Publications

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June 2023 (Revised September 2023)
Simulation

Managing the Customer Journey Marketing Simulation: Adobe's Data-Driven Operating Model (DDOM)

By: Sunil Gupta, Rajiv Lal and Celine Chammas

Adobe started monitoring Annual Recurring Revenue (ARR), one of its primary metrics, when it shifted from selling its software in a box to selling the software as a subscription-based cloud service. They wanted to know when, where, and how much to invest in marketing.... View Details

Keywords: Customer Acquisition; Customer Journey; Marketing Strategy; Marketing; Customer Focus and Relationships; Budgets and Budgeting

08 May 2019
HBS Seminar

Mara Lederman, University of Toronto, Rotman School of Management

07 Jul 2008
Research & Ideas

Innovation Corrupted: How Managers Can Avoid Another Enron

for natural gas, and to create derivative supply contracts that could help customers manage the risks of demand volatility and price swings more... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Energy; Utilities

06 Jul 2020
Research & Ideas

The Right Way to Manage Customer Churn for Maximum Profit

bucket and in a little over three years all your current customers might be gone,” says Gupta, the Edward W. Carter Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. For that reason, many companies have a program to... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Retail; Service; Financial Services

06 Oct 2020
Sharpening Your Skills

18 Tips Managers Can Use to Lead Through COVID's Rising Waters

Since March, Harvard Business School Working Knowledge has posted more than 80 stories and research papers on the topic of COVID-19, most targeted at managers and the new... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

June 2011
Teaching Note

Freddie Mac: Managing in Conservatorship (TN)

By: Robert Steven Kaplan

Teaching Note for 411048. View Details

Keywords: Business and Government Relations; Leadership; Operations; Housing; Price; Ownership Stake; Framework; Mortgages; Organizational Culture; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Financial Services Industry; United States

April 2010 (Revised November 2011)
Case

Soren Chemical: Why Is the New Swimming Pool Product Sinking?

By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Sunru Yong

Topics include distribution channels, pricing, and new product marketing. Jen Moritz, the marketing manager for Soren Chemical Co. is struggling with the poor sales performance of Coracle, a new clarifier for residential swimming pools. The performance is puzzling... View Details

Keywords: Marketing Mix; New Product Marketing; Pricing; Branding; Price; Marketing Strategy; Marketing Channels; Product Launch; Brands and Branding; Communication Strategy; Chemical Industry

Educators

2015
Working Paper

Replicating Private Equity with Value Investing, Homemade Leverage, and Hold-to-Maturity Accounting

By: Erik Stafford

Private equity funds tend to select relatively small firms with low EBITDA multiples. Publicly traded equities with these characteristics have high risk-adjusted returns after controlling for common factors typically associated with value stocks. Hold-to-maturity... View Details

Keywords: Value Investing; Endowments; Investment Management; Asset Pricing; Private Equity; Investment; Management; United States

SSRN

2011
Case

Xinxing Ductile Iron Pipes: Transforming the Management Control System in Time of Crisis

By: Ning Jia, F. Warren McFarlan and Xiaohui Li

Xinxing Ductile Iron Pipes Co. is a Chinese state-owned enterprise (SOE) that manufactures cast pipe products and steel products. The company had grown to become a dominant player in the ductile iron pipe industry, holding more than 40% domestic market share and nearly... View Details

Keywords: Control Systems; Cost Centers; Manufacturing; Profit Centers; China

12 Mar 2012
Research & Ideas

Crowded at the Top: The Rise of the Functional Manager

businesses.” In 2008, companies averaged 2.9 general managers, compared to 1.6 in 1986, according to data from several surveys. The average number of functional managers reporting directly to the CEO increased much more dramatically, from... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

August 1999 (Revised May 2000)
Background Note

Pricing: Design and Implementation

Provides general managers with a framework with which they can structure and understand pricing decisions. Draws examples from existing HBS case materials. View Details

Keywords: Price

Educators

October 2008
Article

The Effect of Macro Information Environment Change on the Quality of Management Earnings Forecasts

The 1990s were characterized by substantial increases in the performance of and investor reliance on financial analysts. Because managers possess superior private information and issue forecasts to align investors' expectations with their own, we predict that... View Details

Keywords: Information; Performance Expectations; Earnings Management; Financial Reporting; Forecasting and Prediction

Article

The Perils of Proactive Churn Prevention Using Plan Recommendations: Evidence from a Field Experiment

By: Eva Ascarza, Raghuram Iyengar and Martin Schleicher

Facing the issue of increasing customer churn, many service firms have begun recommending pricing plans to their customers. One reason behind this type of retention campaign is that customers who subscribe to a plan suitable for them should be less likely to churn... View Details

Keywords: Churn/retention; Field Experiment; Pricing; Tariff/plan Choice; Targeting; Customer Relationship Management; Price; Performance Effectiveness

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10 Sep 2020
Research & Ideas

The COVID Two-Step for Leaders: Protect and Pivot

submitted, from managing a remote workforce to making decisions in the face of vast uncertainty. Not surprisingly, one significant challenge reported by many CEOs was how to position their company to survive, or even thrive, during the... View Details

Keywords: by Boris Groysberg and Katherine Connolly Baden

11 Aug 2008
Research & Ideas

Strategy Execution and the Balanced Scorecard

also requires effective systems for internal control, management control, and governance. ERM objectives and metrics could certainly have a home in the financial BSC... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

Web

Faculty & Researchers - Managing the Future of Work

and the efficacy of various education to employment programs. He co-hosts the popular Managing the Future of Work podcast, which has been downloaded almost two million times. Prior to joining the Harvard... View Details

May 2010
Article

Optimal Auction Design and Equilibrium Selection in Sponsored Search Auctions

By: Benjamin Edelman and Michael Schwarz

We characterize the optimal (revenue maximizing) auction for sponsored search advertising. We show that a search engine's optimal reserve price is independent of the number of bidders and independent of the rate at which click-through rate declines over positions. We... View Details

Keywords: Auctions; Revenue; Advertising; Search Technology; Price; Bids and Bidding

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