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- January 2024
- Case
Sprouts Farmers Market
By: Rajiv Lal, Forest L. Reinhardt and Natalie Kindred
Sprouts Farmers Markets (Sprouts) is a Phoenix, Arizona-based chain of 400-plus natural foods stores in 23 U.S. states and $6.4 billion in sales as of 2022. In its product assortment, brand image, and store environment, Sprouts emphasizes freshness, health, innovation,... View Details
Keywords: Business Model; Growth and Development Strategy; Brands and Branding; Strategic Planning; Sales; Business Strategy; Expansion; Product Positioning; Marketing Strategy; Competition; Retail Industry; United States; Arizona
Lal, Rajiv, Forest L. Reinhardt, and Natalie Kindred. "Sprouts Farmers Market." Harvard Business School Case 524-059, January 2024.
- January 2024
- Article
A Cost Model for a Low Threshold Clinic Treating Opioid Use Disorder
By: Sarah E. Wakeman, Elizabeth Powell, Syed Shehab, Grace Herman, Laura Kehoe and Robert S. Kaplan
The US fee-for-service payment system under-reimburses clinics offering access to comprehensive treatments for opioid use disorder (OUD). The funding shortfall limits a clinic’s ability to expand and improve access, especially for socially marginalized patients with... View Details
Wakeman, Sarah E., Elizabeth Powell, Syed Shehab, Grace Herman, Laura Kehoe, and Robert S. Kaplan. "A Cost Model for a Low Threshold Clinic Treating Opioid Use Disorder." Journal of Behavioral Health Services & Research 51, no. 1 (January 2024): 22–30.
- 2025
- Working Paper
Money, Time, and Grant Design
By: Kyle Myers and Wei Yang Tham
We conduct survey experiments to test how the design of scientific grants—
the money and time awarded—can be used to manage researchers. On average,
researchers are relatively unwilling to trade off money for time when choosing
among grants. However, there is... View Details
Myers, Kyle, and Wei Yang Tham. "Money, Time, and Grant Design." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 24-037, December 2023. (Revised June 2025.)
- October 2023
- Article
Coordination and Bandwagon Effects: How Past Rankings Shape the Behavior of Voters and Candidates
By: Riako Granzier, Vincent Pons and Clémence Tricaud
Candidates’ placements in polls or past elections can be powerful coordination devices for both parties and voters. Using a regression discontinuity design in French elections, we show that candidates who place first by only a small margin in the first round are more... View Details
Keywords: Strategic Voting; Coordination; Bandwagon Effect; Regression Discontinuity Design; French Elections; Voting; Political Elections; Behavior; France
Granzier, Riako, Vincent Pons, and Clémence Tricaud. "Coordination and Bandwagon Effects: How Past Rankings Shape the Behavior of Voters and Candidates." American Economic Journal: Applied Economics 15, no. 4 (October 2023): 177–217.
- 2025
- Working Paper
Residential Battery Storage - Reshaping the Way We Do Electricity
By: Christian Kaps and Serguei Netessine
In this paper, we aim to understand when private households invest in behind-the-meter battery storage next to rooftop solar and how those batteries impact households, the electricity market, and emissions. We answer three main research questions: 1) When do customers... View Details
Keywords: Solar Power; Energy Storage; Technology And Innovation Management; Energy; Energy Policy; Renewable Energy; Technological Innovation; Innovation and Management; Energy Industry
Kaps, Christian, and Serguei Netessine. "Residential Battery Storage - Reshaping the Way We Do Electricity." Working Paper, February 2025.
- 2023
- Working Paper
Beyond the Hype: Unveiling the Marginal Benefits of 3D Virtual Tours in Real Estate
By: Mengxia Zhang and Isamar Troncoso
3D virtual tours (VTs) have become a popular digital tool in real estate platforms, enabling potential buyers to virtually walk through the houses they search for online. In this paper, we study home sellers’ adoption of VTs and the VTs’ relative benefits compared to... View Details
Zhang, Mengxia, and Isamar Troncoso. "Beyond the Hype: Unveiling the Marginal Benefits of 3D Virtual Tours in Real Estate." Harvard Business School Working Paper, No. 24-003, July 2023.
- July 2023
- Article
Marketplace Scalability and Strategic Use of Platform Investment
By: Jin Li, Gary Pisano, Richard Xu and Feng Zhu
The scalability of a marketplace depends on the operations of the marketplace platform as well as its sellers’ capacities. In this study, we explore one strategy that a marketplace platform can use to enhance its scalability: providing an ancillary service to sellers.... View Details
Li, Jin, Gary Pisano, Richard Xu, and Feng Zhu. "Marketplace Scalability and Strategic Use of Platform Investment." Management Science 69, no. 7 (July 2023): 3958–3975.
