Consumer Protection - Publications - Faculty & Research

17 Apr 2022
Book

How to Avoid the 'Ethical Slide' That Leads Companies Astray

while the book was in process. Today, strong ethics are a central issue for business leaders, knowing consumers are drawn to companies that do the right thing while steering clear of businesses that break ethical boundaries, Nelson says.... View Details

Keywords: by Lane Lambert

26 Oct 2022
Research & Ideas

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

suggests that the effect translates to an average of $10,000 over an average six-year-career influencer. “If consumers aren’t perceiving social influencers as trustworthy and authentic, much of their marketing effort might not lead to a... View Details

Keywords: by Kara Baskin; Technology; Media & Broadcasting

17 Aug 2021
Op-Ed

Dispensing Justice: The Case for Legalizing Cannabis Nationally

risky products without the safeguards of consumer protection laws. Legalizing cannabis nationally would significantly reduce the space available to the illicit cannabis industry. By allowing interstate... View Details

Keywords: by Ashish Nanda and Tabatha Robinson

31 Aug 2021
Book

Feeling Powerless at Work? Time to Agitate, Innovate, and Orchestrate

supplies in the 1980s. "As the rise and fall of De Beers exemplifies, while a diamond may be forever, power is not." But in recent years, competition from other diamond sellers has increased, providing customers with many more alternatives to DeBeers, plus many View Details

Keywords: by Jay Fitzgerald

08 Feb 2023
Op-Ed

Building an Inclusive Workplace? Prepare to Shield It from Economic Fears

underrepresented communities. As the COVID-19 pandemic dragged on, executives worked to continue these efforts, despite supply chain disruptions, labor shortages, and erratic consumer spending. Beyond the moral imperatives of confronting... View Details

Keywords: by Hise O. Gibson and Nicole Gilmore

27 Jun 2019
Research & Ideas

Rituals Strengthen Couples. Here’s Why They’re Good for Business, Too

satisfied, invested in, and committed to their relationships than couples who don't bother with them, according to an April article in the Journal of the Association for Consumer Research, Rituals and Nuptials: The Emotional and... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

07 Jul 2021
Book

Good News for Disgraced Companies: You Can Regain Trust

When Facebook failed to protect the privacy of 87 million people whose data was harvested without their consent in 2015, the company not only circumvented data privacy regulations, it breached the public’s trust. And by failing to... View Details

Keywords: by Lane Lambert

01 Oct 2007
Research & Ideas

Encouraging Dissent in Decision-Making

notion that a large segment of consumers might prefer automobiles that were safe and fuel-efficient. Coca-Cola ignored evidence that "New Coke" would fizzle and launched it anyway. Companies in the mechanical-watch and... View Details

Keywords: by Garry Emmons

21 Apr 2009
First Look

First Look: April 21, 2009

centers of power for the pharmaceutical industry. A comparison of the United States and Germany in particular, and the United States and European Union more generally, suggests that how countries resolve tensions between protecting... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

21 Nov 2015
HBS Case

HBS Cases: Stella McCartney Combines High Fashion with Environmental Values

the context of luxury is just fascinating because on the one hand they seem very contradictory, luxury and sustainability. Luxury for many people is all about excessiveness and waste. “Such products do not feel luxurious to more ethically and environmentally concerned... View Details

Keywords: by Brian Kenny; Fashion

18 Oct 2011
First Look

First Look: October 18

environmentally beneficial functions: it diverts waste from landfill and it produces renewable energy. At the same time, the waste-to-energy firm serves and collects revenue from two types of customers: waste generators who pay for waste disposal service and... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

11 Sep 2012
First Look

First Look: September 11

faced little consumer demand for natural products, and little consumer knowledge of what they entailed. The creation of new categories involved three overlapping waves of entrepreneurship. The first involved... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

06 Oct 2020
Sharpening Your Skills

18 Tips Managers Can Use to Lead Through COVID's Rising Waters

iterative manner. To learn more, read 7 Successful Battle Strategies to Beat COVID-19 Euvin Naidoo, Senior Lecturer of Business Administration. Tip: Protect the core business and pivot to new opportunities The COVID-19 outbreak has... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

09 Apr 2007
Research & Ideas

Industry Self-Regulation: What’s Working (and What’s Not)?

business customers than at end consumers. There are some that consumers are increasingly seeing, like Fair Trade coffee or "sustainably harvested" labels for seafood. In handmade rugs you can find a number of labeling schemes like... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

19 Apr 2004
Research & Ideas

Birth of the American Salesman

same degree as the United States by the early twentieth century. There were many reasons for this: The emergence of salesmanship in the U.S. depended on a stable currency, the rule of law, the protection of private property, and the... View Details

Keywords: by Laura Linard

11 Sep 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, September 11, 2018

enhance privacy protection and encourage honest disclosure of sensitive information. Empirical findings on their success in doing so are, however, mixed. In nine experiments, we show that the noise introduced by RRTs can make respondents... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

07 Apr 2020
Research & Ideas

What Customers Need to Hear from You During the COVID Crisis

need, the new world for brands will have trust at its core. The mandate to brands from global consumers is clear: step up and help, not just your own customers and employees, but the world at large; protect... View Details

Keywords: by Jill Avery and Richard Edelman

18 Jul 2022
Research & Ideas

After the 'Crypto Crash,' What's Next for Digital Currencies?

Bitcoin, Terra, and Celsius has renewed calls for regulators to protect consumers from fly-by-night currency operators, scammers, and theft. How vulnerable are crypto investors, particularly the retail-level... View Details

Keywords: by Christina Pazzanese, Harvard Gazette; Financial Services; Technology

15 Nov 2018
Book

Can the Global Food Industry Overcome Public Distrust?

JamesBrey Food is the largest segment of the global economy. It is also widely recognized as more critical for human health than any pharmaceutical drug on the planet. But significant changes in the industry are making people lose trust in many institutions involved in... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Agriculture & Agribusiness

05 Oct 2020
Book

Want to Be Happier? Make More Free Time

long commutes, household chores, and mindless scrolling on social media. We must make deliberate, sometimes difficult choices that protect the precious hours in our days, Whillans says, whether it’s a big decision like pursuing a... View Details