Publications

March 2023
Article

Not from Concentrate: Collusion in Collaborative Industries

By: Jordan M. Barry, John William Hatfield, Scott Duke Kominers and Richard Lowery

The chief principle of antitrust law and theory is that reducing market concentration—having more, smaller firms instead of fewer, bigger ones—reduces anticompetitive behavior. We demonstrate that this principle is fundamentally incomplete.

In many... View Details

SSRN

26 Mar 2024
Research & Ideas

How Humans Outshine AI in Adapting to Change

that required increasingly more flexible self-orienting. Like a simplified version of a four-player scenario of the classic video game Mario Kart, each game included four “possible selves,” which were... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Technology; Information Technology

2016
Book

Competing Against Luck: The Story of Innovation and Customer Choice

By: Clayton M. Christensen, Taddy Hall, Karen Dillon and David S. Duncan

The foremost authority on innovation and growth presents a path-breaking book every company needs to transform innovation from a game of chance to one in which they develop products and services that customers want to buy and are willing to purchase at a premium price.... View Details

Keywords: Disruptive Innovation; Consumer Behavior

August 2010 (Revised October 2012)
Exercise

To Catch a Vandal: A Power & Influence Exercise

By: Amy J.C. Cuddy, Ruwan Tharindu Gunatilake and Meredith Hodges

This exercise is based on the "Mafia" game created by psychologist Dimma Davidoff, and is designed to give students a broad introduction to multiple theories of influence and to challenge their instincts about which techniques are the most powerful and how they may be... View Details

Keywords: Nonverbal Communication; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Management Skills; Groups and Teams; Power and Influence; Trust

Elon Kohlberg is the Royal Little Professor of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School. His research is mainly in Game Theory, in particular the study of non-cooperative equilibrium.

Professor Kohlberg has taught many courses in the MBA,... View Details

Keywords: asset management; education industry; energy; pharmaceuticals; real estate

Research Summary

The Power of Paradox: Some Recent Developments in Interactive Epistemology

This survey describes a central paradox of game theory, viz. the Paradox of Backward Induction (BI). The paradox is that the BI outcome is often said to follow from basic game-theoretic principles--specifically, from the assumption that the players are rational. Yet,... View Details

12 Mar 2006
Research & Ideas

New Research Explores Multi-Sided Markets

Xbox, make their profits from game developers through royalties and incur losses on the sale of consoles to users by pricing them below cost. The key reason is that two-sided platforms must solve a chicken-and-egg problem. For example,... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Technology

Dennis A. Yao

Dennis Yao is the Lawrence E. Fouraker Professor of Business Administration and Chair of the Doctoral Programs at Harvard Business School. He joined the faculty in 2004 after having been at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. From 1991-1994 he served as... View Details

Keywords: automotive; defense; federal government; high technology

09 May 2012
Research & Ideas

Clayton Christensen’s “How Will You Measure Your Life?”

Editor's note: Every year, HBS Professor Clayton Christensen teaches students that well-tested academic theories can help them succeed not just in business, but in life. He expounds upon those lessons in his forthcoming book, How Will You... View Details

Research Summary

The Chopstick Auction - An Experimental Study of the Exposure Problem in Auctions (with P. Guillen, L. Llorente, S. Onderstal, R. Sausgruber), 2002

Multi-unit auctions are sometimes plagued by the so-called exposure problem. In this paper, we analyze a simple game called the "chopstick auction" in which bidders are confronted with the exposure problem. We analyze the chopstick auction with incomplete information... View Details

The Slow Pace of Fast Change: Bringing Innovations to Market in a Connected World (HBS Press; Boston 2003)

FOR EXECUTIVES, strategists, and students of technology-driven industries, this is a powerful playbook for the high-stakes innovation game. The market is full of fluctuating, and seemingly illogical, fortunes: A long shot like eBay catches fire, while a... View Details

Jerry R. Green

Jerry R. Green

David A. Wells Professor of Political Economy

John Leverett Professor in the University

Harvard University

Jerry Green is the John Leverett Professor in the University and the David A. Wells... View Details

Keywords: aerospace; education industry; insurance industry; professional services

25 May 2011
Working Paper Summaries

Accounting for Crises

Keywords: by Venky Nagar & Gwen Yu

2018
Chapter

Competing Interests

By: Joel Goh

Book Abstract: The editors, aided by a team of internationally acclaimed experts, have curated this timely volume to help newcomers and seasoned researchers alike to rapidly comprehend a diverse set of thrusts and tools in this rapidly growing cross-disciplinary field.... View Details

Keywords: Healthcare; Analytics; Health Care and Treatment; Research; Competition

2001
Working Paper

Airbus vs. Boeing in Superjumbos: Credibility and Preemption

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Pankaj Ghemawat

In December 2000, Airbus formally committed to spend $12 billion to develop and launch a 555-seat superjumbo plane known as the A380. Prior to and after Airbus’ commitment, Boeing started and canceled several initiatives aimed at developing a “stretch jumbo” with... View Details

Keywords: Air Transportation; Product Development; Market Entry and Exit; Valuation; Game Theory

Read Now

October 1991
Supplement

Philips' Compact Disc Introduction (B)

Updates students to 1982. Asks students to consider Philips' best strategy for investing in disc-pressing capacity dedicated to the United States market. The analysis draws on game theoretic techniques (in normal form with subgame perfection as the governing... View Details

Keywords: Technology; Competition; Game Theory; Technology Industry

December 2022
Article

Shaping Nascent Industries: Innovation Strategy and Regulatory Uncertainty in Personal Genomics

By: Cheng Gao and Rory McDonald

In nascent industries—whose new technologies are often poorly understood by regulators—contending with regulatory uncertainty can be crucial to organizational survival and growth. Prior research on nonmarket strategy has largely focused on established firms in mature... View Details

Keywords: Technological Change; Innovation; Qualitative Methods; New Categories; Entrepreneurship; Technological Innovation; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Risk and Uncertainty; Strategy

Read Now

2003
Book

The Slow Pace of Fast Change: Bringing Innovations to Market in a Connected World

By: Bhaskar Chakravorti

Innovation's encounter with the market results in a game of both high risk and high stakes. Often its outcome defies common sense: Superior new products flop, unlikely ideas become runaway hits, and—despite rapid technological advances and intense... View Details

Keywords: Game Theory; Network Effects; Innovation and Invention; Product Marketing; Economics