Publications

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23 Mar 2015
Research & Ideas

It’s Called ‘Price Coherence,’ and It’s Surprisingly Bad for Consumers

restaurant versus on Grubhub.com, or paying cash versus using a credit card. In many cases, consumers pay the same price for a given product or service, whether buying it directly from its source or through... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Retail; Air Transportation; Food & Beverage; Entertainment & Recreation

07 Jan 2002
What Do You Think?

Did Consumer Behavior Tracking Come of Age on September 11?

bit wider for the implementation of systems designed to enable our behaviors as consumers to be tracked even more fully? What do you think? Original Article In the past several years, significant fears have been expressed concerning the... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

21 Jul 2014
Research & Ideas

Is a Gap in Small-Business Credit Holding Back the American Economy?

financial reform legislation, the gap in small business credit data was recognized and a specific provision was included to allow for more credible monitoring for small business access to bank credit. Section 1071 of the Dodd-Frank Act... View Details

Keywords: by Karen Mills; Manufacturing

August 2014 (Revised March 2015)
Case

Pivots and Incentives at LevelUp

By: Benjamin Edelman and Karen Webster

LevelUp's mobile payments service lets users scan a smartphone barcode rather than swipe a credit card. Will consumers embrace the service? Will merchants? LevelUp considers adjustments to make the service attractive to both consumers and merchants, while trying to... View Details

Keywords: Mobile Payments; Smartphone; Credit Cards; Interchange Fee; Mobile Marketing; Product Positioning; Competitive Strategy; Mobile Technology; Technology Networks; Food and Beverage Industry; Banking Industry; United States

Article

The Economic Consequences of Bankruptcy Reform

By: Tal Gross, Raymond Kluender, Feng Liu, Matthew J. Notowidigdo and Jialan Wang

A more generous consumer bankruptcy system provides greater insurance against financial risks but may also raise the cost of credit. We study this trade-off using the 2005 Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act (BAPCPA), which increased the costs of... View Details

Keywords: Bankruptcy; Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention And Consumer Protection Act; Borrowing and Debt; Credit

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Article

Sadness, Identity, and Plastic in Over-shopping: The Interplay of Materialism, Poor Credit Management, and Emotional Buying Motives in Predicting Compulsive Buying

By: Grant Edward Donnelly, Masha Ksendzova and Ryan Howell

A comprehensive study is currently lacking to explain why material values strongly influence compulsive buying. The goal of the current study is to test if money management, buying motivations for improving mood and identity, and self-transformation expectations... View Details

Keywords: Credit Cards; Consumer Behavior; Identity; Emotions

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August 2019
Case

ClearScore, 2018

By: John R. Wells and Benjamin Weinstock

In October 2017, Experian, one of the “Big Three” consumer credit reporting agencies in the United Kingdom made an offer to acquire ClearScore for a total consideration of £293 million. Founded by Justin Basini, Dan Cobley, and Nigel Morris in 2014, ClearScore was the... View Details

2012
Chapter

Banking on Consumer Credit: Explaining Patterns of Household Borrowing in the United States and France

By: J. Gunnar Trumbull

Keywords: Credit; Commercial Banking; Personal Finance; Borrowing and Debt; Financing and Loans; Consumer Behavior; Banking Industry; United States; France

September 2017 (Revised September 2023)
Case

Chase Sapphire: Creating a Millennial Cult Brand

By: Shelle Santana, Jill Avery and Christine Snively

The launch of the Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card was enthusiastically received by millennial consumers, a cohort that had previously eluded JPMorgan Chase and its competitors. With the one-year anniversary of the launch approaching, managers are focused on... View Details

October 2023 (Revised March 2024)
Case

KOKO Networks: Bridging Energy Transition and Affordability with Carbon Financing

By: George Serafeim, Siko Sikochi and Namrata Arora

The problem was massive: two million hectares of African forests were lost annually to charcoal production for cooking, an area equivalent to 13 times Greater London, resulting in one billion tons of carbon emissions yearly. At the same time, an estimated 700,000... View Details

May 2014 (Revised March 2017)
Case

Unilever's Lifebuoy in India: Implementing the Sustainability Plan

By: Christopher A. Bartlett

Unilever's new Global Brand VP must not only revitalize Lifebuoy soap's sagging market performance, but simultaneously impact the health of one billion people worldwide. The latter challenge comes from Unilever's new CEO who has introduced the Unilever Sustainable... View Details

Keywords: Multinational Management; Corporate Social Responsibility; Strategy Implementation; Marketing Strategy; Mission And Purpose; Change Management; International Business; Global; Fast-moving Consumer Goods; Soap; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Health Care and Treatment; Environmental Sustainability; Global Strategy; Developing Countries and Economies; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; Health Industry; India

March 2017 (Revised March 2019)
Case

Ant Financial (A)

By: Feng Zhu, Ying Zhang, Krishna G. Palepu, Anthony K. Woo and Nancy Hua Dai

Headquartered in Hangzhou (China), Ant Financial has grown into a fintech “Unicorn.” The fintech empire that the company established spanned verticals such as mobile and online payment (Alipay), money market fund (Yu’e Bao), wealth management (Ant Fortune),... View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development Strategy; Global Strategy; Finance; Opportunities; Financial Services Industry; Technology Industry