Consumer - Publications - Faculty & Research

Research Summary

Overview

Professor Jones researches the history and impact of global firms. In recent years he has prublished extensively on the ecological and social responsibility of business leaders. He has a strong interest in the business history of emerging markets. He founded and... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Ethics; Globalization; Government and Politics; History; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Africa; Asia; Europe; Latin America; Middle East; North and Central America; Oceania

02 Mar 2011
Research & Ideas

Managing the Open Source vs. Proprietary Decision

other (the BMW vs. the Yugo, in our example) and horizontal differentiation, where different consumers with different needs would choose different options (the Yugo and the pickup truck). The vast majority of instances in software involve... View Details

Keywords: by Josh Lerner & Mark Schankerman; Technology

06 Dec 2010
Sharpening Your Skills

Sharpening Your Skills: Doing Business in Emerging Markets

entrepreneurs are innovating products to attract the emerging middle class. Such innovations could potentially benefit consumers living in mature markets. How Important Are Relations With The Host Country? HBS Cases: Looking Behind... View Details

17 Sep 2001
What Do You Think?

What Is “Business as Usual” After September 11?

personal levels—needed to achieve the "peace of mind" with which we did business on September 10? How will they and other changes affect business and consumer costs and, at a more basic level, the global economy? And what can we... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

20 Oct 2009
First Look

First Look: October 20

the foreign market. Specifically, a shift to arm's length transfer pricing erodes domestic consumer surplus by making the gray market less competitive domestically, which in turn may offset any domestic welfare gains that accompany a... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

06 Nov 2006
Research & Ideas

How South Africa Challenges Our Thinking on FDI

southern Africa, among the highest in the world. In addition, though South Africa is often classified as an emerging economy, it might be more correctly seen as having two economies—the normal economy of sophisticated consumers and firms... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

21 Feb 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research: February 21

paper: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=52309 Harvard Business School Case 817-056 IguanaFix IguanaFix is a rapidly scaling Latin American startup that provides an online platform connecting consumers with home improvement... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

03 Sep 2020
Op-Ed

Why American Health Care Needs Its Own SEC

Employers, insurers, taxpayers, and individual consumers pay widely varying prices for treatments, medical technology, and for digital information of fluctuating quality. One patient may receive a small charge for a treatment, while... View Details

Keywords: by Regina E. Herzlinger; Health

May 20, 2024
Article

Porter’s Five Forces and Competitive Advantage in Web3

By: Scott Duke Kominers and Liang Wu

Competitive strategy — the art of crafting and executing plans to achieve an advantageous position in the market — is integral to any business, and especially relevant for platforms because it determines their ability to achieve network effects and scale. But web3... View Details

Keywords: Five Forces Framework; Competitive Strategy; Business Strategy; Network Effects; Digital Transformation

Citation

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December 2007
Article

Adoption of Information Technology under Network Effects

By: Deishin Lee and Haim Mendelson

Because information technologies are often characterized by network effects, compatibility is an important issue. Although total network value is maximized when everyone operates in one compatible network, we find that the technology benefits of the users depend on... View Details

Keywords: Network Effects; Standards; Competitive Strategy; Customization and Personalization; Information Technology; Technology Adoption

Citation

Find at Harvard

January 2025
Case

Apax Partners: Deciding Whether to Bid for Trader Corp.

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Edward A. Meyer

Apax Partners’ investment committee was schedule to meet on March 21, 2011, to decide whether to invest in Trader Corporation, a Canadian classified advertising business for used automobiles with both print (magazines) and digital (website) distribution. What made this... View Details

Citation

Educators

11 Nov 2020
Research & Ideas

How Hackathons Help Decide Platform Winners and Losers

mass of consumers and producers. “If I was a tech company, I would sponsor every single hackathon I could find.” The researchers used an innovative dataset to show that the social environment of hackathons can solve a number of problems... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Technology

29 Oct 2018
Research & Ideas

Hunting for a Hot Job in High Tech? Try 'Digitization Economist'

and TripAdvisor contain hundreds of millions of consumer reviews; online marketplaces also rely on reputation systems to facilitate trust between strangers. Economists help companies design reputation systems, “focusing on understanding... View Details

Keywords: by Roberta Holland; Technology; Education

13 Sep 2016
First Look

September 13, 2016

Samsung, however, has succeeded by its ability to strike a balance between the two. Publisher's link: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=51604 in press Journal for the Association of Consumer Research Family Rituals Improve... View Details

11 Oct 2010
Research & Ideas

It Pays to Hire Women in Countries That Won’t

especially tuned in to the consumer-spending habits of the local populace-a boon to companies trying to serve the local market. "Many female managers that we studied had valuable insights about consumer demand that were quite... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

02 Jan 2007
Research & Ideas

Most Popular Articles of 2006

item popularity curve. Jim Heskett asks: Does the Long Tail represent a paradigm shift for business and consumer behavior? What are its implications for management going forward? Is MySpace.com Your Space? Social networking sites such as... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

20 Dec 2004
Research & Ideas

The U.S. Patent Game: How to Change It

lucrative assignments—is likely to have a subtle effect on many practitioners' reactions to proposals for radical change. Moreover, the negative effects of bad patent policy are very diffuse, and very difficult to see and understand. View Details

Keywords: by Ann Cullen

26 Aug 2024
Research & Ideas

Can AI Match Human Ingenuity in Creative Problem-Solving?

When ChatGPT and other large language models began entering the mainstream two years ago, it quickly became apparent the technology could excel at certain business functions, yet it was less clear how well artificial intelligence could handle more creative tasks. Sure,... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Information Technology; Information; Technology

17 Sep 2024
HBS Case

The Climate Targets Leaders Need to Know as Regulations Loom

company’s products, employee commuting, and business travel. Scope 3 also includes emissions generated by the company’s products. Lifecycle assessment: Companies can often calculate their Scope 1 and 2 emissions based on invoices that state how much natural gas, oil,... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne