Publications
Publications
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- All HBS Web
(1,304)
- Faculty Publications (107)
- March 2020
- Technical Note
Influencer Marketing
By: Jill Avery and Ayelet Israeli
Despite a heavy barrage of advertising, most consumers declare that their purchases are most influenced by the experiences, advice, and recommendations of others, and not by marketers. Interpersonal communication between and among consumers serves as a potent path for... View Details
- November 2019 (Revised April 2020)
- Case
Purple Innovation, Inc.: The Online to Offline Marketing Challenge
By: Elie Ofek and Nakisha Williams
This case focuses on Purple Innovation Inc. (Purple), a company that started out in the Direct to Consumer (DTC) mattress space. In late 2018, after a successful launch and IPO with sales predominantly originating from its website, Purple was looking to sustain its... View Details
- October 14, 2019
- Article
The Truth About Open Offices: There Are Reasons Why They Don't Produce the Desired Interactions
By: Ethan Bernstein and Ben Waber
It’s never been easier for workers to collaborate—or so it seems. Open, flexible, activity-based spaces are displacing cubicles, making people more visible. Messaging is displacing phone calls, making people more accessible. Enterprise social media such as Slack and... View Details
- 2019
- Working Paper
Persuasive Propaganda During the 2015 Argentine Ballotage
By: Rafael Di Tella, Sebastian Galiani and Ernesto Schargrodsky
We study a propaganda campaign sponsored by the government against the main political challenger in the days preceding the 2015 Argentine runoff presidential election. Subjects in the treatment group watched an “ad” initially aired during soccer transmissions that was... View Details
- Article
Improving the Rhythm of Your Collaboration
By: Ethan S. Bernstein, Jesse Shore and David Lazer
In this article, we summarize our research on the value of intermittency for complex problem solving at work and give practical advice on how organizations can improve the rhythm of their people's collaboration. Executives have been counseled to be collaborative... View Details
- January 2019
- Case
Understanding the Brand Equity of Nestlé Crunch Bar: A Market Research Case
By: Jill Avery and Gerald Zaltman
In early 2018, Nestlé announced the sale of its U.S. candy-making division and a select collection of 20 of its confectionery brands, including the Nestlé Crunch Bar, to Ferrero SpA for $2.8 billion. Under the terms of the Nestlé acquisition, each of the purchased... View Details
- Article
The Impact of the 'Open' Workspace on Human Collaboration
By: Ethan Bernstein and Stephen Turban
Organizations’ pursuit of increased workplace collaboration has led managers to transform traditional office spaces into “open,” transparency-enhancing architectures with fewer walls, doors, and other spatial boundaries, yet there is scant direct empirical research on... View Details
Keywords: Open Office; Transparency; Collaboration; Collective Intelligence; Workspace; Workspace Design; Architecture; Cubicles; Boundaries; Spatial Boundaries; Human Behavior; Propinquity; Co-location; Interaction; Sociometers; People Analytics; Buildings and Facilities; Communication; Design; Human Resources; Leadership; Management; Organizational Design; Organizational Structure; Networks; Social and Collaborative Networks; Information Technology; United States
- June 2018 (Revised April 2021)
- Case
Valuing Snap After the IPO Quiet Period (A)
By: Marco Di Maggio, Benjamin C. Esty and Gregory Saldutte
Snap, the disappearing message app, went public at $17 per share on March 2, 2017, making its two 20-something founders the youngest self-made billionaires in the country. Over the next three weeks, 14 analysts made investment recommendations on Snap: two with buy... View Details
Keywords: Sell-side Analysts; Underwriters; Investment Banking; Social Network; Discounted Cash Flow; Cost Of Capital; Conflicts Of Interest; Corporate Governance; Advertising; Quiet Period; ＂DCF Valuation,＂; Business Startups; Digital Marketing; Initial Public Offering; Information Infrastructure; Valuation; Venture Capital; Forecasting and Prediction; Social Media; Advertising Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Web Services Industry; United States; California
- 2018
- Other Unpublished Work
Trump's Populism: What Business Leaders Need To Understand
By: Rafael Di Tella
In the 2016 United States presidential election, candidates from both major political parties used anti-establishment messaging to appeal to Americans, a theme that had been on the sidelines of US political discourse for decades. Donald Trump, in particular, played... View Details
- January 2018 (Revised March 2020)
- Case
SAP: Branding in the Digital Age
By: Das Narayandas and Amram Migdal
By 2017, digital, social, and mobile technologies were rapidly changing the way many of SAP’s traditional customers did business over the last decade. In response to this trend, SAP had acquired companies with capabilities in e-commerce, human capital, workforce... View Details
