Publications

February 2024
Case

Tabby: Winning Consumers' Digital Wallets

By: Eva Ascarza and Fares Khrais

Hosam Arab (MBA 2009), cofounder and CEO of Tabby, a Saudi-based fintech startup, raised its Series D funding round in October 2023, four years after its inception, valuing it as a regional unicorn. Tabby's core product, a buy-now-pay-later (BNPL) service, allowed... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Business Startups; Risk Management; Competitive Strategy; Expansion; Financial Services Industry; Technology Industry; Saudi Arabia

25 Feb 2015
Lessons from the Classroom

Scholars and Students Unpack the Digital Business Revolution

Think of Harvard Business School's recently launched the Digital Initiative (D/I) as a giant laboratory, where leading scholars and practitioners convene to research, teach, and put into practice new understandings about the relentless... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Education; Technology

19 Nov 2018
Sharpening Your Skills

E-Santa: Is Retail Ready for Digital Christmas?

increasingly important tool in the online retailer's marketing arsenal, but profit is lost when not done right. Research Papers Opportunistic Returns and Dynamic Pricing: Empirical Evidence from Online Retailing in Emerging Markets... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Retail

16 Jul 2024
Research & Ideas

Weighing Digital Tradeoffs in Private Equity

When private equity (PE) firms buy a company, they typically follow a standard playbook to create value—streamlining operations, restructuring debt, changing management, and cutting costs. However, as digital technologies and artificial... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Financial Services

Other Article

Want to See the Future of Digital Health Tools? Look to Germany

By: Ariel Dora Stern, Henrik Matthies, Julia Hagen, Jan B. Brönneke and Jörg F. Debatin

A new law will make it easier to introduce and determine the benefits of new tools. Perhaps its most important provisions are its formalization of “prescribable applications,” which include standard software, SaaS, and mobile as well as browser-based apps, and the... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Transformation; Internet and the Web; Technological Innovation; Germany

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November 2018
Case

Swissgrid: Enterprise Risk Management in a Digital Age

By: Robert S. Kaplan and Anette Mikes

Kurt Meyer, chief risk officer of Swissgrid, the Swiss national electricity transmission system operator, reflects on the risk management system he installed after the deregulation and liberalization of the European energy market. With 41 connections to other European... View Details

Keywords: Enterprise Risk Management; Energy Transmission; Risk and Uncertainty; Risk Management; Energy; Energy Industry; Utilities Industry; Switzerland

02 Apr 2015
Research & Ideas

Digital Initiative Summit: Freeing Patient Data to Enable Innovation

to remedy the information-sharing glut that is slowing health care innovation and harming patient care, according to panelists discussing "Digital Health: Freeing Patient Data to Enable Innovation" at the Digital Initiative Summit held... View Details

Keywords: Re: Karim R. Lakhani; Health

14 Feb 2022
Research & Ideas

Curiosity, Not Coding: 6 Skills Leaders Need in the Digital Age

to ask the right questions about opportunities, risks, and legal and ethical danger zones, and set the boundary conditions to guide the deployment of digital tools and data. Roundtable participants who are... View Details

Keywords: by Linda A. Hill, Ann Le Cam, Sunand Menon, and Emily Tedards; Technology

28 Jul 2020
Research & Ideas

Racism and Digital Design: How Online Platforms Can Thwart Discrimination

inclusive design choices in a forthcoming article in the journal Marketing Intelligence Review. What follows is a condensed version: Build awareness. Digital platform builders must recognize how their design choices and algorithms can... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz; Travel; Entertainment & Recreation; Service

2023
Article

Building the Business Case for an Inclusive Approach to Digital Health Measurement with a Web App (Market Opportunity Calculator): Instrument Development Study

By: Mitchell Tang, Yashoda Sharma, Jennifer C. Goldsack and Ariel Dora Stern

Background: The use of digital health measurement tools has grown substantially in recent years. However, there are concerns that the promised benefits from these products will not be shared equitably. Underserved populations, such as those with lower education and... View Details

Keywords: Demographics; Product Development; Health Care and Treatment; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

May 2024
Article

Tepid Uptake of Digital Health Technologies in Clinical Trials by Pharmaceutical and Medical Device Firms

By: Caroline Marra and Ariel D. Stern

Digital health technologies (DHTs) can enable more patient-centric therapeutic development by generating evidence that captures how patients feel and function, enabling decentralized trial designs that increase participant inclusivity and convenience, and collecting... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Technological Innovation; Product Development; Health Testing and Trials; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms

September 2020
Article

Regulatory Sandboxes: A Cure for mHealth Pilotitis?

