Publications

2023
Working Paper

Algorithm Failures and Consumers' Response: Evidence from Zillow

By: Isamar Troncoso, Runshan Fu, Nikhil Malik and Davide Proserpio

In November 2021, Zillow announced the closure of its iBuyer business. Popular media largely attributed this to a failure of its proprietary forecasting algorithm. We study the response of consumers to Zillow’s iBuyer business closure. We show that after the iBuyer... View Details

Keywords: Algorithmic Pricing; Price; Forecasting and Prediction; Consumer Behavior; Real Estate Industry

SSRN

22 Feb 2016
Research & Ideas

The ‘Mother of Fair Trade’ was an Unabashed Price Protectionist

fascinating character to animate sometimes dry legalese.” Gleason’s quest for fair trade, or price protection, would not be easy. First off, the term “fair trade” in the 1930s had a different meaning than it does today when we use it to... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Retail; Health; Legal Services

10 Feb 2022
Research & Ideas

Why Are Prices So High Right Now—and Will They Ever Return to Normal?

It’s been a double whammy for pandemic-weary consumers: Not only have they endured shortages of everything from toilet paper to furniture and food, they have been paying higher prices for the dwindling... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

Research Summary

Do Appearances Matter? The Impact of EPS Accretion and Dilution on Stock Prices

There is a widespread concern among practitioners and corporate managers that transactions which result in changes in future earnings-per-share (EPS) have real effects on stock prices, irrespective of whether these changes reflect differences in future cash flows. As... View Details

Summer 2025
Article

Dynamic Competition for Customer Memberships

By: Cristian Chica, Julian Jimenez-Cardenas and Jorge Tamayo

A competitive two-period membership (subscription) market is analyzed. Two symmetric firms charge a “membership” fee that allows consumers to buy products or services at a given unit price for both periods. Firms can choose between long- or short-term memberships. When... View Details

Keywords: Competitive Price Discrimination; Membership; Dynamic Competition; Competition; Price; Consumer Behavior; Business Model

Research Summary

Overview

Professor MacKay combines theory and measurement to deliver new insights about price competition and consumer preferences. In current and published papers, his research addresses how strategic pricing decisions may be influenced by algorithms, long-term contracts,... View Details

Keywords: Price Effects; Competition Policy; Algorithms; Online Competition; Dynamic Pricing; Beliefs; Preferences; Preference Heterogeneity; Preference Measurement; Competition; Microeconomics; Strategy; Integration; Cooperation

November 2012
Teaching Note

Groupon (TN)

By: Sunil Gupta, Ray Weaver and Yien Hao Lock

On November 4, 2011, Groupon, a marketing services company that promoted local businesses by selling deeply discounted vouchers for their products and services, completed its initial public offering that valued the company at $17 billion. Within a year Groupon's share... View Details

Keywords: Social Networking; Media; Technology; Strategy; Business Growth and Maturation; Marketing Strategy; Marketing; Internet and the Web; Social Media; Retail Industry; Service Industry; Technology Industry; North America; United States

February 2013 (Revised September 2013)
Case

Elasto Therm: The Next Step

By: Jim Sharpe and James Weber

Julia and Nate Burstein were living their dream running their own business and balancing the demands between their work and family obligations while creating a company that was responsive to their employees' and their customers' needs. The Bursteins had joined a large... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurial Management; Entrepreneurs; Pricing; Pricing Policies; Pricing Strategy; Pricing Structure; Sales Force Management; Acquisitions; Work/family Balance; Family-owned Business; Entrepreneurship; Growth and Development Strategy; Expansion; Work-Life Balance; Manufacturing Industry; Rubber Industry; United States

October 2021 (Revised September 2022)
Case

GoPro: Becoming a Subscription Hero

By: Elie Ofek, Marco Bertini and Nicole Tempest Keller

In 2021, Nick Woodman, founder and CEO of GoPro, was reviewing the company’s subscription offering, considering whether to extend it beyond benefits that were directly related to the company’s iconic camera. Founded in 2002, GoPro had gained renown for its innovative... View Details

Keywords: Subscription Model; Pricing; Lifestyle Brands; Value Proposition; Business Model; Growth and Development Strategy; Marketing Strategy; Consumer Products Industry; California

June 2023 (Revised April 2025)
Case

Optimalen Capital

By: Malcolm Baker, Elisabeth Kempf and Jonathan Wallen

A new client portfolio manager at a quantitative investment management firm must explain why her firm, Optimalen Capital, has rebalanced a client portfolio with a set of trades that seem unintuitive. In particular, Optimalen has added to its position of Walmart (ticker... View Details

Keywords: Investments; CAPM; Capital Asset Pricing Model; Investment Portfolio; Asset Pricing

December 2023
Article

What Can Stockouts Tell Us About Inflation? Evidence from Online Micro Data

By: Alberto Cavallo and Oleksiy Kryvtsov

We use a detailed micro dataset on product availability and stockouts to construct a direct high-frequency measure of consumer product shortages during the 2020-2022 pandemic. We document a widespread multi-fold rise in stockouts in nearly all sectors early in the... View Details

Keywords: Prices; Stockouts; Inventories; Supply Disruptions; COVID-19 Pandemic; Supply Chain; Product; Demand and Consumers

2023
Working Paper

The Value of Professional Ties in B2B Markets

By: Navid Mojir and Sriya Anbil

We study how a particular form of social ties (i.e., professional ties proxied by past employment) aﬀects price and proﬁtability in business-to-business (B2B) markets. While most of the work on social ties focuses on information diﬀusion in business-to-consumer... View Details

Keywords: Professional Ties; Social Ties; Business-to-business Marketing; B2B Marketing; Repo; Individual Connections; B2B Pricing; Pricing; Decision-making In Financial Markets; Marketing; Relationships; Price; Financial Markets; Decision Making

SSRN

2018
Working Paper

Opportunistic Returns and Dynamic Pricing: Empirical Evidence from Online Retailing in Emerging Markets

By: Chaithanya Bandi, Antonio Moreno, Donald Ngwe and Zhiji Xu

We investigate how dynamic pricing can lead to more product returns in the online retail industry. Using detailed sales data of more than two million transactions from the Indian online retail market, where price promotions are very common, we document two types of... View Details

Keywords: Cash On Delivery; Dynamic Pricing; Online Retail; Payment Methods; Strategic Customer Behavior; Opportunistic Returns; Price; Policy; Consumer Behavior; Emerging Markets; Retail Industry

SSRN

winter 1997
Article

The Effects of Market Structure and Ownership on Prices and Service Offerings in the Cable Television Industry

By: Willis Emmons and Robin A. Prager

Keywords: Markets; Ownership; Price; Service Delivery; Entertainment; Media and Broadcasting Industry

Find at Harvard

October 2016 (Revised April 2018)
Case

DataXu: Selling Ad Tech

By: Frank V. Cespedes, John Deighton, Lisa Cox and Olivia Hull

DataXu served marketers by buying digital advertising for brands using its demand-side platform. It sought a way to build a more predictable revenue stream in the very transactional media marketplace, and hoped that two new marketing analytics products would give it a... View Details

Keywords: Sales Management; Pricing; Programmatic Ad Buying; ＂Marketing Analytics＂; Advertising Technology; Sales; Digital Marketing; Marketing Strategy; Advertising Campaigns; Product Launch; Product Positioning; Media; Technology Industry; Advertising Industry; Boston; Massachusetts