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May 2017 (Revised August 2021)
Case

Mavi: Fashioning a Path to Brand Growth

By: Jill Avery and Gamze Yucaoglu

This case examines the strategic choices and business model with regards to branding at Mavi, a leading Turkish apparel retailer. The case is presented from the perspective of the company CEO and its global brand director who is also part owner. In 2015, Mavi had sales... View Details

Research Summary

Overview

My research aims to understand how prosperity is created in poor countries. My first “chapter” in this larger quest has focused on how rich-country actors have managed to be a force for change in poor-country economies. I have investigated the various attempts of... View Details

Keywords: Foreign Aid; Africa; Private Sector Development; Economic Development; Political Economy; Fragile States; Governance; Private Sector; Emerging Markets; Development Economics; Non-Governmental Organizations; Natural Disasters; Africa; Liberia

2024
Working Paper

Generative AI and the Nature of Work

By: Manuel Hoffmann, Sam Boysel, Frank Nagle, Sida Peng and Kevin Xu

Recent advances in artificial intelligence (AI) technology demonstrate considerable potential to complement human capital intensive activities. While an emerging literature documents wide-ranging productivity effects of AI, relatively little attention has been paid... View Details

Keywords: Generative Ai; Digital Work; Open Source Software; Knowledge Economy; AI and Machine Learning; Open Source Distribution; Organizational Structure; Performance Productivity; Labor

SSRN

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2011
Teaching Note

Beyondsoft Co., Ltd. (A) (TN)

By: F. Warren McFarlan, Donghong Li and Hong Zhang

In the past two decades, along with China's rapidly growing economy and its integration into the world economic system, the Chinese software outsourcing industry has also risen from zero to being fairly significant in the world IT market. It is currently growing much... View Details

Keywords: Business Models; Competition; Competitive Strategy; Computer Software; Emerging Markets; Outsourcing; Strategy; China; Applications and Software; China

May 2022
Case

Rawbank's Illico Cash: Can 'Fast Money' Overcome Cash Dependency in the DRC?

By: Lauren Cohen and Grace Headinger

Thomas de Dreux-Brézé, the Head of Strategy and Project Management at Rawbank Congo in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), was perplexed as he reviewed annual adoption rates for the bank’s launch of Illico Cash 2.0. As the bank’s mobile money app, Illico Cash... View Details

Research Summary

Markets of Progress: Coffee, Commerce, and Community in the Soconusco, Chiapas, 1867-1920

Markets of Progress presents a new holistic story of rural development in Mexico at the turn of the century. In the Soconusco, as in regions throughout the world, the accelerating circulation of commodities and capital, ideas and immigrants reshaped society... View Details

Keywords: Commodities; Coffee; Mexico; Foreign Investment; Institutions; Immigration; Developing Agriculture; Development; Export Crop; Emerging Market; Property Rights; Labor History; History; Capital Markets; Business History; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Latin America; Mexico; Central America

November 2015 (Revised February 2016)
Case

Allianz Turkey: Focus on the Customer (A)

By: W. Earl Sasser and Gamze Yucaoglu

At the age of 39, Solmaz Altın took over the helm at Allianz Turkey. Solmaz quickly realized that, although the insurance market was thinly penetrated in Turkey, the company was operating in a very competitive environment with pressure on prices and, hence, cost... View Details

Keywords: Service Excellence; Customer Experience; Customer Service; Emerging Market; Customer Focus; Net Promoter Score; Customer Relationship Management; Competition; Leading Change; Service Operations; Emerging Markets; Customer Satisfaction; Insurance Industry; Turkey

12 Apr 2023
News

Step Change

in deep discussion—is no different in this sprawling city of 20 million than it is in Silicon Valley or any other entrepreneurial hot spot. Yet, 10 or 11 years ago, incubators and accelerators were only emerging concepts in Egypt. An... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna; entrepreneurship; women; venture capital; Egypt; developing economies; Finance

