Publications

September 2016 (Revised February 2017)
Case

ZenRecruit: Sales Coaching and Performance Reviews

By: Mark Roberge

Amara Kaggwa leads the small but rapidly expanding sales team at ZenRecruit, a recruiting software application used by small businesses. Armed with six months of sales performance metrics, Kaggwa is preparing for her monthly performance conversations with two... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurial Marketing; Entrepreneurial Sales; Entrepreneurial Sales And Marketing; Marketing; Entrepreneurship; Sales

01 Jun 2007
News

Faculty Research Online

make performance reviews more productive and less distasteful. Should they be disengaged from the determination of compensation and, if so, how? Visit http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/5563.html. Grooming... View Details

Keywords: Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services

28 Jan 2013
Research & Ideas

Helping Yelp Create More Accurate Reviews

Revenue: The Case of Yelp.com, which explored how restaurant reviews on Yelp affect their bottom lines.) Reviewing The Reviewers After spending some time on Yelp, Luca... View Details

Keywords: by Kim Girard; Food & Beverage

March 1983 (Revised December 1983)
Background Note

A Note on Production Inventories

Introduction to basic notions of EDQ, reorder points, periodic review systems, and ABC Analysis. View Details

Keywords: Production; Logistics

November 17, 2009
Article

The Dark Underbelly of Online Advertising

By: Benjamin Edelman

The Internet is sold to advertisers as a highly measurable medium that is the most efficient way to target exactly the right customers. But online advertising is also easily subverted—letting fraudsters claim advertising fees for work they did not actually do. The... View Details

Keywords: Safety; Misleading and Fraudulent Advertising; Online Advertising; Advertising Industry

Register to Read

01 Sep 2007
News

Faculty Research Online

HBS Working Knowledge is an online forum for innovation in business practice, offering a first look at new thinking from HBS faculty. Read the complete articles summarized below by visiting their Web links. Behavioral Finance — Benefiting... View Details

Keywords: Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services

01 Sep 2011
News

Faculty Research Online

fast-food formula for the local market. Teaching a ‘Lean Start-Up’ Strategy Most start-ups fail because they waste too much time and money building the wrong product before realizing too late what the right View Details

Keywords: Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services

01 Dec 2012
News

Faculty Research Online

long before the current recession took hold. Professors Michael Porter and Jan Rivkin discuss causes and possible solutions. Better by the Bundle? Video-game companies do it, fast-food restaurants, too. Why don't more companies bundle View Details

Keywords: Executive, Legislative, and Other General Government Support; Government

01 Mar 2010
News

Faculty Research Online

consumers prefer single songs over music “bundles.” The result? It is time for the industry to rethink its products and prices, writes Associate Professor Anita Elberse. See http://hbswk.hbs.edu/item/6312.html. India Transformed? Insights... View Details

Keywords: Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services; Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services; Professional Services

Video

What Is Gross Domestic Product (GDP)?

July 2016
Case

Product Portfolio Management at Genentech

By: Kevin Schulman and Jamie Gresh

Genentech, long the darling of the biotechnology industry, was acquired by Swiss pharmaceutical company Roche in 2009. The combined company retains the name Genentech in the US, but must now move to achieve the promises made at the time of this merger—to build from... View Details

Keywords: Portfolio Management; Drug Development; Postmerger Integration; Marketing Strategy; Mergers and Acquisitions; Integration; Biotechnology Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry; United States

June 1998 (Revised August 2001)
Case

Wells Fargo Online Financial Services (A)

By: Robert S. Kaplan and Nicole Tempest

Wells Fargo, the industry leader in electronic banking, has implemented a Balanced Scorecard in its online financial services group (OFS) to track and measure performance. The OFS group develops and supports services that allow existing and future banking customers to... View Details

Keywords: Balanced Scorecard; Internet and the Web; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Corporate Strategy; Performance Evaluation; Finance; Change; Situation or Environment; Measurement and Metrics; Banking Industry; Financial Services Industry

September 2006
Tutorial

Management Control Process - Online Tutorial

By: David F. Hawkins

Introduces the Management Control Process by detailing its six components: 1) the management control environment, 2) organizational structure and responsibilities, 3) information and communication, 4) management control systems, 5) incentives, and 6) monitoring.... View Details

Keywords: Communication; Information; Business or Company Management; Management Practices and Processes; Organizations; Mission and Purpose; Organizational Structure; Behavior; Motivation and Incentives; System

01 Dec 2004
News

Ideas: Faculty Research Online

new book, Implementing E-Commerce Strategies: A Guide to Corporate Success after the Dot.Com Bust, shows how to put appropriate metrics to work to measure performance. IBM Finds Profit in Diversity Former IBM CEO Lou Gerstner (MBA ’65) established a diversity... View Details

Keywords: Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services

September–October 2018
Article

Online MAP Enforcement: Evidence from a Quasi-Experiment

By: Ayelet Israeli

This paper investigates a manufacturer’s ability to influence compliance rates among its authorized online retailers by exploiting changes in the Minimum Advertised Price (MAP) policy and in dealer agreements. MAP is a pricing policy widely used by manufacturers to... View Details

Keywords: Pricing Policies; Pricing; Channel Management; Legal Aspects Of Business; Retail; Price; Policy; Governance Compliance; Distribution Channels; Management; Retail Industry

Find at Harvard

13 Jun 2005
Research & Ideas

Rescuing Products with Stealth Positioning

When firms adopt a reverse or breakaway positioning strategy, there is no pretense about what they're up to. Part of the appeal of their cleverly positioned product offerings comes from explicitly subverting convention through... View Details

Keywords: by Youngme Moon

12 Oct 2011
Research & Ideas

Creating Online Ads We Want to Watch

communicate? How can I get people to change their evaluations of brands and products rather than simply be entertained for 30 seconds?" In collaboration with colleagues at MIT, Teixeira is conducting experiments in which participants view... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Consumer Products

30 Sep 2013
Research & Ideas

Do Mergers Hurt Product Quality?

comparative consumer product reviews since 1936. The publication ranks competitive brands according to quality, based on in-house testing and customer surveys, and publishes the products' retail prices.... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Consumer Products

February 2021
Case

Threadless: The Renewal of an Online Community

By: Shane Greenstein, Karim Lakhani and Christian Godwin

Threadless, an online apparel company and artist community which Jake Nickell founded in 2000, continued to maintain its status as a top company in the online apparel industry during its second decade. From 2010 to 2020, Threadless continued to operate its... View Details