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HBS Working Knowledge – Harvard Business School Faculty Research

Forman 24 OCT 2023 | HBS Case What do Steve Jobs and Sarah Breedlove have in common? Through a series of case studies, Robert Simons explores the unique qualities of visionary leaders and what today's managers can learn from their journeys. Entrepreneurship Navigating... View Details

February 2005 (Revised May 2005)
Case

Intelliseek

Intelliseek harvests, filters, and mines the content of messages posted by consumers online and on discussion boards and blogs. For any specified consumer product brand, Intelliseek measures the volume of work-of-mouth and its valence (proportion of positive and... View Details

Keywords: Internet and the Web; Information Technology; Consumer Behavior; Knowledge Management; Marketing Reference Programs; Web Services Industry

January 2024 (Revised February 2024)
Course Overview Note

Managing Customers for Growth: Course Overview for Students

By: Eva Ascarza

Managing Customers for Growth (MCG) is a 14-session elective course for second-year MBA students at Harvard Business School. It is designed for business professionals engaged in roles centered on customer-driven growth activities. The course explores the dynamics of... View Details

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Decision Making; Analytics and Data Science; Growth Management; Technology Industry; Technology Industry; Technology Industry; Technology Industry; Technology Industry

February 2002 (Revised April 2011)
Case

The Future of Hybrid Electric Vehicles

By: John T. Gourville, Alice Tzou and David Lane

Set in 2002, this case looks at the potential for hybrid electric vehicles in the United States. Looks at the pressures on the automotive industry to produce a commercially viable, environmentally friendly vehicle and the consumer behavior surrounding purchase of those... View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Marketing Strategy; Consumer Behavior; Environmental Sustainability; Technology Adoption; Auto Industry; United States

July 2023 (Revised May 2024)
Case

Vytal: Packaging-as-a-Service

By: George Serafeim, Michael W. Toffel, Lena Duchene and Daniela Beyersdorfer

The Germany-based startup Vytal operated the largest digital-native reusable packaging-as-a-service network globally, having raised nearly €15 million, established a large network of restaurant partners, and prevented the use of millions of single-use take-out food... View Details

February 2000 (Revised August 2000)
Case

Priceline WebHouse Club

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Jon K Rust

Priceline empowered consumers to "name their own price" for airline tickets and hotel rooms; then it shopped these offers to marketers. Priceline's founder Jay Walker described the resulting transactions as a new ecosystem, that helped consumers realize lower prices... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Strategy; Disruptive Innovation; Internet and the Web; Entrepreneurship; Retail Industry

October 2024
Background Note

The Semiconductor Industry

By: Andy Wu, Steve Blank and Matt Higgins

The semiconductor industry powers modern technology, from consumer electronics to data centers. This background note explores the layers of the semiconductor inudstry value chain, including Integrated Device Manufacturers (IDMs), fabless companies, and foundries, while... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Supply Chain; Product Design; Customer Value and Value Chain; Technology Industry; Technology Industry; Technology Industry; United States; China; Taiwan

July 2021
Article

Information Transparency, Multihoming, and Platform Competition: A Natural Experiment in the Daily Deals Market

By: Hui Li and Feng Zhu

Platform competition is shaped by the likelihood of multi-homing (i.e., complementors or consumers adopt more than one platform). To take advantage of multi-homing, platform firms often attempt to motivate their rivals’ high-performing complementors to adopt their own... View Details

Keywords: Platform Competition; Multi-homing; Information Transparency; Daily Deals; Groupon; LivingSocial; Digital Platforms; Information; Competition

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07 Jul 2022
News

Are Online Prices Higher Because of Pricing Algorithms?

01 Nov 2019
News

Prices: Where Have All the Bargains Gone?

John C. Mulliken

Strategy consultant, former CTO & CPO, public & private company board member, retail & climatetech entrepreneur, early stage investor. Father of two, husband, sailor, hiker, and aspirational road biker.

John is a senior lecturer in the... View Details

May–June 2011
Article

The Uninvited Brand

By: Susan Fournier and Jill Avery

Brands rushed into social media, viewing social networks, video sharing, online communities, and microblogging sites as the panacea to diminishing returns for traditional brand building routes. But, as more branding activity moves to the web, marketers are confronted... View Details

Keywords: Marketing; Brands; Brand Building; Brand Management; Digital Marketing; Advertising Campaigns; Brands and Branding; Marketing Communications; Marketing Strategy; Internet and the Web; Social Media; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry

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2019
Working Paper

Soul and Machine (Learning)

By: Davide Proserpio, John R. Hauser, Xiao Liu, Tomomichi Amano, Alex Burnap, Tong Guo, Dokyun Lee, Randall Lewis, Kanishka Misra, Eric Schwarz, Artem Timoshenko, Lilei Xu and Hema Yoganarasimhan

Machine learning is bringing us self-driving cars, improved medical diagnostics, and machine translation, but can it improve marketing decisions? It can. Machine learning models predict extremely well, are scalable to “big data,” and are a natural fit to rich media... View Details

Keywords: Machine Learning; Technological Innovation; Marketing; AI and Machine Learning

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2020
Working Paper

Dog Eat Dog: Balancing Network Effects and Differentiation in a Digital Platform Merger

By: Chiara Farronato, Jessica Fong and Andrey Fradkin

Digital platforms are increasingly the subject of regulatory scrutiny. In comparison to multiple competitors, a single platform may increase consumer welfare if network effects are large or may decrease welfare due to higher prices or reduction in platform variety. We... View Details

Keywords: Platform Differentiation; Digital Platforms; Network Effects; Measurement and Metrics; Mergers and Acquisitions; Outcome or Result

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June 2005 (Revised March 2006)
Case

E Ink in 2005

By: David B. Yoffie and Barbara Mack

Explores the challenges of commercializing a bleeding-edge technology. After seven years, E Ink has spent more than $100 million to commercialize electronic ink. With business momentum picking up, but resources running out, the case examines the key trade-offs in... View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Commercialization; Mathematical Methods; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry

14 Jul 2009
First Look

First Look: July 14

difference between both kinds of firms is that OS share their technological advances on the primary good, while P keep their innovations private. The main contribution of the paper is to determine conditions under which OS and P coexist... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

December 2019 (Revised March 2020)
Case

Impossible Foods

By: Jose B. Alvarez and Natalie Kindred

Impossible Foods founder and CEO Pat Brown started the company out of concern over livestock production’s impact on climate change. Impossible’s mission is to end consumption of animals by 2035, and its strategy is to develop and market plant-based foods so similar to... View Details