Publications
Publications
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- All HBS Web
(367)
- Faculty Publications (151)
- 2024
- Working Paper
The Wade Test: Generative AI and CEO Communication
By: Prithwiraj Choudhury, Bart S. Vanneste and Amirhossein Zohrehvand
Can generative artificial intelligence (Gen-AI) transform the role of the CEO? This study investigates
whether Gen-AI can mimic a human CEO and whether employees display aversion to Gen-AI
communication. We present a framework of Gen-AI aversion that distinguishes... View Details
- August 2024
- Background Note
Mitigating Climate Change with Machine Learning
By: Michael W. Toffel, Kelsey Carter, Amy Chambers, Avery Park and Susan Pinckney
This note highlights how machine learning is being used to decarbonize (reduce GHG emissions) several key sectors including electricity, transportation, building, industrial processes, and agriculture -- and how machine learning is being used to accelerate efforts to... View Details
- 2024
- Book
Fintech, Small Business & the American Dream: How Technology Is Transforming Lending and Shaping a New Era of Small Business Opportunity
By: Karen G. Mills
The second edition of Fintech, Small Business & the American Dream, builds on the groundbreaking 2019 book with new insights on how technology and artificial intelligence are transforming small business lending. This ambitious view covers the significance of... View Details
- July 2024 (Revised January 2025)
- Case
Dynamic Pricing at Wendy's: Where's the Beef?
By: Elie Ofek, Alicia Dadlani and Martha Hostetter
In early 2024, Wendy’s new CEO announced on an earnings call that the company would install digital menus in its US locations so it could begin testing dynamic pricing—changing prices up or down in response to shifts in supply and demand – as well as allow engaging in... View Details
- July 2024
- Technical Note
What Is AI?
By: Michael Parzen and Jo Ellery
This note discusses definitions of artificial intelligence and covers the broad types of learning used in training AI, as well as explaining in detail how neural networks are built, trained, and used. View Details
Keywords: AI and Machine Learning
- July 2024
- Case
Knowledge-Enabled Financial Advice: Digital Transformation at Edward Jones
By: Lauren Cohen, Richard Ryffel, Grace Headinger and Sophia Pan
Edward Jones, a wealth management advisory firm that prided itself on its interpersonal connections and face-to-face interactions, was eager to augment their services with AI capabilities. Built on 1-to-1 close-knit relationships, the firm had more than 15,000 offices... View Details
Keywords: Fintech; Innovation And Strategy; Financial Advisors; Big Data; Artificial Intelligence; Digitization; Financial Institutions; Business Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Technology Adoption; Business Plan; Technological Innovation; Interpersonal Communication; Communication Intention and Meaning; Communication Strategy; Transformation; Employee Stock Ownership Plan; Disruptive Innovation; Innovation Strategy; Innovation and Management; Innovation Leadership; Knowledge Acquisition; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Customer Relationship Management; AI and Machine Learning; Digital Strategy; Financial Services Industry; St. Louis; Missouri; United States; Canada
- July 2024
- Article
AI, ROI, and Sales Productivity
Artificial intelligence (AI) is now a loose term for many different things and at the peak of its hype curve. So managers hitch-their-pitch to the term in arguing for resources. But like any technology, its business value depends upon actionable use cases embraced by... View Details
- July 2024
- Article
How Artificial Intelligence Constrains Human Experience
By: A. Valenzuela, S. Puntoni, D. Hoffman, N. Castelo, J. De Freitas, B. Dietvorst, C. Hildebrand, Y.E. Huh, R. Meyer, M. Sweeney, S. Talaifar, G. Tomaino and K. Wertenbroch
Many consumption decisions and experiences are digitally mediated. As a consequence, consumer behavior is increasingly the joint product of human psychology and ubiquitous algorithms (Braun et al. 2024; cf. Melumad et al. 2020). The coming of age of Large Language... View Details
- June 2024
- Teaching Note
Numenta in 2020: The Future of AI
By: David B. Yoffie
In 2020, Numenta’s co-founder, Jeff Hawkins, completed his pathbreaking research on artificial intelligence. His co-founder and CEO, Donna Dubinsky, had to find a business model to monetize the technology. This teaching note explores the challenges of building a... View Details
- June 2024 (Revised September 2024)
- Case
Driving Scale with Otto
By: Rebecca Karp, David Allen and Annelena Lobb
This case asks how startup founders make scaling decisions in light of their priorities for their business and for themselves. Otto was a technology company that applied artificial intelligence technology to sales. It deployed natural language processing to find sales... View Details
Keywords: Artificial Intelligence; Natural Language Processing; B2B; B2B Innovation; Scaling; Scaling Tech Ventures; Business Startups; AI and Machine Learning; Finance; Sales; Business Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; Entrepreneurship; Information Technology Industry; United States; Cambridge; New York (city, NY); Spain
- Summer 2024
- Article
