Publications

2011
Other Unpublished Work

Towards Improvement in Singapore's Transportation Efficiency and Environmental Impact

By: Benjamin Edelman

I evaluate the suitability of Personal Rapid Transport (PRT) for transportation problems in Singapore, and I propose short-term and long-term applications. View Details

Keywords: Performance Efficiency; Performance Improvement; Environmental Sustainability; Transportation; Transportation Industry; Singapore

December 2010 (Revised June 2014)
Supplement

eBay Partner Network — slide supplement

By: Benjamin Edelman

eBay considers adjustments to the structure and rules of its affiliate marketing program, eBay Partner Network (ePN). In particular, eBay reevaluates affiliate compensation structure, the role of bonuses for especially productive affiliates, and the overall rationale... View Details

Keywords: History; Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Internet and the Web; Markets; Marketing Channels; Negotiation Participants; Marketing; Compensation and Benefits; Service Industry

January 2010 (Revised February 2010)
Teaching Note

Personal Rapid Transport at Vectus, Ltd.

By: Benjamin Edelman

Teaching Note for [910010]. View Details

Keywords: Transportation Industry

2009
Other Unpublished Work

Deception in Post-Transaction Marketing Offers

By: Benjamin Edelman

Keywords: Ethics; Crime and Corruption; Market Transactions

February 2009 (Revised December 2010)
Case

Windows Vista

By: Benjamin Edelman

Microsoft designs, modifies, publicizes, and distributes Windows Vista—against a backdrop of consumers already largely satisfied with their existing Windows XP systems. Microsoft must decide what features to include and what to drop, how to compete with its own... View Details

Keywords: Product Launch; Demand and Consumers; Partners and Partnerships; Competition; Software; Computer Industry

April 27, 2009
Article

Fraud in Online Advertising

By: Benjamin Edelman

At first glance, online advertising seems to be as measurable a medium as any ever invented. Advertisers can count how many times an ad was sent, then measure sales—yielding an analysis that seems to report the value of an online ad campaign. But the reality is... View Details

Keywords: Advertising Campaigns; Online Advertising; Crime and Corruption; Measurement and Metrics; Value

Find at Harvard

March 2008 (Revised April 2008)
Supplement

Opening Dot EU (B)

By: Benjamin Edelman

EURid considers possible market mechanisms to allocate initial domain names within the Internet's newly-created "dot EU." European Union regulations and community norms substantially constrain EURid's approach, preventing the use of the most natural economic mechanisms... View Details

Keywords: Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Internet and the Web; Resource Allocation; Auctions; Information Industry; Europe

2009
Working Paper

Running Out of Numbers: Scarcity of IP Addresses and What to Do About It

By: Benjamin Edelman

The Internet's current numbering system is nearing exhaustion: Existing protocols allow only a finite set of computer numbers ("IP addresses"), and central authorities will soon deplete their supply. I evaluate a series of possible responses to this shortage: Sharing... View Details

Keywords: Policy; Resource Allocation; Market Transactions; Internet; Technology Networks; Technology Industry; Telecommunications Industry

March 2019 (Revised June 2021)
Case

HelloSelf: Foundation

By: John R. Wells and Benjamin Weinstock

On January 6, 2019, HelloSelf, a London-based “BrainTech” company, founded a year earlier by Charles Wells, soft launched. The proposition was simply to help its members “Be your Best Self.” The company provided its registered members with access to a clinical... View Details

March 2018 (Revised March 2018)
Supplement

Sandlands Vineyards

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Greg Saldutte

Approximately 80% of the wineries in the US breakeven or lose money. An even greater percentage lose money on an economic basis (i.e., after a charge for the cost of equity). Tegan Passalacqua is a successful, young, Californian winemaker who specializes in making... View Details

December 2022 (Revised February 2023)
Case

Daniel Defense: Responding to the Shooting at the Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, TX

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Daniel Fisher

At 11:33am on May 24, 2022, an 18-year-old man from Uvalde, Texas walked into the Robb Elementary School carrying a semi-automatic "AR-15-style” rifle manufactured by Daniel Defense and killed 19 children and two adults. Three days later, Representative Carolyn Maloney... View Details

Keywords: Gun Violence; Gun Policy; Second Amendment; Legal Liability; Government Legislation; Marketing Strategy; Business or Company Management; Product Marketing; Ethics; Corporate Accountability; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Moral Sensibility; Crime and Corruption; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Manufacturing Industry; Advertising Industry; United States

2025
Working Paper

Private Equity and Workers: Modeling and Measuring Monopsony, Implicit Contracts, and Efficient Reallocation

By: Kyle Herkenhoff, Josh Lerner, Gordon M. Phillips, Francisca Rebelo and Benjamin Sampson

We measure the real effects of private equity buyouts on worker outcomes by building a new database that links transactions to matched employer-employee data in the United States. To guide our empirical analysis, we derive testable implications from three theories in... View Details

Keywords: Monopsony; Market Power; Productivity; Private Equity; Employment; Wages; Employees

March 2021
Case

Astralis Group: Determining a Brand Strategy

By: Benjamin C. Esty, Mette Fuglsang Hjortshoej and Emilie Billaud

After launching a Danish esports company in July 2019, and going public in December 2019 with multiple brands associated with different games, the Astralis leadership team was contemplating a shift to a single, corporate brand. While the original arguments for... View Details

12 Feb 2013
First Look

First Look: Feb. 12

http://or.journal.informs.org.ezp-prod1.hul.harvard.edu/content/60/5/1199.full.pdf+html Convergence of Position Auctions under Myopic Best-Response Dynamics Authors:Cary, Matthew, Aparna Das, Benjamin Edelman, Ioannis Giotis, Kurtis... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

28 Oct 2008
First Look

First Look: October 28, 2008

Working PapersPlatform Rules: Multi-Sided Platforms as Regulators Authors:Kevin J. Boudreau and Andrei Hagiu Abstract This paper provides a basic conceptual framework for interpreting non-price instruments used by multi-sided platforms... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

April 2021
Teaching Note

GreenFire Energy, 2020: Geothermal Innovation

By: John R. Wells and Benjamin Weinstock

In June 2020, after ten years of effort, GreenFire Energy Inc. (GreenFire) demonstrated its new geothermal electricity generation technology, ECO2G™. While conventional geothermal electricity only supplied 0.5% of US demand, the new technology promised to increase this... View Details

Keywords: Green Energy; Geothermal; Entrepreneur; Renewables; Geothermal Electricity; Green Technology; Renewable Energy; Energy Generation; Technological Innovation; Entrepreneurship; Strategy; Commercialization