Retail Analytics - Publications - Faculty & Research

2020
Working Paper

Overcoming the Cold Start Problem of CRM Using a Probabilistic Machine Learning Approach

The success of Customer Relationship Management (CRM) programs ultimately depends on the firm's ability to understand consumers' preferences and precisely capture how these preferences may differ across customers. Only by understanding customer heterogeneity, firms can... View Details

Keywords: Customer Management; Targeting; Deep Exponential Families; Probabilistic Machine Learning; Cold Start Problem; Customer Relationship Management; Customer Value and Value Chain; Consumer Behavior; Analytics and Data Science; Mathematical Methods; Retail Industry

Citation

SSRN

10 Nov 2015
Blog Post

Using an MBA for a Career Change

and do a ten day consulting project for a company in an emerging market. My team worked for Dafiti.com, the second largest e-commerce retailer in Brazil. I was impressed by how rapidly e-commerce companies could create jobs and started... View Details

09 Jan 2006
Research & Ideas

When Benchmarks Don’t Work

proposition offered by the two clothing retailers is so different that one cannot learn much from comparing the aggregate cost of servicing customers at the two companies. Armani would probably not benefit from studying Wal-Mart's selling... View Details

Keywords: by Robert S. Kaplan; Service

16 May 2000
Research & Ideas

Getting the Message: How the Internet is Changing Advertising

industry's biggest challenges: targeting customers who are likely to be interested in what is being sold and measuring the effectiveness of an ad campaign. Improved technology promises to solve the age-old problem once stated by retailer... View Details

Keywords: by Susan Young

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Technology & Operations Management Awards & Honors - Faculty & Research

Mitigating Privacy Risks of Algorithmic Recourse.” Michael Lingzhi Li : Named Edelman Laureate in 2022 by the Institute for Operations Research and the Management Sciences (INFORMS) for “Data-Driven COVID-19 Vaccine Development for Janssen” ( INFORMS Journal on Applied... View Details

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Business Economics Online Course | HBS Online

Harvard Business School offers to incoming students. I majored in engineering and minored in economics as an undergraduate, but the content of Business Analytics and Economics for Managers showed me new ways for using the theoretical... View Details

07 Jun 2004
Research & Ideas

What Drives Supply Chain Behavior?

be divided into strategic and operational activities. Strategic activities include, among others, long-term capacity planning and network configuration of warehouses, distributors, and retail stores. Examples of operational activities... View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Johnston

Web

2022 Reunion Presentations - Alumni

session, we will discuss the case of Olay, which is facing declining sales. In the second half, we will expand our discussion to explore how firms should think about their digital journey. Can Consumers, Big Tech, and Retailers Fix Health... View Details

16 Mar 2020
Research & Ideas

How the Coronavirus Is Already Rewriting the Future of Business

consumer brands that rely on traditional retailing for the bulk of their sales—have already been demonstrably affected. So will industries that revolve around large gatherings, such as many forms of popular entertainment—sports, cinema,... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

13 Nov 2019
Research & Ideas

Don't Turn Your Marketing Function Over to AI Just Yet

factors that influence consumer behavior are so varied and complex, and the data that companies collect is so rich, just modeling how consumers search a single retail website is a monumental task. Each company’s data are so firm and... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz

Profile

Rocio Parra

speakers, reinforced my choice to enter a career in marketing. I explored different career paths, such as returning to strategy consulting, entering the luxury goods or retail spaces. However, I learned that many executives in other... View Details

Keywords: Retail

01 Mar 2023
News

Step Change

At Consoleya, a coworking space in Cairo’s former French Consulate, multiple levels of meeting rooms and workspaces operate at capacity, from a ground-floor café to a rooftop deck. The scene—coders bent over laptops, concepts scrawled on whiteboards, clusters of people... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna; photographed by Abdelrahman Gabr – Koree; entrepreneurship; women; venture capital; Egypt; developing economies; Finance

01 Feb 2002
News

It's academic. (Not!)

been a great friend. It makes me feel so good to know that my advisor is interested in my career and my well-being." Raman and Ton have been studying retail operation, focusing on an operational execution issue - namely, misplaced... View Details

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

Profile

Maliha Khan

Why was getting a business education important to you? I saw an MBA as important for two reasons: I wanted key analytical and quantitative skills that would help me make decisions and give me more confidence in my judgment; and secondly,... View Details

Keywords: Retail; Retail

25 Aug 2017
Blog Post

HBS Interns: Summer Takeovers

in technology at the Sephora Innovation Lab. Jenn researched the impacts of artificial intelligence on the retail industry and participated in idea hackathons to brainstorm creative new ways for the brand to innovate. Adam Behrens, View Details

Keywords: All Industries

17 Mar 2021
Research & Ideas

Beyond Pajamas: Sizing Up the Pandemic Shopper

significantly as more consumers than ever started shopping online. As vaccines fuel hope about life after COVID-19, retailers are trying to learn more about the pandemic shopper. Are they different from the existing online users? Do they... View Details

Keywords: by Ayelet Israeli, Eva Ascarza, and Laura Castrillo; Retail

09 Sep 2016
News

Marla Malcolm Beck’s Path to CEO

In a New York Times piece that asks “How to Become a C.E.O.?”, Marla Malcolm Beck (MBA 1998) is highlighted as an example of the entrepreneurial path one can take to the chief executive position. Malcolm Beck, the founder and CEO of beauty View Details

Web

Supply Chain Management - Course Catalog

HBS Course Catalog Supply Chain Management Course Number 2108 Associate Professor Kris Ferreira Spring; Q3Q4; 3.0 credits 27 Sessions Paper/Project Due to significant overlap in course content, students cannot take both this course and the fall term half-semester... View Details

16 Aug 2010
Lessons from the Classroom

HBS Introduces Marketing Analysis Tools for Managers

retailer penny profit and retailer margin. Q: In addition to CLV and pricing and profitability, what other toolkits are available for marketing managers? A: There are five toolkits currently available that... View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert

01 Dec 2014
News

Making Big Data Fashionable

from anything so unquantifiable as emotion, Moon values that intuition and wants to “help validate” it. More Retail Revolutions Speeding Up Accessories BaubleBar cofounders Amy Jain and Daniella Yacobovsky (both MBA 2010) apply the... View Details

Keywords: Christine Lejeune; fashion; Market Research, Photo, Translation, Veterinary and Other Services; Professional Services

Publications