- February 2023 (Revised April 2023)
- Case
Kvadrat: Focus, Execute, and Grow
By: Boris Groysberg and Sarah L. Abbott
Kvadrat was a family-owned global textiles company. The company had enjoyed impressive top-line growth and was shifting gears to emphasize profitability via a shorter strategic agenda. Agenda items included: U.S. expansion, generating improved margins in its consumer... View Details
- 2023
- Working Paper
Distributionally Robust Causal Inference with Observational Data
By: Dimitris Bertsimas, Kosuke Imai and Michael Lingzhi Li
We consider the estimation of average treatment effects in observational studies and propose a new framework of robust causal inference with unobserved confounders. Our approach is based on distributionally robust optimization and proceeds in two steps. We first... View Details
Bertsimas, Dimitris, Kosuke Imai, and Michael Lingzhi Li. "Distributionally Robust Causal Inference with Observational Data." Working Paper, February 2023.
- January 2023
- Article
Calculators for Women: When Identity-Based Appeals Backfire
By: Tami Kim, Kate Barasz, Michael I. Norton and Leslie K. John
From “Chick Beer” to “Dryer Sheets for Men,” identity-based labeling is frequently deployed by marketers to appeal to specific target markets. Yet such identity appeals can backfire, alienating the very consumers they aim to attract. We theorize and empirically... View Details
Keywords: Categorization Threat; Stereotypes; Identity; Labels; Gender; Perception; Consumer Behavior
Kim, Tami, Kate Barasz, Michael I. Norton, and Leslie K. John. "Calculators for Women: When Identity-Based Appeals Backfire." Special Issue on Racism and Discrimination in the Marketplace edited by Samantha N. N. Cross and Stephanie Dellande. Journal of the Association for Consumer Research 8, no. 1 (January 2023): 72–82.
- January–February 2023
- Article
The Overlooked Key to a Successful Scale-Up
By: Jeffrey F. Rayport, Davide Sola and Martin Kupp
Many start-ups experience enormous popularity and runaway growth, but only a few go on to become stable giants. What separates them from the pack? They all go through a developmental stage called extrapolation, say three business school professors.
View Details
Keywords: Entrepreneurship And Strategy; Scalability; Business Startups; Growth and Development Strategy; Entrepreneurship
Rayport, Jeffrey F., Davide Sola, and Martin Kupp. "The Overlooked Key to a Successful Scale-Up." Harvard Business Review (January–February 2023): 56–65.
- 2022
- Working Paper
Coordination and Incumbency Advantage in Multi-Party Systems: Evidence from French Elections
By: Kevin Dano, Francesco Ferlenga, Vincenzo Galasso, Caroline Le Pennec and Vincent Pons
In theory, free and fair elections can improve the selection of politicians and incentivize them to exert effort. In practice, incumbency advantage and coordination issues may lead to the (re)election of bad politicians. We ask whether these two forces compound each... View Details
Keywords: Political Parties; Incumbent Politicians; Democracy; Political Elections; Competitive Advantage
Dano, Kevin, Francesco Ferlenga, Vincenzo Galasso, Caroline Le Pennec, and Vincent Pons. "Coordination and Incumbency Advantage in Multi-Party Systems: Evidence from French Elections." NBER Working Paper Series, No. 30541, October 2022.
- October 2022
- Supplement
Framebridge (B): A New Approach
By: Rembrand Koning and Alicia Dadlani
In 2022, after revamping operations and expanding retail stores, Framebridge founder and CEO Susan Tynan is optimistic for the future but realizes changing market dynamics. New competitors are entering the market, and margin pressures remained. This case is part two of... View Details
Keywords: Business Startups; Business Strategy; Entrepreneurship; Operations; Market Entry and Exit; Consumer Products Industry; United States; District of Columbia; Kentucky
Koning, Rembrand, and Alicia Dadlani. "Framebridge (B): A New Approach." Harvard Business School Supplement 723-353, October 2022.
- September 16, 2022
- Article
A Causal Test of the Strength of Weak Ties
By: Karthik Rajkumar, Guillaume Saint-Jacques, Iavor I. Bojinov, Erik Brynjolfsson and Sinan Aral
The authors analyzed data from multiple large-scale randomized experiments on LinkedIn’s People You May Know algorithm, which recommends new connections to LinkedIn members, to test the extent to which weak ties increased job mobility in the world’s largest... View Details
Rajkumar, Karthik, Guillaume Saint-Jacques, Iavor I. Bojinov, Erik Brynjolfsson, and Sinan Aral. "A Causal Test of the Strength of Weak Ties." Science 377, no. 6612 (September 16, 2022).