The Business Revolution: Economy-Wide Impacts of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Platforms
By: Hanna Halaburda, Jeffrey Prince, D. Daniel Sokol and Feng Zhu
In this essay, we identify several themes of the digital business transformation, with a particular focus on the economy-wide impacts of artificial intelligence and digital platforms. In doing so, we highlight specific industries, beyond just the high-profile “Big... View Details
- May 2024
- Case
Pernod Ricard: Uncorking Digital Transformation
By: Iavor Bojinov, Edward McFowland III, François Candelon, Nikolina Jonsson and Emer Moloney
This case study explores the opportunities and challenges of the digital transformation journey of French wine and spirits company Pernod Ricard. As part of the transformation, the company launched four key digital programs (KDPs) aimed at using data and artificial... View Details
Keywords: Business Organization; Business Divisions; Talent and Talent Management; Global Strategy; AI and Machine Learning; Analytics and Data Science; Digital Transformation; Digital Strategy; Advertising; Sales; Organizational Culture; Product Development; Decision Making; Technology Adoption; Alignment; Expansion; Food and Beverage Industry; France; Europe
- May 2024
- Supplement
HubSpot and Motion AI (B): Generative AI Opportunities
By: Jill Avery
The technologies driving artificial intelligence (AI) had progressed significantly since HubSpot’s acquisition of Motion AI in 2017. Generative AI was the newest major development. Software-as-a-service (SaaS) companies such as HubSpot were analyzing how generative AI... View Details
- May 2024
- Case
A New Aiera for Equity Research
By: Joseph Pacelli, Charles CY Wang and James Barnett
Aiera (pronounced “era”) co-founder and CEO Ken Sena considers strategic pathways to growth for the artificial intelligence (AI)-powered platform used to source, verify, and transcribe earnings calls, company presentations, and other corporate events. View Details
- May 2024
- Teaching Note
AI Wars
By: Andy Wu and Matt Higgins
Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 723-434. In 2024, the world was looking to Google to see what the search giant and long-time putative technical leader in artificial intelligence (AI) would do to compete in the massively hyped technology of generative AI popularized over... View Details
- May 2024
- Article
The Health Risks of Generative AI-Based Wellness Apps
By: Julian De Freitas and G. Cohen
Artifcial intelligence (AI)-enabled chatbots are increasingly being used to
help people manage their mental health. Chatbots for mental health and
particularly ‘wellness’ applications currently exist in a regulatory ‘gray area’.
Indeed, most generative AI-powered... View Details
- March 2024 (Revised March 2024)
- Teaching Note
CoPilot(s): Generative AI at Microsoft and GitHub
By: Frank Nagle and Maria P. Roche
This teaching note is the companion to case N9-624-010 CoPilot(s): Generative AI at Microsoft and GitHub, which takes place in late 2021. The case briefly describes the history of both GitHub and Microsoft with a particular focus on open source software (OSS)—software... View Details
- March 2024 (Revised May 2025)
- Case
Governing OpenAI (A)
By: Lynn S. Paine, Suraj Srinivasan and Will Hurwitz
In late November 2023, OpenAI’s new board of directors took stock of the situation. The company, which sought to develop artificial general intelligence (AGI)—computer systems with capabilities exceeding human abilities—was looking to regain its footing after a chaotic... View Details
Keywords: Artificial Intelligence; Board Of Directors; Board Decisions; Board Dynamics; Corporate Boards; Governance Changes; Governance Structure; Leadership Change; Legal Aspects Of Business; Nonprofit Governance; Strategy And Execution; Technological Change; AI and Machine Learning; Corporate Governance; Leadership; Management; Mission and Purpose; Technological Innovation; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Governing and Advisory Boards; Resignation and Termination; Ethics; Nonprofit Organizations; Open Source Distribution; Partners and Partnerships; Technology Industry; San Francisco; United States
- March 2024 (Revised August 2024)
- Case
Darktrace: Scaling Cybersecurity and AI (A)
By: Jeffrey F. Rayport and Alexis Lefort
In 2023, Darktrace CEO Poppy Gustafsson was contemplating her growth strategy at a leading U.K.-based cybersecurity venture, launched in 2013 by a group of anti-terror cyber specialists, University of Cambridge mathematicians, and artificial intelligence (AI) experts.... View Details
Keywords: Technology; Talent; Scaling; Entrepreneurship; Cybersecurity; Leadership; Business Growth and Maturation; Recruitment; Resignation and Termination; AI and Machine Learning; Growth and Development Strategy; Organizational Culture; Going Public; Technology Industry; United Kingdom; Europe; United States
- February 2024
- Teaching Note
Data-Driven Denim: Financial Forecasting at Levi Strauss
By: Mark Egan
Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 224-029. Levi Strauss & Co. (“Levi Strauss”) partnered with the IT services company Wipro to incorporate more sophisticated methods, such as machine learning, into their financial forecasting process starting in 2018. The decision to... View Details