Publications

April 2003
Teaching Note

Energis (A) (TN)

By: John R. Wells

Teaching Note for (9-703-505). View Details

Keywords: History; Demand and Consumers; Strategy; Distribution; System Shocks; Service Delivery; Organizational Structure; Telecommunications Industry; United Kingdom

May 2020 (Revised December 2022)
Case

Soofa: Displaying the Right Path?

By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang, Amy Klopfenstein and Amram Migdal

In November 2019, Sandra Richter, co-founder and CEO of Soofa, a network of advertising-supported digital bulletin boards, must decide between two different fundraising and expansion plans for her company. One plan entails raising $15 million in a Series A round and... View Details

12 Feb 2016
Op-Ed

The Real Jobs Tragedy in the US: We've Lost the Skills

domestic skills market is far more relevant to the future of American workers than potential job losses through expanded trade with other Pacific-rim nations. Signs of distress The long-term structural decline of American jobs began well before the Great Recession.... View Details

Keywords: by Joe Fuller and Matt Sigelman; Manufacturing; Electronics

17 Nov 2015
Lessons from the Classroom

How Activist Investors Became Respectable

proliferation of strategies, from those aggressively demanding change at targeted companies to others that function more like conventional value investors searching for underpriced assets to buy. Some traditional asset managers, such as... View Details

Keywords: by Joseph Fuller; Financial Services; Banking

April 2011
Teaching Note

Taylor Fresh Foods (TN)

By: David E. Bell and Mary Louise Shelman

Teaching Note for 509008. View Details

Keywords: Market Entry and Exit; Food; Demand and Consumers; Competition; Opportunities; Food and Beverage Industry; United States

15 Sep 2003
Research & Ideas

The Lessons of New-Market Disruption

the outcomes. Teradyne found that by using generic components offered with Windows NT software, it could slash the cost of delivering the product to integrated circuit manufacturers. Despite the significant cost advantages offered by using CMOS and Windows NT,... View Details

Keywords: by Clark Gilbert; Technology

06 Jun 2013
Op-Ed

How to Do Away with the Dangers of Outsourcing

and on and on—a coalition of associates that spanned the earth and in the end proved nearly as dysfunctional as the real United Nations often seems. Outsourcing woes cost the 787 an estimated three extra years of development, required... View Details

Keywords: by Ranjay Gulati; Manufacturing; Apparel & Accessories; Fashion

05 Jul 2004
What Do You Think?

Work-Life: Is Productivity in the Balance?

not possible for all people to feel that urgency with the reduced amount of one-to-one contact that now takes place" under more liberal work-life policies. It's clear that these issues are not peculiar to the United States. Several... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

26 Mar 2012
Research & Ideas

What Neuroscience Tells Us About Consumer Desire

2008 hired a neuromarketing firm to look into how consumers respond to Cheetos, the top-selling brand of cheese puffs in the United States. Using EEG technology on a group of willing subjects, the firm determined that consumers respond... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Consumer Products

March 2010
Background Note

Airline Travel in the U.S.

By: Sunil Gupta and Kavita Shukla

How should airlines respond to the rising share of Online Travel Agencies (OTAs) as consumers increasingly search the web to buy tickets? View Details

Keywords: Management; Marketing Channels; Consumer Behavior; Market Participation; Agency Theory; Online Technology; Aerospace Industry; United States

Find at Harvard

March 2008 (Revised January 2010)
Background Note

Note on Accountability in the U.S. Health Care System

By: Regina E. Herzlinger and Michael Millenson

This note explains how health care providers, health insurers, and consumers are held accountable for their performance and the entrepreneurial opportunities thus created. View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Ethics; Insurance; Corporate Accountability; Health Care and Treatment; Demand and Consumers; Health Industry; United States

27 Oct 2009
First Look

First Look: October 27

Working Papers Money or Knowledge? What Drives Demand for Financial Services in Emerging Markets? (revised) Authors: Shawn Cole, Thomas Sampson, and Bilal Zia Abstract Why is demand for formal financial... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

2023
Working Paper

No Mask, No Service: Customer Reaction to Walmart’s 2020 National Mask Mandate

By: Innessa Colaiacovo

Multi-location firms face a complex series of economic tradeoffs when deciding whether to implement standard processes or allow processes to vary across establishments. One element of this tradeoff is customer response. This paper explores customer reaction to a... View Details

Keywords: Consumer Behavior; Geographic Location; Policy; Health Pandemics; Retail Industry; United States

Read Now

10 Sep 2013
First Look

First Look: September 10

trading volume, and more dispersion in analyst forecasts following the calls. Further, the capital market's response to linguistic complexity is limited to firms for which there is greater demand for English-language conference calls. Our... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

March 2024
Case

Expanding the Bicester Collection to New York

By: Boris Vallee, Kirby Brand, Kristina Brown, Julie McCrimlisk, Chloe Sztabnik and Arthur Segel

Secretariat, if anyone remembers, won the triple crown at the Belmont Race Track on Long Island, located at the nexus of La Guardia, JFK Airports, the Long Island Railroad and multiple major highways. Belmont Race Track is now being rebuilt along with an adjacent UBS... View Details

Keywords: Consumer Behavior; Urban Development; Brands and Branding; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Sports Industry; Retail Industry; New York (state, US)

19 Jan 2022
In Practice

7 Trends to Watch in 2022

As 2022 gets underway we asked our faculty to highlight some trends worth watching in the coming year. Ariel Stern: A new future for digital health care While 2020 and 2021 were years of rapid innovation and deployment of new health care technologies and delivery... View Details

Keywords: by HBS News

05 Jun 2013
Op-Ed

Corporate Leaders Need to Step Up on Climate Change

Green initiatives are ubiquitous these days, implemented with zeal at companies like Dupont, IBM, Walmart, and Walt Disney. The programs being rolled out—lighting retrofits, zero-waste factories, and carpool incentives—save money and provide a green glow. Most large... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Toffel & Auden Schendler

October 2008 (Revised August 2010)
Case

The Christmas Eve Closing

By: Peter Tufano

In 2002, two homeowners in Massachusetts are deciding whether to refinance their home less than two years after taking out an initial mortgage and a subsequent home equity line of credit. View Details

Keywords: Mortgages; Personal Finance; Consumer Behavior; Banking Industry; Massachusetts

February 2018 (Revised December 2019)
Case

Rise of the Drones: Identified Technologies

By: Andy Wu and George Gonzalez

The founder and CEO of Identified Technologies, a Pittsburgh-based drone software and services company, faces a dilemma when San Francisco–based DroneDeploy begins to disrupt the industry with its drone software platform. Identified Technologies needs to consider... View Details

Keywords: Applications and Software; Digital Platforms; Disruption; Network Effects; Computer Industry; Web Services Industry; Pittsburgh; San Francisco