Consumer Politics - Publications - Faculty & Research

10 Aug 2015
Research & Ideas

Why a Federal Rule on CEO Pay Disclosure May Get You In Trouble With Customers

alienate certain consumer groups, dividing 253 participants according to political affiliation. They found Democrats, Independents, and "others" were more willing to buy towels from retailers with low vs.... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Retail

04 Dec 2000
What Do You Think?

Have We Overdone Deregulation and Privatization?

Summing Up Let's hear it for deregulation, at least its long-term effects. It's well worth the short-term disruptions and consumer confusion. That's the near-unanimous judgement of those of you responding to my recent piece on the... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

16 Aug 2024
In Practice

Election 2024: What's at Stake for Business and the Workplace?

In a US presidential election year with more twists and turns than most in recent memory, many of the issues on the ballot impact business. And keeping politics in the workplace respectful is forefront on managers’ minds as a divided... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

07 Jun 2016
Op-Ed

Can Brand Trump Win a Presidency?

commercial brand become a political brand? Is the commercial Trump brand extendable into the political arena? Commercial marketing and political marketing differ in two... View Details

Keywords: by John A. Quelch; Advertising; Media & Broadcasting

12 Mar 2014
Research & Ideas

Entrepreneurship and Multinationals Drive Globalization

company Beiersdorf is the most dramatic. Beiersdorf faced the worst of all worlds in terms of political risk. It was a determined multinational investor before World War I, and then lost everything as the United States and other Allied... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Consumer Products; Consumer Products; Consumer Products; Consumer Products

01 Aug 2008
Research & Ideas

Does Market Capitalism Have a Future?

could lead to populist politics that would adversely affect the conduct of capitalism. A second major concern was that our productive system, as currently operated, contributes to unsustainable environmental damage and resource depletion.... View Details

Keywords: by Garry Emmons

02 Nov 2020
What Do You Think?

Is Antitrust Just a Quaint Notion in the Digital Age?

Joel put it, “Though I get the point that their behavior excludes competitors, the consumer would seem to benefit for now. What I wonder is why there is not more aggressive enforcement where the consumer is... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Consumer Products; Consumer Products; Consumer Products; Consumer Products; Consumer Products; Consumer Products

06 Jan 2012
Op-Ed

Where Green Corporate Ratings Fail

News Corporation—a multinational media conglomerate that includes BSKYB, Dow Jones, Fox News, 20th Century Fox and Star, among other units—announced earlier this year that it has become climate neutral, meaning that its operations have no net impact on global climate... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Toffel & Auden Schendler; Information; Publishing

13 Jan 2014
Research & Ideas

How Government Can Restore the Faith of Citizens

Henry David Thoreau once said, "That government is best that governs least." Easy for him to say. Stuck out by himself at Walden Pond, he never had to deal with potholes on his morning commute or broken streetlights at night. It can be fashionable to rail... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

14 Oct 2013
Research & Ideas

Time that Government Reopens for Business

economic recovery, including too much combined government and consumer debt, inflexible labor markets, and growing political anxiety, which is spreading from southern Europe into northern countries such as... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Aisner

07 Aug 2009
What Do You Think?

Why Can’t Americans Get Health Care Right?

provided excellent comparative data of the kind that we have seen all too little in the public debate on the matter. And nearly everyone admirably avoided the political rhetoric that has clouded rational thought about a truly complex... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett; Health

06 Aug 2024
Op-Ed

What the World Could Learn from America's Immigration Backlash—100 Years Ago

Alesina, one of the most influential political economists, and I explored these questions before he passed away in 2020. Our work was published recently in the Journal of Economic Literature. We found that anti-immigration arguments tend... View Details

Keywords: by Marco Tabellini

09 Apr 2012
Research & Ideas

Who Sways the USDA on GMO Approvals?

"The USDA could be looking for a scapegoat," he speculates. "A positive signal from a fellow bureaucratic actor could diffuse the blame and provide political cover were the department to approve a faulty product."... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Food & Beverage; Biotechnology; Agriculture & Agribusiness

18 Nov 2010
Research & Ideas

GM’s IPO: Back to the Future

place in the private sector, the owners would probably hold the stock until the company was in robust health. The realized price on the stock would then in all likelihood be higher. But the Obama administration has made it clear that as a View Details

Keywords: by Staff; Auto

16 Jul 2014
HBS Case

Marketing Obamacare

It's safe to say that the rollout of the Affordable Care Act was not pretty. Plagued by technical problems on Healthcare.gov, and stymied by a lack of political support in around half of the 50 states, the federal healthcare exchange set... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Health

24 Aug 2016
Research & Ideas

Can Obamacare Be Saved?

merger between Aetna and Humana, two of the largest health insurers in the United States. The 838,000 consumers who were insured by Aetna exchange plans in 2016 will be forced to select other public exchange plans or purchase individual... View Details

Keywords: by John A. Quelch and Emily Boudreau; Insurance; Health

28 Jan 2015
Research & Ideas

Ground Game, Air Wars, and Other Marketing Lessons From Presidential Elections

New research from Harvard Business School shows that mass advertising is better at swaying undecided consumers while face-to-face personal selling is more suited at closing the deal for those already leaning toward a particular product.... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

02 Oct 2000
What Do You Think?

What Lies Beyond NAFTA?

largely from Mexican readers—not surprising in view of the central role that Vicente Fox, the president-elect of Mexico, is expected to play in upcoming discussions of NAFTA 2.0. There was little argument among respondents about the positive impact of NAFTA on both... View Details