Publications

November–December 2018
Article

Online Network Revenue Management Using Thompson Sampling

By: Kris J. Ferreira, David Simchi-Levi and He Wang

We consider a network revenue management problem where an online retailer aims to maximize revenue from multiple products with limited inventory constraints. As common in practice, the retailer does not know the consumer's purchase probability at each price and must... View Details

Keywords: Online Marketing; Revenue Management; Revenue; Management; Marketing; Internet and the Web; Price; Mathematical Methods

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Winter 2017
Article

Why Big Data Isn't Enough

By: Sen Chai and Willy C. Shih

There is a growing belief that sophisticated algorithms can explore huge databases and find relationships independent of any preconceived hypotheses. But in businesses that involve scientific research and technological innovation, this approach is misguided and... View Details

Keywords: Big Data; Science-based; Science; Scientific Research; Data Analytics; Data Science; Data-driven Management; Data Scientists; Technological Innovation; Analytics and Data Science; Mathematical Methods; Theory

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May 2011
Teaching Note

Baria Planning Solutions, Inc.: Fixing the Sales Process (Brief Case)

By: Steven C. Wheelwright and William Schmidt

Teaching Note for 4568. View Details

Keywords: Quantitative Analysis; Technology; Operations Management; Product Lines; Manufacturing; Capacity Planning; Production Planning; Information Technology; Production; Mathematical Methods; Performance Capacity; Product Development; Planning; Manufacturing Industry

May 1993
Case

Patient Transfusion Services Lab of Central Blood Bank

By: James L. Heskett

The vice president of the Lab and Clinical Services at Central Blood Bank is faced with the challenge of convincing a hospital to use economical shared patient transfusion testing services. View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Quality; Service Operations; Mathematical Methods; Customer Satisfaction; Health Industry

Educators

19 Jul 2010
Research & Ideas

How Mercadona Fixes Retail’s ’Last 10 Yards’ Problem

money to spend on groceries. So if we were opened seven days a week, we wouldn't necessarily sell any more, and we would have to increase prices to cover our expenses." The Mercadona case inevitably raises the question: Can this company's View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Retail; Food & Beverage

20 Feb 2007
First Look

First Look: February 20, 2007

empirical methods in permitting strong conclusions. Finally, we offer several observations on the implications of certain analyses in the paper. Overall, the authors are to be applauded for their efforts to maintain a high standard in... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

29 Oct 2000
Research & Ideas

Building a Powerful Prestige Brand

store buyers. She was a determined, talented saleswoman, whose methods and commercial imagination can be illustrated by the case of Saks Fifth Avenue. That store's buyer for cosmetics in the late 1940s, Robert Fiske, was not initially... View Details

Keywords: by Nancy F. Koehn; Beauty & Cosmetics; Consumer Products; Retail

29 Jun 2007
First Look

First Look: June 29, 2007

(CRM) project would require, the bank decided to explore its benefits with a smaller pilot project. It appointed a CRM project team to design and implement a project focused on credit cards. Describes the challenges of the Spanish credit card market at the time, the... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

28 May 2013
First Look

First Look: May 28

Publications 2006 Journal of Organization Design The Strategic Fitness Process: A Collaborative Action Research Method for Developing Organizational Prototypes and Dynamic Capabilities By: Beer, Michael Abstract—Organizations... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

04 Jan 2010
Research & Ideas

Best of HBS Working Knowledge 2009

include: How does a team leader win the confidence of the group? What's the best method for developing team goals? How can individual performers be developed into team players? How do teams learn? When Goal Setting Goes Bad If you ever... View Details

Keywords: by Staff

24 Jun 2002
Research & Ideas

Building ’Brandtopias’—How Top Brands Tap into Society

when disruptions hit. The most impressive brands are those that are able to use disruptions as a platform to enhance the delivery of cultural value." To analyze the pattern of cultural demand and the strategies that brands use for negotiating cultural ruptures,... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

February 1991 (Revised November 2010)
Case

Tennessee Controls: The Strategic Ranking Problem

By: Robert L. Simons and Dale Geiger

Tennessee Controls has instituted a new formal asset acquisition process to rank competing proposals. Judy Starnes, the new division manager, is asked to rank three proposals by using techniques to quantify economic returns, risk, as well as the credibility of the... View Details

Keywords: Capital Budgeting; Governance Controls; Management Systems; Strategic Planning; Mathematical Methods; Electronics Industry

Educators

2009
Working Paper

Altruistic Dynamic Pricing with Customer Regret

By: Julio J. Rotemberg

A model is considered where firms internalize the regret costs that consumers experience when they see an unexpected price change. Regret costs are assumed to be increasing in the size of price changes and this can explain why the size of price increases is less... View Details

Keywords: Inflation and Deflation; Price; Marketing; Consumer Behavior; Mathematical Methods

Article

Gross National Happiness As an Answer to the Easterlin Paradox?

By: Rafael Di Tella and Robert MacCulloch

The Easterlin Paradox refers to the fact that happiness data are typically stationary in spite of considerable increases in income. This amounts to a rejection of the hypothesis that current income is the only argument in the utility function. We find that the... View Details

Keywords: Wealth and Poverty; Happiness; Employment; Income; Mathematical Methods; Welfare

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2008
Working Paper

On Best-Response Bidding in GSP Auctions

By: Matthew Cary, Aparna Das, Benjamin Edelman, Ioannis Giotis, Kurtis Heimerl, Anna R. Karlin, Claire Mathieu and Michael Schwarz

How should players bid in keyword auctions such as those used by Google, Yahoo! and MSN? We model ad auctions as a dynamic game of incomplete information, so we can study the convergence and robustness properties of various strategies. In particular, we consider... View Details

Keywords: Online Advertising; Auctions; Bids and Bidding; Game Theory; Mathematical Methods; Competitive Strategy

September 1972 (Revised February 1984)
Case

Blanchard Importing and Distribution Co., Inc.

By: Paul W. Marshall

Illustration of the two main types of errors resulting from use of the economic order quantity (EOQ) as a tool in production scheduling. Designed to permit class discussion to begin with a consideration of one common type of mistake, errors in calculation of the EOQ... View Details

Keywords: Mathematical Methods; Production; Debates; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques

Educators