Publications

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2020
Working Paper

Dog Eat Dog: Balancing Network Effects and Differentiation in a Digital Platform Merger

By: Chiara Farronato, Jessica Fong and Andrey Fradkin

Digital platforms are increasingly the subject of regulatory scrutiny. In comparison to multiple competitors, a single platform may increase consumer welfare if network effects are large or may decrease welfare due to higher prices or reduction in platform variety. We... View Details

Keywords: Platform Differentiation; Digital Platforms; Network Effects; Measurement and Metrics; Mergers and Acquisitions; Outcome or Result

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25 Sep 2000
Research & Ideas

More Than the Sum of Its Parts: The Impact of Modularity on the Computer Industry

drives. CB: Ultimately, though, the power of modularity does not lie simply in the creation of financial option value and the ensuing impact on... View Details

Keywords: by Staff; Consumer Products; Consumer Products; Consumer Products

November 2004
Case

The Electronic Product Code: Future Impact on the Global Food System

By: Ray A. Goldberg and James Weber

The Electronic Product Code (EPC) is a successor to the Uniform Product Code and will improve the efficiency and traceability of the global food system. This case focuses on how best to implement this new system and respect the privacy of the ultimate consumer, and the... View Details

Keywords: Information; Rights; Ethics; Consumer Behavior; Management Systems; Technology Adoption; Innovation and Invention; Food and Beverage Industry

December 2019
Article

The Impact of Increasing Search Frictions on Online Shopping Behavior: Evidence from a Field Experiment

By: Donald Ngwe, Kris J. Ferreira and Thales Teixeira

Many online stores are designed such that shoppers can easily access any available discounted products. We propose that deliberately increasing search frictions by placing small obstacles to locating discounted items can improve online retailers’ margins and even... View Details

Keywords: Online Retailing; Friction; Effor; Search Costs; Price Discrimination; Marketing; Consumer Behavior; Strategy; Price; E-commerce; Retail Industry; Fashion Industry

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2011
Working Paper

Observation Bias: The Impact of Demand Censoring on Newsvendor Level and Adjustment Behavior

By: David F. Drake

In an experimental newsvendor setting we investigate three phenomena: Level behavior — the decision-maker's average ordering tendency; adjustment behavior — the tendency to adjust period-to-period order quantities; and observation bias — the tendency to let the degree... View Details

Keywords: Cost; Consumer Behavior; Decision Making; Prejudice and Bias; Profit

17 Aug 2009
Research & Ideas

Quantifying the Economic Impact of the Internet

The fight was lost as consumers voted for free information supported by advertising over subscription services. Ironically, online advertising and the commercialization of the Web achieved important goals... View Details

Keywords: by John Quelch; Advertising; Publishing

30 Sep 2021
Blog Post

Driving Social Impact Through Consumer Behavior: Nonprofit to Finance to Retail with Nicole Krantz (MBA 2022)

Strategy and Sustainability Manager. In her role, Krantz worked closely with the leadership team on building strategic partnerships that could further the company’s mission of sustainability. “I loved what... View Details

Keywords: Retail

January 2014 (Revised June 2014)
Case

23andMe: Genetic Testing for Consumers (A)

By: John A. Quelch and Margaret L. Rodriguez

On November 22, 2013, the direct-to-consumer genetic testing provider, 23andMe, received a letter from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ordering the company to halt the sale and promotion of its genetic testing kit. The FDA stated that the product was... View Details

Keywords: Public Health; Genome Testing; Health Care; Ancestry; 23andMe; Marketing; Product Launch; Health; Health Care and Treatment; Health Testing and Trials; Genetics; Strategy; Health Industry; United States

Research Summary

Innovations in Logistics: The Impact of Channel Coordination

By: Janice H. Hammond

Roy D. Shapiro (with Janice H. Hammond and Marshall L. Fisher) is studying innovative systems and management approaches that integrate and coordinate material and information flows through the supply chain so as to reduce or eliminate the redundant activities that tend... View Details

28 Jul 2010
News

Wrongful dismissal; consumers like underdogs, too

01 Jun 2002
News

Ads Improve Consumer Decisions

Results, published in a recent working paper, showed that the number of promotional spots viewed had a positive impact on the “match” between viewer and show. Essentially, the... View Details

Keywords: Laura Singleton (MBA 1988)

October 2009
Article

Shaping Online Consumer Choice by Partitioning the Web

By: Jolie M. Martin and Michael I. Norton

This research explores how partitioning attributes in online search interfaces changes the valuations of those attributes-and impacts subsequent choice-such that attributes that are displayed as separate categories tend to receive greater decision weight than... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Information Management; Demand and Consumers; Research; Internet and the Web; Valuation

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February 2001
Case

PlanetFeedback: The Voice of One ... The Power of Many (A)

By: James L. Heskett

The management of PlanetFeedback in proposes a merger with Intelliseek. Their goal is to create a comprehensive C2B and B2B business focused on the generation and analysis for business clients of consumer feedback data via the Internet, Planet Feedback's board of... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Decisions; Information Management; Analytics and Data Science; Business Strategy; Internet and the Web; Information Technology Industry

02 Sep 2010
News

Disputing wrongful dismissal; consumers like underdogs, too

29 Aug 2023
News

Helping Consumers Decarbonize their Purchases

Subscribe on iTunes Subscribe on Spotify More Skydeck episodes Hi, this is Dan Morrell, host of Skydeck. In this episode, we’re going to be highlighting an episode of another HBS podcast: Climate Rising, which focuses on what businesses are doing, can do, and should do... View Details

February 2009 (Revised September 2010)
Case

JWT China: Advertising for the New Chinese Consumer

By: Elisabeth Koll

This case analyzes the business strategy and expansion of JWT China from the late 1990s to 2008. As part of the world's fourth largest marketing communications network, JWT China grew into one of the largest integrated communications companies in China operating from... View Details

Keywords: Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Marketing Strategy; Consumer Behavior; Business and Government Relations; Business Strategy; Expansion; Advertising Industry; China

31 May 2007
Working Paper Summaries

Extremeness Seeking: When and Why Consumers Prefer the Extremes

Keywords: by John T. Gourville & Dilip Soman

October 2008 (Revised September 2009)
Case

Consumer Lending in Japan: Citi CFJ (A)

By: J. Gunnar Trumbull and Akiko Kanno

Despite a tradition of high household savings, Japan has supported a dynamic and technically sophisticated consumer-lending sector. The high profitability of the sector has periodically attracted interest from domestic banks as well as international investors. Most... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Financing and Loans; Foreign Direct Investment; Personal Finance; Courts and Trials; Business and Government Relations; Banking Industry; Japan