Publications

2017
Working Paper

Internalizing Global Value Chains: A Firm-Level Analysis

By: Laura Alfaro, Pol Antràs, Davin Chor and Paola Conconi

In recent decades, advances in information and communication technology and falling trade barriers have led firms to retain within their boundaries and in their domestic economies only a subset of their production stages. A key decision facing firms worldwide is the... View Details

Keywords: Global Value Chains; Sequential Production; Incomplete Contracts; Demand and Consumers; Customer Value and Value Chain; Globalization

August 2016 (Revised June 2018)
Teaching Note

VMD Medical Imaging Center

By: Susanna Gallani and Eva Labro

VMD Medical Imaging Center addresses a number of issues related to the role of costing systems in organizations and the challenges impacting their design and maintenance as the organization grows and develops over time. This teaching note begins by offering detailed... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Cost Management; Management Systems

24 Jul 2024
Video

Andy Hoffman: It’s time for business schools to respond to a changing world

Article

Channel Integration, Sales Dispersion, and Inventory Management

By: Santiago Gallino, Antonio Moreno and Ioannis Stamatopoulos

We study the effects of the introduction of cross-channel functionalities on the overall sales dispersion of retailers and the implications of these effects for inventory management. To do that, we analyze data from a leading U.S. retailer who introduced a... View Details

Keywords: Retail Operations; Online Retail; Channel Integration; Sales Dispersion; Long Tail; Empirical Operations; Inventory Management; Omnichannel Retail; Marketing Channels; Integration; Sales; Logistics; Operations; Management; Retail Industry

Article

Managing Climate Change: Lessons from the U.S. Navy

By: Forest Reinhardt and Michael W. Toffel

The U.S. Navy operates on the front lines of climate change. It manages tens of billions of dollars in assets on every continent and on every ocean, which take many years to design and build and then have decades of useful life. This means that it needs to understand... View Details

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November–December 2013
Article

The Dynamic Effects of Bundling as a Product Strategy

By: Timothy Derdenger and Vineet Kumar

Several key questions in bundling have not been empirically examined: Is mixed bundling more effective than pure bundling or pure components? Does correlation in consumer valuations make bundling more or less effective? Does bundling serve as a complement or substitute... View Details

Keywords: Product Strategy; Bundling; Complementary Goods; Marketing; Strategy; Video Game Industry

10 Jul 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, July 10, 2018

publishing) are likely to reshape the structure of demand for executive development. Download working paper: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=51662 The Impact of Increasing Search Frictions on... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

September 2017 (Revised September 2023)
Case

Chase Sapphire: Creating a Millennial Cult Brand

By: Shelle Santana, Jill Avery and Christine Snively

The launch of the Chase Sapphire Reserve credit card was enthusiastically received by millennial consumers, a cohort that had previously eluded JPMorgan Chase and its competitors. With the one-year anniversary of the launch approaching, managers are focused on... View Details

Educators

In The Venture Capital Cycle, Paul Gompers and Josh Lerner correct widespread misperceptions about the nature and role of the venture capitalist and provide an accessible and comprehensive overview of the venture capital industry. Bringing together fifteen... View Details

2013
Comment

Fairness and Redistribution: Comment

By: Rafael Di Tella and Juan Dubra

In an influential paper, Alesina and Angeletos (2005)—henceforth, AA—argued that a preference for fairness could lead two identical societies to choose different economic systems. In particular, two equilibria might arise: one with low taxes and a belief that the... View Details

Keywords: Taxes; Beliefs; Economic Systems; Values and Beliefs; Fairness; Taxation

September 2021 (Revised October 2022)
Supplement

Hester Pharmaceuticals (B): Securing Supply

By: Dante Roscini and John Masko

Supplements the (A) case. In late 2020, demand for Hester Pharmaceutical’s (Hester’s) breakthrough oncology drug Akrozumab was outstripping the company’s most optimistic projections. In order to increase manufacturing capacity and meet the demand, Hester was... View Details

Keywords: COVID-19 Pandemic; Cost vs Benefits; Trade; Supply Chain; Global Strategy; Buildings and Facilities; Operations; Health Care and Treatment; Demand and Consumers; Global Range; Globalized Markets and Industries; Pharmaceutical Industry; Italy; China; United States; Germany

April 2018
Article

Elite Strategies and Incremental Policy Change: The Expansion of Primary Education in India

By: Akshay Mangla

This article analyzes India’s recent enactment of universal primary education. This programmatic policy change is puzzling given the clientelistic features of Indian democracy. Drawing on interviews and official documents, I demonstrate the catalytic role of committed... View Details

Keywords: Education; Policy Change; Policy Elites; Institutions; India; Early Childhood Education; Policy; Education Industry; India

June 2005 (Revised May 2006)
Case

Alex Montana at ESH Manufacturing Co.

By: Thomas J. DeLong and Michael Kernish

Alex Montana sat at his desk pondering the career decision before him. Alex was director of the North American division of ESH Manufacturing, a $4.6 billion, Cleveland-based company with operations on three continents. ESH's CEO had just offered Montana a promotion to... View Details

Keywords: Decision Making; Decision Choices and Conditions; Personal Development and Career; Work-Life Balance; Manufacturing Industry; Cleveland

Educators

2007
Article

Convictions, Conventions and the Operational Risk Maze—The Cases of Three Financial Services Institutions

By: Anette Mikes

Making sense of operational risk practices in the financial services sector is a challenge. There is a temptation to explain the wide variety of approaches as a characteristic of the early stage of development in which the genre resides.
Based on the evidence of... View Details

Keywords: Management Practices and Processes; Risk Management; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Conflict and Resolution; Organizations; Financial Services Industry

09 Feb 2016
First Look

February 9, 2016

is escalating, people are getting aggressive, and no one is willing to back down. And, to top it off, you have little power or other resources to work with. This book shows how to defuse even the most potentially explosive situations and... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

September 2019
Article

The Persistence of Broadband User Behavior: Implications for Universal Service and Competition Policy

By: Andre Boik, Shane Greenstein and Jeffrey Prince

In several markets, firms compete not for consumer expenditure but consumer attention. We examine user priorities over the allocation of their time, and interpret that behavior in light of salient tensions in policy discussions over universal service, data caps, and... View Details

Keywords: Broadband Service; Attention Allocation; Consumer Behavior; Household; Internet and the Web; Competition; Policy