Publications

2024
Working Paper

Consumer Inertia and Market Power

By: Alexander MacKay and Marc Remer

We study the pricing decisions of firms in the presence of consumer inertia. Inertia, which can arise from habit formation, brand loyalty, and switching costs, generates dynamic pricing incentives. These incentives mediate the impact of competition on market power in... View Details

Keywords: Consumer Inertia; Market Power; Dynamic Competition; Demand Estimation; Consumer Behavior; Markets; Performance; Competition; Price

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February 2010
Case

Corporate Strategy at Berkshire Partners

By: Julie M. Wulf and Scott Waggoner

The managing directors of Berkshire Partners, a mid-sized private equity firm, address strategic and organizational challenges in response to turbulent market conditions, rapid firm growth, and the transition of leadership from its founding partners to the next... View Details

Keywords: Private Equity; Management Teams; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Design; Organizational Structure; Competitive Advantage; Corporate Strategy; Financial Services Industry; Boston

June 2023 (Revised June 2024)
Course Overview Note

Introduction to the RC Marketing Course: Fall 2024

By: Jill Avery and Sunil Gupta

Course Overview Note for RC Marketing Fall 2024 View Details

Keywords: Marketing; Marketing Strategy

21 Apr 2020
Research & Ideas

7 Successful Battle Strategies to Beat COVID-19

Drawing on lessons from the battlefield is common practice for business leaders seeking tested strategies to succeed against adversity. Today, the battle against COVID-19, an invisible enemy, feels View Details

Keywords: by Euvin Naidoo

March 1997
Background Note

Asymmetric Information: Market Failures, Market Distortions, and Market Solutions

Presents a conceptual framework for thinking about markets characterized by asymmetric information. Presents the standard economic analysis of "the lemons problem," and demonstrates how asymmetric information may lead to market inefficiencies and alter the distribution... View Details

Keywords: Competitive Strategy

September 2015
Teaching Note

J.C. Penney's 'Fair and Square' Strategy (Abridged), (B), and (C)

By: Elie Ofek, Jose B. Alvarez and Michael Norris

This teaching note is for "J.C. Penney's 'Fair and Square' Strategy (Abridged), (B), and (C)," which tells the story of Ron Johnson's tenure as CEO of the U.S. department store J.C. Penney, his 2013 firing, and the rehiring of former CEO Myron E. "Mike" Ullman to try... View Details

Keywords: Retail; Pricing Strategy; Leadership; Marketing; Strategy; Retail Industry; United States

02 Jun 2014
Research & Ideas

Secrets to a Successful Social Media Strategy

some social media platforms soar while others fizzle, and how business can use them to generate profit. "I have always been fascinated that humans interact online when we can interact offline as we have for thousands of years," says... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

13 Nov 2019
Research & Ideas

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

Imagine a future in which a smart marketing machine can predict the needs and habits of individual consumers and the dynamics of competitors across industries and markets. This device would collect data to... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz

April 2006 (Revised October 2008)
Case

Marketing New York City

By: V. Kasturi Rangan, Anita Elberse and Marie Bell

New York City is a pioneer in the emerging field of municipal marketing. The city's first chief marketing officer must develop a marketing organization with a self-funded business model that creates value for the city by leveraging the city's assets, including physical... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Government and Politics; Goals and Objectives; Marketing Strategy; Partners and Partnerships; Value Creation; New York (city, NY)

06 Apr 2020
Research & Ideas

Where Do Workers Go When the Robots Arrive?

in part because the population is aging. A key question for policymakers centers on whether local labor markets can adjust or whether a population drop tied to robots will lead View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Manufacturing

September–October 2002
Article

Market Power and Power Markets

By: Jurgen Weiss

The paper provides results of a serious of experiments with experienced subjects exploring the relationship between elements of electricity market design and competitive outcomes. The two primary variables examined are a) the price formation (nodal versus uniform with... View Details

Keywords: Energy; Market Design; Competition

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Teaching Interest

Strategy Execution

By: Dennis Campbell

This course takes strategy as given and teaches what students need to know to execute and win in highly competitive markets. Using fundamental building blocks based on accountability systems and structures, this course is divided into seven modules:

1.... View Details

December 2004 (Revised February 2005)
Case

Exporting Spanish Olive Oil to the U.S. Market

By: Ray A. Goldberg, Hal Hogan and Miguel Angel Llano Irusta

Spain is the largest olive oil producer, yet it sells much of its product to Italy, where it is repackaged as Italian olive oil. The decision maker in the case wants to develop Spain as the olive oil leader not just in production but in quality and value added. He... View Details

Keywords: Plant-Based Agribusiness; Trade; Goods and Commodities; Demand and Consumers; Supply and Industry; Brands and Branding; Decisions; Customization and Personalization; Product Design; Product Development; Marketing Strategy; Product Marketing; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Spain; United States; Italy

June 2021
Article

Making Marketplaces Safe: Dominant Individual Rationality and Applications to Market Design

By: Benjamin N. Roth and Ran I. Shorrer

Often market designers cannot force agents to join a marketplace rather than using pre-existing institutions. We propose a new desideratum for marketplace design that guarantees the safety of participation: Dominant Individual Rationality (DIR). A marketplace is DIR if... View Details

Keywords: Dominant Individual Rationality; Market Design; Safety

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06 Aug 2001
Research & Ideas

Go Global—or No? Can You Make the Case?

with Benro and any other potential partners. And I know I'd want to meet some candidates to lead a foreign sales office before I'd be comfortable going that route. But my real... View Details

Keywords: by Walter Kuemmerle

08 Dec 2020
Cold Call Podcast

Uber's Strategy for Global Success

Keywords: Technology; Transportation

April 12, 2023
Article

Using AI to Adjust Your Marketing and Sales in a Volatile World

By: Das Narayandas and Arijit Sengupta

Why are some firms better and faster than others at adapting their use of customer data to respond to changing or uncertain marketing conditions? A common thread across faster-acting firms is the use of AI models to predict outcomes at various stages of the customer... View Details

Keywords: Forecasting and Prediction; AI and Machine Learning; Consumer Behavior; Technology Adoption; Competitive Advantage

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2023
Working Paper

Where Strategy Matters: Evidence from a Global Startup Field Study

By: Nataliya Langburd Wright

The role of strategy for innovative startups is theoretically ambiguous and much debated among practitioners. I interviewed executives of 253 scaling software ventures from 34 countries and scored the alignment of their market and organizational choices to detect... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship And Strategy; Scaling Technology Ventures; Global Contextual Intelligence; Strategy; Entrepreneurship; Global Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy