research & Ideas

Improving Market Research in a Recession

product categories, or stores. Some are even changing long-held attitudes toward consumption. To many folks, filling the home with more stuff or keeping up with the Joneses is no longer appealing. As a result, the degree of uncertainty in... View Details

Keywords: by John Quelch

22 Apr 2008
First Look

First Look: April 22, 2008

it. Purchase this case: http://www.hbsp.harvard.edu/b01/en/common/item_detail.jhtml?id=708044 EFI, Inc. (A) Harvard Business School Case 508-044 EFI has a unique sales compensation challenge. They cannot allocate sales credit for their core View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

15 Jul 2002
Research & Ideas

Going Green Makes Good Business Sense

business is simplistic, said Reinhardt. Companies always operate based on imperfect information about their competitive arena. To succeed as a viable concern with an environmental conscience, "you have to look deeper. And look... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

27 Sep 2010
Research & Ideas

Customer Experts Lose Influence When Teams are Pressured

onto your team can actually minimize the pressure associated with the team's output being evaluated. I mentioned that one of the reasons performance pressure is so stressful is the team's awareness that their end View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert

16 Jul 2024
Research & Ideas

Weighing Digital Tradeoffs in Private Equity

When private equity (PE) firms buy a company, they typically follow a standard playbook to create value—streamlining operations, restructuring debt, changing management, and cutting costs. However, as digital technologies and artificial intelligence allow companies to... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Financial Services

20 Feb 2006
HBS Case

Oprah: A Case Study Comes Alive

people, other resources, and a broader context to create a viable market offering. One of the questions the case raises is 'what is Winfrey in the business of? What is she offering her consumers, viewers, magazine readers, and the people... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Consumer Products; Consumer Products; Consumer Products

04 Sep 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, September 4, 2018

that our experimental design minimizes informational social influence, homophily, and group-identity signaling to the general public. We find that there exists significant social influence within a user’s friend circles. While learning... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

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