June 2020
Teaching Note

Armarium: Luxury Fashion Brands for Rent

By: Jill Avery and David Fubini

Armarium, a two-sided digital platform that offered consumers the opportunity to rent the most coveted, current season high fashion clothing and accessories from the top global luxury brands, had emerged from its first sales season with two distinct customer segments:... View Details

Keywords: Luxury Brand; Fashion; Sharing Economy; Two-sided Marketplace; Target Market; Customer Selection; Marketing; Brands and Branding; Luxury; Two-Sided Platforms; Business Model; Growth and Development Strategy; Customer Value and Value Chain; Fashion Industry; Consumer Products Industry; United States; North America

Article

National Image as a Competitive Disadvantage: The Case of the New Zealand Organic Food Industry

By: Geoffrey Jones and Simon Mowatt

This article examines why organic agriculture and food consumption developed more strongly in some countries than others between the 1970s and the 2000s. The focus is the limited growth of the New Zealand organic sector, which contrasts with countries such as Denmark,... View Details

Keywords: Industrial Organization; Chinitz; Agglomeration; Clusters; Cities; Mines; Political Economy; FDI; Agribusiness Industry; Agriculture; Agribusiness; Entrepreneurship; Business History; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Retail Industry; New Zealand; Denmark

Find at Harvard

November 2015 (Revised February 2016)
Supplement

Allianz Turkey: Focus on the Customer (B)

By: W. Earl Sasser and Gamze Yucaoglu

At the age of 39, Solmaz Altın took over the helm at Allianz Turkey. Solmaz quickly realized that, although the insurance market was thinly penetrated in Turkey, the company was operating in a very competitive environment with pressure on prices and, hence, cost... View Details

Keywords: Service Excellence; Customer Experience; Customer Service; Emerging Market; Customer Focus; Net Promoter Score; Customer Relationship Management; Competition; Leading Change; Service Operations; Emerging Markets; Customer Satisfaction; Insurance Industry; Turkey

Shunyuan Zhang is an assistant professor in the Marketing unit at Harvard Business School. She teaches the first-year Marketing course in the MBA required curriculum.

Professor Zhang studies the sharing economy and the marketing problems that the dynamics of... View Details

Keywords: e-commerce industry; high technology; retailing

December 2017 (Revised March 2019)
Case

Armarium: Luxury Fashion Brands for Rent

By: Jill Avery, David Fubini, Natasha Dossa and Devon Stewart

Armarium, a two-sided online platform that offered consumers the opportunity to rent the most coveted, current season high fashion clothing and accessories from the top global luxury brands, had emerged from its first sales season with two distinct customer segments:... View Details

01 Mar 2023
News

Step Change

different in this sprawling city of 20 million than it is in Silicon Valley or any other entrepreneurial hot spot. Yet, 10 or 11 years ago, incubators and accelerators were only emerging concepts in Egypt. An Arabic word for entrepreneur... View Details

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

July 15, 2013
Other Article

Pseudo-flexible Exchange-rate Regimes

By: Laura Alfaro and Fabio Kanczuk

According to the IMF, last decade saw a number of countries actively managing their exchange rates. Is this a good way for emerging economies to protect themselves from the large swings of international markets? This column presents a new "pseudo-flexible" exchange... View Details

Keywords: Flexibility; International Markets; Managing Exchange Rates; Currency Exchange Rate

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Research Summary

International capital markets

Policy reaction functions in the midst of market fluidity

Reform of the multilateral institutions

Maturation of emerging economies

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2007
Book

Global Competitiveness Report 2007-2008

By: Augusto Lopez-Claros, Michael Porter, Xavier Sala-i-Martin and Klaus Schwab

The World Economic Forum continues its tradition of excellence with the 29th edition of the annual Global Competitiveness Report featuring the latest indicators from the Executive Opinion Survey. The Report assesses over 130 developed and... View Details

Keywords: Globalized Economies and Regions; Strength and Weakness; Competition