By: Abhishek Bhatia, Rahul Matthan, Tarun Khanna and Satchit Balsari

Mobile health (mHealth) and related digital health interventions in the past decade have not always scaled globally as anticipated earlier despite large investments by governments and philanthropic foundations. The implementation of digital health tools has suffered... View Details

Keywords: COVID-19; mHealth; Digital Health; Design Thinking; Regulation; Intervention; Regulatory Sandbox; Health Care and Treatment; Technological Innovation; Design; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; India

August 2012
Background Note

Marketing Communications

By: Thales S. Teixeira and Thales S. Teixeira

This note identifies the main issues involved in the effective management of the marketing communications process. It first defines the purpose of communication. Then it classifies the tools available to communicate with consumers. In the sequel, it elaborates on how... View Details

Keywords: Marketing Communication; Advertising; Promotion; Social Media; Digital Media; Viral Advertising; Marketing; Communications Industry; North and Central America

2013
Working Paper

Where do the Most Active Customers Originate and How Can Firms Keep Them Engaged?

By: Clarence Lee, E. Ofek and Thomas Steenburgh

In this paper, we study how firms offering Web services can acquire and develop an active customer base. We focus on two basic questions. First, how does the method of customer acquisition affect the way customers use the service to meet their own needs and to interact... View Details

Keywords: Customer Engagement; Adoption Routes; Hidden Markov Models; Search; Word-of-Mouth; Digital Media; Customer Relationship Management; Internet and the Web; Mathematical Methods; Consumer Behavior; Entrepreneurship; Marketing Reference Programs; Web Services Industry

2025
Working Paper

Generative AI and the Nature of Work

By: Manuel Hoffmann, Sam Boysel, Frank Nagle, Sida Peng and Kevin Xu

Recent advances in artificial intelligence (AI) technology demonstrate a considerable potential to complement human capital intensive activities. While an emerging literature documents wide-ranging productivity effects of AI, relatively little attention has been paid... View Details

Keywords: Generative Ai; Digital Work; Open Source Software; Knowledge Economy; AI and Machine Learning; Open Source Distribution; Organizational Structure; Performance Productivity; Labor

SSRN

Fall 2018
Article

The Value of Fit Information in Online Retail: Evidence from a Randomized Field Experiment

By: Santiago Gallino and Antonio Moreno

Online channels generate frictions when selling products with nondigital attributes, such as apparel. Customers may be reluctant to purchase products they have not been able to try on, and those customers who do purchase may return products when they do not fit as... View Details

Keywords: Supply Chain Information; Fit Uncertainty; Online Retail; Randomized Field Experiment; Virtual Fitting Room; Digital Retail; Customization and Personalization; Internet and the Web; Value; Performance Improvement; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Retail Industry

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October 2023
Case

Houghton Mifflin Harcourt: A Curriculum Provider Puts Itself on the Hook for Student Outcomes

By: John J-H Kim, Derek C. M. van Bever, Michael Norris and Max Hancock

Jack Lynch, CEO of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (HMH) since 2017, was leading the company’s transformation from a legacy textbook publisher to a digital-first student outcomes provider, which earned subscription revenue from digital products and curriculum. In 2023, HMH... View Details

Keywords: Edtech; Textbook; Publishing; Leading Change; Change Management; Transformation; Digital Transformation; Expansion; Business Strategy; Publishing Industry; Education Industry; United States

March 2017 (Revised November 2018)
Case

BYJU'S The Learning App

By: John Jong-Hyun Kim and Rachna Tahilyani

BYJU’S The Learning App (BYJU’s) is India’s largest K-12 education app with about 300,000 annual paid subscribers. The mobile app uses a mix of video lessons and interactive tools to personalize learning for every student. Although there is room to grow exponentially... View Details

Keywords: Education; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Growth and Development Strategy; Learning; Customization and Personalization; Education Industry; India; United States