Publications

June 2018
Case

American Airlines' Value Pricing (Abridged)

By: Alvin J. Silk and Sunil Gupta

This is an abridged version of the 1992 case where American Airlines (AA) launched "Value Pricing" in an attempt to simplify the pricing structure of the airline industry. AA expected that this plan would benefit not only consumers, but also AA and the entire airline... View Details

Keywords: Consumer Marketing; Market Segmentation; Pricing; Pricing Strategy; Demand Analysis; Competition; Marketing; Segmentation; Price; Strategy; Demand and Consumers; Analysis; Air Transportation Industry

October 2023 (Revised July 2024)
Case

Nelson Mandela: Changing the World

By: Robert Simons and Shirley Sun

This case traces the rise of Nelson Mandela from his tribal home in South Africa to president of the country. Rejecting expectations that he would be a tribal leader, Mandela instead dedicates his life to fighting Apartheid. After peaceful approaches fail, he joins... View Details

Keywords: Mission and Purpose; Values and Beliefs; Power and Influence; Personal Characteristics; Leadership Style; Success; South Africa

04 Mar 2020

Incorporating Climate Risk into Financial Models: Bob Litterman on Transition Risk

02 Sep 2011
Working Paper Summaries

First-Party Content, Commitment and Coordination in Two-Sided Markets

Keywords: by Andrei Hagiu & Daniel Spulber

May 1980
Case

Kendall-Vetmat

Discusses the role of market research in a product manager's decision process. Traces the development of market research information for the introduction of a new product, and presents a manager's dilemma of receiving market data that are inconsistent with expectations... View Details

Keywords: Decision Making; Product Launch; Product Development

09 Nov 2016
Blog Post

Learning from Classmates at HBS

that I would meet incredible people from all around the world with experiences in a wide variety of industries. What I didn’t expect was how unique every one of my classmates' stories and perspectives would be, and that really shapes the... View Details

April 1999 (Revised March 2000)
Background Note

Discovering What Has Already Been Discovered: Why Did Your Customers Hire Your Product?

By: Clayton M. Christensen

Describes a methodology for identifying markets for new technologies and for defining the highest value attributes of new products or services. It helps innovators escape the trap of incremental improvements to established product concepts by asking a straightforward... View Details

Keywords: Customer Focus and Relationships; Markets; Product; Technology Adoption; Value

April 1980
Case

Peter Green's First Day

Peter Green, a new salesperson for Scott Carpets, learns firsthand that his largest account has always been given a discount based on falsified information and expects the same preferred treatment to continue. Peter's boss condones the discount. Peter must decide... View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Rank and Position; Conflict and Resolution

August 1972 (Revised November 2002)
Case

Prelude Corporation

Describes a company that is seeking to restructure the lobster fishing industry by applying technology and management to what has been essentially a cottage industry. The student is expected to identify and evaluate the strategy pursued by the company to date and then... View Details

Keywords: Technology; Strategy; Leading Change; Animal-Based Agribusiness; Industry Growth; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Food and Beverage Industry

September 2010
Case

Merck: Investing in Science-Based Business (Abridged)

By: Ananth Raman and Inga Katharina Maurer

Ray Gilmartin faces a dilemma. His company's credibility has been damaged by the recent withdrawal of Vioxx, a multi-billion dollar drug. Moreover, the withdrawal of Vioxx would imply that Merck would fail to meet analysts' earnings expectations for 2005 unless... View Details

Keywords: Factories, Labs, and Plants; Cost Management; Production; Research and Development

19 Dec 2014
News

Harvard Family, Work Survey Points To High Expectations, Disappointing Results For Women

19 Nov 2010
News

GM has smooth ride in return to Wall Street

22 Aug 2021
News

We Are Not Ready for the Asynchronous Future

28 Jul 2020
News

Big tech CEOs face 'high stakes' as they head to Capitol Hill

19 May 2015
News

Harvard researchers find working mothers have more successful daughters and conscientious sons

February 2014 (Revised January 2024)
Case

Go Mobile: Aligning District Managers and Store Teams

By: Tatiana Sandino

Indian cell phone retailer Go Mobile had implemented high-powered incentives to motivate its store employees to behave as owners and provide exceptional service. As the company scaled up, it faced multiple challenges in building a layer of district managers that were... View Details

Keywords: Employee Relationship Management; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Growth Management; Organizational Design; Salesforce Management; Motivation and Incentives; Management Practices and Processes; Telecommunications Industry; India

February 1979
Article

Effects of External Evaluation on Artistic Creativity

By: T. M. Amabile

Examined the conditions under which the imposition of an extrinsic constraint upon performance of an activity can lead to decrements in creativity. 95 female undergraduates worked on an art activity either with or without the expectation of external evaluation. In... View Details

Keywords: Creativity; Social Psychology; Performance Evaluation; Motivation and Incentives; Situation or Environment

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August 2016
Article

The Role of (Dis)similarity in (Mis)predicting Others' Preferences

By: Kate Barasz, Tami Kim and Leslie K. John

Consumers readily indicate liking options that appear dissimilar—for example, enjoying both rustic lake vacations and chic city vacations or liking both scholarly documentary films and action-packed thrillers. However, when predicting other consumers’ tastes for the... View Details

Keywords: Perceived Similarity; Prediction Error; Preference Prediction; Self-other Difference; Social Inference; Cognition and Thinking; Perception; Forecasting and Prediction

spring 1991
Article

Breaking the Cycle of Failure in Services

By: Leonard A. Schlesinger and James Heskett

Most managers recognize that good service is a direct result of having effective, productive people in customer contact positions. However, most service companies perpetuate a cycle of failure by tolerating high turnover and expecting employee dissatisfaction. This... View Details

Keywords: Goals and Objectives; Service Delivery; Success; Failure; Management Skills; Service Industry

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