Publications

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August 2012 (Revised June 2013)
Case

Paul Thomson: Walker Insurance

By: Michael Roberts, Jim Sharpe and Sonia Nagala Change

Having just acquired Walker Insurance, Paul Thomson finds himself short of funds to support his original turnaround plan. He can request additional cash from his investor group, hunker down and grow at a slower rate or consider a proposal to buy his business. He has... View Details

Keywords: Crisis Management; Acquisitions; Search Funds; Entrepreneurial Management; Entrepreneurs; Insurance; Turnarounds; Boards Of Directors; Sales Force Management; Entrepreneurship; Insurance Industry; Florida

September 2017 (Revised January 2019)
Case

Public Entrepreneurs? Picking a Path

By: Mitchell Weiss and Matthew Segneri

Direct entry into government remained an uncommon post-HBS path, with only 1%–2% of recent classes going directly into the public sector. But, for public-minded MBAs, government wasn’t the sole province for public problem-solving. MBAs could join or launch companies... View Details

Teaching Interest

Competing in the Age of Digital Platforms—(Executive Education)

By: David B. Yoffie

Summary

Without exception, the most valuable companies in the world today are platforms. Microsoft, Apple, Amazon, Google, Facebook, and many other firms have built their fortunes by facilitating innovation across global ecosystems or... View Details

Keywords: Platforms; Technology; Strategy; Digital Business; Social Networks; Self-driving Cars; Mobile Gaming; Esports; Financial Services; Online Retail; Ride-sharing; Search; Auctions; United States; Asia; China; Europe

June 2013
Supplement

Parmalat Uruguay (A) & (B) (Video Supplement)

By: Jim Sharpe

This is the Video Supplement for Parmalat Uruguay (A) & (B) (HBS Cases #807103 and 807119). View Details

Keywords: Global Business; Turnaround; Distressed Debt; Bank Loans; Bank Debt; Search; Acquisitions; Cash Flow Analysis; Liquidation; Careers; Unions; Government And Business; Acquisition; Borrowing and Debt; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Operations; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Uruguay

June 2013
Supplement

Elasto Therm: The Next Step (Video Supplement)

By: Jim Sharpe

This is the Video Supplement for Elasto Therm: The Next Step (HBS Case #813030). View Details

07 Jul 2019
HBS Case

Walmart's Workforce of the Future

Any discussion of the future of retail—or how we work—has to include Walmart. As of 2017, 90 percent of the US population lived within 10 miles of a Walmart store; with 11,766 locations worldwide and $514 billion in annual revenues, the discount store also has the... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Retail

July 2012 (Revised April 2013)
Case

Peter Jepsen

By: Howard H. Stevenson, Michael J. Roberts and James M. Sharpe

About to break bank covenants, Peter Jepsen has to deal with a contentious prior owner, improve profitability and staff appropriately all while maintaining credibility with his investors, in the furniture hardware company he has owned for less than a year. View Details

2024
Working Paper

Platform Information Provision and Consumer Search: A Field Experiment

By: Lu Fang, Yanyou Chen, Chiara Farronato, Zhe Yuan and Yitong Wang

Despite substantial efforts to help consumers search in more intuitive ways, text search remains the predominant tool for product discovery online. In this paper, we explore the effects of visual and textual cues for search refinement on consumer search and purchasing... View Details

Keywords: Consumer Behavior; E-commerce; Decision Choices and Conditions; Learning; Internet and the Web

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12 PM – 1 PM EDT, 22 Sep 2023
Webinars: Career

Tech in the Job Search: ChatGPT for Job-Seekers

Join CPD and a former LinkedIn insider for an enlightening webinar and learn to harness the potential of AI tools like ChatGPT to revolutionize your job search experience. View Details

September 2016
Article

Do Display Ads Influence Search?: Attribution and Dynamics in Online Advertising

By: Pavel Kireyev, Koen Pauwels and Sunil Gupta

As firms increasingly rely on online media to acquire consumers, marketing managers feel comfortable justifying higher online marketing spending by referring to online metrics such as click-through rate (CTR) and cost per acquisition (CPA). However, these standard... View Details

Keywords: Internet and the Web; Digital Marketing

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2007
Working Paper

Why Do Intermediaries Divert Search?

By: Andrei Hagiu and Bruno Jullien

We analyze the incentives to divert search for an information intermediary who enables buyers (consumers) to search affiliated sellers (stores). We identify two original motives for diverting search (i.e. inducing consumers to search more than they would like): i)... View Details

Keywords: Demand and Consumers; Motivation and Incentives; Internet and the Web; Digital Platforms; Distribution Channels; Business Strategy; Retail Industry

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19 Oct 2022
News

Cofounder Courtship: How to Find the Right Mate—for Your Startup

Merck CEO Ken Frazier Discusses a COVID Cure, Racism, and Why Leaders Need to Walk the Talk

VIDEO: Ken Frazier, one of only four Black CEOs of Fortune 500 companies, speaks with Professor Tsedal Neeley about the search for a coronavirus vaccine, how racism at the workplace holds back America’s progress, and his own... View Details

23 Jul 2001
Research & Ideas

Looking for CEOs in All the Wrong Places

At a recent gathering of chief executives in New York City, the CEOs of two companies shared pleasant dinner conversation. The first led a large, successful corporation; the second also served as a director of a telecommunications firm that was looking for a new CEO.... View Details

Keywords: by Peter K. Jacobs; Employment

2013
Working Paper

Do Display Ads Influence Search?: Attribution and Dynamics in Online Advertising

By: Sunil Gupta

As firms increasingly rely on online media to acquire consumers, marketing managers feel comfortable justifying higher online marketing spend by referring to online metrics such as click-through rate (CTR) and cost per acquisition (CPA). However, these standard online... View Details

Keywords: Internet and the Web; Digital Marketing

25 Sep 2015
Blog Post

4 Challenges All Early-Stage Startups Face

During our first year at HBS, my classmates and I took the opportunity to build cleverlayover, a flight search engine that uses advanced algorithms to find flights hundreds of dollars cheaper than any other View Details

June 2019
Article

Brokers vs. Retail Investors: Conflicting Interests and Dominated Products

By: Mark Egan

I study how brokers distort household investment decisions. Using a novel convertible bond dataset, I find that consumers often purchase dominated bonds—cheap and expensive versions of otherwise identical bonds coexist in the market. The empirical evidence suggests... View Details

Keywords: Brokers; Fiduciary Standard; Consumer Finance; Structured Products; Household; Investment; Decisions; Motivation and Incentives; Conflict of Interests

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19 Oct 2009
Research & Ideas

Why Are Web Sites So Confusing?

Do you sometimes get the feeling that Internet portals, search pages, social networks, e-commerce, and other Web sites are not necessarily designed in order to maximize user convenience and benefits? We do, too. Why—you might ask? For a... View Details

Keywords: by Andrei Hagiu & Bruno Jullien

March 2015
Case

Discover Capital

By: William Sahlman, Robert White and Stephanie Puzio

"Discover Capital" provides an in-depth look at a first time search fund run by the tenacious Kelly Quann Bianucci. It provides background information about search funds and follows Kelly as she successfully raises her over-subscribed fund and begins the search... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurial Finance; Entrepreneurs; Entrepreneurship; Buyout; Loans; Acquisitions