- November 2017
- Technical Note
21st Century Populism
By: George Serafeim and David Freiberg
While the first decade of the 21st century saw a massive financial crisis that led to significant economic downturn, the second decade saw the rise of political leaders, who built their support upon a political message that championed the common person against the... View Details
Keywords: Populism; Market Efficiency; Market Liberalization; Political Influence; Political Instability; Capital Controls; Partnerships; Coalition; Inequality; Role Of Business In Society; Government Intervention In The Markets; Labor Market; Equality and Inequality; Financial Markets; Social Issues; Immigration; Financial Crisis; Capital Markets; Business and Government Relations
- 2017
- Working Paper
Voter Mobilization and Trust in Electoral Institutions: Evidence from Kenya
By: Benjamin Marx, Vincent Pons and Tavneet Suri
Voter mobilization campaigns face trade-offs in young democracies. In a large-scale experiment implemented in 2013 with the Kenyan Electoral Commission (IEBC), text messages intended to mobilize voters boosted participation but also decreased trust in electoral... View Details
- September–October 2017
- Article
Why Do We Undervalue Competent Management?: Neither Great Leadership Nor Brilliant Strategy Matters Without Operational Excellence
By: Raffaella Sadun, Nicholas Bloom and John Van Reenen
A recurring message in business education is that you can’t compete on the basis of management processes because they’re easily copied. Operational effectiveness is table stakes in the competitive universe, it is often assumed, and thus cannot serve as a sustainable... View Details
- July 2017 (Revised December 2018)
- Case
Populism in America: Fake News, Alternative Facts and Elite Betrayal in the Trump Era
By: Rafael Di Tella and Sarah McAra
During the 2016 U.S. election, long-time politician Hillary Clinton, a Democrat, and celebrity billionaire Donald Trump, a Republican, faced off in a contentious race for president. In the primaries, candidates from both major political parties used anti-establishment... View Details
- July 2017
- Article
What Do Measures of Real-Time Corporate Sales Tell Us About Earnings Surprises and Post-announcement Returns?
By: Kenneth A. Froot, Namho Kang, Gideon Ozik and Ronnie Sadka
We develop real-time proxies of retail corporate sales from multiple sources, including approximately 50 million mobile devices. These measures contain information from both the earnings quarter (within quarter) and the period between that quarter's end and the... View Details
- June 2017
- Case
Magellan Boatworks
By: John A. Quelch and James T. Kindley
Magellan Boatworks is a midsize manufacturer of customized, power "cruising yachts." In the face of economic and political uncertainty in late 2016, Magellan's VP of sales and marketing, Walt Robinson, wonders whether he should request a budget increase for 2017.... View Details
- May 2017 (Revised April 2020)
- Case
Raj Kapoor: The Socialist Showman
By: Geoffrey Jones and Snigdha Sur
This case examines the career of Raj Kapoor, the legendary Bollywood filmmaker of the postwar decades. It explores how Kapoor built RK studios after 1948 by releasing a series of movies that combined romance with social messages focused on the fate of the common man in... View Details
- March 2016
- Technical Note
Lighting the Fire: Crafting and Delivering Broadly Inspiring Messages
By: Tsedal Neeley and Tom Ryder
Communicating persuasively is a critical skill for leaders of any team or organization. Yet, connecting and resonating with an audience can nevertheless be a challenging task. We outline how to effectively mobilize groups through the power of communication. This note... View Details
- March 2016 (Revised March 2022)
- Teaching Note
Evive Health and Workplace Influenza Vaccinations
By: John Beshears
Evive Health is a company that manages communication campaigns on behalf of health insurance plans and large employers. Using big data techniques and insights from behavioral economics, Evive deploys targeted and effective messages that improve individuals' health... View Details
Keywords: Vaccination; Influenza; Flu Shot; Preventive Care; Health Care; Behavioral Economics; Choice Architecture; Nudge; Experimental Design; Randomized Controlled Trial; RCT; Causal Inference; Health Care and Treatment; Insurance; Health; Consumer Behavior; Health Testing and Trials; Communication Strategy; Insurance Industry; Health Industry
- March 2016
- Case
M-Pesa: Financial Inclusion in Kenya
By: Rajiv Lal, Lisa Cox and Sarah McAra
M-Pesa, a mobile money transfer service launched in 2007 in Kenya by telecommunications company Safaricom, allowed people to send money via mobile messaging to contacts, such as friends and family, or even to pay for goods and services, such as groceries or a taxi... View Details