Publications

Educators

2013
Article

Knowledge-Based View of Strategy [La Visión de la Estrategia basada en el Conocimiento]

By: Hirotaka Takeuchi

Strategy is about future creation. Firms differ not just because they have different value chains and activity systems or different resources and competencies, but because they envision different futures. They differ because people in charge of formulating and... View Details

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November 2000 (Revised December 2000)
Background Note

Online Content Providers

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Alastair Brown

Describes the business model for online content providers, companies that distribute copyright content via the Internet. Focuses on their revenue and cost drivers and on the ways that online content providers create value for consumers. Also investigates the benefits... View Details

Keywords: Internet and the Web; Customers; Value Creation; Business Model; Internet and the Web; Cash Flow; Risk and Uncertainty; Growth and Development Strategy; Problems and Challenges; Decision Making; Profit; Information Industry

24 Nov 2003
Research & Ideas

Boards and Corporate Governance: A Balanced Scorecard Approach

The Balanced Scorecard helps organizations manage the value creation process at each of these levels. In each situation, the Balanced Scorecard creates a strategy map that links financial results with the key View Details

Keywords: Re: Robert S. Kaplan & Krishna G. Palepu

2025
Working Paper

Race, Rental Yields, and Housing Decay in Manhattan

By: Tom Nicholas and Christophe Spaenjers

We develop a new dataset on real estate transactions in Manhattan (1912–1939), linked to federal Census records (1930 and 1940) and property images used for tax assessment purposes (around 1940 and 1980). We analyze investor returns and incentives to maintain... View Details

Keywords: Housing Markets; Rental Yields; Urban Decay; Manhattan; Race; Equality and Inequality; Investment Return; Motivation and Incentives; Real Estate Industry; New York (city, NY)

SSRN

17 Jul 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, July 17, 2018

economy. Publisher's link: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=54694 in press Journal of Social and Personal Relationships Valuing Time Over Money Is Associated with Greater Social Connection By: Whillans, A.V., and Elizabeth... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

Research Summary

Cross-Boundary Coordination and Airline Performance

In the context of global airline alliances, this study explores how organizations engaged in partnerships for service delivery achieve coordination with each other. We will assess the impact of both cross-functional and cross-organizational coordination on the quality... View Details

27 Aug 2008
Research & Ideas

Creating Leaders for Science-Based Businesses

buildings, this emphasis on science will affect HBS. The unique challenges of managing and leading science-based businesses—certain to be a driver of this century's new economy—demand new management paradigms. For a core group of HBS... View Details

Keywords: by Garry Emmons; Biotechnology; Health

24 Jun 2014
First Look

First Look: June 24

argue that this rule is feasible despite the limited powers of central authorities. We also offer a framework for reasoning about future prices of IP addresses and then explore the role of rentals in sharing information about the value of... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

Article

On the Causality and Cause of Returns to Organizational Status: Evidence from the Grands Crus Classés of the Médoc

By: Daniel Malter

This paper identifies the causal symbolic effect of status on the prices organizations charge for their products. I exploit the classification of the châteaux of the Médoc, which sorted 61 wine producers into five growth classes in 1855, as a fixed hierarchical symbol... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Status; Quality Signals; Conspicuous Consumption; Wine Classification Of 1855; Grand Cru; Status and Position; Quality; Reputation; Price; France

2020
Working Paper

No Line Left Behind: Assortative Matching Inside the Firm

By: Achyuta Adhvaryu, Vittorio Bassi, Anant Nyshadham and Jorge Tamayo

How do firms pair workers with managers, and which constraints affect the allocation of labor within the firm? We characterize the sorting pattern of managers to workers in a large readymade garment manufacturer in India and then explore potential drivers of the... View Details

Keywords: Assortative Matching; Productivity; Global Buyers; Readymade Garments; Management; Employees; Performance Productivity

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April 2025
Article

The Disappearing Index Effect

By: Robin Greenwood and Marco Sammon

The abnormal return associated with a stock being added to the S&P 500 has fallen from an average of 7.4% in the 1990s to 0.3% over the past decade. This has occurred despite a significant increase in the share of stock market assets linked to the index. A similar... View Details

Keywords: Stocks; Investment Return; Value

26 Jul 2010
Research & Ideas

Yes, You Can Raise Prices in a Downturn

Beachwood, Ohio. In this interview the researchers discuss pricing strategy and what ingredients are necessary to convince customers that higher prices are worth the cost. Sean Silverthorne: Who would benefit by learning about your research? Frank Cespedes: Pricing... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Retail; Consumer Products

05 Jul 2021
What Do You Think?

Do Companies Really Need Chief Experience Officers to Know Their Customers?

writing about the notion that customers don’t buy products and services, they buy results and process quality. Why both? A charming driver can’t deliver a result without a limo. At about the same time, Clay Christensen and his co-authors... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

Research Summary

Managing Marketspace Service Interfaces

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport

Jeffrey F. Rayport is focusing on the strategic challenges that face businesses selling information-intensive products and services. A key strategic issue in such businesses is the dematerialization of information-intensive products and services as a consequence of... View Details

February 2018 (Revised August 2018)
Case

OpenInvest

By: Shawn Cole, Boris Vallée and Nicole Tempest Keller

Founded by a team of hedge fund and NGO alumni, OpenInvest launched its platform in 2015 to enable retail investors to tailor their portfolios to their personal values in an automated way, for instance by screening out weapons manufacturers stocks or overweighting... View Details

Keywords: Fintech; Impact Investing; Investment Portfolio; Customization and Personalization; Technological Innovation; Social Issues; Growth and Development Strategy; Business Model; Financial Services Industry

Educators

January 2010 (Revised March 2013)
Case

HubSpot: Lower Churn through Greater CHI

By: F. Asis Martinez Jerez, Thomas Steenburgh, Jill Avery and Lisa Brem

HubSpot, a web marketing startup is under pressure from VCs to rapidly acquire new customers and to maintain a low level of customer churn. In the case, students explore the drivers of customer churn and uncover opportunities to increase customer retention across the... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Customer Relationship Management; Customer Satisfaction; Customer Value and Value Chain; Forecasting and Prediction; Consumer Behavior; Happiness; Consulting Industry

Educators

Teaching Interest

Executive Education - Owner/President Management Program

By: Martin A. Sinozich

Delivered in three units that span 24 months over three calendar years, the Owner/President Management (OPM) program is a transformative learning experience that boosts leadership skills and the value of participants’ enterprises. Sinozich teaches the Finance... View Details

December 2022
Article

Social Skills Improve Business Performance: Evidence from a Randomized Control Trial with Entrepreneurs in Togo

By: Stefan Dimitriadis and Rembrand Koning

Recent field experiments demonstrate that advice, mentorship, and feedback from randomly assigned peers improve entrepreneurial performance. These results raise a natural question: what is preventing entrepreneurs and managers from forming these peer connections... View Details

Keywords: Social Skills; Business Performance; Entrepreneurs; Peer Relationships; Field Experiment; Entrepreneurship; Performance; Relationships; Interpersonal Communication; Togo

November 2007
Article

A Model of Consumer Learning for Service Quality and Usage

By: Raghuram Iyengar, Asim Ansari and Sunil Gupta

In many services, e.g., the wireless service industry, consumers choose a service plan based on their expected consumption. In such situations, consumers experience two forms of uncertainty. First, consumers may be uncertain about the quality of their service provider... View Details

Keywords: Experience and Expertise; Customer Value and Value Chain; Learning; Price; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Marketing Strategy; Consumer Behavior; Service Delivery; Quality; Risk and Uncertainty; Service Industry