Publications

22 Feb 2021
Book

Reaching Today's Omnichannel Customer Takes a New Sales Strategy

better by watching how the best of their peers perform key tasks. They pick up important lessons about how to pitch, how to answer objections, how to deal with competitive comparisons, and other aspects of selling that product at that... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz

June 2020
Case

TransDigm: The Acquisition of Aerosonic Corp.

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Daniel W. Fisher

In April 2013, TransDigm, a company that manufactured a wide range of highly engineered aerospace parts for both military and commercial aircraft, announced an agreement to acquire Aerosonic Corporation for $39 million in cash (1.2 times Aerosonic’s sales of $31... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Growth Management; Business Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Value Creation; Valuation; Negotiation; Cash Flow; Contracts; Aerospace Industry; Air Transportation Industry; United States

Web

HBS - The year in Review

college or university. This year's group of 17 Fellows included students from Wellesley College, Princeton University, Carleton College, and Georgia Institute of Technology. New Venture Competition hosts 24th contest Led by the Arthur... View Details

January 2021
Case

Bespoken Spirits: Disrupting Distilling

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Daniel Fisher

On October 7, 2020, Bespoken Spirits publicly announced it had received $2.6 million of seed funding for its “sustainable maturation process,” a process that could produce award-winning whiskeys in just days rather than years using a novel technology and data science. ... View Details

Keywords: Business Ventures; Business Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Disruption; Entrepreneurship; Environmental Sustainability; Cash Flow; Disruptive Innovation; Innovation Strategy; Brands and Branding; Business Model; Consumer Products Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Service Industry; United States; California

22 Jan 2010
Working Paper Summaries

Competing Ad Auctions

Keywords: by Itai Ashlagi, Benjamin G. Edelman & Hoan Soo Lee; Advertising

Research Summary

Bricks and Clicks: The Effect of Store Assortment on E-tail Format (with R. Lal and E. Ofek)

An often neglected aspect in existing studies of the Internet selling process is the high volume of product returns. Such returns reflect a major logistic expenditure on behalf of companies that sell over the net. The problem is reduced when consumers shop in physical... View Details

Research Summary

The Role of Information Technology in the Provision of Services

By: James I. Cash

James I. Cash, Jr. is exploring the role of information technology in service management. Specifically, he is studying the implications of the ubiquity of information technology at three levels in service-providing organizations. (In the United States today, service... View Details

2025
Working Paper

Algorithmic Assortment Curation: An Empirical Study of Buybox in Online Marketplaces

By: Santiago Gallino, Nil Karacaoglu and Antonio Moreno

Most online sales worldwide take place in marketplaces that connect sellers and buyers. The presence of numerous third-party sellers leads to a proliferation of listings for each product, making it difficult for customers to choose between the available options. Online... View Details

Keywords: Algorithms; E-commerce; Sales; Digital Marketing; Internet and the Web; Customer Satisfaction

SSRN

July 2021
Article

Outsourcing Tasks Online: Matching Supply and Demand on Peer-to-Peer Internet Platforms

By: Zoë Cullen and Chiara Farronato

We study the growth of online peer-to-peer markets. Using data from TaskRabbit, an expanding marketplace for domestic tasks at the time of our study, we show that growth varies considerably across cities. To disentangle the potential drivers of growth, we look... View Details

Keywords: Two-sided Market; Two-sided Platforms; Peer-to-peer Markets; Platform Strategy; Sharing Economy; Platform Growth; Internet and the Web; Digital Platforms; Strategy; Market Design; Network Effects

2012
Chapter

When Identities, Interests, and Information Collide: How Subgroups Create Hidden Profiles in Teams

By: Jeffrey T. Polzer, Lisa Kwan and Lisa B. Kwan

Purpose—We review how team members' identities and interests affect team functioning, paying special attention to subgroup dynamics triggered by fault lines and coalitions. This review sets the stage for describing novel pathways through which identities and... View Details

Keywords: Information; Conflict of Interests; Interests; Groups and Teams; Identity; Performance

Find at Harvard

Web

Student Activities - Health Care

into the front lines of health care delivery. Mixers & Small Group Dinners Provide networking and community building opportunities with alumni, students, and the broader Harvard community. Competitions & Challenges Business plan... View Details

October 2020
Case

Michael Phelps: 'It's Okay to Not Be Okay'

By: Boris Groysberg, Carin-Isabel Knoop and Michael Norris

In 2020, Michael Phelps, the most decorated Olympian of all time, with 28 medals in various swimming events, was now retired. As he looked back on his 20+ year athletic career, he considered what had gone into making him the greatest of all time—the highs and lows,... View Details

Keywords: Mental Health; Talent and Talent Management; Training; Health; Success; Performance Improvement; Personal Development and Career; Family and Family Relationships; Sports; Competition; Sports Industry; United States; Baltimore; Arizona; Sydney; Athens; Beijing; London

Web

John H. McArthur | About

information, he also saw a need for the School to experiment with new technologies and forms of packaging intellectual content, which had emerged as part of the changing competitive landscape for business schools. In typical fashion,... View Details

08 Mar 2024
Blog Post

History of the HBS Women's Student Association

addition of women’s bathrooms on every floor of classroom buildings. Furthermore, the WSA has consistently introduced innovative initiatives to strengthen the support network for women at HBS. The female founder pitch competition started... View Details

19 May 2021
Op-Ed

Why America Needs a Better Bridge Between School and Career

shop” for employers and potential employees to find each other, even when labor markets are tight. But as hiring grows, tighter linkages between educational institutions and industry can yield better economic outcomes for workers and higher levels of View Details

Keywords: by Joseph B. Fuller and Rachel Lipson

19 Jul 2023
Blog Post

A Pathway to Pursue Aspirations

media space; it’s competitive and interesting – especially when you really believe in the content they make.” Mizuho spent her internship summer deep in reflection, “struggling to move out of finance and find what I want to do long term.”... View Details

20 Aug 2013
First Look

First Look: August 20

a signi cant potential upside compared with solutions obtained via classical RO methods. Working Papers Performance Responses to Competition Across Skill-Levels in Rank Order Tournaments: Field Evidence and Implications for Tournament... View Details

Keywords: Anna Secino

September 2014 (Revised June 2017)
Case

Google Inc. in 2014

By: Benjamin Edelman and Thomas R. Eisenmann

Describes Google's history, business model, governance structure, corporate culture, and processes for managing innovation. Reviews Google's recent strategic initiatives and the threats they pose to selected competitors. Asks what Google should do next. View Details

Keywords: Search Engines; Google; Online Advertising; Internet and the Web; Network Effects; Business Model; Competition; Digital Marketing; Information Technology Industry; Advertising Industry