- August 2022 (Revised December 2022)
- Case
Iluméxico: For Every Family to Have Power
By: Brian Trelstad, Isa Oliveres and Jenyfeer Martinez Buitrago
In 2022, Manuel Wiechers, the CEO of Iluméxico, a for-profit social enterprise that provided off-grid solar energy services in rural Mexico, was finalizing his presentation for the company’s upcoming board meeting. In the 12 years since Wiechers had co-founded... View Details
Keywords: Social Entrepreneurship; Social Enterprise; Energy; Energy Policy; Energy Generation; Energy Sources; Growth Management; Business and Government Relations; Equity; Internet and the Web; Business Model; Energy Industry; Mexico; Latin America
Trelstad, Brian, Isa Oliveres, and Jenyfeer Martinez Buitrago. "Iluméxico: For Every Family to Have Power." Harvard Business School Case 323-026, August 2022. (Revised December 2022.)
- 2022
- Article
Data Poisoning Attacks on Off-Policy Evaluation Methods
By: Elita Lobo, Harvineet Singh, Marek Petrik, Cynthia Rudin and Himabindu Lakkaraju
Off-policy Evaluation (OPE) methods are a crucial tool for evaluating policies in high-stakes domains such as healthcare, where exploration is often infeasible, unethical, or expensive. However, the extent to which such methods can be trusted under adversarial threats... View Details
Lobo, Elita, Harvineet Singh, Marek Petrik, Cynthia Rudin, and Himabindu Lakkaraju. "Data Poisoning Attacks on Off-Policy Evaluation Methods." Proceedings of the Conference on Uncertainty in Artificial Intelligence (UAI) 38th (2022): 1264–1274.
- June 2022 (Revised October 2022)
- Background Note
Digital Commerce and Delivery: Preparing Food and Retail Value Chains for a 50-50 World
By: William R. Kerr, Daniel O'Connor, Paige Boehmcke and Will Ensor
Increasing digitalization of grocery retail and quick commerce reveals insights about managing complex supply chains at scale and shifting revenue streams from product sales to data monetization. How are the roles of retailers changing? What happens if marginal cost... View Details
Keywords: Grocery Delivery; Grocery; Digitalization; Fulfillment; Delivery; Supply Chain; Disruption; Food; Supply Chain Management; Market Design; Trends; Value Creation; Goods and Commodities; Customer Value and Value Chain; Digital Transformation; Retail Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; United States; China
Kerr, William R., Daniel O'Connor, Paige Boehmcke, and Will Ensor. "Digital Commerce and Delivery: Preparing Food and Retail Value Chains for a 50-50 World." Harvard Business School Background Note 822-108, June 2022. (Revised October 2022.)
- March 2022 (Revised March 2024)
- Case
Hometown Foods: Changing Price amid Inflation
During the early part of the 2021 Covid-19 pandemic, Hometown Foods, a large seller of flour-based products, thrived as consumers hoarded baked goods and took up baking to pass the time and find comfort. Then, amid growing shortages in commodities, a vaccine arrived,... View Details
Keywords: COVID-19 Pandemic; Consumer Behavior; Supply Chain; Inflation and Deflation; Spending; Price Bubble; Price; Volatility; Food and Beverage Industry
De Freitas, Julian, Jeremy Yang, and Das Narayandas. "Hometown Foods: Changing Price amid Inflation." Harvard Business School Case 522-087, March 2022. (Revised March 2024.)
- March 2022
- Supplement
Washio (C): From Growth to Margin
By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Karen Elterman
Casadesus-Masanell, Ramon, and Karen Elterman. "Washio (C): From Growth to Margin." Harvard Business School Supplement 722-447, March 2022.
- Article
More-Experienced Entrepreneurs Have Bigger Deadline Problems
By: Andy Wu, Aticus Peterson and Amy Meeker
Professor Andy Wu and doctoral candidate Aticus Peterson of Harvard Business School tracked 314 entrepreneurs who launched multiple technology hardware products on the crowdfunding platform Kickstarter from September 2010 to June 2019. The more projects the founders... View Details
Wu, Andy, Aticus Peterson, and Amy Meeker. "More-Experienced Entrepreneurs Have Bigger Deadline Problems." Harvard Business Review 100, no. 2 (March–April 2022): 28–29. (IdeaWatch.)