Publications

Educators

January 1999
Background Note

The Professional Pledge and Conflict of Interest

By: Ashish Nanda

It is argued that professionals pledge fiduciary responsibility towards their clients to minimize the occurrence of conflicts of interest, which are socially inefficient. Professional associations are formed to ensure that in their practices, professionals live by... View Details

Keywords: Conflict of Interests; Ethics; Organizations

Educators

2024
Working Paper

LASH Risk and Interest Rates

By: Laura Alfaro, Saleem Bahaj, Robert Czech, Jonathan Hazell and Ioana Neamtu

We introduce a framework to understand and quantify a form of liquidity risk that we dub Liquidity After Solvency Hedging or “LASH” risk. Financial institutions take LASH risk when they hedge against losses, using strategies that lead to liquidity needs when the value... View Details

Keywords: Liquidity; Monetary Policy; Non-bank Intermediaries; Hedging; Risk and Uncertainty; Investment Funds; Financial Condition; Interest Rates

Fast Answer

Consumer demographics

Where do I find data on consumer demographics and buying behavior? You may begin with: Passport provides data and market reports related to consumer lifestyles in a wide range View Details

Fast Answer

Consumer confidence

Where can I find information on consumer confidence and sentiment? Conference Board: From the "Economy, Strategy & Fiance page," select "Consumer Dynamics." Surveys View Details

August 1995 (Revised January 1997)
Exercise

Consumer Behavior Exercise (A)

By: John A. Deighton and Susan M. Fournier

Students are instructed to interview a recent purchaser of a low-involvement product or service in depth about his/her buying decision. The exercise provides students with first-hand understanding of important concepts in consumer choice domain (e.g., stages in the... View Details

Keywords: Consumer Behavior

August 1995 (Revised January 1997)
Exercise

Consumer Behavior Exercise (B)

By: John A. Deighton and Susan M. Fournier

Students are instructed to interview a recent purchaser of a high-involvement/utilitarian product or service in depth about his/her buying decision. The exercise provides students with first-hand understanding of important concepts in consumer choice domain (e.g.,... View Details

Keywords: Consumer Behavior

September 1992 (Revised August 2010)
Case

The Carried Interest

By: Henry B. Reiling

Makes the point that general partners and others frequently contract to receive a share of any profits that the venture they manage generates. This practice raises the question of whether the value of this contract right should be taxed when it is received or only when... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Cash Flow; Profit Sharing; Taxation; Contracts; Business or Company Management; Partners and Partnerships

21 Oct 2011
Working Paper Summaries

Market Interest in Nonfinancial Information

Keywords: by Robert G. Eccles, Michael P. Krzus & George Serafeim

September 2018
Article

Aggregation of Consumer Ratings: An Application to Yelp.com

By: Weijia Dai, Ginger Jin, Jungmin Lee and Michael Luca

Because consumer reviews leverage the wisdom of the crowd, the way in which they are aggregated is a central decision faced by platforms. We explore this "rating aggregation problem" and offer a structural approach to solving it, allowing for (1) reviewers to vary in... View Details

Keywords: User Generated Content; Crowdsourcing; Yelp; Social and Collaborative Networks; Information; Internet and the Web; Learning; Mathematical Methods; E-commerce

January 2020 (Revised April 2020)
Teaching Note

Brandless: Disrupting Consumer Packaged Goods

By: Jill Avery

Brandless, an online direct-to-consumer seller of upscale private-label consumer packaged goods (CPG), offered consumers a limited assortment of values-conscious products delivered directly to their homes with the simplicity of one fixed $3.00 price point that promised... View Details

Keywords: Brand; Brand Management; DTC; Private Label; Groceries; Packaged Food; Personal Care; Startups; Retailing; Amazon; Brands and Branding; Marketing; Marketing Strategy; Business Startups; Disruption; E-commerce; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry; United States

Research Summary

Consumer Behavior and Health

Professor Riis studies consumer behavior and health using the methods and theories of experimental psychology and behavioral economics. Particular problems that he is currently investigating include:

• Information use and decision making in food service... View Details

March 1999 (Revised December 2001)
Background Note

Analyzing Consumer Perceptions

By: Robert J. Dolan

Describes the perceptual mapping techniques in a non-technical fashion. The procedure is useful for the depiction of the structure of the market. Discusses alternative methods, presents examples of each, and shows how the maps can be used in marketing decision making. View Details

Keywords: Industry Structures; Marketing Strategy; Consumer Behavior

Educators

Article

Market Interest in Nonfinancial Information

By: R. G. Eccles, Michael P. Krzus and George Serafeim

Market interest in nonfinancial (e.g., Environmental, Social, and Governance [ESG]) information, including data produced by the Carbon Disclosure Project (CDP), is growing. Using data from Bloomberg we analyze this interest from a variety of different perspectives, and... View Details

Keywords: Markets; Analytics and Data Science; Perspective; Environmental Sustainability; Social Issues; Corporate Disclosure; Projects; Interests

May 25, 2016
Comment

How Consumers and Businesses are Reshaping Public Health

By: John A. Quelch

Healthcare and education are two issues in which citizens around the world, rich and poor, are passionately interested. It has long been appreciated that the way that a society treats its youngest and oldest members says much about its moral maturity. Economic... View Details

November 2007
Article

A Model of Consumer Learning for Service Quality and Usage

By: Raghuram Iyengar, Asim Ansari and Sunil Gupta

In many services, e.g., the wireless service industry, consumers choose a service plan based on their expected consumption. In such situations, consumers experience two forms of uncertainty. First, consumers may be uncertain about the quality of their service provider... View Details

Keywords: Experience and Expertise; Customer Value and Value Chain; Learning; Price; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Marketing Strategy; Consumer Behavior; Service Delivery; Quality; Risk and Uncertainty; Service Industry

Research Summary

Consumer Decision Making and Behavioral Research

By: John T. Gourville

John Gourville’s research focuses on consumer behavior, especially in the areas of pricing and consumer decision making. In the area of pricing, for instance, he has looked at the role of time on how consumers interpret and react to product costs and prices.... View Details

2019
Article

Industrie-Holding: Creating a Community of Interest among Swiss 'Multinationals'

By: Sabine Pitteloud

This article focuses on the genesis and evolution of Industrie-Holding, a federation of Swiss multinationals, from 1942 onwards. Thanks to recent donations from the Alusuisse and Hero archives, historians now have access to the minutes of the Industrie-Holding... View Details

Keywords: Business ＆ Government Relations; Multinationals; Lobbying; Business and Government Relations; Multinational Firms and Management; Switzerland

2013
Dissertation

Designing Freemium: A Model of Consumer Usage, Upgrade, and Referral Dynamics

By: Clarence Lee, Vineet Kumar and Sunil Gupta

Abstract. Over the past decade "freemium" (free + premium) has become the dominant business model among internet start-ups for its ability to acquire and monetize a large install-base with limited marketing resources. Freemium is a hybrid strategy where a firm offers... View Details

Keywords: Discrete-Continuous Choice Dynamic Structural Models; Bayesian Estimation; Word-of-Mouth; Digital Services; Freemium; Entrepreneurship; Business Model; Motivation and Incentives; Marketing Strategy; Internet and the Web; Consumer Behavior; Marketing Reference Programs; Business Startups