Publications

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November 2017 (Revised July 2019)
Case

Project Moab at Hulu

By: C. Fritz Foley and James Weber

In 2015, Elaine Paul, CFO of Hulu, and the rest of the senior leadership team, must decide if they should offer a new, advertisement-free subscription service. At the time Hulu distributed a wide variety of content including in season current programing and earned... View Details

Keywords: Video On Demand; Subscriber Models; Media; Business Model; Decision Choices and Conditions; Media and Broadcasting Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; United States

December 2010
Article

Can Higher Prices Stimulate Product Use? Evidence from a Field Experiment in Zambia

By: Nava Ashraf, James Berry and Jesse M. Shapiro

The controversy over how much to charge for health products in the developing world rests, in part, on whether higher prices can increase use, either by targeting distribution to high-use households (a screening effect), or by stimulating use psychologically through a... View Details

Keywords: Price; Product; Information; Zambia

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Research Summary

On the Political Economy of Stabilization Programs

By: Laura Alfaro

This paper provides a political economy explanation for temporary exchange-rate-based stabilization programs by focusing on the distributional effects of real exchange-rate appreciation. I propose an economy in which agents are endowed with either tradable or... View Details

Research Summary

Negotiation Ethics and Moral Decisionmaking

By: Michael A. Wheeler

Whenever people and organizations negotiate, they implicitly decide what -- if anything -- they owe their counterparts in regard to candor, distributional fairness, and the possible use of pressure. The deals that they reach may also have impacts on stakeholders who... View Details

April 9, 2021
Article

How Blockchain Can Simplify Partnerships

By: Fabrice Lumineau, Wenqian Wang, Oliver Schilke and Laura Huang

Collaborations that require information sharing and mutual trust between companies, suppliers, and clients can be tough, particularly in the remote era. But blockchain’s distributed ledger—and its use of smart contracts—can simplify the process, creating a common,... View Details

Keywords: Blockchain; Collaboration; Partners and Partnerships; Performance Effectiveness

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Article

Pre-colonial Ethnic Institutions and Contemporary African Development

By: Stelios Michalopoulos and Elias Papaioannou

We investigate the role of deeply rooted pre-colonial ethnic institutions in shaping comparative regional development within African countries. We combine information on the spatial distribution of ethnicities before colonization with regional variation in contemporary... View Details

Keywords: Ethnicity; Development Economics; Local Range; Government and Politics; Africa

October 2012 (Revised March 2014)
Case

Privatization of the Power Sector in Nigeria (A)

By: Eric Werker, Onyechi Ezekwueche, Olatomiwa Igun and Alice Wei

In spite of its abundant energy resources, Nigeria in 2012 had one of the lowest levels of energy use in the world. Self-generation of power from costly generators was double that of grid-supplied electricity. The history of its power sector was one of inefficient... View Details

Keywords: Privatization; Energy; Nigeria

April 2012 (Revised April 2013)
Case

Mekanism: Engineering Viral Marketing

By: Thales S. Teixeira and Alison Caverly

Mekanism introduces students to a digital media production company specializing in creating viral marketing campaigns for advertising agencies and clients (e.g., Microsoft, AXE, eBay, Toyota, etc.) Mekanism has grown tremendously from 2007 to 2010 in part due to the... View Details

Keywords: Viral Marketing; Viral Advertising; Core Competencies; Growth Strategy; Online Media; Videos; Advertising Media; Internet and the Web; Expansion; Media; Marketing; Advertising; Advertising Industry; North and Central America

July 2011
Article

Institutions and Inequality in Single Party Regimes: A Comparative Analysis of Vietnam and China

Despite the fact that China and Vietnam have been the world's two fastest growing economies over the past two decades, their income inequality patterns are very different. In this paper, we take a deep look at political institutions in the two countries, demonstrating... View Details

