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Show Results For
- All HBS Web
(1,046)
- People (1)
- News (142)
- Research (821)
- Events (7)
- Multimedia (4)
- Faculty Publications (216)
- 14 Aug 2017
- News
Study: More Frequent Sales Quotas Help Volume but Hurt Profits
- December 2016
- Article
The Effect of File Sharing on Record Sales, Revisited
By: Felix Oberholzer-Gee and Koleman Strumpf
Even as we approach the twentieth anniversary of widespread file sharing, its impact on the sale of copyrighted material remains in dispute. We contributed to this debate with an early study, “The Effect of File Sharing on Record Sales: An Empirical Analysis,” that was... View Details
Oberholzer-Gee, Felix, and Koleman Strumpf. "The Effect of File Sharing on Record Sales, Revisited." Information Economics and Policy 37 (December 2016): 61–66.
What's the Right Kind of Bonus to Motivate Your Sales Force?
Companies typically compensate their sales force by using some combination of salary, commission, and bonuses, but executives are often unsure which incentives provide the best motivation. Should bonuses be tied to quotas or should they be given unconditionally? Is... View Details
- 22 Feb 2012
- Working Paper Summaries
The Dynamic Effects of Bundling as a Product Strategy
- 08 Feb 2000
- Research & Ideas
Building Effective R&D Capabilities Abroad
"Building Effective R&D Capabilities Abroad," Walter Kuemmerle looks at changes in the research & development function in the global economy. A centralized R&D approach will no longer suffice, says Kuemmerle, for two... View Details
Keywords: by Walter Kuemmerle
- Article
Selling After the Crisis
Like perishable goods in grocery stores, sales models have a sell-by date. As product standards evolve and new entrants emerge, buyers have more choices and demand more in terms of quality and performance across vendors. Firms that fail to adjust to changing customer... View Details
Cespedes, Frank V. "Selling After the Crisis." Harvard Business Review 99, no. 2 (March–April 2021): 52–57.
- Article
Positioning Brands Against Large Competitors to Increase Sales
By: Neeru Paharia, Jill Avery and Anat Keinan
We explore the effect of having a large dominant competitor and show the conditions under which focusing on a competitive threat, rather than hiding it, can actually help a brand. We demonstrate through lab and field studies that highlighting a large competitor's size... View Details
Keywords: Brands; Brand Management; Brand Positioning; Competitive Positioning; Brands and Branding; Marketing; Marketing Strategy; Consumer Products Industry; Retail Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Air Transportation Industry; United States
Paharia, Neeru, Jill Avery, and Anat Keinan. "Positioning Brands Against Large Competitors to Increase Sales." Journal of Marketing Research (JMR) 51, no. 6 (December 2014): 647–656. (Lead article.)
- January 26, 2017
- Article
Executives and Salespeople Are Misaligned—and the Effects Are Costly
By: Frank V. Cespedes and Christopher Wallace
This article discusses the results of a survey of senior executives, middle managers, and sales people from companies across a variety of industries. The survey focused on questions about how well their companies’ strategies informed six critical elements of their... View Details
Cespedes, Frank V., and Christopher Wallace. "Executives and Salespeople Are Misaligned—and the Effects Are Costly." Harvard Business Review (website) (January 26, 2017).
Positioning Brands Against Large Competitors to Increase Sales
The authors explore the effects of having a large dominant competitor and show conditions under which focusing on a competitive threat, rather than hiding it, can actually help a brand. Through lab and field studies, the authors demonstrate that highlighting a large... View Details
- November–December 2013
- Article
The Dynamic Effects of Bundling as a Product Strategy
By: Timothy Derdenger and Vineet Kumar
Several key questions in bundling have not been empirically examined: Is mixed bundling more effective than pure bundling or pure components? Does correlation in consumer valuations make bundling more or less effective? Does bundling serve as a complement or substitute... View Details
Derdenger, Timothy, and Vineet Kumar. "The Dynamic Effects of Bundling as a Product Strategy." Marketing Science 32, no. 6 (November–December 2013): 827–859.
- 09 Nov 2021
- Research & Ideas
The Simple Secret of Effective Mentoring Programs
Old-fashioned mentoring may be one of the most effective ways to improve job performance, but many mentorship programs don’t reach new hires who need guidance most, new research suggests. Newly hired employees at a United States call... View Details
Keywords: by Jay Fitzgerald
- 2014
- Book
Aligning Strategy and Sales: The Choices, Systems, and Behaviors That Drive Effective Selling
There are many books that provide strategy advice and selling methodologies. But there is a gap in the management literature when it comes to linking sales efforts with strategy. Part 1 of this book provides data indicating how and why sales remain (by far) the biggest... View Details
Cespedes, Frank V. Aligning Strategy and Sales: The Choices, Systems, and Behaviors That Drive Effective Selling. Boston, MA: Harvard Business Review Press, 2014.
How Do Sales Efforts Pay Off? Dynamic Panel Data Analysis in the Nerlove-Arrow Framework
This paper evaluates the short- and long-term value of sales representatives’ detailing visits to different types of physicians. By understanding the dynamic effect of sales calls across heterogeneous physicians, we provide guidance on the design of optimal call... View Details
- December 2022
- Article
Conflicting Interests and the Effect of Fiduciary Duty: Evidence from Variable Annuities
By: Mark Egan, Shan Ge and Johnny Tang
We examine the variable annuity market to study conflicts of interest and the effect of fiduciary duty in brokerage markets. Insurers typically pay brokers higher commissions for selling more expensive annuities. Our results indicate that sales are four times as... View Details
Keywords: Variable Annuity; Brokers; Fiduciary Duty; Finance; Investment; Insurance; Conflict of Interests; Financial Services Industry; Insurance Industry; United States
Egan, Mark, Shan Ge, and Johnny Tang. "Conflicting Interests and the Effect of Fiduciary Duty: Evidence from Variable Annuities." Review of Financial Studies 35, no. 12 (December 2022): 5334–5386.
- July 2017
- Article
What Do Measures of Real-Time Corporate Sales Tell Us About Earnings Surprises and Post-announcement Returns?
By: Kenneth A. Froot, Namho Kang, Gideon Ozik and Ronnie Sadka
We develop real-time proxies of retail corporate sales from multiple sources, including approximately 50 million mobile devices. These measures contain information from both the earnings quarter (within quarter) and the period between that quarter's end and the... View Details
Froot, Kenneth A., Namho Kang, Gideon Ozik, and Ronnie Sadka. "What Do Measures of Real-Time Corporate Sales Tell Us About Earnings Surprises and Post-announcement Returns?" Journal of Financial Economics 125, no. 1 (July 2017): 143–162. (Revised from NBER Working Paper No. 22366, June 2016, Harvard Business School Working Paper No. 16-123, April 2016.)
- Forthcoming
- Article
The Effect of a System for Sharing Best Practices Within Pre-existing Peer Networks
By: Shelley Xin Li and Tatiana Sandino
Peer networks, such as enterprise social networks (ESNs), can facilitate knowledge transfer across employees. However, such systems can also lead to information overload or difficulty in finding useful information. We examine data from a natural field experiment where... View Details
- 05 Jul 2006
- Working Paper Summaries
Advertising and Expectations: The Effectiveness of Pre-Release Advertising for Motion Pictures
- 2007
- Other Unpublished Work
Effects of Inventory on Demand for Rentals in the Home Video Market
By: Ioannis Ioannou, Julie Mortimer and Richard Mortimer
Retailer inventory decisions can greatly influence observed demand for a product by affecting, among other things, product availability (stock-outs) and product visibility in the store. These inventory decisions are affected by numerous factors including vertical... View Details