Publications

Educators

September 2022
Background Note

On CUE: The Quest for Optimal Customer Unit Economics

By: Elie Ofek, Barak Libai and Eitan Muller

Startups are often evaluated by how well they perform on unit economics, defined as the ratio of a customer’s lifetime value (LTV) to acquisition costs (CAC). A common target for unit economics, advocated by many VCs and analysts, is 3:1 (i.e., LTV/CAC=3). While there... View Details

Keywords: Unit Economics; Business Startups; Performance Evaluation; Customer Value and Value Chain; Customer Relationship Management; Analysis

Educators

10 Nov 2003
Research & Ideas

Globalization: The Strategy of Differences

77 percent of its profits from outside North America. But Goizueta's strategy soon ran into trouble, due in large part to the Asian currency crisis. By the end of 1999, when... View Details

Keywords: by Pankaj Ghemawat

July–August 2015
Article

The Secret of Singapore: Why Cuba Should Look to Lee Kuan Yew's Thriving City-State for Economic Inspiration

By: Debora L. Spar

Between 1965 and 1991, Singapore grew at an astonishing compound annual growth rate of nearly 14%. Critics of the island's performance accused its celebrated leader, Lee Kuan Yew, of thinly veiled tendencies toward communism and authoritarianism; they argued that the... View Details

Keywords: Economic Models; Communism; Economic Policy; Economic Reform; Angel Investors; Authoritarianism; Economic Systems; Economy; Policy; Government and Politics; Singapore; Cuba

2023
Working Paper

The Complexity of Economic Decisions

By: Xavier Gabaix and Thomas Graeber

We propose a theory of the complexity of economic decisions. Leveraging a macroeconomic framework of production functions, we conceptualize the mind as a cognitive economy, where a task’s complexity is determined by its composition of cognitive operations. Complexity... View Details

Keywords: Decisions; Complexity; Perception; Consumer Behavior; Production

Article

The Strategy in Competitive Interactions

By: Eric J. Van den Steen

This paper reviews, discusses, and expands the “core guidance” definition of strategy as “the smallest set of choices to optimally guide (or force) other choices.” It first discusses what this definition contributes to the existing proposed definitions. It then... View Details

Keywords: Strategy Formulation; Strategy Definition; Strategy; Competition; Analysis; Competitive Strategy; Decision Making

1999
Report

The Economics of Variety

By: Walter J. Salmon, Robert S. Kaplan and Marci K. Dew

Keywords: Economics

November – December 1998
Article

Clusters and the New Economics of Competition

By: Michael E. Porter

This article explains how clusters foster high levels of productivity and innovation and lays out the implications for competitive strategy and economic policy. Economic geography in an era of global competition poses a paradox. In theory, location should no longer be... View Details

Keywords: Economics; United States

2015
Book

Economic Analysis of the Digital Economy

By: Avi Goldfarb, Shane Greenstein and Catherine Tucker

As the cost of storing, sharing, and analyzing data has decreased, economic activity has become increasingly digital. But while the effects of digital technology and improved digital communication have been explored in a variety of contexts, the impact on economic... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Economics

Dec 2009
Other Presentation

The Economic Performance of Swiss Regions

By: Michael E. Porter and Michael Keller

Indicators of Economic Performance, Composition of Cantonal Economies and Clusters of Traded Industries View Details

Keywords: Economics; Switzerland

09 Apr 2009
Working Paper Summaries

The Economics of Structured Finance

Keywords: by Joshua D. Coval, Jakub Jurek & Erik Stafford

November 2011
Article

Social Strategies That Work

By: Mikolaj Jan Piskorski

Although most companies have collected lots of friends and followers on social platforms such as Facebook, few have succeeded in generating profits there. That's because they merely port their digital strategies into social environments by broadcasting their commercial... View Details

Keywords: Social Platforms; Social Strategies; Social and Collaborative Networks; Customers; Relationships; Business Strategy; Profit

2023
Chapter

Economic Globalization and Populism in Latin America and Beyond

By: Paula Rettl

Both populism and economic globalization have been on the rise in the last decades, motivating increasing scholarly attention to the phenomena and their relationship (see Rodrik 2021 for a recent review). However, the relationship between populism and economic... View Details

Keywords: Populism; Economic Globalization; Latin America; Economy; Macroeconomics; Economics; Globalized Economies and Regions; Globalization; Political Elections; Government and Politics; Finance; Geographic Location; Latin America

Spring 2020
Article

The Basic Economics of Internet Infrastructure

By: Shane Greenstein

The internet's structure and operations remain invisible to most economists. What determines the economic value of internet infrastructure and the incentives to improve it? What are the open research questions for the most salient policy issues? This article reviews... View Details

Keywords: Internet and the Web; Infrastructure; Operations; Economics; Value

2008
Working Paper

Economic Impacts of Immigration: A Survey

By: Sari Pekkala Kerr and William R. Kerr

This paper surveys recent empirical studies on the economic impacts of immigration. The survey first examines the magnitude of immigration as an economic phenomenon in various host countries. The second part deals with the assimilation of immigrant workers into... View Details

Keywords: Economics; Public Sector; Immigration; Labor; Europe; Scandinavia

SSRN

January 2006 (Revised December 2006)
Module Note

Introduction to International Strategy

By: David J. Collis and Jordan I. Siegel

Provides an overview framework for understanding international strategy. Observes that international strategy draws on much of the same theory as corporate strategy. The same tests that can be applied to justify expansion across businesses--the better off and ownership... View Details

Keywords: International Strategy; Multinational Corporations; Global Strategy

1997
Book

Handbook of Experimental Economics

By: J. H. Kagel and A. E. Roth

Keywords: Economics

2019
Book

The Business of Platforms: Strategy in the Age of Digital Competition, Innovation, and Power

By: Michael A. Cusumano, Annabelle Gawer and David B. Yoffie

The Business of Platforms explores the strategic, economic, and technology management challenges of digital platform businesses. We have five major themes in the book: 1) The world’s most valuable companies are all platforms, in part because platforms have... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Technology; Platform; Internet and the Web; Management; Competitive Strategy; Digital Platforms

03 Nov 2008
HBS Case

Economics of the Ethanol Business

Reinhardt, with Senior Researcher James Weber and Agribusiness Program Director Mary Shelman (HBS MBA '87), examines the complex political and economic underpinnings of the ethanol industry and the dilemma... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Agriculture & Agribusiness; Energy

Article

Economic Impacts of Immigration: A Survey

By: Sari Pekkala Kerr and William R. Kerr

This paper surveys recent empirical studies on the economic impacts of immigration. The survey first examines the magnitude of immigration as an economic phenomenon in various host countries. The second part deals with the assimilation of immigrant workers into... View Details

Keywords: Surveys; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Immigration; Economic Systems; Human Capital; Economic Slowdown and Stagnation; Fluctuation; Situation or Environment; Labor and Management Relations; United States; Europe