Publications

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

23 May 2017
First Look

First Look at New Ideas and Research: May 23, 2017

demand is relatively unimportant in explaining variation in spending after accounting for physician beliefs. Physician organizational factors matter, but the single most important factor is physician beliefs about treatment: 35% of... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

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

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

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

09 Nov 2015
Research & Ideas

These Employers Pay Higher Salaries than Necessary

system negotiate. “Workers on the market have lots of feedback on their past jobs, and can also see how much experience the employer has on the market,” says Christopher T. Stanton, an assistant professor in the Entrepreneurial Management View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Employment; Technology; Computer

January 2019
Supplement

Understanding the Brand Equity of Nestlé Crunch Bar (B): Data Analysis

By: Jill Avery and Gerald Zaltman

In early 2018, Nestlé announced the sale of its U.S. candy-making division and a select collection of 20 of its confectionery brands, including the Nestlé Crunch Bar, to Ferrero SpA for $2.8 billion. Luckily, an old consumer research study on the Nestlé Crunch Bar... View Details

May 2021 (Revised February 2024)
Teaching Note

THE YES: Reimagining the Future of E-Commerce with Artificial Intelligence (AI)

By: Ayelet Israeli and Jill Avery

THE YES, a multi-brand shopping app launched in May 2020 offered a new type of buying experience for women’s fashion, driven by a sophisticated algorithm that used data science and machine learning to create and deliver a personalized store for every shopper, based on... View Details

Keywords: Data; Data Analytics; Artificial Intelligence; AI; AI Algorithms; AI Creativity; Fashion; Retail; Retail Analytics; E-Commerce Strategy; Platform; Platforms; Big Data; Preference Elicitation; Predictive Analytics; App Development; ＂Marketing Analytics＂; Advertising; Mobile App; Mobile Marketing; Apparel; Online Advertising; Referral Rewards; Referrals; Female Ceo; Female Entrepreneur; Female Protagonist; Analytics and Data Science; Analysis; Creativity; Marketing Strategy; Brands and Branding; Consumer Behavior; Demand and Consumers; Forecasting and Prediction; Marketing Channels; Digital Marketing; Internet and the Web; Mobile and Wireless Technology; AI and Machine Learning; E-commerce; Digital Platforms; Fashion Industry; Retail Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Consumer Products Industry; United States

01 Aug 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, August 1

activities of firms operating in more than 100 countries with input-output tables. In line with the model's predictions, we find that whether a firm integrates upstream or downstream suppliers depends crucially on the elasticity of demand... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

May 2024
Case

LinkedIn Corporation, 2024

By: David B. Yoffie, George Gonzalez and Emily Grandjean

By 2024, the LinkedIn profile was well established as the professional identity of record on the Internet. Following a multi-year effort to expand the platform’s user base, as well as a period of rapid growth during the COVID-19 pandemic, LinkedIn’s membership had... View Details

Keywords: Platform; Business Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Goals and Objectives; Social Media; Network Effects; Growth and Development Strategy; Performance Evaluation; Technology Industry; Employment Industry; Sunnyvale

12 Oct 1999
Research & Ideas

A Perfect Fit: Aligning Organization & Strategy

all have to be in alignment." Along with Russell A. Eisenstat, an independent consultant and former HBS faculty member, Beer has developed a process called Organizational Fitness Profiling, which helps a CEO or business unit general... View Details

Keywords: by Judith A. Ross

26 Mar 2008
First Look

First Look: March 26, 2008

communication technology sector in the United States, and find empirical support for the four hypotheses developed here. The research presented in this paper has implications for our understanding not only of who adopts advanced... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

02 Feb 2016
First Look

February 2, 2016

for rigorous accounting research. Publisher's link: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=50473 forthcoming Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America Hiding Personal Information Reveals the... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

06 Feb 2006
Research & Ideas

Sorting Out the Patent Craze

explain a little bit about your research in this area? Josh Lerner: By the end of World War II, the corporate research laboratory model was widely adopted in the United States. A corporation would have a centralized facility where it... View Details

Keywords: by Sara Grant; Technology

January 2021
Case

Value-Based Insurance Design at Onex

By: Joshua Schwartzstein, Amitabh Chandra and Amram Migdal

The operating executives of Health and Benefits for Onex Partners, Megan Jackson Frye and Sam Camens, faced a challenge: Healthcare costs for employees of Onex’s portfolio companies were continuing to rise above the consumer price index, reflecting broader trends... View Details