Publications

June 2024
Supplement

Heritage Holding (A)

By: Richard S. Ruback and Royce Yudkoff

Pre-Abstract: Instructors should consider the timing of making videos available to students, as they may reveal key case details.

Abstract: The summer of 2022 marked a crucial period for Heritage Holding co-founders, Alex de Pfyffer and Ross Porter. The... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Small Business; Cost vs Benefits; Decisions; Business Education; Leadership Style; Leading Change; Business or Company Management; Problems and Challenges; Private Equity; Corporate Strategy; Business Model; North America

21 Nov 2006
First Look

First Look: November 21, 2006

patterns. We present a model where beliefs determine the types of contracts that firms offer and whether workers exert effort. Some workers become criminals, depending on their luck in the labor market, the... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

October 1982 (Revised August 1999)
Case

Johnson Wax: Enhance (A)

Johnson Wax has produced a new hair conditioner for problem hair. Before committing themselves to test market, they analyze the new product using a field based, pretest-market procedure called ASSESSOR. The testing reveals product positioning, advertising, and... View Details

Keywords: Product Positioning; Analysis; Marketing Communications; Advertising; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry

February 2020
Case

Seso Global: Building a Blockchain-enabled Property Marketplace in Nigeria

By: Boris Vallee and Yang (Dolly) Yu

The mutual aspiration of addressing the housing shortage and improving real estate market efficiency led Daniel and Phillip to co-found Seso Global in 2017. Seso Global developed a unique integrated platform to streamline and rationalize the process of acquiring and... View Details

Keywords: Fintech; Blockchain; Developing Markets; Entrepreneurial Management; Financing and Loans; Internet and the Web; Business Model; Property; Growth and Development Strategy; Developing Countries and Economies; Real Estate Industry; Africa; Nigeria

25 May 2010
First Look

First Look: May 25

(revised) Authors:Itai Ashlagi, Benjamin G. Edelman, and Hoan Lee Abstract We model competing auctions for online advertising, with attention to the participation costs that limit advertisers' interest in... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

April 2017 (Revised February 2020)
Supplement

edaixi (eWash): Digital Transformation of Laundry Services (B)

By: Feng Zhu, Weiru Chen, Chuang Chen and Ciwu Lin

Founded in 2013 as a laundry service featuring online ordering for home pickup and delivery, China’s edaixi (eWash) illustrated the online-to-offline (O2O) business model. As yet unclear in 2016 was the optimal way to organize third-party laundry service providers,... View Details

Keywords: Laundry; O2O; Online-to-offline; Service Operations; Business Model; Digital Platforms; Transformation; Service Industry; China

11 Oct 2016
First Look

October 11, 2016

Exploring Langerian Models Understanding Confidence: Its Roots and Role in Performance By: Kanter, Rosabeth M., and Daniel Fox Abstract—No abstract available. Publisher's link:... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

30 Sep 2022
Blog Post

Latina Women in Leadership: Jacqueline Burgos (MBA 2014)

works at Google in their Go-to-Market organization supporting the largest media advertising agencies in the world. Tell us about your life before HBS. Before HBS, I worked at HBO as a New Media Analyst in their Financial Planning and... View Details

August 2018 (Revised September 2018)
Case

Predicting Purchasing Behavior at PriceMart (A)

By: Srikant M. Datar and Caitlin N. Bowler

This case follows VP of Marketing, Jill Wehunt, and analyst Mark Morse as they tackle a predictive analytics project to increase sales in the Mom & Baby unit of a nationally recognized retailer, PriceMart. Wehunt observed that in the midst of the chaos that surrounded... View Details

Keywords: Data Science; Analytics and Data Science; Analysis; Consumer Behavior; Forecasting and Prediction

October 2018
Case

Zenefits Board of Directors (A)

By: Lynn S. Paine and Will Hurwitz

In early 2018, the time seemed right for Zenefits investor and director Lars Dalgaard to reflect on whether Zenefits had the right board of directors to shepherd the company through its next stages of growth. For the company whose name combined the words “benefits,”... View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Business Model; Corporate Accountability; Governing and Advisory Boards; Corporate Governance; Crisis Management; Entrepreneurship; Human Resources; Leadership; Risk Management; Venture Capital; Technology Industry; Telecommunications Industry; Information Technology Industry; United States; California

29 Jun 2007
First Look

First Look: June 29, 2007

customers, and the variables involved in designing an optimal credit card. Concludes with a consideration of the decisions the CRM team had to make in designing the project, including whether to use conjoint View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

01 Jul 2014
First Look

First Look: July 1

their products directly to buyers) or as a reseller (purchasing products from suppliers and selling them to buyers). We model this as a decision between whether control rights over a non-contractible... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

11 Aug 2009
First Look

First Look: August 11, 2009

we provide evidence that those firms with insiders selling prior to the announcement of the loss face significantly more negative abnormal returns. Our findings are robust to subsample analysis examining firms reporting goodwill... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

18 Sep 2000
Research & Ideas

Getting It Done: Improving Nonprofit Performance

the approaches of these funds to applying the for-profit venture model [to nonprofits] vary," he explains, "they are all establishing performance metrics for their 'investments' and rewarding [good results]... View Details

Keywords: by James E. Aisner

September 2011 (Revised August 2015)
Case

ScoreBig

By: William A. Sahlman, Jeffrey Glass and Evan W. Richardson

The founding team at ScoreBig, an event ticketing company, is on the verge of a public launch of their product. The company has made great progress in negotiating access to tickets, designing its interface, and building a proprietary architecture. For consumers,... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Marketing Strategy; Product Launch; Business Startups; Business Strategy; Corporate Finance; Entertainment and Recreation Industry

May 2024
Case

Net Protections (A)

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell, Nobuo Sato and Akiko Kanno

In Case A, set in early 2017, Net Protections (NP) is the largest Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) fintech service in Japan and is experiencing a slowdown in growth of its core product, NP Atobarai. Launched in 2002 as non-membership service, the NP Atobarai product has given... View Details

Keywords: Product Positioning; Demand and Consumers; E-commerce; Customers; Business Model; Financial Services Industry; Japan

May 2009 (Revised October 2009)
Case

Newton-Wellesley Hospital

By: Richard M.J. Bohmer and Natalie Kindred

How will Newton-Wellesley Hospital (NWH) preserve its private practice tradition while remaining effective and competitive in a healthcare industry demanding increasing integration between physicians and hospitals? This is the decision facing Newton-Wellesley Hospital... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Profit; Health Care and Treatment; Growth and Development Strategy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Structure; Competitive Strategy; Integration; Health Industry; Massachusetts