Publications

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May 2009 (Revised December 2009)
Case

Reliance Baking Soda: Optimizing Promotional Spending

By: John A. Quelch and Heather Beckham

Reliance Baking Soda is Stewart Corporation's oldest and most established product. The new Domestic Brand Director needs to create a 2008 marketing budget that delivers a profit increase of 10% over 2007 levels. She must first evaluate the effectiveness of past... View Details

Keywords: Communication Strategy; Quantitative Analysis; Consumer Marketing; Marketing Planning; Product Management; Sales Promotions; Program Budgeting; Marketing Strategy; Advertising; Product Marketing; Budgets and Budgeting; Sales; Consumer Products Industry

November 1987 (Revised January 1988)
Case

Groen: A Dover Industries Company

By: Francis Aguilar

Describes the challenges facing the president of an old-line foodservice and food processing equipment manufacturing company as it attempted to accelerate sales and profit growth through the introduction of innovative products. The introduction of a "revolutionary"... View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Labor and Management Relations; Machinery and Machining; Management Style; Management Teams; Performance Efficiency; Technological Innovation; Product Development; Organizational Culture

Person Page

A. Harbus Articles 2009-2010

EiR Interview - Jim Sharpe
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September 2019
Article

Household Matters: Revisiting the Returns to Capital Among Female Microentrepreneurs

By: Arielle Bernhardt, Erica Field, Rohini Pande and Natalia Rigol

Multiple field experiments report positive financial returns to capital shocks for male and not female microentrepreneurs. But these analyses overlook the fact that female entrepreneurs often reside with male entrepreneurs. Using data from experiments in India, Sri... View Details

Keywords: Capital Return; Entrepreneurship; Gender; Household; Capital

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February 1997 (Revised June 1999)
Background Note

Committed and Flexible Resources

By: Robert S. Kaplan

Stresses the difference between costs committed in advance of knowing actual demand (committed costs) and cost incurred proportional to demand. Committed costs appear fixed since their supply is independent of the amount actually used. Flexible resources are supplied... View Details

Keywords: Cost

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August 2015
Case

Whistle Sports: An Online Sports Network for Millennials

By: Robert F. Higgins and Christine Snively

By January 2015, Whistle Sports, a multi-platform sports network for millennials, had attracted over 54 million online subscribers on YouTube, Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, Google+, and Vine. It established partnerships with several professional sports leagues and... View Details

Keywords: Technology; Internet; Websites; Technology Networks; Sports; Entrepreneurship; Information Infrastructure; Business Startups

November 2013
Article

The Performance of Corporate Alliances: Evidence from Oil and Gas Drilling in the Gulf of Mexico

By: John Beshears

I use data on oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico to measure how a corporate alliance—a group of firms that jointly develops an offshore tract—performs relative to a solo firm. I employ a regression discontinuity strategy based on bids in first-price sealed-bid... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Form; Corporate Alliances; Oil And Gas Production; Lease Auctions; Regression Discontinuity; Alliances; Organizational Structure; Auctions; Performance; Energy Sources; Leasing; Energy Industry

December 2010
Case

Fortis Industries, Inc. (A)

Fortis Industries' packaging division manufactures steel and plastic strapping. In 2007, the company underwent a leveraged buyout. The case focuses on the packaging division's need to maintain high profitability in a declining market for steel strapping. Since 1998,... View Details

Keywords: Leveraged Buyouts; Decision Choices and Conditions; Marketing; Supply and Industry; Manufacturing Industry

November 2001 (Revised January 2002)
Case

Monster.com: Success Beyond the Bubble

In 2001, Monster.com was an Internet site that, among other things, connected individuals seeking jobs with organizations wanting to hire. Its substitutes included help wanted classified advertising in newspapers. Monster was one of the few Internet companies that had... View Details

Keywords: Internet and the Web; Business Growth and Maturation; Service Operations; Service Delivery; Price Bubble; Growth and Development Strategy; Employment Industry

24 May 2014
News

Analysts’ dim view of CSR brightens over time

18 Aug 2014
News

Delivery Start-Ups Are Back Like It’s 1999

Incentivizing Calculated Risk-Taking: Evidence from an Experiment with Commercial Bank Loan Officers

This paper uses a series of experiments with commercial bank loan officers to test the effect of performance incentives on risk-assessment and lending decisions. We first show that, while high-powered incentives lead to greater screening effort and more... View Details

January 1997 (Revised May 1997)
Background Note

Country Analysis: A Framework to Identify and Evaluate the National Business Environment

A manager's ability to build profitable firms depends upon the business environment within which firms interact. This note presents a framework to help understand, anticipate, and perhaps foster changes in the business environment. Describes building a picture of the... View Details

Keywords: Country; Analysis; Macroeconomics

07 Mar 2007
Research & Ideas

How Do You Value a “Free” Customer?

most of their profit from fees paid by sellers; buyers don't pay fees. So although buyers are a necessary ingredient to the deal—no buyers, no sellers—their value is more difficult to quantify. To the auction house, is one buyer worth... View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert; Web Services

22 Nov 2023
Research & Ideas

Humans vs. Machines: Untangling the Tasks AI Can (and Can't) Handle

one to focus on for profit growth, and offer “tactical actions” to improve profit through that channel. They were then instructed to assess a company's three brands—men’s, women’s, or kids’—with an eye... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Information Technology; Technology

Web

CSV Explained - Institute For Strategy And Competitiveness

Explained Creating shared value is a framework for creating economic value while simultaneously addressing societal needs and challenges. When businesses act as businesses —not as charitable donors—they can improve profitability while... View Details

2025
Working Paper

When Where Watt: Harnessing the Value of Time and Location for Renewable Electricity Generation

By: Vishrut Rana, Christian Kaps and Serguei Netessine

Problem definition: Investments in renewable energy have surged worldwide in recent years, with over $2 trillion spent globally on clean energy. This surge was driven by growing policy support, concerns about energy security, and, most importantly, the cost... View Details

Keywords: Wind Power; Electricity Distribution; Renewable Energy; Profit; Investment Return; Factories, Labs, and Plants; Geographic Location; Revenue; Energy Industry; Utilities Industry