Publications

2024
Working Paper

Using LLMs for Market Research

By: James Brand, Ayelet Israeli and Donald Ngwe

Large language models (LLMs) have rapidly gained popularity as labor-augmenting tools for programming, writing, and many other processes that benefit from quick text generation. In this paper we explore the uses and benefits of LLMs for researchers and practitioners... View Details

Keywords: Large Language Model; Research; AI and Machine Learning; Analysis; Customers; Consumer Behavior; Technology Industry; Information Technology Industry

SSRN

Read Now

February 2019 (Revised September 2021)
Case

The a2 Milk Company

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Daniel Fisher

The a2 Milk Company (a2MC) became the most valuable company listed on the New Zealand stock exchange in 2018 by capitalizing on a biochemical discovery related to the protein composition of cow's milk. Because many people find the A1 protein difficult to digest, and... View Details

11 Jul 2019
Sharpening Your Skills

Deconstructing 'Customer Experience'

Legendary Harvard Business School marketing professor Theodore Levitt warned his students and industry executives against “marketing myopia”—that is, adopting an insular marketing approach where the business puts its own needs ahead of the customers’. Over the last... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Retail; Service

June 2013 (Revised September 2016)
Supplement

Governance and Sustainability at Nike (B)

By: Lynn S. Paine, Nien-he Hsieh and Lara Adamsons

Two members of Nike's executive team must decide what sustainability targets to propose to Nike's CEO and to the corporate responsibility committee of Nike's board of directors. Set in 2012, the case traces the evolution of Nike's approach to environmental and social... View Details

Keywords: Nike; Hannah Jones; Mark Parker; Phil Knight; Philip Knight; Eric Sprunk; Jill Ker Conway; Phyllis Wise; Don Blair; Sustainable Business And Innovation; SB＆I; Flyknit; DyeCoo; Footwear; Athletic Footwear; Apparel; Athletic Apparel; Sustainability; Greenpeace; Detox Campaign; Dirty Laundry; Water; Water Use; Water Pollution; Water Resources; Corporate Responsibility Committee; Judgment; Board Of Directors; Board Committees; Environmental And Social Sustainability; Footwear Industry; Decision Choices and Conditions; Decisions; Ethics; Fairness; Globalized Firms and Management; Multinational Firms and Management; Globalized Markets and Industries; Governance; Corporate Accountability; Corporate Governance; Innovation and Invention; Innovation and Management; Innovation Leadership; Innovation Strategy; Goals and Objectives; Management Practices and Processes; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Performance; Alignment; Supply Chain; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Judgments; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Asia; China; United States; Oregon; Portland

September 1991 (Revised January 1997)
Case

Manzana Insurance: Fruitvale Branch (Abridged)

By: Steven C. Wheelwright

Deals with performance assessment and improvement of a service operation in the insurance industry, a market that is highly sensitive to response time. Two branch offices in direct competition are described, and the impact of response time on performance is suggested.... View Details

Keywords: Business Offices; Decision Choices and Conditions; Time Management; Service Operations; Performance Evaluation; Competition; Insurance Industry

24 Apr 2018
Op-Ed

Op-Ed: What Mark Zuckerberg Can Learn About Crisis Leadership from Starbucks

crisis. Now, we have a new exemplar: Starbucks CEO Kevin Johnson. His response to the eviction of two African American men from a Starbucks store in Philadelphia will define for today’s leaders how to respond to crisis. Facebook founder... View Details

Keywords: by Bill George; Technology; Food & Beverage

15 May 2015
Research & Ideas

Kids Benefit From Having a Working Mom

©iStockphoto Here's some heartening news for working mothers worried about the future of their children. Women whose moms worked outside the home are more likely to have jobs themselves, are more likely to hold supervisory responsibility... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

30 May 2024
Research & Ideas

Racial Bias Might Be Infecting Patient Portals. Can AI Help?

Patients and physicians increasingly turned to digital platforms, like patient portal messaging, when COVID-19 made contact risky, but a new study of how providers managed the messaging surge suggests an uncomfortable downside: What if the color of a patient’s skin... View Details

Keywords: by Ben Rand; Health

June 1995 (Revised September 1996)
Case

Union Carbide's Bhopal Plant (A)

By: Debora L. Spar

In December 1984, a Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, India, sprung a leak, releasing thousands of gallons of highly toxic gas into the atmosphere. By the time the leak was sealed, over 2,000 people had died. In a series of three excerpts from published accounts, the case... View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Chemicals; Foreign Direct Investment; Chemical Industry; United States; India

12 Dec 2023
Research & Ideas

COVID Tested Global Supply Chains. Here’s How They’ve Adapted

Global supply chains took some heat during the COVID-19 pandemic, with consumers waiting months for goods and politicians wringing their hands over trade policy. “Reshoring” is one of the hottest new corporate buzzwords, as many companies look to move some... View Details

Keywords: by Scott Van Voorhis

26 Jan 2015
Research & Ideas

National Health Costs Could Decrease if Managers Reduce Work Stress

dollars a year—representing 5 to 8 percent of national spending on health care. The biggest factor in these costs was high demands at work, responsible for an estimated $48 billion in spending; followed by lack of insurance, contributing... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Health

16 Jul 2012
Research & Ideas

Are You a Strategist?

and even its core competencies, its continued existence depends on finding and continuing to find a compelling reason for it to exist. Shepherding this never-ending process, being the steward of a living strategy, is the defining View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

30 Jan 2014
HBS Seminar

Rebecca Henderson, Harvard Business School

02 Aug 2017
What Do You Think?

Summing Up: Why Can’t Organizations Engage Their Employees?

Panama. But here’s the downside: Globally, this figure is usually a little more than half as large as the number of employees characterized as actively disengaged. Reasons for a disengaged workforce One problem may be that responsibility... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

17 Jan 2023
Cold Call Podcast

Nestlé’s KitKat Diplomacy: Neutrality vs. Shared Value

Keywords: Re: Geoffrey G. Jones; Consumer Products

January 2015 (Revised November 2016)
Case

Stella McCartney

By: Anat Keinan and Sandrine Crener

Stella McCartney launched her own fashion house under her name in a partnership with the luxury conglomerate Kering as a 50/50 joint venture in 2001. A lifelong vegetarian, Stella McCartney does not use any leather or fur in her collections, which include women's... View Details