Publications

SSRN

November 2004
Case

The Electronic Product Code: Future Impact on the Global Food System

By: Ray A. Goldberg and James Weber

The Electronic Product Code (EPC) is a successor to the Uniform Product Code and will improve the efficiency and traceability of the global food system. This case focuses on how best to implement this new system and respect the privacy of the ultimate consumer, and the... View Details

Keywords: Information; Rights; Ethics; Consumer Behavior; Management Systems; Technology Adoption; Innovation and Invention; Food and Beverage Industry

26 Jul 2017
Blog Post

“Uncertainty Makes It More Interesting.”

through the efforts of a tiny team that began with three people and had grown to just eleven. “I thought it was the ideal place to go,” Felipe says. “The uncertainty makes it more interesting. How do you... View Details

Keywords: Consumer Products / Retail

31 Oct 2004
Research & Ideas

Bypass Marketing: Are Docs Influenced?

brand over another based on their patients' requests? A recent study, Physicians Report on Patient Encounters Involving Direct to Consumer Advertising, focused on one aspect of... View Details

Keywords: by Manda Salls

March 2006
Background Note

Customer-Introduced Variability in Service Operations

By: Frances X. Frei

Presents a typology of customer-introduced variability and offers guidance on how to manage each type. Central to the ideas developed is how to mitigate the effects of the apparent trade-off between reducing variability and diminishing the service experience or... View Details

Keywords: Customers; Six Sigma; Consumer Behavior; Service Operations; Performance Efficiency

21 May 2025
Blog Post

Mentorship in Action: When an HBS Student Proposes a Project

and private equity, but she was ready to try something new. “I thought my experience working on strategic initiatives with portfolio companies would be relevant,” she said. “I had also never worked in the View Details

2023
Working Paper

The Complexity of Economic Decisions

By: Xavier Gabaix and Thomas Graeber

We propose a theory of the complexity of economic decisions. Leveraging a macroeconomic framework of production functions, we conceptualize the mind as a cognitive economy, where a task’s complexity is determined by its composition of cognitive operations. Complexity... View Details

Keywords: Decisions; Complexity; Perception; Consumer Behavior; Production

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April 2013 (Revised October 2014)
Case

SaferTaxi: Connecting Taxis and Passengers in South America

By: Peter Coles and Benjamin Edelman

SaferTaxi, a taxi booking service in South America must develop its mobilization strategy; that is, it must attract enough passengers and drivers to make its service worthwhile for all. Drivers hesitate to pay for SaferTaxi's smartphones and service unless these will... View Details

Keywords: Taxi Booking; Smartphone; Transportation Networks; Network Effects; Laws and Statutes; South America; Argentina; Brazil; Chile

Article

Network Effects Aren't Enough

By: Andrei Hagiu and Simon Rothman

In many ways, online marketplaces are the perfect business model. Since they facilitate transactions between independent suppliers and customers rather than take possession of and responsibility for the products or services in question, they have inherently low cost... View Details

Keywords: Digital Platforms; Competition; Internet and the Web; Network Effects; Market Participation

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August 2002 (Revised January 2003)
Case

Siebel Systems: Anatomy of a Sale, Part 1

By: John A. Deighton and Das Narayandas

How does a $2 million software sale happen? This case traces efforts by Siebel Systems to sell lead management software to discount broker Quick & Reilly. The buying process is mapped out over four years. Covers in detail the last six months—from Siebel's initial... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Marketing Strategy; Consumer Behavior; Organizational Structure; Behavior; Competition; Applications and Software; Technology Industry

December 2018 (Revised June 2020)
Case

Creating the French Behavioral Insights Team

By: Michael Luca, Ariella Kristal and Emilie Billaud

This case explores how neuroscientist Mariam Chammat helped set up the first behavioral insights team at the center of the French government, and encouraged French administrations to innovate and create policy initiatives based on psychological theories of influence... View Details

Keywords: Choice Architecture; Behavioral Economics; Experiments; Negotiation; Decision Making; Economics; Taxation; Entrepreneurship; Consumer Behavior; Public Administration Industry; Europe; France; Paris

31 May 2011
First Look

First Look: May 31

make purchases. Retailers, however, felt that major credit and debit card issuers had too much market power which was leading to higher costs for retailers to accept such... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

February 2003 (Revised April 2003)
Case

Brioni

By: David E. Bell

Should Brioni, an internationally known, exclusive men's suit manufacturer and retailer extend its line to include women's apparel? The opportunity is to enter a much larger and profitable market. The dangers are: 1) compromising the existing image, and 2) failing to... View Details

Keywords: Brands and Branding; Segmentation; Expansion; Profit; Risk Management; Demand and Consumers; Fashion Industry

16 Sep 2014
Research & Ideas

Has Apple Reinvented the Watch?

However, if you're Fitbit or any of the other tracking and monitoring devices on the market today, you should be very concerned. The Apple Watch claims to render everything in these devices relatively... View Details

Keywords: Re: Ryan L. Raffaelli; Electronics; Retail; Health

May 1986
Supplement

Gillette Co.: Dry Idea Advertising (C), Video

Designed for use in class as an epilogue to the story of the struggle to solve creative problems on Gillette's Dry Idea antiperspirant. The videotape announces the bake-off competition winner: BBDO. It also shows excerpts from interviews conducted a year and a half... View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Consumer Products Industry

September 2001 (Revised June 2003)
Case

Henkel KGaA: Detergents Division

Henkel has to decide whether to replace its strong local detergent brands in Italy and Spain with its leading international brand, Persil. It faces pressure from retailers for international brand standardization. Its competitors, including P&G and Unilever, are... View Details

Keywords: Globalized Markets and Industries; Brands and Branding; Consumer Products Industry; Italy; Spain

01 Oct 2013
First Look

First Look: October 1

business unit managers' attention toward longer-term activities. Non-financial measures similarly direct managerial attention toward longer-term activities, although not to the same degree as accounting... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

25 Oct 2012
Research & Ideas

10 Reasons Customers Might Resist Windows 8

for Microsoft. Alas, when it comes to embracing the latest technology, consumer hardware and corporate software are as different as apples and orang well, as different as Apples and corporate software.... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Consumer Products; Consumer Products

April 2022
Article

Demand Interactions in Sharing Economies: Evidence from a Natural Experiment Involving Airbnb and Uber/Lyft

By: Shunyuan Zhang, Dokyun Lee, Param Singh and Tridas Mukhopadhyay

We examine whether and how ride-sharing services influence the demand for home-sharing services. Our identification strategy hinges on a natural experiment in which Uber/Lyft exited Austin, Texas, in May 2016 due to local regulation. Using a 12-month longitudinal... View Details

Keywords: Airbnb; Uber; Natural Experiment; Geographic Demand Dispersion; Sharing Economy; Transportation; Demand and Consumers; Geographic Scope

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May 1986 (Revised January 1989)
Case

Gillette Co.: Dry Idea Advertising (A), The Creative Problem

Presents the first of two cases describing the struggle to solve creative problems on the Dry Idea antiperspirant brand introduced in 1978 by the Gillette Co. and its advertising agency (Batten, Barton, Durstine & Osborne). Provides company and industry background plus... View Details

Keywords: Creativity; Advertising; Product Marketing; Consumer Products Industry; United States