Publications

Web

Seminars & Conferences - Faculty & Research

Entrepreneurial Management Overview Faculty Curriculum Seminars & Conferences Awards & Honors Doctoral Students More Local Events Local Community Events Harvard Wyss institute- upcoming events Berkman Center for Internet and Society-... View Details

17 Oct 2019
Research & Ideas

‘Chick Beer’ for Women? Why Gender Marketing Repels More Than Sells

Bower Associate Professor at HBS. “In a way, this project reminds me of my childhood,” John says, chuckling. “When I was a kid, I had a babysitter who said, ‘Leslie, your favorite color is pink.’ She would put pink bows in my hair. View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Consumer Products

June 2015 (Revised April 2018)
Case

WeChat: A Global Platform?

By: Willy Shih, Howard Yu and Feng Liu

WeChat was developed by Tencent Holdings as a lightweight messaging platform. As it grew quickly to become the most popular messaging app in China, it added a range of products and services that sat on top that were designed to appeal to a broad range of consumers and... View Details

Keywords: Online Platforms; China; WeChat; Tencent Holdings; Globalization; Internet and the Web; Applications and Software; Digital Platforms; Telecommunications Industry; Information Industry; China

01 Mar 2021
Blog Post

Exploring Career Passions through Short Intensive Programs – Moving Beyond Direct to Consumer

model” which caught many large incumbents sleeping. Brands came to market with the simple notion of relying on the internet to establish direct connections with consumers that bypassed traditional retailers.... View Details

11 Oct 2023
News

Soldier On

Subscribe on iTunes Subscribe on Spotify More Skydeck episodes In November of 2022, 33-year-old Phillip Jones (MPA/MBA 2021) was elected mayor of Newport News, Virginia, where he had spent part of his childhood. The son of two Air Force veterans, he served six years in... View Details

26 Oct 2022
Research & Ideas

How Paid Promos Take the Shine Off YouTube Stars (and Tips for Better Influencer Marketing)

YouTube influencers amass followers by filming everything from popping pimples to reviewing lipstick, with businesses watching closely for marketing opportunities. But audience loyalty only goes so far. When YouTubers post too many paid... View Details

Keywords: by Kara Baskin; Technology; Media & Broadcasting

09 Jan 2006
Research & Ideas

When Benchmarks Don’t Work

adage about the economist who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing. When the benchmark used to evaluate a department or a process is based on an aggregate... View Details

Keywords: by Robert S. Kaplan; Service

19 Jul 2017
Research & Ideas

Why Government 'Nudges' Motivate Good Citizen Behavior

A tiny nudge can motivate big change. (Source: dziewul) Most governments aren’t subtle when they want citizens to do something. The United States spends close to $1 billion annually on advertising--trying to convince citizens to do View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

November 2022 (Revised June 2023)
Case

UGG Steps into the Metaverse

By: Shunyuan Zhang, Sharon Joseph, Sunil Gupta and Julia Kelley

In the fall of 2022, boot maker UGG and its parent company, Deckers, were working to position the brand in the nascent but fast growing metaverse. The metaverse, the online realm that individual users could navigate as digital avatars, was becoming more commercialized,... View Details

Keywords: Metaverse; Digital Marketing; Innovation and Invention; Marketing Channels; Marketing Strategy; Social Marketing; Internet and the Web; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Fashion Industry; Information Technology Industry; United States

21 Sep 2020
Research & Ideas

Are You Sabotaging Your Own Company?

During World War II, the predecessor to the US Central Intelligence Agency produced a secret field manual detailing how “citizen-saboteurs” could disrupt the operations of enemy organizations. In addition to inflicting physical damage,... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

02 Nov 2018
Blog Post

When Ideas Become Reality: Entrepreneurship at HBS

lot of negative self-talk in my head. I never believed I had what it took to start my own thing. When people talk about a founder, there's often commentary around her magnetic confidence, her natural ability to convince everyone in the... View Details

August 2023
Case

Kariyer.net: Recruiting AI

By: Shunyuan Zhang, Fares Khrais and Namrata Arora

In 2017, Fatih Uysal (AMP 2021) became CEO of Kariyer.net. By then, the business was already the industry leading online job board in Turkey. However, faced with stalling growth, a turbulent macroenvironment, and growing competition from international players, Uysal... View Details

September 2017 (Revised June 2019)
Case

Dianrong: Marketplace Lending, Blockchain, and 'The New Finance' in China

By: Christopher J. Malloy, Lauren H. Cohen and Anthony K. Woo

This case examines the strategic positioning of Dianrong, one of the largest online peer-to-peer (P2P) lending platforms in China, in its attempt to become a foundational player in the expansion of the FinTech sector in Asia. Dianrong had recently announced the... View Details

Keywords: Financing and Loans; Internet and the Web; Supply Chain; Finance; Innovation and Invention; Competition; Product Positioning; Strategy; Financial Services Industry; China

January 2009 (Revised July 2009)
Case

Alibaba's Taobao (A)

By: Felix Oberholzer-Gee and Julie M. Wulf

This case examines the decision of Alibaba Group to diversify from an international business-to-business (B2B) exchange (Alibaba.com) into a B2C and C2C exchange (Taobao.com) for Chinese retailers and consumers. In China, Taobao had managed to displace the once... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Demand and Consumers; Market Transactions; Service Operations; Diversification; Internet and the Web; China