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21 Nov 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, November 21, 2017

forthcoming Quantitative Marketing and Economics Aggregation of Consumer Ratings: An Application to Yelp.com By: Dai, Weijia, Ginger Jin, Jungmin Lee, and Michael Luca... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

February 2000 (Revised August 2000)
Case

Priceline.com: Name Your Own Price

By: Robert J. Dolan

Priceline.com is a new concept shifting the setting of price from sellers to buyers. The company aspires to use its patented process of advertising units of demand at named prices to suppliers in many categories. This case focuses on its initial use in the airline... View Details

Keywords: Price; Internet and the Web; Marketing; Emerging Markets; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry; United States

December 2010
Case

Oral Rehydration Therapy

By: Nava Ashraf and Claire Qureshi

This case highlights the puzzlingly high rate of diarrhea-related child mortality in developing countries despite the existence of a simple, effective treatment: oral rehydration therapy (ORT). ORT treated extreme dehydration caused by diarrhea, which was a leading... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Innovation Strategy; Problems and Challenges; Developing Countries and Economies; Technological Innovation; Distribution Channels; Emerging Markets; Consumer Behavior; Performance Consistency; Performance Evaluation; Health Industry; Africa; Asia

Profile

Katy Lankester

entrepreneurial, but large enough to matter. That led me away from pharma and devices, to payer, provider and services. It also helped me identify what type of role I was interested in, because the courses... View Details

Keywords: Health Care

April 1980 (Revised September 1985)
Background Note

The Disposable Diaper Industry in 1974

By: Michael E. Porter

Describes the rapidly growing disposable diaper industry in 1974, a period in which Procter and Gamble's industry leadership faced strong challenges from Kimberly Clark, Johnson and Johnson, and Union Carbide. The latter two firms were in the process of entry into the... View Details

Keywords: Market Entry and Exit; Competition; Consumer Products Industry

August 2019 (Revised February 2020)
Teaching Note

Sidewalk Labs: Privacy in a City Built from the Internet Up

By: Leslie John and Mitch Weiss

Email mking@hbs.edu for a courtesy copy.

The case serves as a microcosm of issues of digital privacy: the availability of data – personal data in particular – has tremendous potential to improve people’s lives... View Details

Keywords: Privacy; Privacy By Design; Privacy Regulation; Platforms; Data; Data Security; Behavioral Science; Analytics and Data Science; Safety; Entrepreneurship; Business and Government Relations; Consumer Behavior; Digital Platforms

31 Oct 2004
Research & Ideas

The New CEO’s Wrong Message

style, such processes enable the CEO to make effective decisions consistent with where he wants the company to go. One of our new CEOs learned this the hard way. Soon after he became CEO, he was asked View Details

Keywords: by Michael E. Porter, Jay W. Lorsch & Nitin Nohria

05 Jul 2006
Working Paper Summaries

Empirical Tests of Information Aggregation

Keywords: by Pai-Ling Yin; Technology; Web Services

October 1996 (Revised April 1997)
Case

Northco (A)

By: Ananth Raman and Bowon Kim

A small school-uniform manufacturer wrestles with seasonal demand. The company is saddled with excess inventory when it is bought by a leveraged buyout firm. Students are required to identify ways to analyze and solve the problem. View Details

Keywords: Demand and Consumers; Leveraged Buyouts; Supply Chain Management; Corporate Finance; Manufacturing Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry; United States

Article

Sadness, Identity, and Plastic in Over-shopping: The Interplay of Materialism, Poor Credit Management, and Emotional Buying Motives in Predicting Compulsive Buying

By: Grant Edward Donnelly, Masha Ksendzova and Ryan Howell

A comprehensive study is currently lacking to explain why material values strongly influence compulsive buying. The goal of the current study is to test if money management, buying motivations for improving mood and identity, and self-transformation expectations... View Details

Keywords: Credit Cards; Consumer Behavior; Identity; Emotions

Find at Harvard

24 Jun 2013
Research & Ideas

Is Your iPhone Turning You Into a Wimp?

an average of 58 minutes per day on their smartphones, according to a recent report from Experian Marketing Services. Talking accounts for only 26 percent of that time. The other 73 percent is devoted View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Consumer Products; Consumer Products

March 2009 (Revised January 2010)
Background Note

The Newspaper Industry in Crisis

By: David J. Collis, Peter W. Olson and Mary Furey

This note is a primer on the newspaper industry, which has been in decline in the U.S. and Western Europe. The 19th century business model whereby news and editorial content was packaged and delivered to homes daily and paid for by national advertisers has been... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Business History; Newspapers; Disruptive Innovation; Consumer Behavior; Business Strategy; Internet; Journalism and News Industry; Publishing Industry; Europe; United States

25 Feb 2014
First Look

First Look: February 25

in the country's economy during the past two decades, have brought together a group of economists and political scientists to systematically examine the impact of a wide range of factors affecting the economy's collapse, from the cost of... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

07 Apr 2009
First Look

First Look: April 7, 2009

average, use unverifiable discretion to convey private information on future cash flows; in contrast, agency theory predicts managers, on average, use unverifiable discretion opportunistically. We test these alternative hypotheses using a... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

2021
Working Paper

Assessing the Strength of Network Effects in Social Network Platforms

By: Marco Iansiti

Network effects have risen to the forefront of platform competition discussions (e.g. the House Judiciary investigation of competition in digital markets, claiming that Facebook, for example, is entrenched due to strong network effects and high switching costs). While... View Details

Keywords: Social Networks; Platform Competition; Network Effects; Competition; Social Media; Digital Platforms

Read Now

25 Jul 2005
Research & Ideas

An Organization Your Customers Understand

including retail consumers, are treated as constituents in the process and are managed accordingly. Identifying the primary customer is not, of course, the end of the story. Managers must still segment the customer market and decide which... View Details

Keywords: by Robert Simons

February 1990 (Revised August 2001)
Case

Merloni Elettrodomestici SpA: The Transit Point Experiment

By: Janice H. Hammond and Maura G Kelly

Merloni Elettrodomestici is a leading Italian manufacturer of domestic appliances. In 1986, an exposition for Merloni customers is scheduled at its Milano regional warehouse. During the two-month period preceding the event, when the warehouse must be free of inventory,... View Details

Keywords: Logistics; Marketing Channels; Planning; Time Management; Distribution Channels; Competitive Advantage; Customer Relationship Management; Information Technology; Consumer Products Industry; Italy

December 2021
Case

Pairwise

By: José B. Alvarez and Annelena Lobb

Pairwise discusses the strategic approach of a company aiming to “snackify” fruits and vegetables by using CRISPR-Cas9 gene editing to create nutritious, bite-sized foods that could compete with packaged snacks. The company is confronting a number of challenges,... View Details

Keywords: Gene Editing; GMO; Food; Nutrition; Competition; Market Entry and Exit; Public Opinion; Competitive Strategy; Consumer Behavior; Food and Beverage Industry