Publications

January 2003 (Revised September 2007)
Background Note

A Note on Racing to Acquire Customers

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann

Examines factors that motivate a firm's race to acquire customers in newly emerging markets and explores conditions under which racing strategies are likely to yield attractive returns. Provides a definition of racing behavior, introduces the notion of an optimal level... View Details

Keywords: Customers; Price Bubble; Network Effects; Emerging Markets; Market Entry and Exit; Behavior; Competition

April 2025
Case

Pouring Oil on Troubled Waters: Vickers Oils and Resolving Family Conflict over Generations

By: Lauren Cohen, Octavian Graf Pilati and Sophia Pan

Will Vickers, a seventh-generation (G7) member of the Vickers Family, grappled with a pressing challenge: how to re-integrate family members into the firm to recover lost talent. His father, Peter Vickers, was the lone leader of the Vickers Oils—despite having stepped... View Details

Keywords: Shareholder; Involvement; Family Office; Family Firms; Family Business; Business Growth and Maturation; Experience and Expertise; Retention; Leadership Development; Business or Company Management; Management Succession; Organizational Structure; Family Ownership; Family and Family Relationships; Diversification; Conflict and Resolution; Consumer Products Industry; United Kingdom

24 Jan 2012
First Look

First Look: Jan. 24

during and after World War I, as well as demonstrating the rapidly changing market for dental hygiene in the interwar period. New marketing strategies based on psychological science and consumer protection... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

January 2013 (Revised April 2015)
Case

Affinity Labs: Valuing Customer Growth

By: Joseph B. Lassiter III and Elizabeth Kind

In November 2006, Chris Michel left Military.com, which he founded in 1999, to start Affinity Labs, a global network of online communities. That month, Michel raised a Series A round of venture funding and established a partnership with Monster, which he had sold... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Demand and Consumers; Partners and Partnerships; Social and Collaborative Networks; Online Technology

May 2003
Background Note

How to Induce Retailers to Reduce Stockouts?

By: V.G. Narayanan

Describes how the lack of incentive alignment between retailers and their vendors can lead to stockouts. Also describes various means to reduce incentive misalignment and hence stockouts. View Details

Keywords: Motivation and Incentives; Supply Chain Management; Order Taking and Fulfillment; Distribution; Alignment; Business Strategy; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry

March 2015
Teaching Note

CVS Health: Promoting Drug Adherence

By: Leslie John, John Quelch and Robert Huckman

Email mking@hbs.edu for a courtesy copy.

This Teaching Note explains the theory of the case and teaching plan for the case: CVS Health: Promoting Drug Adherence (515010). The case finds Helena Foulkes, Executive... View Details

December 2007
Book Review

Review of Stig Tenold's Tankers in Trouble

By: Christian H.M. Ketels

In "Tankers in Trouble," Stig Tenold looks at the experience of the Norwegian shipping industry during the 1970s and 1980s, specifically of those companies active in the tanker business. The review discusses some complementary insights that can be gained from applying... View Details

Keywords: Experience and Expertise; Framework; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Crisis Management; Perspective; Demand and Consumers; Industry Clusters; Shipping Industry; Norway

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2009
Working Paper

Why Do Intermediaries Divert Search? - Companion Paper

By: Andrei Hagiu and Bruno Jullien

This companion paper contains several extensions of the model presented in our main paper - Hagiu and Jullien (2009). View Details

Keywords: Market Intermediation; Search; Two Sided Markets; Platform Design; Demand and Consumers; Motivation and Incentives; Internet and the Web; Digital Platforms; Distribution Channels; Business Strategy; Retail Industry

Read Now

18 Apr 2018
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, April 18, 2018

labels (vs. text warning labels, calorie labels, and no labels), provided insight into psychological mechanisms driving effectiveness, and assessed consumer sentiment. Study 1 indicated that graphic warning... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

09 May 2011
Research & Ideas

Moving From Bean Counter to Game Changer

and consumer lending. The researchers chose to study risk-management experts because their role has risen in importance with demands for improved corporate governance and the need for better forecasting and modeling. After the financial... View Details

Keywords: by Kim Girard; Banking

23 Aug 2010
Research & Ideas

The Drive to Acquire’s Impact on Globalization

industries, including timber, oil, gold, silver, and titanium. [ ] Under the widely practiced international sales system, a corporation in a developed nation sells finished goods to a consumer in a less-developed nation; this is... View Details

Keywords: by Paul R. Lawrence

01 Dec 2010
News

Eight Join HBS Faculty

decision-making, social influence, and ethics. Gino’s work has been published in a number of journals and featured in the New York Times, Newsweek, and Psychology Today. A native of Italy, she earned her Ph.D. in economics and management... View Details

January 2015 (Revised July 2019)
Case

CVS Health: Promoting Drug Adherence

By: Leslie John, John Quelch and Robert Huckman

Email mking@hbs.edu for a courtesy copy.

The case describes a program that CVS Health recently implemented to improve medication adherence, an important problem from a societal, public policy, and firm... View Details

2008
Article

Entrepreneurial Ventures and Whole-body Donations: A Regional Perspective from the United States

By: Michel Anteby and Mikell Hyman

Human cadavers are crucial to medical science. While the debate on how to secure sufficient cadavers has focused primarily on donors' behaviors, procuring organizations' roles in increasing donations remain less explored. The United States offers a unique setting in... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Behavior; Programs; Nonprofit Organizations; Business Ventures; Health Testing and Trials; Demand and Consumers; Supply Chain; For-Profit Firms; Organizations; Training; United States

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July 2008 (Revised January 2010)
Case

Affinity Labs, Inc.

By: Joseph B. Lassiter III and Elizabeth Kind

In November 2006, Chris Michel left Military.com, which he founded in 1999, to start Affinity Labs, a global network of online communities. That month, Michel raised a Series A round of venture funding and established a partnership with Monster, which he had sold... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Demand and Consumers; Partners and Partnerships; Social and Collaborative Networks; Online Technology