Publications

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10 Jun 2015
Research & Ideas

The Transparency Revolution in Corporate Reporting

exponentially increasing the speed and flow of that information, making the system that much more transparent. And we have social media restoring democracy with free speech. Before all of this, the... View Details

Keywords: Re: George Serafeim

June 2020
Case

In-housing Digital Marketing at Sprint Corp.

By: David E. Bell, Rajiv Lal and Olivia Hull

In the fall of 2019, Sprint’s Chief Digital Officer Rob Roy reflected on the telecom’s efforts to improve the effectiveness of its digital marketing campaigns. Digital media buying had long been handled by an outside agency, but in 2017, Sprint brought those functions... View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Digital Marketing; Transformation; Talent and Talent Management; Marketing Strategy; Social Marketing; Telecommunications Industry; Electronics Industry; Web Services Industry; United States

Program

The Business of Entertainment, Media, and Sports

acquiring and developing creative talent and teams Make optimal business arrangements with talent and talent representatives Respond to advances in digital technology Capitalize on the explosive growth of online distribution channels and View Details

Keywords: Media & Entertainment; Media & Entertainment

20 Mar 2007
First Look

First Look: March 20, 2007

relies heavily on foreign debt. Access to such debt is suddenly curtailed when there is a downturn in market sentiment regarding the Icelandic economy as a whole. Students will reflect on the essential elements of a communications strategy, including the role of the... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

January 1989 (Revised December 1991)
Case

British Airways: ""Go for It, America!"" Promotion (A)

By: Stephen A. Greyser

Senior marketing executives of a major international airline are deciding on a strategy to address a crisis situation precipitated by a series of terrorist acts. The company is experiencing the worst downturn ever in its U.S.-U.K. travel business due to media reports... View Details

Keywords: Advertising Campaigns; Crime and Corruption; Crisis Management; Management Teams; Time Management; Marketing Strategy; Perception; Value Creation; Travel Industry; United Kingdom; United States

Article

Marketing in the Age of Web 2.0

By: Jill Avery

Web 2.0 technologies empower consumers to create their own personalized experiences on the web, and to share them with others. Hence, web content is democratized and consumers' experiences online are largely social rather than individualistic. View Details

Keywords: Digital Marketing; Internet; Brands and Branding; Marketing; Marketing Communications; Internet and the Web; Social Media; Consumer Products Industry; Technology Industry

Read Now

07 Feb 2012
First Look

First Look: February 7

appetite for social media companies, LinkedIn is the lamp bearer among U.S. companies in that industry that are considering tapping into public markets. The case can serve to illustrate the challenges of... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

September 2006 (Revised July 2012)
Case

PSI India—Will Balbir Pasha Help Fight AIDS? (A)

By: Elie Ofek and Peter Wickersham

In 2002, Population Services International (PSI) was committed to curbing the growing HIV/AIDS epidemic in India. Sanjay Chaganti, program director of HIV/AIDS at PSI India, has to decide on the best communication strategy to achieve this goal. Up to this date most... View Details

Keywords: Advertising Campaigns; Communication Strategy; Health Disorders; Marketing Communications; Social Marketing; Social Enterprise; India

03 Sep 2024
Research & Ideas

Is It Even Possible to Dam the Flow of Misleading Content Online?

As a polarizing US presidential election nears, moderating controversial content on social media poses a pressing problem for tech giants. But no matter how many employees they hire, lines of code they... View Details

Keywords: by Jay Fitzgerald; Information Technology; Technology

Article

Algorithms Need Managers, Too

By: Michael Luca, Jon Kleinberg and Sendhil Mullainathan

Algorithms are powerful predictive tools, but they can run amok when not applied properly. Consider what often happens with social media sites. Today many use algorithms to decide which ads and links to show users. But when these algorithms focus too narrowly on... View Details

Keywords: Machine Learning; Algorithms; Predictive Analytics; Management; Big Data; Analytics and Data Science

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May 2022
Case

Thinking Outside the Wine Box (A): Mekanism and the Franz for Life Campaign

By: Tomomichi Amano, Elie Ofek, Mengjie Cheng and Amy Klopfenstein

This case provides an overview of “Franz for Life,” an advertising campaign that independent advertising agency Mekanism created and executed to revitalize the brand image of Franzia, a low-cost boxed wine. For several years, Franzia’s popularity declined among... View Details

Keywords: Marketing; Brands and Branding; Marketing Strategy; Digital Marketing; Social Marketing; Marketing Communications; Product Positioning; Food and Beverage Industry; Advertising Industry; United States

09 Apr 2016
Blog Post

Meet The HBS Sound Society

Sound Society has had a busy first year. 2015-2016 saw the club established with the goal of establishing more of a music presence on campus. What started out as simply having music playing at TGIFs or providing DJs for some of the HBS View Details

Keywords: Entertainment / Media / Sports

14 Nov 2023
Research & Ideas

The Network Effect: Why Companies Should Care About Employees’ LinkedIn Connections

In today’s high-tech economy, it’s not just quant skills and R&D know-how that confer competitive advantage. Relationships still matter—maybe more than ever, as social media turbocharges old-fashioned... View Details

Keywords: by Ben Rand

02 May 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research: May 2, 2017

showing a passenger being dragged from a plane. Of all the U.S. air carriers, United should have known the power of social media and public outrage. It had learned years earlier in a prominent case about how... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

Rakesh Khurana

Rakesh Khurana is the Marvin Bower Professor of Leadership Development at the Harvard Business School. He is also Professor of Sociology at Harvard University, co-Master of Cabot House at Harvard College, and the Danoff Dean of Harvard College.

Professor... View Details

Keywords: executive search

January 2017 (Revised December 2017)
Case

Carmichael Roberts: To Create a Private Equity Firm?

By: Steven Rogers and Kenneth J. Cooper

Carmichael Roberts, a rare African-American venture capitalist, considered leaving his general partnership in a private equity firm near Boston and setting up his own in 2015. He weighed whether the timing was right, with the economy still not fully recovered from the... View Details

May 2012
Article

Measuring the Prevalence of Questionable Research Practices with Incentives for Truth-telling

By: Leslie K. John, George Loewenstein and Drazen Prelec

Cases of clear scientific misconduct have received significant media attention recently, but less flagrant transgressions of research norms may be more prevalent and in the long run more damaging to the academic enterprise. We surveyed over 2,000 psychologists about... View Details

Keywords: Research; Practice; Motivation and Incentives; Surveys; Values and Beliefs; Measurement and Metrics