Publications

May 2000 (Revised January 2003)
Case

Health Development Corporation

By: Richard S. Ruback

Health Development Corp. (HDC) owns and operates health clubs in the Greater Boston area. HDC engaged a local investment banker to explore a sale of the company. The most likely buyer views HDC's prior purchase of real estate as a negative. HDC's management is... View Details

Keywords: Cash Flow; Property; Business Exit or Shutdown; Valuation; Value; Decisions; Health Industry; Boston

27 Jul 2023
Blog Post

Buy big, sell small

bus to restock. Their orders are relatively small, so they can’t negotiate on prices or credit terms,” adds Shruti, who watched her uncle’s kirana go out of business years ago due to issues with pricing and product selection. ApnaKlub (Hindi for “Our Club”) disrupts... View Details

September 2005 (Revised February 2007)
Case

Angels and Devils: Best Buy's New Customer Approach (A)

By: Anita Elberse, John T. Gourville and Das Narayandas

In November 2004, The Wall Street Journal reported that consumer electronics retailer Best Buy's new customer approach was to shun the "devils" among its customers. The "customer centricity" initiative, which was led by Best Buy's CEO Brad Anderson, was based on an... View Details

Keywords: History; Customer Relationship Management; Opportunities; Marketing Strategy; Leadership Style; Problems and Challenges; Growth and Development Strategy; Retail Industry; Electronics Industry

06 Dec 2020
Working Paper Summaries

'Repayment-by-Purchase' Helps Consumers to Reduce Credit Card Debt

Keywords: by Grant E. Donnelly, Cait Lamberton, Stephen Bush, Zoe Chance, and Michael I. Norton

01 Nov 2019
Video

Patrick Chalhoub

Patrick Chalhoub, CEO of Dubai-based luxury retailer Chalhoub, discusses the changing gender balance of customers from the male, head-of-household, dominated 1960s, to the 2010s when women are more likely the... View Details

February 1999 (Revised June 2010)
Case

Car Wash Partners, Inc.

By: Paul A. Gompers

Examines the investment decision of Cabot Brown and Bill Burgin, two venture capitalists, to finance Car Wash Partners (CWP). CWP intends to purchase automatic car washes around the country. Investment strategy and deal structuring are discussed. View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Financial Strategy; Auto Industry; Service Industry

Research Summary

General research interests

Effects of marketing actions on food choices, energy intake, and obesity.
Psychophysics of package and portion size perception and preferences.
Mere-measurement and self-generated validity effects in survey research.
Attention and choice... View Details

August 2014 (Revised December 2015)
Case

Showrooming at Best Buy

By: Thales Teixeira and Elizabeth Anne Watkins

Best Buy is a consumer electronics retailer with nearly 2,000 stores worldwide. In 2012, the rising popularity of price-matching apps for mobile phones made price differences between retailers transparent, online and offline. Shoppers' desire to test electronics... View Details

Keywords: Competition; Price; Consumer Behavior; Applications and Software; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Retail Industry; Electronics Industry

May 2018 (Revised January 2019)
Teaching Note

Nashton Partners and Its Search Fund Process

By: Richard S. Ruback, Royce Yudkoff and Ahron Rosenfeld

Teaching Note for HBS No. 212-006. In 2008, Jay Davis (HBS’ 08) and Jason Pananos (HBS’ 08) formed Nashton Partners and raised $500,000 from investors to fund their search. After 30 months of searching, and exhausting the money they raised to fund their search, Davis... View Details

Keywords: Search Fund; Acquisition; Capital Structure; Financing and Loans; Investment Funds; Partners and Partnerships

2008
Working Paper

Just Keep My Money! Supporting Tax-time Savings with U.S. Savings Bonds

By: Peter Tufano

This paper reports the results of a 2007 experiment testing if specific process simplification can foster increased take-up rates for savings products, particularly by low-to-moderate income (LMI) households. Tax refund recipients at certain H&R Block tax preparation... View Details

Keywords: Household; Income; Bonds; Investment; Personal Finance; Saving; Taxation; United States

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06 Dec 2016
Working Paper Summaries

Assortment Rotation and the Value of Concealment

Keywords: by Kris Johnson Ferreira and Joel Goh; Retail

2017
Working Paper

Malleable Monopoly Money: Does How You Pay For A Gift Card Affect How You Spend It?

By: Priya Raghubir and Shelle Santana

This research examines the malleability of a specific form of “monopoly” money (viz., Raghubir and Srivastava 2008), gift cards, and shows that the manner in which one purchases a gift card affects its subjective value and subsequent use. Study 1 shows that... View Details

Keywords: Subjective Value Of Money; Economic Psychology; Behavioral Economics; Gift Cards; Money; Value; Perception

2024
Working Paper

The Operational Impact of Customer Location in On-Demand Services

By: Natalie Epstein, Santiago Gallino and Antonio Moreno

The rapid growth of on-demand delivery services, particularly in the food and grocery sectors, has driven the expansion of hyperlocal fulfillment centers (FCs). This paper uses data from an on-demand grocery delivery platform in Latin America to assess how customer... View Details

Keywords: Consumer Behavior; Logistics; Geographic Location; Service Delivery; Quality; Retail Industry; Latin America

SSRN

26 Aug 2014
News

A Fair-Trade-Like Certification for Gender Equality

2019
Working Paper

Large-Scale Demand Estimation with Search Data

By: Tomomichi Amano, Andrew Rhodes and Stephan Seiler

In many online markets, traditional methods of demand estimation are difficult to implement because assortments are very large and individual products are sold infrequently. At the same time, data on consumer search (i.e., browsing) behavior are often available and are... View Details

Keywords: High-dimensional Data; Demand Estimation; Consideration Sets; Consumer Search

SSRN

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October 1996 (Revised April 2004)
Case

Eric Wood (B)

By: Myra M. Hart

Describes Eric's purchase of the much larger Shaw Co. Describes the operating and financial problems that ensue, leaving Eric considering the option of bankruptcy. Issues include the overlap of business and personal finances, as well as the mechanics and implications... View Details

Keywords: Personal Development and Career; Operations; Entrepreneurship; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Problems and Challenges; