Publications

25 Apr 2012
What Do You Think?

How Will the “Age of Big Data” Affect Management?

for jobs in data analytics. In addition to less wasteful marketing efforts (we should be able to know, for example, "which half" of advertising is effective, thereby making an old marketing saw obsolete),... View Details

Keywords: Re: James L. Heskett

May–June 2023
Article

Need for Speed: The Impact of In-Process Delays on Customer Behavior in Online Retail

By: Santiago Gallino, Nil Karacaoglu and Antonio Moreno

The impact of delays has been widely studied in various offline services. The focus of this study is online services, and we explore the impact of in-process delays—measured by website speed—on customer behavior. We leverage novel retail and website speed data to... View Details

Keywords: Online Retail; Quasi-experiments; Abandonment; Synthetic Control; E-commerce; Internet and the Web; Consumer Behavior; Policy; Retail Industry

Find at Harvard

April 2021
Case

Codecademy: Where to Next?

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport, Max Mailman and Sarah Ascherman

In March 2020, Zach Sims, co-founder and CEO of online education platform Codecademy, prepared for a meeting with his Chief of Staff Kunal Ahuja to discuss the company’s goals. Codecademy billed itself as the largest online resource for computer science literacy and... View Details

Keywords: Monetization Strategy; Business Model; Change Management; Venture Capital; Leading Change; Growth and Development Strategy; Growth Management; Management Teams; Marketing Channels; Product Marketing; Network Effects; Product Development; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Strategic Planning; Internet and the Web; Digital Platforms; United States

August 2001
Case

Strategic Capital Management, LLC (C)

By: Mark L. Mitchell, Erik Stafford and Todd Pulvino

Supplements the (A) case. View Details

Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Business Subsidiaries; Internet and the Web; Investment Funds; Price; Performance Efficiency; Capital Markets; Auctions; Investment Return; Equity; Planning; Financial Services Industry

August 2001
Case

Strategic Capital Management, LLC (B)

By: Mark L. Mitchell, Erik Stafford and Todd Pulvino

Supplements the (A) case. View Details

Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Business Subsidiaries; Internet and the Web; Investment Funds; Price; Performance Efficiency; Capital Markets; Auctions; Investment Return; Equity; Planning; Financial Services Industry

07 Jan 2002
What Do You Think?

Did Consumer Behavior Tracking Come of Age on September 11?

Internet and credit or debit cards. The rapid accumulation of information in data warehouses, as reflected in the value of EMC stock (at least up to a year ago), was testimony to this, regardless of whether very many organizations had... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

October 2006 (Revised February 2007)
Background Note

How Media Choices are Changing Online Advertising

By: Stephen P. Bradley and Nancy Bartlett

What is the response by advertisers as media consumption moves to the digital medium? Provides an overview of online advertising in mid-2006 and discusses the impact of an increasingly fractured media landscape and its accompanying expanding advertising options. View Details

Keywords: Digital Marketing; News; Media; Emerging Markets; Internet and the Web; Perspective; Disruption; Journalism and News Industry

07 Jul 2003
Research & Ideas

The Organizational Model for Open Source

received a grant from the Mellon Foundation to further their work for educational environments. I doubt that nonprofit foundations will define the future of software development, but all evidence would indicate that they will continue to play an important role. Keep in... View Details

Keywords: by Mallory Stark

08 Jul 2024
Research & Ideas

The Critical Computer Science Principles Every Strategic Leader Needs to Know

its own inventory. Today, Amazon is a classic example of “platformization”: The company grew from an online bookstore into a vast technological hub that provides logistics and advertising to third-party retailers and public cloud services underlying much of the View Details

Keywords: by Ben Rand; Technology; Information Technology

March 2021
Case

Founders Factory

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport and James Barnett

In January 2020, Founders Factory (FF) Executive Chairman Brent Hoberman and CEO Henry Lane Fox were considering FF’s expansion strategy. FF operated as a venture capital (VC) fund built around an accelerator and incubator, and organized around sectors within... View Details

12 Oct 2011
First Look

First Look: October 12

enterprising companies, the current threats to market capitalism present vital opportunities. Drawing on discussions with business leaders around the world, the authors argue that companies must stop seeing themselves as bystanders and... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

02 Apr 2014
What Do You Think?

Has the Post-Capitalist Economy Finally Arrived?

entrepreneurship " Peter McCann pointed out that things are déjà vu all over again. "There will be increased productivity but the day of zero marginal cost for more than a small set of goods and services is not even on the distant horizon." Ruth Winett... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Service

March 2021 (Revised February 2025)
Teaching Note

Afterpay U.S.: The Omnichannel Dilemma

By: Antonio Moreno and Anibha Singh

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 519-086. In 2018, Nick Molnar, the founder of the Australia-based online payment service Afterpay began its expansion to the U.S. market. The service had gained a loyal following in Australia by enabling customers to pay for online... View Details

21 Dec 2015
Op-Ed

Without Immigrants, We Wouldn't Have Google

out of keeping with the spirit of America and harmful in the long run. "Outsiders keep our commercial markets vital by offering perspectives that differ from the prevailing view" After all, what is the secret sauce of US... View Details

Keywords: by Shane Greenstein; Information Technology

13 Feb 2017
Research & Ideas

Paid Search Ads Pay Off for Lesser-Known Restaurants

just on clicks and not on calls and direction requests, I’d be less inclined to think that Yelp ads work for these businesses.” Ad effectiveness best for small businesses In recent years, internet advertising has become the... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Food & Beverage

October 2006 (Revised October 2007)
Case

Google Advertising

By: Youngme E. Moon and David Chen

In mid-2006, Google is the number one search engine in America with 99% of its revenues deriving from its simple, text-only advertising services. It is on track to bring in roughly $9.5 billion in advertising revenue in 2006, which would place it fourth among American... View Details

Keywords: Digital Marketing; Disruptive Innovation; Media; Expansion; Internet and the Web; Advertising Industry; United States