Publications

2024
Working Paper

Advancing Personalization: How to Experiment, Learn & Optimize

By: Aurelie Lemmens, Jason M.T. Roos, Sebastian Gabel, Eva Ascarza, Hernan Bruno, Elea McDonnell Feit, Brett Gordon, Ayelet Israeli, Carl F. Mela and Oded Netzer

Personalization has become the heartbeat of modern marketing. Advances in causal inference and machine learning enable companies to understand how the same marketing action can impact the choices of individual customers differently. This article provides an academic... View Details

Keywords: Personalization; Targeting; Experiments; Observational Studies; Policy Implementation; Policy Evaluation; Customization and Personalization; Marketing Strategy; AI and Machine Learning

SSRN

October 20, 2020
Article

Expanding AI's Impact with Organizational Learning

By: Sam Ransbotham, Shervin Khodabandeh, David Kiron, François Candelon, Michael Chu and Burt LaFountain

Most companies developing AI capabilities have yet to gain significant financial benefits from their efforts. Only when organizations add the ability to learn with AI do significant benefits become likely. View Details

Keywords: AI and Machine Learning; Learning; Adoption

Register to Read

Hiring in online labor markets involves considerable uncertainty: which hiring choices are more likely to yield successful outcomes and how do employers adjust their hiring behaviors to make such choices? We argue that employers will initially explore the value... View Details

25 Aug 2011
News

An Opportunity to Learn Something New

Keywords: Advertising, Public Relations, and Related Services; Professional Services; Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services; Professional Services; Retail Trade

January 2023 (Revised May 2023)
Case

Learning Resources: Driven by Purpose

By: Boris Groysberg, Sarah Mehta and Heather Poco

In January 2023, CEO Rick Woldenberg must make several strategic decisions for his family-owned toy company Learning Resources. View Details

Keywords: Change; Change Management; Ownership; Family Ownership; Leadership; Decisions; Consumer Products Industry; United States; Chicago; Illinois

March 2015
Case

Pearson Affordable Learning Fund

By: Michael Chu, Vincent Dessain and Kristina Maslauskaite

An in-house venture capital fund for affordable private schools at the base of the pyramid established by Pearson, the world's largest education company, PALF sought to invest in business models providing superior educational outcomes in emerging markets on a... View Details

Keywords: Impact Investment; Low Cost Private Schools; Investment Fund; Business At The Base Of The Pyramid; Transition; Investment; Development Economics; Business Growth and Maturation; Social Entrepreneurship; Emerging Markets; Private Sector; Education; Education Industry; Asia; Africa

14 May 2019
News

Don’t Just Learn From Failure; Learn From Your Successes

03 Jan 2017
News

Using Technology to Tailor Learning to Each Child

Heather Staker (MBA 2001) is president of Ready to Blend, a firm that works with K-12 teachers to combine educational technology solutions with classroom instruction to... View Details

26 Feb 2024
News

Making Workplaces Safer Through Machine Learning

August 1995 (Revised July 1997)
Case

Passion for Learning

Describes the challenges confronting a recent HBS graduate who has started a direct-mail toy company. The entrepreneur must evaluate industry conditions in both toys and direct mail, and determine whether he has developed a viable business concept. Presents detailed... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship

Research Summary

Experiential Learning and Knowledge Mentors

By: Dorothy A. Leonard

Dorothy Leonard’s research on innovation and knowledge transfer has always emphasized learning by doing. During the past several years, she has been exploring how organizations can foster faster skills learning. While there are generational differences in... View Details

December 2023
Article

Self-Orienting in Human and Machine Learning

By: Julian De Freitas, Ahmet Uğuralp, Zeliha Uğuralp, Laurie Paul, Joshua B. Tenenbaum and T. Ullman

A current proposal for a computational notion of self is a representation of one’s body in a specific time and place, which includes the recognition of that representation as the agent. This turns self-representation into a process of self-orientation, a challenging... View Details

Keywords: AI and Machine Learning; Behavior; Learning

August 2018 (Revised April 2019)
Supplement

Chateau Winery (B): Supervised Learning

By: Srikant M. Datar and Caitlin N. Bowler

This case builds directly on “Chateau Winery (A).” In this case, Bill Booth, marketing manager of a regional wine distributor, shifts to supervised learning techniques to try to predict which deals he should offer to customers based on the purchasing behavior of those... View Details

Keywords: Data Science; Clustering; Analytics and Data Science; Customers; Marketing; Analysis