• September–October 2022
• Article

Should Your Company Sell on Amazon?: Reach Comes at a Price

By: Ayelet Israeli, Leonard A. Schlesinger, Matt Higgins and Sabir Semerkant

Selling on Amazon allows brands to reach millions of consumers—but that exposure comes with costs. They include smaller margins, more competition, the risk of commoditization, and less knowledge about customers. In this article, the authors present a scorecard to... View Details

Keywords: Retail; Retailing; Online Business; Ecommerce; E-commerce; E-Commerce Strategy; Omnichannel Retail; Omnichannel Retailing; Amazon; Amazon.com; Sales; Digital Marketing; Internet and the Web; Business Model; Retail Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Fashion Industry; Advertising Industry; Battery Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; Distribution Industry; Electronics Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; United States

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Israeli, Ayelet, Leonard A. Schlesinger, Matt Higgins, and Sabir Semerkant. "Should Your Company Sell on Amazon? Reach Comes at a Price." Harvard Business Review 100, no. 5 (September–October 2022): 38–46.

• 2022
• White Paper

The American Opportunity Index: A Corporate Scorecard of Worker Advancement

By: Matt Sigelman, Joseph Fuller, Nik Dawson and Gad Levanon

The American Opportunity Index: A Corporate Scorecard of Worker Advancement is a new effort to give companies and other stakeholders a set of robust tools that measure how well major employers are doing in fostering economic mobility for workers and how they could do... View Details

Keywords: Upward Mobility; Career Advancement; Personal Development and Career; Compensation and Benefits; Employees; Wages; Human Capital; Recruitment

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Sigelman, Matt, Joseph Fuller, Nik Dawson, and Gad Levanon. "The American Opportunity Index: A Corporate Scorecard of Worker Advancement." White Paper, Burning Glass Institute, October 2022 (A joint project with Harvard Business School Project on Managing the Future of Work and Schultz Family Foundation.)

• September 2022
• Background Note

On CUE: The Quest for Optimal Customer Unit Economics

By: Elie Ofek, Barak Libai and Eitan Muller

Startups are often evaluated by how well they perform on unit economics, defined as the ratio of a customer’s lifetime value (LTV) to acquisition costs (CAC). A common target for unit economics, advocated by many VCs and analysts, is 3:1 (i.e., LTV/CAC=3). While there... View Details

Keywords: Unit Economics; Business Startups; Performance Evaluation; Customer Value and Value Chain; Customer Relationship Management; Analysis

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Ofek, Elie, Barak Libai, and Eitan Muller. "On CUE: The Quest for Optimal Customer Unit Economics." Harvard Business School Background Note 523-050, September 2022.

• September 2022
• Case

AllSpice: GitHub for Hardware Engineers

By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang and Mel Martin

AllSpice, a software-as-a-service company that built a GitHub-like revision control tool for hardware engineers, was in the midst of preparing for rapid scale when the 2022 market downturn left them with big decisions to make. Cofounder and CEO Valentina Ratner had to... View Details

Keywords: Scaling; SaaS; Strategy; Marketing; Growth and Development Strategy; Resource Allocation; Customer Focus and Relationships; Technology Industry; Electronics Industry; United States

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Bussgang, Jeffrey J., and Mel Martin. "AllSpice: GitHub for Hardware Engineers." Harvard Business School Case 823-022, September 2022.

• September 6, 2022
• Article

Creating a Platform for Costless Personalization in Clothing

By: Shane Greenstein

This study analyzes the role of co-invention in the creation of a platform for print-on-demand-clothing, or PODC. Co-invention is the invention of a new business process to complement new technology, and turn it into a valuable commercial service. PODC copies a design... View Details

Keywords: Print-on-demand-clothing; Customization and Personalization; Digital Platforms; Apparel and Accessories Industry

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Greenstein, Shane. "Creating a Platform for Costless Personalization in Clothing." Frontiers in Research Metrics and Analytics (September 6, 2022).

