Publications

16 Oct 2008
Working Paper Summaries

Opening Platforms: How, When and Why?

Keywords: by Thomas R. Eisenmann, Geoffrey Parker & Marshall Van Alstyne

June 2013
Case

The World Economic Forum's Global Leadership Fellows Program

By: Rakesh Khurana and Eric Baldwin

This case examines a distinctive leadership development program within the World Economic Forum. The program, born out of the conviction that the complexity of global challenges at the beginning of the 21st century required a new generation of global leaders, recruited... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Behavior; Leadership Skills; Training; Global Organizations; Global Leadership; World Economic Forum; Globalization; Leadership; Leadership Development; Leadership Style; Leading Change

22 Nov 2023
Research & Ideas

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

Knowing when to use artificial intelligence and when to rely on the human mind is a shifting fine line, one delineated by new research that shows considerable benefit and speed from generative AI—if it’s applied to the right tasks. What... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Information Technology; Technology

27 Jul 2009
Research & Ideas

Social Network Marketing: What Works?

are more influenced by social pressure than others. Can you discuss the distinctions among user groups and how they influence buying? A: We found three distinct groups. Low-status members (48 percent of the View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert; Advertising; Publishing; Retail

2022
Case

Tesla's Battery Supply Chain: A Growing Concern

By: Andrew J. Hoffman

In October 2021, the fictional vice president of supply chain sustainability at Tesla is working on finding the best way to achieve Tesla's goal of 100% recycling for the batteries in its electric vehicles (EVs) as they reach their end of life. A major challenge in... View Details

Keywords: Supply Chain Management; Environmental Sustainability; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Governance Compliance; Metals and Minerals; Auto Industry

06 Jul 2016
News

The UX Secret That Will Ruin Apps For You

09 Jan 2024
In Practice

Harnessing AI: What Businesses Need to Know in ChatGPT’s Second Year

complex issues. This efficiency in content creation not only accelerates innovation but also opens up new avenues for strategic problem-solving. So, what role should humans play? Generative AI’s strength is... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Information Technology

August 2019 (Revised February 2020)
Teaching Note

Sidewalk Labs: Privacy in a City Built from the Internet Up

By: Leslie John and Mitch Weiss

Email mking@hbs.edu for a courtesy copy.

The case serves as a microcosm of issues of digital privacy: the availability of data – personal data in particular – has tremendous potential to improve people’s lives... View Details

Keywords: Privacy; Privacy By Design; Privacy Regulation; Platforms; Data; Data Security; Behavioral Science; Analytics and Data Science; Safety; Entrepreneurship; Business and Government Relations; Consumer Behavior; Digital Platforms

18 Feb 2009
First Look

First Look: February 18, 2009

amount of waste generated to improve the efficiency of the by-product process. In addition to the managerial implications, this analysis can inform policy as we show that increasing disposal cost decreases the size of the primary market... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

March 2016
Case

M-Pesa: Financial Inclusion in Kenya

By: Rajiv Lal, Lisa Cox and Sarah McAra

M-Pesa, a mobile money transfer service launched in 2007 in Kenya by telecommunications company Safaricom, allowed people to send money via mobile messaging to contacts, such as friends and family, or even to pay for goods and services, such as groceries or a taxi... View Details

Keywords: Mobile Money Transfer; Market Transactions; Emerging Markets; Developing Countries and Economies; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Telecommunications Industry; Kenya

April 2019 (Revised April 2021)
Case

Wayfair

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport, Susie L. Ma and Matthew G. Preble

In 2016 Niraj Shah and Steve Conine, founders of online home goods retailer Wayfair, are faced with a decision about how to improve user experience on their e-commerce sites. A key driver of consumer interest and conversion to purchase in the home category is visual... View Details

Keywords: Visual Assets; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Decision Making; Business or Company Management; Growth Management; Innovation and Invention; Operations; Strategy; Technology; Retail Industry; Service Industry; United States; Massachusetts

07 Nov 2014
Working Paper Summaries

Do Experts or Collective Intelligence Write with More Bias? Evidence from Encyclopædia Britannica and Wikipedia

Keywords: by Shane Greenstein & Feng Zhu; Information; Publishing

19 Sep 2023
HBS Case

How Will the Tech Titans Behind ChatGPT, Bard, and LLaMA Make Money?

of computing we've lived through in the past. The key insight is that the variable cost of delivering generative AI to an end user is not zero which means we can't necessarily be handing out future... View Details

Keywords: by Ben Rand; Technology; Information Technology

March 2011
Background Note

Customer Loyalty Schemes in the Retail Sector

By: Jose B. Alvarez and Aldo Sesia

Customer loyalty schemes (or programs) are explicit efforts by retailers to gain long-term patronage from customers. Loyalty schemes are developed for a variety of reasons: to reward loyal customers, to generate more robust information about customer behavior, to... View Details

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Consumer Behavior; Business Strategy; Retail Industry; United Kingdom; United States

October 2008
Case

TripIt: The Traveler's Agent

By: Lynda M. Applegate, Gabriele Piccoli and Kathryn Brohman

In July 2008, the co-founders of TripIt, a free online travel organizer that aggregated travelers' bookings from many top travel websites, had recently secured $5.1 million in new financing. While the co-founders believed that their company offered travelers a unique... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Investment; Profit; Revenue; Growth and Development Strategy; Competition; Internet; Travel Industry

21 Feb 2012
First Look

First Look: Feb. 21

information is a central determinant of a firm's demand function, even for purchases as large as college attendance. When Do User Innovators Start Firms? A Theory of User Entrepreneurship Authors:Sonali Shah... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

December 2014 (Revised May 2015)
Case

Growth Hacking at Bazaart (A)

By: Jeffrey Bussgang and Matthew G. Preble

The four founding members of Bazaart—a young Israeli company whose sole product was its eponymous mobile application (app) which allowed users to create collages from photographs and other images—face an important strategic decision in June 2014. Since its founding... View Details

Keywords: Growth Hacking; Customer Acquisition; Startup Marketing; Startup; Startup Nation; Business Startups; Growth and Development Strategy; Customers; Marketing; Social Marketing; Fashion Industry; Technology Industry; Israel

2018
Working Paper

Need for Speed: The Impact of Website Performance on Online Retail

By: Santiago Gallino, Nil Karacaoglu and Antonio Moreno

The share of e-commerce sales is rapidly increasing and so are the associated losses generated by website outages and slow websites. We leverage novel retail and website performance data to investigate the impact of website performance on online sales. This question is... View Details

Keywords: Online Retail; Quasi-experiments; Abandonment; Synthetic Control; Internet and the Web; Performance; Service Operations