Publications

August 2017 (Revised August 2018)
Case

Busbud: Building a Data Company

By: Srikant M. Datar, Alistair Croll and Caitlin N. Bowler

The case features the work of LP Maurice (HBS '08) as he decides to take on the fragmented bus travel industry and launch an online business that aggregates and shares bus schedules for routes around the world. His first challenge: finding that the data he needs is... View Details

Keywords: Data Science; Analytics and Data Science; Business Startups; Knowledge Acquisition; Customers; Measurement and Metrics; Transportation Industry

23 May 2013
Keynote Speech

The State of the Shared Value Field

By: Michael E. Porter

Michael E. Porter of Harvard Business School presents on the importance of shared value as business strategy. This keynote presentation was filmed on May 23rd, 2013 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, at the Global Shared Value Leadership Summit. Learn more at fsg.org. Join... View Details

Keywords: Creating Shared Value

February 2021 (Revised February 2021)
Background Note

eGrocery and the Role of Data for CPG Firms

By: Ayelet Israeli, Fedor (Ted) Lisitsyn and Mark A. Irwin

This notes provides information about the eGrocery industry and how traditional CPG companies handle this channel and potential data. It is recommended to use together with a series of exercises entitled: "E-Commerce Analytics for CPG Firms (A), (B), and (C)." View Details

First Quarter 2013
Article

Big Data in the Age of the Telegraph

By: Caitlin C. Rosenthal

Daniel McCallum's 1854 organizational chart for the New York and Erie Railroad resembled a tree rather than a pyramid. It empowered frontline managers by clarifying data flows. View Details

Keywords: Big Data; Telegraph; Organizational Charts; History; Data and Data Sets; Business History; Information Technology; Organizational Structure; Rail Industry

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Winter 2017
Article

Why Big Data Isn't Enough

By: Sen Chai and Willy C. Shih

There is a growing belief that sophisticated algorithms can explore huge databases and find relationships independent of any preconceived hypotheses. But in businesses that involve scientific research and technological innovation, this approach is misguided and... View Details

Keywords: Big Data; Science-based; Science; Scientific Research; Data Analytics; Data Science; Data-driven Management; Data Scientists; Technological Innovation; Analytics and Data Science; Mathematical Methods; Theory

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August 2021 (Revised February 2024)
Case

Data Science at the Warriors

By: Iavor I. Bojinov and Michael Parzen

The case explores the development and early growth of a data science team at the Golden State Warriors, an NBA team based in San Francisco. The case begins by explaining the initial rationale for investing in data science, then covers a debate on the appropriate team... View Details

Keywords: Data Science; Digital Marketing; Analysis; Forecasting and Prediction; Technological Innovation; Information Technology; Sports Industry; San Francisco; United States

January 2017 (Revised April 2019)
Case

The Olmos Project: Value Creation and Value Capture

By: John Macomber, Fernanda Miguel, Laura Urdapilleta and Valeria Moy

Private investment in public infrastructure can be encouraged when there are multiple avenues to capture and to share the value created by such a project. Gains in the market value of land adjacent to projects are not customarily channeled back into defraying the... View Details

Keywords: Value Capture; Infrastructure; Decision Making; Agribusiness; Value Creation; South America; Peru

March 2018
Article

Scraped Data and Sticky Prices

By: Alberto Cavallo

I use daily prices collected from online retailers in five countries to study the impact of measurement bias on three common price stickiness statistics. Relative to previous results, I find that online prices have longer durations, with fewer price changes close to... View Details

Keywords: Online Data; Scraped Data; Sticky Prices; Scanner Data; Consumer Price Index; Price; Data and Data Sets

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October 2021 (Revised September 2022)
Case

SmartOne: Building an AI Data Business

By: Karim R. Lakhani, Pippa Armerding, Gamze Yucaoglu and Fares Khrais

The case opens in August 2021, as Habib and Shahysta Hassim, husband and wife co-founders of the data labeling company SmartOne, contemplate the strategy of the high growth company. Between 2016 and 2021, SmartOne had kept doubling its size every two years and now,... View Details

Keywords: Artificial Intelligence; Data Labeling; Entrepreneurship; Strategy; Operations; Business Model; Growth Management; Growth and Development Strategy; AI and Machine Learning; Africa; Madagascar; Europe; France; United States

February 2021 (Revised June 2021)
Case

Bairong and the Promise of Big Data

By: Lauren Cohen, Xiaoyan Zhang and Spencer C.N. Hagist

Bairong CEO Felix Zhang, in launching his credit scoring start-up that incorporates 74,000 variables per individual, found strong initial success. However, the shifting regulatory environment, growing breadth of competitors, difficulties in retaining top talent, and... View Details

