Publications

October 2017
Article

'Be Careless with That!' Availability of Product Upgrades Increases Cavalier Behavior Toward Possessions

By: Silvia Bellezza, Joshua M. Ackerman and Francesca Gino

Consumers are often faced with the opportunity to purchase a new, enhanced product, such as a new phone, even though the product they currently own is still fully functional. We propose that consumers act more recklessly with their current products when in the presence... View Details

Keywords: Carelessness; Product Upgrade; Ownership; Justification; Consumer Behavior; Attitudes; Property

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

Regulatory negotiations and risk communication

In the pharmaceutical industry a drugs benefits and risks are constantly being weighed by companies, regulators, physicians and drug consumers. While companies and regulators must make decisions based on population statistics about drug outcomes, physicians and drug... View Details

Forthcoming
Article

Public Perception and Autonomous Vehicle Liability

By: Julian De Freitas, Xilin Zhou, Margherita Atzei, Shoshana Boardman and Luigi Di Lillo

The deployment of autonomous vehicles (AVs) and the accompanying societal and economic benefits will greatly depend on how much liability AV firms will have to carry for accidents involving these vehicles, which in turn impacts their insurability and associated... View Details

Keywords: Moral Sensibility; Judgments; Legal Liability; Insurance; Perception

Read Now

January 2017
Background Note

Making Virtual Reality Real

By: Feng Zhu, Sarah Mehta and David Lane

This note describes virtual reality and augmented reality technologies and describes the main consumer products on offer in 2016 as well as their manufacturers. It also surveys existing applications of virtual and augment reality technologies. View Details

Keywords: Virtual Reality; Augmented Reality; Oculus; Google; HTC; Magic Leap; Microsoft; Samsung; Software; Niantic; Digital Platforms; Technology Adoption; Applications and Software; Technology Industry

10 Feb 2010
News

Super Bowl Commercials: What the Other Big Game is All About

Video

Adi Godrej

Adi Godrej, head of the India-based consumer products Godrej Group, describes the organization’s strategy for coping with high levels of taxes before liberalization in 1991, including the tactic of selling... View Details

17 Dec 2014
News

Neuroscience Marketing: Is the Product Worth the Price?

Research Summary

New Technologies and the Future of Food and Nutrition

By: Ray A. Goldberg

Ray A. Goldberg has been investigating the impact of new technologies on, and the functioning of, the global agribusiness system in the twenty-first century. He is currently developing a seminar to bring scientists, business leaders, academics, and consumer... View Details

March 1997
Background Note

Asymmetric Information: Market Failures, Market Distortions, and Market Solutions

Presents a conceptual framework for thinking about markets characterized by asymmetric information. Presents the standard economic analysis of "the lemons problem," and demonstrates how asymmetric information may lead to market inefficiencies and alter the distribution... View Details

Keywords: Competitive Strategy

29 Jun 2021
News

Procter & Gamble’s Lean Innovation Transformation

19 Feb 2019
Working Paper Summaries

Relative Performance Transparency: Effects on Sustainable Choices

Keywords: by Ryan W. Buell, Shwetha Mariadassou, and Yanchong Zheng

April 2020 (Revised October 2020)
Case

Unilever's Response to the Future of Work

By: William R. Kerr, Emilie Billaud and Mette Fuglsang Hjortshoej

In February 2020, Nick Dalton, executive vice president HR business transformation at Unilever, reflected on the changing nature of work marked by rapid advances in artificial intelligence, machine learning, and automation. Launched in 2016, Unilever’s Future of Work... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Human Capital; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Mission and Purpose; Organizational Structure; Transformation; Human Resources; Consumer Products Industry; Europe

Article

Advertising, the Matchmaker

By: Bharat N. Anand and Ron Shachar

We empirically study the informational role of advertising in matching consumers with products when consumers are uncertain about both observable and unobserved program attributes. Our focus is on the network television industry, in which the products are television... View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Information; Consumer Behavior; Television Entertainment; Risk and Uncertainty; Product; Decision Choices and Conditions; Advertising Industry

Read Now

August 2001 (Revised March 2008)
Case

Helios Health (A)

By: Regina E. Herzlinger and Alfred Martin

Helios PC system provides personalized drug information to the patients in the doctor's waiting room. It has met with considerable consumer acceptance and a very high return for the drug companies that sponsor it. What price should it charge them for the service? View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Price; Health Care and Treatment; Information Publishing; Innovation and Invention; Product Marketing; Demand and Consumers; Health Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry

June 2013
Article

Vacancies in Supply Chain Networks

By: John William Hatfield and Scott Duke Kominers

We use the supply chain matching framework to study the effects of firm exit. We show that the exit of an initial supplier or end consumer has monotonic effects on the welfare of initial suppliers and end consumers but may simultaneously have positive and negative... View Details

Keywords: Matching; Networks; Stability; Vacancy Chains; Market Entry and Exit; Supply Chain

June 2015 (Revised April 2018)
Case

WeChat: A Global Platform?

By: Willy Shih, Howard Yu and Feng Liu

WeChat was developed by Tencent Holdings as a lightweight messaging platform. As it grew quickly to become the most popular messaging app in China, it added a range of products and services that sat on top that were designed to appeal to a broad range of consumers and... View Details

Keywords: Online Platforms; China; WeChat; Tencent Holdings; Globalization; Internet and the Web; Applications and Software; Digital Platforms; Telecommunications Industry; Information Industry; China

Fall 2012
Article

Marketing and Public Policy: Transformative Research in Developing Markets

By: C. Shultz, Rohit Deshpandé, Bettina Cornwell, A. Ekici, P. Kothandaraman, M. Peterson, S. Shapiro, D. Talukdar and A. Veeck

Developing markets are a challenge for researchers who study them and for governments, business leaders, and citizens who strive to improve the quality of life in them. The limitations of the dominant development paradigm coupled with the need to focus on consumers... View Details

Keywords: Demand and Consumers; Development Economics; Marketing Strategy; Emerging Markets

August 2005 (Revised October 2007)
Case

Best Buy Co.,Inc.: Competing on the Edge

By: John R. Wells and Travis Haglock

While Circuit City struggles, Best Buy has overtaken it to become the premier consumer electronics retailer in the United States. What has driven its success? How can it be sustained? View Details

Keywords: Competition; System; Organizational Structure; Retail Industry; United States