Publications

02 Aug 2011
Working Paper Summaries

To Groupon or Not to Groupon: The Profitability of Deep Discounts

Keywords: by Benjamin Edelman, Sonia Jaffe & Scott Duke Kominers; Retail; Technology

15 Mar 2016
First Look

March 15, 2016

Case 516-059 Ocado In 2015, U.K.–based Ocado was the world's largest pure player in the online home-delivery grocery business and was gaining a growing share of the highly competitive U.K. grocery market. Ocado had made heavy investments... View Details

02 Sep 2015
Research & Ideas

Explaining China's Crash

After more than a decade of nearly can’t-miss growth, China’s stock market began a precipitous summer slide that has spooked investors worldwide. In July, the Shanghai composite index dropped 15 percent from June, prompting the People’s... View Details

Keywords: by Christina Pazzanese; Financial Services

17 Jun 2019
Working Paper Summaries

The Comprehensive Effects of a Digital Paywall Sales Strategy

Keywords: by Doug J. Chung, Ho Kim, and Reo Song; Media & Broadcasting

February 2017
Case

Yemeksepeti: Growing and Expanding the Business Model through Data

By: William R. Kerr, Gamze Yucaoglu and Eren Kuzucu

In October 2016, Nevzat Aydin, co-founder and CEO of Yemeksepeti, the Turkish online food-ordering company, was looking over the company's quarterly results and projections for the upcoming year with his management team. It had been almost a year and a half since Aydin... View Details

Article

Offline Showrooms in Omni-channel Retail: Demand and Operational Benefits

By: David R. Bell, Santiago Gallino and Antonio Moreno

Omnichannel environments where customers shop online and offline at the same retailer are ubiquitous and are deployed by online-first and traditional retailers alike. We focus on the relatively understudied domain of online-first retailers and the engagement of a key... View Details

Keywords: Experience Attributes; Marketing–operations Interface; Omnichannel Retailing; Quasi-experimental Methods; Retail Operations; Showrooms; Marketing Channels; Demand and Consumers; Performance Efficiency; Retail Industry

Find at Harvard

30 Jan 2018
First Look

January 30, 2018

Physical: Federal Limitations on Regulating Online Marketplaces By: Edelman, Benjamin, and Abbey Stemler Abstract—Online marketplaces have transformed how we shop, travel, and interact with the world. Yet, their unique innovations also... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

14 Aug 2014
Working Paper Summaries

The State of Small Business Lending: Credit Access During the Recovery and How Technology May Change the Game

Keywords: by Karen Mills & Brayden McCarthy; Banking; Financial Services

26 Apr 2016
First Look

April 26

April 2016 Review of Economic Studies Landing the First Job: The Value of Intermediaries in Online Hiring By: Stanton, Christopher, and Catherine Thomas Abstract—Online markets for remote labor services... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

14 Aug 2018
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, August 14, 2018

Publisher's link: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=54823 June 2018 Strategy Science Integrated Strategy: Residual Market and Exchange Imperfections as the Foundation of Sustainable Competitive Advantage By: Oberholzer-Gee,... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

December 2003 (Revised April 2004)
Case

Blockbuster Inc. & Technological Substitution (C): The Internet Changes the Game

Investigates how the rise of the Internet as a vehicle for renting and buying movies has disrupted the video rental industry and how market leader Blockbuster Inc. can and should respond to these developments. Explores how the emergence of e-commerce affects the degree... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Risk and Uncertainty; Decisions; Technological Innovation; Competition; Change Management; Service Industry; Motion Pictures and Video Industry

June 2012
Response

Solution to Exchanges 10.2 Puzzle: Borrowing in the Limit as Our Nerdiness Goes to Infinity

By: Ran I. Shorrer

This is a solution to the editor's puzzle from issue 10.2 of SIGecom Exchanges [Reeves 2011]. The puzzle asks to determine a point in time such that a lump sum payment of $S will be equivalent to a continuous stream of infinitesimal payments totaling $S, spread evenly... View Details

Keywords: Borrowing and Debt; Market Transactions; Mathematical Methods

Read Now

January 2020 (Revised January 2025)
Case

Freelancer, Ltd.

By: Christopher Stanton, Karim R. Lakhani, Jennifer L. Hoffman, Jin Hyun Paik and Nina Cohodes

Over the course of the 2010s, the rapid advancement of mobile technologies and the rise of online freelancing platforms seemed to portend a radical transformation of labor markets into on-demand, flexible talent pools. Even though several Fortune 500... View Details

Keywords: Freelancers; Platforms; Digital Labor; Labor; Human Resources; Management; Internet and the Web; Growth and Development Strategy; Digital Platforms; Information Industry; Australia; United States; Philippines

15 Apr 2013
Research & Ideas

Solving the Search vs. Display Advertising Quandary

a few clicks of a mouse, companies can tell how successful a particular ad was in making a purchase decision. "A lot of companies have put more and more money into online marketing because View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Advertising

2019
Book

Operations in an Omnichannel World

By: Santiago Gallino and Antonio Moreno

The world of retailing has changed dramatically in the past decade. Sales originating at online channels have been steadily increasing, and even for sales transacted at brick-and-mortar channels, a much larger fraction of sales is affected by online channels in... View Details

Keywords: Omnichannel; Omnichannel Retail; Retail; Operations; Management; Supply Chain Management; Business Model; Organizational Change and Adaptation

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February 2000
Case

E2M Health Services

By: Richard M.J. Bohmer and Naomi Atkins

Outlines the growth of an innovative diabetes disease management organization from 1994-99. Having demonstrated the success of their model in managing diabetes populations in Texas and New York State, the CEO and president must decide the future strategy of the company... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Customer Focus and Relationships; Decision Choices and Conditions; Financial Markets; Revenue; Innovation and Invention; Business or Company Management; Marketing Strategy; Internet; Health Industry

October 2001 (Revised January 2002)
Case

Auction Vignettes

By: Guhan Subramanian and Michelle Kalka

This case consists of a series of short vignettes illustrating several auctions: the auctions for Hillary Clinton's biography and the talents of baseball star Alex Rodriguez; eBay online auctions; the Turkish government's auction for a 51% stake in its state-run gas... View Details

Keywords: Auctions