Publications

December 2014
Article

Market Competition, Earnings Management, and Persistence in Accounting Profitability Around the World

By: Paul M. Healy, George Serafeim, Suraj Srinivasan and Gwen Yu

We examine how cross-country differences in product, capital, and labor market competition, and earnings management affect mean reversion in accounting return on assets. Using a sample of 48,465 unique firms from 49 countries, we find that accounting returns mean... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Performance; Valuation; Equity Valuation; Persistence; Competitive Advantage; Institutions; Earnings Management; Labor Market; Capital Markets; Competition; Profit; Performance; Supply and Industry; Financial Statements; Government and Politics; Globalized Markets and Industries

SSRN

August 2013 (Revised December 2014)
Case

Taking Dell Private

By: David J. Collis, David B. Yoffie and Matthew Shaffer

In July 2012, Michael Dell, CEO and founder of Dell, Inc., met with a representative of Silver Lake Partners to explore taking his company private. The company, which he had founded in his dorm room as a college freshman and which had made him the youngest Fortune 500... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Going Private; The PC Market; Market For Corporate Control; Corporate Strategy; Leveraged Buyouts; Change Management; Private Equity; Market Entry and Exit; Private Ownership; Information Infrastructure; Applications and Software; Internet and the Web; Computer Industry; Technology Industry; United States

January 2006 (Revised March 2010)
Case

Peer-to-Peer File Sharing and the Market for Digital Information Goods

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell, Andres Hervas and Jordan Mitchell

We study competitive interaction between two alternative models of digital content distribution over the Internet: peer-to-peer (p2p) file sharing and centralized client-server distribution. We present microfoundations for a stylized model of p2p file sharing where all... View Details

Keywords: Price; Profit; Distribution; Competition; Internet and the Web; Information Infrastructure

29 Oct 2014
Research & Ideas

Inventing Products is Less Valuable Than Inventing Ideas

professor of strategy at the Ross School of Business at the University of Michigan. In the case of Zuckerberg vs. the Winklevosses, the twins may have had created a simple interface for college kids to connect with one another, but it... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Technology

Research Summary

Putting Patients First: Marketing Strategies for Treating HIV in Developing Nations

It is more than mere coincidence that the highest rates of HIV occur in the world’s poorest countries. Of the over 40 million people currently living with HIV, 95 percent are in the developing world. The first half of this paper explores the economics of HIV and... View Details

01 Jun 1996
News

Reinventing Marketing

lost more than a dozen faculty members in the last five years, spurring an energetic recruitment effort. "It's an enormous challenge but also a great opportunity," says Quelch. "We can restructure the unit in line with the needs for View Details

Keywords: Mary Jane Higgins; Illustration by Peter Hoey

August 2005 (Revised August 2007)
Background Note

Why Study Emerging Markets

By: Tarun Khanna, Krishna G. Palepu and Kjell Ke-Li Carlsson

Emerging markets have attracted considerable attention and are likely to become an increasingly important political and economic force. They represent an enormous opportunity for entrepreneurs, multinationals, and investors but also pose a threat for products, jobs,... View Details

Keywords: Profit; Multinational Firms and Management; Corporate Governance; Emerging Markets; Problems and Challenges; Opportunities

18 Aug 2014
Research & Ideas

Have a Better Idea To Improve Health Care?

medical center. You don't have to be from Boston, Los Angeles, or Houston. You don't need to be affiliated with Harvard. A winning idea could be from anywhere." Ideas submitted so far include a tool View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Health

September 2020 (Revised July 2022)
Teaching Note

Algorithmic Bias in Marketing

By: Ayelet Israeli and Eva Ascarza

Teaching Note for HBS No. 521-020. This note focuses on algorithmic bias in marketing. First, it presents a variety of marketing examples in which algorithmic bias may occur. The examples are organized around the 4 P’s of marketing – promotion, price, place and... View Details

Keywords: Marketing; Race; Ethnicity; Gender; Diversity; Prejudice and Bias; Decision Making; Ethics; Customer Relationship Management; Retail Industry; Technology Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry; United States

2023
Working Paper

Market Design and Maintenance

By: Alvin E. Roth

Because no marketplace operates in isolation from the larger world, marketplace designs may need to adapt to changes in the larger environments. I discuss such changes in connection with the labor markets for new doctors, new Ph.D. economists, and for kidney exchange... View Details

Keywords: Market Design

Register to Read

01 Jun 2012
News

A Better World, One Idea at a Time

A dozen budding social entrepreneurs pitched their ideas for innovative products and services during the annual Social Enterprise Conference in February, and four came away with top honors. The sold-out... View Details

Keywords: contests; awards; cosmetics; Crop Production; Agriculture; Chemical Manufacturing; Manufacturing; Nonstore Retailers; Retail Trade

20 Oct 2022
News

4 Business Ideas That Changed the World: Shareholder Value

Article

Peer-to-Peer File Sharing and the Market for Digital Information Goods

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Andres Hervas-Drane

We study competitive interaction between two alternative models of digital content distribution over the Internet: peer-to-peer (p2p) file sharing and centralized client-server distribution. We present microfoundations for a stylized model of p2p file sharing where all... View Details

Keywords: Competition; Distribution; Internet and the Web; Information Infrastructure; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Strategy; Profit; Price; Performance Efficiency

11 Apr 2013
Working Paper Summaries

Managers and Market Capitalism

Keywords: by Rebecca Henderson & Karthik Ramanna

Research Summary

Competing in New Markets

Strategic advisors counsel managers to conduct a thorough competitive analysis emphasizing key points of differentiation. But for new markets, Professor McDonald’s research suggests that reports of the threat posed by similar rivals may be greatly exaggerated, and... View Details

05 Feb 2009
Research & Ideas

In Praise of Marketing

Editor's Note: Harvard Business School professor John Quelch writes a blog on marketing issues, called Marketing Know: How, for Harvard Business Online. It is reprinted on HBS... View Details

Keywords: by John Quelch; Advertising

Article

Integrated Strategy: Residual Market and Exchange Imperfections as the Foundation of Sustainable Competitive Advantage

By: Felix Oberholzer-Gee and Dennis Yao

Market imperfections are central to understanding the mechanisms that permit firms to capture value. Many of these imperfections are competed away when firms struggle to attain and defend competitive advantages, making markets more efficient in the process. The... View Details

Keywords: Integrated Strategy; Nonmarket Strategy; Market Imperfections; Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms

August 2004 (Revised February 2006)
Case

Marketing James Patterson

By: John A. Deighton

Can a successful novelist use direct-to-consumer marketing to grow his brand? The author, who in a previous career ran a major advertising agency, uses advertising with great success to build his stature as a crime fiction writer. Further, he applies his experience at... View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Debates; Surveys; SWOT Analysis; Brands and Branding; Marketing Channels; Product Marketing; Consumer Behavior; Outcome or Result; Sales