Publications

01 Sep 2015
First Look

First Look -- September 1, 2015

research in finance and economics. We propose two tests to evaluate how well measures of financial constraints actually capture constraints. We find that firms typically classified as constrained do not in fact behave as if they were constrained: they have no trouble... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

25 Sep 2007
First Look

First Look: September 25, 2007

Obscurity: An Individual-Level Examination of 'Long Tail' Consumption Author:Anita Elberse Abstract The idea that online channels facilitate the distribution of a vast assortment of products is undisputed, but what consequence the increased supply will have on consumer... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

07 Sep 2007
What Do You Think?

Are Elite Business Schools Fostering the Deprofessionalization of Management?

management by building more value in their alumni networks than in their curricula and teaching. 2) Business school curricula, if not always their teaching, reflect the demands of the market. This is or is not appropriate, but not... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett

June 2024 (Revised June 2025)
Case

Dylan Mulvaney and Bud Light

By: Jill Avery and Celine Chammas

On April 1, 2023, social media content creator and influencer Dylan Mulvaney recorded a promotional post. It featured a video of herself drinking from a can of Bud Light beer, offering a virtual toast to her followers. Alongside the video, she posted a photograph of a... View Details

Keywords: Brand Crises; Brand Management; Influencer Marketing; Boycott; Marketing Strategy; Marketing Communications; Brands and Branding; Consumer Behavior; Social Media; Advertising; Social Issues; Public Opinion; Consumer Products Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; United States

02 Sep 2015
Research & Ideas

Explaining China's Crash

percent. As the world’s second-largest economy, China’s crash ripped through world markets, including Japan, Hong Kong, Europe, and the United States, as uneasy investors instigated historic single-day sell-offs. Early this week, the... View Details

Keywords: by Christina Pazzanese; Financial Services

11 Jan 2016
Research & Ideas

Is Group Loyalty a Force for Good or Evil?

you are trying to do is create a sense of loyalty or trust in the firm,” says Tandon Family Professor Francesca Gino, a member of the Negotiation, Organizations & Markets unit at Harvard Business School. “But that can make people so... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

February 2021 (Revised March 2022)
Case

TikTok in 2020: Super App or Supernova?

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport, Dan Maher and Dan O'Brien

TikTok’s parent company, ByteDance, was launched in 2012 around a simple idea – helping users entertain themselves on their smartphones while on the Beijing Subway. In less than a decade, it had become one of the world’s most valuable private companies, with investors... View Details

September 2010
Case

Aaron's: Household Goods for the U.S. Base of the Pyramid

By: Michael Chu and Charles Augustus Smithgall IV

With $2.5 billion system-wide revenues, Aaron's, a major rent-to-own supplier to the U.S. base of the pyramid, continues to grow in the recession, but CEO R.C. Loudermilk, Jr. wonders how long the company can sustain the fast growth rate of its past. Founded in 1955,... View Details

Keywords: Fairness; For-Profit Firms; Renting or Rental; Financial Crisis; Demand and Consumers; Social Enterprise; Income; Goods and Commodities; Competitive Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; Consumer Products Industry; United States

March 2002 (Revised November 2003)
Case

Satellite Radio

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Alastair Brown

In early 2002, XM and Sirius were fighting for control of the emerging U.S. market for satellite radio. Each company targeted consumers in automobiles, providing 100 channels of CD-quality audio for a monthly subscription fee of $10-$13. Wall Street analysts predicted... View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development Strategy; Price; Risk and Uncertainty; Problems and Challenges; Network Effects; Partners and Partnerships; Information Technology; Business Model; Investment Return; Auto Industry; Media and Broadcasting Industry; United States

24 Apr 2020
Op-Ed

Lessons from the NFL: Virtual Hiring, Leadership, Building Teams and COVID-19

teams, such as Drew Brees of the New Orleans Saints and Dak Prescott of the Dallas Cowboys. A few like Cam Newton (injury concerns) and Jameis Winston (accuracy issues) are unsigned, whereas Eli Manning chose to retire for a lack of suitors. This is a classic case of... View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Abbott , Boris Groysberg, Tali Groysberg, and Abhijit Naik; Sports

21 Jan 2020
Research & Ideas

Lessons for Retailers from the Rebirth of Indie Bookstores

Raffaelli, a professor in the Organizational Behavior Unit at Harvard Business School. “All the ingredients were there for the independent sector to see the end of its days.” Something miraculous started happening in 2009, however. After... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Entertainment & Recreation

27 Aug 2008
Research & Ideas

Creating Leaders for Science-Based Businesses

effort. "To maintain a leadership position globally, the United States needs high value-added products and services to be the engine of its economy," says HBS professor emeritus Kent Bowen, organizer of the colloquium. "One... View Details

Keywords: by Garry Emmons; Biotechnology; Health

March 2009 (Revised January 2010)
Background Note

The Newspaper Industry in Crisis

By: David J. Collis, Peter W. Olson and Mary Furey

This note is a primer on the newspaper industry, which has been in decline in the U.S. and Western Europe. The 19th century business model whereby news and editorial content was packaged and delivered to homes daily and paid for by national advertisers has been... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Business History; Newspapers; Disruptive Innovation; Consumer Behavior; Business Strategy; Internet; Journalism and News Industry; Publishing Industry; Europe; United States

February 2022
Case

NFX Capital and Moov Technologies

By: Scott Duke Kominers and Nicole Tempest Keller

In July 2019, James Currier, a general partner at San Francisco-based NFX Ventures, was considering a seed stage investment of $1.5 million in Moov Technologies, a B2B marketplace for used industrial equipment. NFX was a venture capital firm focused on seed-stage... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Network Effects; Marketplace Matching; Digital Platforms; Market Design; Applications and Software; Semiconductor Industry; Financial Services Industry; San Francisco