Keywords: Fintech; Big Data; Artificial Intelligence; Credit Scoring; Finance; Credit; Business Startups; AI and Machine Learning; Analytics and Data Science; China

August 2018 (Revised September 2018)
Case

LendingClub (A): Data Analytic Thinking (Abridged)

By: Srikant M. Datar and Caitlin N. Bowler

LendingClub was founded in 2006 as an alternative, peer-to-peer lending model to connect individual borrowers to individual investor-lenders through an online platform. Since 2014 the company has worked with institutional investors at scale. While the company assigns... View Details

Keywords: Data Science; Data Analytics; Investing; Loans; Investment; Financing and Loans; Analytics and Data Science; Analysis; Forecasting and Prediction; Business Model

Research Summary

Leadership & Values in Times of Instability

By: Ryan L. Raffaelli

Professor Raffaelli investigates the role of leaders within organizations and across industries during periods of upheaval and ambiguity. His work indicates the key role leaders play in driving and infusing values. He also connects leadership to meaning-making,... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Values And Beliefs; Mission and Purpose

May 2022
Case

TikTok and National Security: Investment in an Age of Data Sovereignty?

By: Jeremy Friedman, Sarah Bauerle Danzman and David Lane

This case covers TikTok’s purchase of Musical.ly and the reaction of the United States government, including the review of the purchase by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS) and the reaction of the presidential administration of Donald... View Details

Keywords: Data Security; Mergers and Acquisitions; Cybersecurity; Internet and the Web; International Relations; Laws and Statutes; Globalized Firms and Management

July 2020
Case

Applying Data Science and Analytics at P&G

By: Srikant M. Datar, Sarah Mehta and Paul Hamilton

Set in December 2019, this case explores how P&G has applied data science and analytics to cut costs and improve outcomes across its business units. The case provides an overview of P&G’s approach to data management and governance, and reviews the challenges associated... View Details

Keywords: Data Science; Analytics; Analysis; Information; Information Management; Information Types; Innovation and Invention; Strategy; Analytics and Data Science; Consumer Products Industry; United States; Ohio

January 2018 (Revised January 2021)
Background Note

Customer Lifetime Social Value (CLSV)

By: Elie Ofek, Barak Libai and Eitan Muller

One of the hallmarks of the digital revolution is the rise of the socially connected consumer. Concomitantly, the ability of companies to affect and measure the social interactions among customers has grown tremendously. Consequently, in assessing the full value of... View Details

Keywords: Customer Lifetime Value; Customer Management; Social Contagion; Word Of Mouth; Customer Engagement; Customer Value and Value Chain; Measurement and Metrics; Customer Relationship Management

2022
Working Paper

Where the Cloud Rests: The Location Strategies of Data Centers

By: Shane Greenstein and Tommy Pan Fang

This study provides an analysis of the entry strategies of third-party data centers in the United States. We examine the market before the pandemic in 2018 and 2019, when supply and demand for data services were geographically stable. We compare with the entry... View Details

Keywords: Cloud Computing; Location Strategies; Data Centers; Information Infrastructure

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Article

Variety of Innovation in Global Value Chains

By: Giulio Buciuni and Gary P. Pisano

This article analyzes how the geography and organization of pre- and production stages in Global Value Chains (GVC) contribute to lead firms' innovation development. A novel approach in GVC studies is introduced based on transaction cost economics (TCE) and the... View Details

Keywords: GVC; Global Value Chains; Manufacturing; Production; Global Range; Innovation and Invention

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May 2018 (Revised June 2018)
Case

Cowen Inc.: Leveraging Data

By: Boris Groysberg, Sarah Abbott and Annelena Lobb

Cowen Inc.’s broker-dealer, Cowen and Company, LLC, boasted a number of analysts who had made prescient stock calls on the basis of creative data analysis. Now Cowen Inc. had opened a new subsidiary, Kyber, which would attempt to monetize new data science products.... View Details

Keywords: Data Science; Equity Research; Research Analysts; Investment; Analytics and Data Science; Equity; Research; Analysis; Competitive Strategy

September 2016 (Revised October 2016)
Technical Note

Internet Data Capping Note

By: Shane Greenstein, Lisa Cox and Christine Snively

In April 2016, U.S. federal regulators approved Charter Communications’ acquisition of Time Warner Cable (TWC). The Department of Justice (DoJ) and Federal Communications Commission (FCC), however, stipulated that the new company could not apply data caps or introduce... View Details

Keywords: Internet Service Provider; Data Caps; Compression; Information Technology; Internet and the Web; United States