Publications

08 Jan 2014
What Do You Think?

Do Productivity Increases Contribute to Social Inequality?

term cultural changes (she cited reduced education, greater dependence on drugs, and entitlement programs) are the basis for many of the disparities in employment. Productivity is necessary where not enough skills are available at the level required within a specific... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

05 Jul 2006
Research & Ideas

Reinventing the Dowdy Savings Bond

months. Marketing for the program was also eliminated. While all banks sell bonds, the $.50 to $.85 they earn for each transaction gives them little financial incentive to make the process easy for consumers. Finally, the Treasury's... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Banking; Financial Services

August 2019
Case

Twiggle: E-Commerce with Semantic Search

By: Shane Greenstein and Danielle Golan

Four years after being founded, in 2014, by former Google executives Amir Konigsberg (CEO) and Adi Avidor (CTO), Twiggle had developed a search enhancement that plugged into an online merchant’s existing framework. The company utilized advanced structuring and... View Details

Keywords: Search Technology; Customer Acquisition; Internet and the Web; Technological Innovation; Commercialization; Growth and Development Strategy; E-commerce; Technology Industry; Israel

October 2001
Case

Meg Whitman and eBay Germany

By: Linda A. Hill and Maria Farkas

After acquiring the German online auction company Alando.de, eBay CEO Meg Whitman and her team must integrate Alando's Web site with the company's existing platform. The acquisition is the first step of eBay's journey to become a global trading platform. In addition to... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Integration; Digital Platforms; Internet and the Web; Globalized Markets and Industries; Germany

January 1998
Case

Frontgate Catalog

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport

Frontgate is a high-end, Lebanon, Ohio-based catalog business. The decision makers are trying to determine how much financial and personnel resources to invest in the development of a Web site. The decision is being made in light of branding issues and competitor's Web... View Details

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Competition; Internet and the Web; Brands and Branding; Retail Industry; Ohio

Find at Harvard

30 Jan 2018
Blog Post

HBS Global Opportunity Fellowship: Making a Difference in Africa

internet speeds that are higher than some developed countries, developed one of the hottest real estate markets in the world, and cultivated one of Africa’s foremost innovation hubs. And yet, there is so... View Details

17 Aug 2011
Research & Ideas

Protecting against the Pirates of Bollywood

and complicated process, with outcomes uncertain at best. For instance, it can be difficult to successfully prosecute a theater owner if someone sneaks in and makes an unauthorized camcorder recording. Should studios go after Internet... View Details

Keywords: by Kim Girard; Motion Pictures & Video

21 Feb 2005
Research & Ideas

The VC Quandary: Too Much Money

School. Intel Capital, the chipmaker's venture division, has scaled back somewhat from the hyper investment levels of 2000, "but I've always thought it was really important in the venture market to stay in the market, be in the View Details

Keywords: by Julie Jette; Financial Services

30 Nov 2009
Research & Ideas

Tracks of My Tears: Reconstructing Digital Music

numerous subsets of the songs on the album—but when the process is fully digital the costs of reproducing music are much lower. The Internet makes mixed bundling feasible. Q: You note that while demand for individual songs on services... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Music

October 2018 (Revised July 2019)
Case

BulkWhiz: Negotiating as a Startup Founder in the UAE

By: Katherine Coffman, Christine Exley and Alpana Thapar

This case follows Amira Rashad as she founds BulkWhiz, a Dubai-based buy-in-bulk grocery delivery platform. Following its launch in September 2017, BulkWhiz experiences rapid growth of 30 percent per month in the United Arab Emirates. Despite this initial success,... View Details