Publications

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2025
Working Paper

Balancing Engagement and Polarization: Multi-Objective Alignment of News Content Using LLMs

By: Mengjie Cheng, Elie Ofek and Hema Yoganarasimhan

We study how media firms can use LLMs to generate news content that aligns with multiple objectives—making content more engaging while maintaining a preferred level of polarization/slant consistent with the firm’s editorial policy. Using news articles from The New York... View Details

Keywords: Large Language Models; Content Creation; Media; Polarization; Generative Ai; Direct Preference Optimization; AI and Machine Learning; News; Perspective; Digital Marketing; Policy; Media and Broadcasting Industry

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April 2021
Case

Codecademy: Where to Next?

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport, Max Mailman and Sarah Ascherman

In March 2020, Zach Sims, co-founder and CEO of online education platform Codecademy, prepared for a meeting with his Chief of Staff Kunal Ahuja to discuss the company’s goals. Codecademy billed itself as the largest online resource for computer science literacy and... View Details

Keywords: Monetization Strategy; Business Model; Change Management; Venture Capital; Leading Change; Growth and Development Strategy; Growth Management; Management Teams; Marketing Channels; Product Marketing; Network Effects; Product Development; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Strategic Planning; Internet and the Web; Digital Platforms; United States

03 Apr 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, April 3, 2018

leads to a 14% increase in the likelihood of exit for a 3.5-star restaurant (which is the median rating on Yelp) but has no discernible impact for a 5-star restaurant (on a 1 to 5 star scale). Our analysis also highlights how digital data... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

April 2009 (Revised August 2009)
Case

Linden Lab: Crossing the Chasm

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Alison Berkley Wagonfeld

In early 2008, managers at Linden Lab, creator of the virtual world Second Life, faced decisions about the company's growth strategy. Despite profound initial skepticism about demand for a user-generated virtual world that was not a traditional game, Second Life had... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Growth and Development Strategy; Marketing Strategy; Demand and Consumers; Infrastructure; Technology Adoption; Digital Platforms

18 Dec 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, December 18, 2018

valuation of $200 million and debating changes to them that will allow them to grow their business. Ensuring that their marketing dollars were being spent efficiently was critical to the data-driven management team and proving to be... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

23 Jun 2016
Op-Ed

Brexit: Should Britain Stay or Go?

should be pursued, and while preserving sovereignty, the division of responsibilities at the national and European level should be reconsidered. The overgrown regulatory regime should be vastly simplified, the Capital Market Union should... View Details

Keywords: by Geoffrey G. Jones & Dante Roscini

10 Mar 2015
Research & Ideas

The Surprising Winners and Losers in the Retail Revolution

three-part interview with Harvard Business School Marketing professors Rajiv Lal and José B. Alvarez, they discuss who is winning this revolution and which brands appear to be losing ground. Sean Silverthorne: Among the retailers you have... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Retail

March 2018 (Revised July 2018)
Case

Cadre

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann, Scott Duke Kominers and David Lane

Late in 2017, CEO Ryan Williams and his team debated whether Cadre should become not only a technology-enabled investment manager, but also an online trading exchange providing high levels of liquidity for investors in commercial real estate (CRE) equity. Cadre was a... View Details

Keywords: ＂Cadre,＂; Entrepreneurship; Market Design; Digital Platforms; Strategy; Internet and the Web; Private Equity; Financial Services Industry; Real Estate Industry; United States

24 Mar 2015
First Look

First Look: March 24

Search listing. The authors consider implications of these findings for competition policy and for online marketing strategies. Download working paper: http://www.benedelman.org/publications/gfs-2015-03-09.pdf View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

22 Dec 2009
First Look

First Look: Dec. 22

This memo discusses "hard-core" antitrust violations, focusing on bid rigging and market allocation, under the laws of the U.S. and other leading antitrust regimes. Purchase this note:... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

09 Oct 2012
First Look

First Look: October 9

PublicationsAuctions, Market Mechanisms, and Their Applications Authors:Peter Coles, Sanmay Das, Sébastien Lahaie, and Boleslaw Szymanski Publication:Second International ICST Conference, AMMA 2011 Abstract This book constitutes the... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

01 Jul 2019
Research & Ideas

The Airbnb Lesson for Startups? Success Takes More Than Technology

seen before. More people are employed today, so it would be harder to start those kinds of businesses. The opportunities are different when you’re at the economic bonanza. This article was featured in the HBS Digital Initiative's The New... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost; Travel; Tourism

May 2019
Teaching Note

JUUL and the Vaping Revolution

By: Michael W. Toffel, Trevor Fetter, John Masko and Sarah Mehta

Teaching Note for HBS No. 619-006. View Details

26 Apr 2004
Research & Ideas

A Clear Eye for Innovation

well. Most successful enterprises are adept at refining their current offerings, but they falter when it comes to pioneering radically new products and services. Kodak and Boeing are just two of the more recent examples of once dominant companies that failed to adapt... View Details

Keywords: by Charles A. O'Reilly III & Michael L. Tushman

July 2018
Case

Financing Anghami's Growth

By: Ramana Nanda and Eren Kuzucu

In December 2012, less than two years into the founding of their music-streaming platform Anghami, cofounders Elie Habib and Eddy Maroun found themselves evaluating an unorthodox term sheet. Habib and Maroun needed to make a decision vis-à-vis the proposal put forth by... View Details