Publications

8 Jun 2015
Talk

How Prices Really Affect Consumers

By: Shelle Santana

Keywords: Behavioral Pricing; Price; Consumer Behavior

March 2019
Article

Consuming Together (versus Separately) Makes the Heart Grow Fonder

By: Ximena Garcia-Rada, Lalin Anik and Dan Ariely

Across three studies, we investigate how consumers in romantic relationships make decisions when choosing an item to share with their partner. We show that consumers will forgo their preferred alternative for an option that is more aligned with the preferences of their... View Details

Keywords: Shared Consumption; Close Relationships; Conflicting Preferences; Spending; Decision Making; Relationships; Motivation and Incentives

14 Mar 2011
Research & Ideas

Keeping Credit Flowing to Consumers in Need

rebuilding the housing finance system, the credit needs of low-income consumers, mortgage finance alternatives, and the regulation of consumer financial products. In this... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Financial Services; Construction; Real Estate

09 Mar 2020
Research & Ideas

Warring Algorithms Could Be Driving Up Consumer Prices

antitrust authorities, who fear they could ultimately harm consumers by raising prices above typical competitive levels. It doesn’t seem too long ago when a price change was a major strategic decision for companies, requiring extensive... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz; Retail

October 2008 (Revised September 2009)
Case

Consumer Lending in Japan: Citi CFJ (A)

By: J. Gunnar Trumbull and Akiko Kanno

Despite a tradition of high household savings, Japan has supported a dynamic and technically sophisticated consumer-lending sector. The high profitability of the sector has periodically attracted interest from domestic banks as well as international investors. Most... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Financing and Loans; Foreign Direct Investment; Personal Finance; Courts and Trials; Business and Government Relations; Banking Industry; Japan

Educators

Web

Buy Now, Pay Later: Home Finance

HBS Quick Links MBA Executive Education Doctoral Programs Faculty and Research Alumni HBS Publishing Site Index HBS Home Contact Us Map/Directions Introduction Credit in Pre-Industrial Society Credit and the Market Economy: The Rise of Credit Reporting Credit in a... View Details

2014
Book

Consumer Lending in France and America: Credit and Welfare

By: Gunnar Trumbull

Why did America embrace consumer credit over the course of the twentieth century, when most other countries did not? How did American policy makers by the late twentieth century come to believe that more credit would make even poor families better off? This book traces... View Details

Keywords: Attitudes; Credit; France; United States

In April 2013, Procter & Gamble (P&G), the world's largest consumer packaged goods (CPG) company, announced that it would extend its payment terms to suppliers by 30 days. At the same time, P&G announced a new supply chain financing (SCF) program giving... View Details

30 Sep 2019
News

Consumer instant gratification can prove risky

November 2007
Article

Measuring Consumer and Competitive Impact with Elasticity Decompositions

Marketing investments are designed to change consumer behavior in ways that help goods compete in the marketplace. Previous research has focused on using elasticity decompositions to measure how these investments affect either consumer decision making or competing... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Investment Return; Marketing Strategy; Consumer Behavior; Measurement and Metrics; Mathematical Methods; Competitive Advantage

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November 2007
Article

A Model of Consumer Learning for Service Quality and Usage

By: Raghuram Iyengar, Asim Ansari and Sunil Gupta

In many services, e.g., the wireless service industry, consumers choose a service plan based on their expected consumption. In such situations, consumers experience two forms of uncertainty. First, consumers may be uncertain about the quality of their service provider... View Details

Keywords: Experience and Expertise; Customer Value and Value Chain; Learning; Price; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Marketing Strategy; Consumer Behavior; Service Delivery; Quality; Risk and Uncertainty; Service Industry

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July 1992
Case

Bank One and Increased Consumer Credit

By: Stephen A. Greyser

Keywords: Credit; Banking Industry

Article

Consumer Price Sensitivity and Price Thresholds

By: Sangman Han, Sunil Gupta and Donald R. Lehmann

Keywords: Customers; Price