Keywords: Equality and Inequality; Developing Countries and Economies; Motivation and Incentives; Government and Politics; Policy; Power and Influence; Decision Making; Income; China; Viet Nam

September 2002 (Revised October 2002)
Case

GolfLogix: Measuring the Game of Golf

By: John T. Gourville and Professor Jerry N. Conover

GolfLogix has developed a small, GPS-based device to help golfers track their play. They must decide how best to distribute these devices: 1) sell them directly to golfers through traditional retail channels; 2) sell them to courses, which would then provide them to... View Details

Keywords: Distribution Channels; Product Launch; Brands and Branding; Innovation and Invention; Measurement and Metrics

14 May 2008
Research & Ideas

Getting Down to the Business of Creativity

narrowly defined product space," Tripsas says. "Suppliers, complementary producers, distribution channels, and consumers must often develop new capabilities, beliefs, and behaviors for the product to succeed, creating a... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Retail; Apparel & Accessories; Fashion; Entertainment & Recreation

December 2022
Case

Taylor Farms: Adding Value to Fresh Produce

By: José B. Alvarez, Forest L. Reinhardt, Jenyfeer Martinez Buitrago and Pedro Levindo

In October 2022, Bruce Taylor (HBS MBA, 1981), Chairman and CEO of Taylor Farms, the leading producer of salads and healthy fresh foods in the United States, wondered whether this was the right time for Taylor Farms to venture into the Controlled Environment... View Details

Keywords: Technology Adoption; Cost vs Benefits; Logistics; Environmental Sustainability; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry

25 Apr 2023
Op-Ed

How SHEIN and Temu Conquered Fast Fashion—and Forged a New Business Model

information technology to directly match consumer demand to dispersed production by a collection of factories in China. This method of reaching customers should inspire any business that provides products or services that come from many producers to reconsider their... View Details

Keywords: by John Deighton; Fashion; Retail; Consumer Products

Research Summary

When Should Control Be Shared?

The right to participate in control is one of the primary instruments for protecting stakeholder interests in a firm. A basic question is how control should be allocated across a firm's various stakeholders, including investors, employees, customers, and suppliers.... View Details

July 2021
Article

The Effect of Price on Firm Reputation

By: Michael Luca and Oren Reshef

While a business's reputation can affect its pricing, prices can also affect its reputation. To explore the effect of prices on reputation, we investigate daily data on menu prices and online ratings from a large rating and ordering platform. We find that a price... View Details

Keywords: Pricing; Reputation Systems; IT Policy And Management; Economics Of Digital Platforms; Business Ventures; Reputation; Price; Consumer Behavior; Analysis

November 2018 (Revised February 2019)
Teaching Plan

Gimlet Media: A Podcasting Startup

By: John Deighton and Leora Kornfeld

When digital distribution becomes an option for an analog industry, the effects on the incumbents can be devastating. Is podcasting the beginning of the end of radio? Can it do what streaming video did to television and websites did to print? Two former public radio... View Details

Keywords: Platforms And Ecosystems; Startup; Creative Industries; Digital Marketing; Podcasting; Business Startups; Media; Entertainment; Growth and Development Strategy; Digital Platforms; United States

2013
Other Teaching and Training Material

Operations Management Reading: Forecasting

By: Steven C. Wheelwright and Ann B. Winslow

This reading provides an introduction to forecasting methods. It includes a brief summary of methods based on judgment and a longer section on quantitative analysis. It also provides sample data so students can develop an understanding of concepts such as correlation,... View Details

April 1998 (Revised January 2007)
Case

Arrow Electronics, Inc.

By: Das Narayandas

Deals with the issue of cross-selling and managing a portfolio of products and services in business markets. Arrow/Schweber (A/S), a subsidiary of electronic parts distributor Arrow Electronics, has a portfolio of products that differ in the amount of value added by... View Details

Keywords: Distribution Channels; Internet and the Web; Problems and Challenges; Change Management; Electronics Industry