• 2025
• Working Paper

Algorithmic Assortment Curation: An Empirical Study of Buybox in Online Marketplaces

By: Santiago Gallino, Nil Karacaoglu and Antonio Moreno

Most online sales worldwide take place in marketplaces that connect sellers and buyers. The presence of numerous third-party sellers leads to a proliferation of listings for each product, making it difficult for customers to choose between the available options. Online... View Details

Keywords: Algorithms; E-commerce; Sales; Digital Marketing; Internet and the Web; Customer Satisfaction

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Gallino, Santiago, Nil Karacaoglu, and Antonio Moreno. "Algorithmic Assortment Curation: An Empirical Study of Buybox in Online Marketplaces." Working Paper, 2025.

• Fall 2022
• Article

China's Political Economy and International Backlash: From Interdependence to Security Dilemma Dynamics

By: Margaret Pearson, Meg Rithmire and Kellee Tsai

Contrary to expectations that economic interdependence might lessen security conflict between China and the U.S. and its allies, much of the contestation between China and several OECD countries has focused on firms and economic links. This paper explains the... View Details

Keywords: Globalized Markets and Industries; Government and Politics; Information Technology; China

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Pearson, Margaret, Meg Rithmire, and Kellee Tsai. "China's Political Economy and International Backlash: From Interdependence to Security Dilemma Dynamics." International Security 47, no. 2 (Fall 2022): 135–176.

• September 2022
• Article

Drivers of Philanthropic Foundations in Emerging Markets: Family, Values and Spirituality

By: Valeria Giacomin and Geoffrey Jones

This article discusses the ethics and drivers of philanthropic foundations in emerging markets. A foundation organizes assets to invest in philanthropic initiatives. Previous scholarship has largely focused on developed countries, especially the United States, and has... View Details

Keywords: Philanthropy; Foundations; Spirituality; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Social Enterprise; Emerging Markets; Values and Beliefs; Africa; Asia; Latin America; Middle East

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Giacomin, Valeria, and Geoffrey Jones. "Drivers of Philanthropic Foundations in Emerging Markets: Family, Values and Spirituality." Journal of Business Ethics 180, no. 1 (September 2022): 263–282. (https://doi.org/10.1007/s10551-021-04875-4.)

• 2022
• Article

The Turn Toward Creative Work

By: Spencer Harrison, Elizabeth D. Rouse, Colin M. Fisher and Teresa M. Amabile

In this Academy of Management Collections essay, we curate a set of articles from the Academy of Management family of journals that showcase the evolution of creativity research within organizational scholarship. The articles reveal a shift from the study of... View Details

Keywords: Creative Work; Creative Process; Creativity; Organizational Culture

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Harrison, Spencer, Elizabeth D. Rouse, Colin M. Fisher, and Teresa M. Amabile. "The Turn Toward Creative Work." Academy of Management Collections 1, no. 1 (2022): 1–15.

• August 29, 2022
• Other Article

Income Inequality Is Rising. Are We Even Measuring It Correctly?

By: Jon M. Jachimowicz, K. Blesch and Oliver P. Hauser

Income inequality is on the rise in many countries around the world, according to the United Nations. What’s more, disparities in global income were exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic, with some countries facing greater economic losses than others. Policymakers... View Details

Keywords: Income Inequality; Gini Coefficient; COVID-19 Pandemic; Government Administration; Equality and Inequality; Health Pandemics; Measurement and Metrics

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Jachimowicz, Jon M., K. Blesch, and Oliver P. Hauser. "Income Inequality Is Rising. Are We Even Measuring It Correctly?" Harvard Business School Working Knowledge (August 29, 2022).

• August 2022 (Revised October 2023)
• Case

Bajaj Finance: Building an Omnipresent Financial Services Firm

By: Das Narayandas and Rachna Tahilyani

Bajaj Finance, India’s largest consumer finance firm with $20.9 billion of assets across 50.5 million customers, is on a journey to transform itself from a traditional firm that sells loans and other financial products through brick-and-mortar outlets to an omnipresent... View Details

Keywords: Financial Institutions; Transformation; Financial Instruments; Customer Satisfaction; Internet and the Web; Customer Focus and Relationships; India

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Narayandas, Das, and Rachna Tahilyani. "Bajaj Finance: Building an Omnipresent Financial Services Firm." Harvard Business School Case 523-040, August 2022. (Revised October 2023.)