Publications

05 Feb 2015
Working Paper Summaries

Does Front-Loading Taxation Increase Savings? Evidence from Roth 401(k) Introductions

Keywords: by John Beshears, James J. Choi, David Laibson & Brigitte C. Madrian

Modularity and Intellectual Property Protection

Modularity is a means of partitioning technical knowledge about a product or process. When state-sanctioned intellectual property (IP) rights are ineffective or costly to enforce, modularity can be used to hide information and thus protect IP. We investigate the impact... View Details

September 2006 (Revised February 2007)
Case

Friendster (A)

By: Mikolaj Jan Piskorski and Carin-Isabel Knoop

In January 2006, the president of Friendster needs to choose between two strategic options to revive the company. Friendster started the social networking industry in 2003, but has been overtaken by MySpace and Facebook. The two options are: 1) offer new features to... View Details

Keywords: Value Creation; Competitive Advantage; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Social and Collaborative Networks; Brands and Branding; Service Industry

July 2019
Article

I Know Why You Voted for Trump: (Over)inferring Motives Based on Choice

By: Kate Barasz, Tami Kim and Ioannis Evangelidis

People often speculate about why others make the choices they do. This paper investigates how such inferences are formed as a function of what is chosen. Specifically, when observers encounter someone else's choice (e.g., of political candidate), they use the chosen... View Details

Keywords: Self-other Difference; Social Perception; Inference-making; Preferences; Consumer Behavior; Prediction; Prediction Error; Decision Choices and Conditions; Perception; Behavior; Forecasting and Prediction

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July 2008
Case

eHarmony

By: Mikolaj Jan Piskorski, Hanna Halaburda and Troy Smith

eHarmony's CEO needs to decide how to react to imitations of its business model, encroachment by competing models, and ascendance of free substitutes. The case provides four options to address these threats and asks students to choose one after they analyzed the... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Decision Choices and Conditions; Growth and Development Strategy; Industry Structures; Competitive Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Service Industry

24 Nov 2015
Research & Ideas

Developing Your Next CEO for the Family Business

your next CEO. These internal candidates with some outsider views have a more objective and independent view about how your company needs to change and adapt. Executives with the right mix of Insider and Outsider attributes, Bower claims, are likely to do a better job... View Details

Keywords: Re: Daniel Rabetti; Retail; Auto

March 2023 (Revised September 2023)
Case

Patagonia: 'Earth Is Now Our Only Shareholder'

By: Brian Trelstad, Nien-hê Hsieh, Michael Norris and Susan Pinckney

In September 2022, Yvon Chouinard, the iconoclastic founder of outdoor apparel company Patagonia, announced a new ownership model for his company. Chouinard and his family had held complete control of the company's voting and non-voting stock since its founding 50... View Details

Fall 2023
Article

Infringing Use as a Path to Legal Consumption: Evidence from a Field Experiment

By: Hong Luo and Julie Holland Mortimer

Digitization has transformed how users find and use copyrighted goods, but many existing legal options remain difficult to access, possibly leading to infringement. In a field experiment, we contact firms that are caught infringing on expensive digital images. Emails... View Details

Keywords: Copyright Infringement; Field Experiment; Copyright; Lawfulness

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Read Now

13 Jul 2009
Research & Ideas

Diagnosing the Public Health Care Alternative

think the chances of a government plan supplanting private options are slim," he writes. But the existence of both public and private insurance plans might provide enough competition to improve overall value... View Details

Keywords: by Staff; Health

February 1994 (Revised September 1995)
Case

Leland O'Brien Rubinstein Associates, Inc.: Portfolio Insurance

By: Peter Tufano

Leland O'Brien Rubinstein Associates, a small financial advisory firm founded in 1980, has created a successful business by selling a product commonly known as portfolio insurance. Portfolio insurance is a trading strategy that institutional investors use to establish... View Details

Keywords: Investment Portfolio; Insurance; Product; Financial Services Industry

01 Aug 2023
Cold Call Podcast

Can Business Transform Primary Health Care Across Africa?

Keywords: Re: Regina E. Herzlinger; Pharmaceutical; Health

January 2011 (Revised November 2014)
Case

Mochi Media

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Amit Jain

In late 2009, the management of Mochi Media, a venture-backed startup, must decide how to invest scarce resources to achieve continued growth. Mochi has developed a three-sided platform, connecting Flash game developers, sites that aggregate these games, and... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Business Startups; Games, Gaming, and Gambling; Entrepreneurship; Growth and Development Strategy; Network Effects; Multi-Sided Platforms; Partners and Partnerships; Competition

September 2003 (Revised March 2007)
Case

Direvo Biotech AG

Describes the financing and growth decisions facing Direvo, a young German biotech firm with a customer/partner that wants to become an investor. Also discusses the business model for Direvo's directed evolution technology, with applications in both industrial enzymes... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Decisions; Business Exit or Shutdown; Value; Business Startups; Biotechnology Industry; Germany

2019
Working Paper

Infringing Use as a Path to Legal Consumption: Evidence from a Field Experiment

By: Hong Luo and Julie Holland Mortimer

Digitization has transformed how users find and use copyrighted goods, but many existing legal options remain difficult to access, possibly leading to infringement. In a field experiment, we contact firms that are caught infringing on expensive digital images. Emails... View Details

Keywords: Copyright Infringement; Field Experiment; Intellectual Property; Lawfulness

SSRN

15 Oct 2001
Research & Ideas

What You Don’t Know About Making Decisions

the easy, obvious answer. This is one reason techniques like point-counterpoint, which requires groups to generate at least two alternatives, are so often associated with superior decision making. Usually, keeping track of the number of View Details

Keywords: by David A. Garvin & Michael A. Roberto

February 2017
Case

Eve Hall: The African American Investment Fund in Milwaukee

By: Steven Rogers and Alterrell Mills

The case highlights the role of minority chambers of commerce and the background of Eve Hall, a well-regarded multi-sector leader asked to revive Wisconsin's African-American chamber. This case study examines the lending options that a minority chamber of commerce... View Details

June 2014
Simulation

Balanced Scorecard Simulation

By: V.G. Narayanan

In this multi-player simulation, students experience the benefits and challenges of using a scorecard to implement strategic initiatives and monitor firm performance. Small teams of students work together to choose a strategy for their company, create a strategy map,... View Details