Publications

Fall 2011
Article

A Brief Postwar History of U.S. Consumer Finance

By: Gunnar Trumbull and Peter Tufano

In this brief history of U.S. consumer finance since World War II, the sector is defined based on the functions delivered by firms in the form of payments, savings and investing, borrowing, managing risk, and providing advice. Evidence of major trends in consumption,... View Details

Keywords: Consumer Finance; Consumer Credit; U.s. History; Consumer Behavior; Personal Finance; Credit; Trends; History; United States

Find at Harvard

24 Sep 2014
Op-Ed

We Need a Miracle. New Nuclear Might Provide it.

CO2 emissions stretching to 2040. The story is scary. “The only thing that will change China's plans quickly is an energy miracle” The world's governments—the United States, the European Union, Japan, China, India and the rest—are telling... View Details

Keywords: by Joseph Lassiter; Energy; Utilities

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

13 Oct 2010
Research & Ideas

How Government can Discourage Private Sector Reliance on Short-Term Debt

sector's tilt toward short-term financing was merely the industry responding to a lack of available government debt instruments, such as short-term risk-free Treasuries, that were much in demand by investors during the global savings... View Details

Keywords: by Staff; Financial Services

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

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 2011
Background Note

Customer Loyalty Schemes in the Retail Sector

By: Jose B. Alvarez and Aldo Sesia

Customer loyalty schemes (or programs) are explicit efforts by retailers to gain long-term patronage from customers. Loyalty schemes are developed for a variety of reasons: to reward loyal customers, to generate more robust information about customer behavior, to... View Details

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Consumer Behavior; Business Strategy; Retail Industry; United Kingdom; United States

September 2019 (Revised February 2020)
Teaching Note

Fishbowl: Scaling Up

By: Leslie K. John

Email mking@hbs.edu for a courtesy copy.

Teaching Note for HBS No. 919-013. Fishbowl is a social media app that allows professionals to connect with other relevant professionals both within their company and... View Details

December 2018 (Revised February 2020)
Case

Fishbowl: Scaling Up

By: Leslie K. John

Fishbowl is a social media app that allows professionals to connect with other relevant professionals both within their company and across industry. Unlike many other social media apps, on which users typically present idealized portraits of themselves, on Fishbowl,... View Details

29 Aug 2024
Research & Ideas

Shoot for the Stars: What to Know About the Space Economy

we put people on the moon. There was this sense that: “Wait a minute, I thought we were going to have space hotels and moon bases.” Instead, the United States was going to have to buy trips for our astronauts to the Space Station from... View Details

Keywords: by Kara Baskin; Aerospace

25 Sep 2017
Research & Ideas

Why Politics is Failing America, and What Business Can Do To Help

industrial complex that limits healthy competition in order to promote its continued growth and caters to the power and profit-driven demands of its best customers instead of the broader public interest. During the 2016 election cycle,... View Details

Keywords: by Christina Pazzanese, Harvard Gazette

14 Dec 2011
Research & Ideas

The New Measures for Improving Nonprofit Performance

direction and the internal data to understand its own strengths and weaknesses can be overly influenced by outside demands for metrics that may not always be relevant to its ultimate success. “Without understanding outcomes, you can't get... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna

10 Oct 2018
Research & Ideas

The Legacy of Boaty McBoatface: Beware of Customers Who Vote

stevanovicigor In 2016, the National Environmental Research Council (NERC), a quasi-governmental agency in the United Kingdom, decided it would be fun to let the public vote online to name the country’s newest research vessel. The agency... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Advertising

08 Apr 2013
Research & Ideas

Women’s Summit Celebrates ‘Sisterhood of the Traveling Pantsuit’

Harvard President Drew Faust herself noted at the start of the conference, women are still underrepresented at the top levels of government and business, both in the United States and abroad. Only 4 percent of Fortune 500 CEOs are women;... View Details

Keywords: by Katie Koch & Harvard Gazette

09 Mar 2009
Research & Ideas

How to Revive Health-Care Innovation

Hwang, M.D. (HBS MBA '06), the most essential innovations begin with simplicity and accessibility. As they note in the book excerpt below, Toyota made a name for itself in the United States first with a Corona; the far more ambitious... View Details

Keywords: by Clayton M. Christensen, Jerome H. Grossman, M.D. M.D. & Jason Hwang; Health

02 Mar 2016
What Do You Think?

Is Apple’s Real Privacy Challenge Technology Innovation Itself?

terrorist is moot.” Several addressed the more specific issue of Apple’s dispute with the FBI. The question of what a government can demand in a democracy roughly split respondents down the middle. Taking Apple’s side, ZBV said: “The... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Technology

06 Jul 2009
Research & Ideas

Conducting Layoffs: ’Necessary Evils’ at Work

identified four different approaches people used to perform necessary evils effectively, so that the task got done and the victims were treated with decency and respect.” Margolis, an associate professor of business administration in the Organizational Behavior View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

30 Jan 2006
HBS Case

The Case of the Mystery Writer’s Brand

success if it sold 200,000 copies. Today, the bar has been raised to 1.5 million copies, thanks in part to the dominance of "big-box" retailers (such as Wal-Mart and Costco) that only stock twenty or so bestsellers yet are responsible for 34 percent of book... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Entertainment & Recreation; Information; Publishing

July 1991 (Revised June 1992)
Case

Retail Promotional Pricing: When Is a Sale Really a Sale? (A)

Addresses the controversy that surrounds highly promotional retail pricing referred to as "high-low pricing" by the trade. High-low pricing involves setting prices at an initially high level for a brief period of time, then discounting off the so-called "regular" or... View Details

Keywords: Courts and Trials; Price; Ethics; Consumer Behavior; Product Marketing; Retail Industry; Colorado