Publications

10 Aug 2015
Research & Ideas

Why a Federal Rule on CEO Pay Disclosure May Get You In Trouble With Customers

to buy towels under a variety of bargain pricing scenarios. The findings were significant: A high-pay-ratio retailer required a 50 percent discount to elicit a willingness to purchase the product that was on... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Retail

25 Sep 2000
Research & Ideas

More Than the Sum of Its Parts: The Impact of Modularity on the Computer Industry

was a seminal event in the growth of Silicon Valley. CB: The effects of the ensuing competition on modules were better designs and lower prices. Customers were eager to buy the new plug-compatible, non-IBM... View Details

Keywords: by Staff; Computer; Consumer Products; Technology

04 Mar 2024
Research & Ideas

Want to Make Diversity Stick? Break the Cycle of Sameness

this tendency to keep demographics the same from one leader to the next stand in the way of meaningful change? “The data suggest that we’re unlikely to make serious progress on diversity without concerted... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

2021
Working Paper

Competitive Two-Part Tariffs

By: Jorge Tamayo and Guofu Tan

We study competitive two-part tariffs in a model of asymmetric duopoly firms that offer (vertically and horizontally) differentiated products. We show that the sign of the markup for each product depends on the average expected demand among all customers as well as the... View Details

Keywords: Product Differentiation; Two-part Tariffs; Marginal-cost Pricing; Cross-subsidization; Competition; Price

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April 1998 (Revised September 1998)
Case

Classic Pen Company, The: Developing an ABC Model

By: Robert S. Kaplan

Classic Pen has diversified from its core blue and black pen business by introducing new specialized colors. But costs have risen and margins on blue and black pens are decreasing. The controller turns to activity-based costing (ABC) for an explanation. View Details

Keywords: Activity Based Costing and Management; Manufacturing Industry

23 Jan 2013
Research & Ideas

Three-Dimensional Strategy: Winning the Multisided Platform

transaction. "It functions that way for the same reason that eBay doesn't buy all of the products offered on its website," says Hagiu. "There's just too much stuff and too much risk. It can grow much faster... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna

04 May 2021
Book

Best Buy: How Human Connection Saved a Failing Retailer

the core of the near-miraculous turnaround Joly spearheaded at the company during the 2010s. Joly stepped in as CEO of Best Buy in 2012, just after its quarterly profits plummeted by 91 percent and its stock price hit a nine-year low.... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Retail

13 Apr 2007
Working Paper Summaries

Incorporating Price and Inventory Endogeneity in Firm-Level Sales Forecasting

Keywords: by Saravanan Kesavan, Vishal Gaur & Ananth Raman; Retail

December 2017 (Revised January 2018)
Case

Alltech

By: David E. Bell and Natalie Kindred

Alltech was a Lexington, Kentucky–based producer of supplements for animal feed, with revenues of over $2 billion (projected to reach $3 billion in 2018), sales in 120 countries, 5,000 employees, and 100 manufacturing plants worldwide. For nearly four decades, Alltech... View Details

16 Dec 2022
Research & Ideas

Why Technology Alone Can't Solve AI's Bias Problem

In a cluttered online world, few can resist the convenience of an automated ranking when deciding what movie to watch on Netflix or which seafood restaurant looks promising in a Google search. But when it comes to finding a job candidate... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Technology

2009
Other Unpublished Work

Heterogeneous Technology Diffusion and Ricardian Trade Patterns

By: William R. Kerr

This study tests the importance of Ricardian technology differences for international trade. The developed panel includes both emerging and advanced economies, and particular attention is devoted to the variation exploited in empirical tests. The elasticity of export... View Details

Keywords: Trade; Immigration; Competitive Advantage; Integration; Technology; United States

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29 Feb 2024
HBS Case

Beyond Goals: David Beckham's Playbook for Mobilizing Star Talent

Beckham’s Inter Miami CF soccer club. Beckham visited Elberse’s MBA class, “The Business of Entertainment, Media, and Sports,” in October to further illuminate the discussions. “You can build a follower base that’s bigger than what traditional media can offer, and you... View Details

Keywords: by Avery Forman; Sports

March 2012 (Revised January 2013)
Case

Boston Children's Hospital: Measuring Patient Costs

By: Robert S. Kaplan, Mary L. Witkowski and Jessica A. Hohman

The case describes two pilot projects on applying activity-based costing to measuring the cost of treating patients. It presents process maps and financial data relating to the processes used during (1) an office visit to a plastic surgeon for three different diagnoses... View Details

Keywords: Health Care; Time-Driven Activity-Based Costing; Costing; Hospitals; Activity Based Costing and Management; Mathematical Methods; Health Industry

March 2020 (Revised April 2020)
Case

CarTrade

By: Rajiv Lal and Shreya Ramachandran

Vinay Sanghi, the founder and CEO of CarTrade, had been trying different business strategies to keep the company, which he founded in 2010 as an online marketplace for used and new cars, profitable and on track for growth. In a crowded and disorganized dealer... View Details

Keywords: Online Marketplace; Automobiles; Customer Base; Internet and the Web; Growth and Development Strategy; Business Model; Financing and Loans; E-commerce; Digital Platforms; Digital Marketing; Auto Industry; Retail Industry; India; Mumbai

September 2010 (Revised April 2013)
Case

Gazelle in 2012

By: Andrei Hagiu and James Weber

Gazelle has pioneered a reCommerce intermediation model: it buys used electronics from consumers and resells them on eBay or to wholesalers. Going forward, its two main strategic challenges are 1) deciding how much to rely on partnerships with large retailers for... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Growth and Development Strategy; Markets; Two-Sided Platforms; Partners and Partnerships; Business Strategy; Retail Industry; Service Industry

October 1992 (Revised September 1993)
Case

L.L. Bean, Inc.: Item Forecasting and Inventory Management

By: Arthur Schleifer Jr.

L.L. Bean must make stocking decisions on thousands of items sold through its catalogs. In many cases, orders must be placed with vendors twelve or more weeks before a catalog lands on a customer's doorstep, and commitments cannot be changed thereafter. As a result,... View Details

Keywords: Forecasting and Prediction; Risk Management; Cost Management; Risk and Uncertainty; Demand and Consumers; Order Taking and Fulfillment; Retail Industry; United States

17 Dec 2014
Research & Ideas

How Our Brain Determines if the Product is Worth the Price

while the results of this initial experiment had been significant to neuroscience, Karmarkar's team also wanted to show that their research could have real-world implications for retailers—a direct effect on whether a consumer decided to... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Retail

October 1994 (Revised April 1995)
Case

Reyem Affiar

Reyem Affiar is interested in buying a condominium in Cambridge, Mass. Can data on previous condominium sales inform him on how to bid for the condo? The case includes 1990--1994 data on Cambridge condominium sales (nearly 500 records). View Details

Keywords: Analysis; Real Estate Industry; Cambridge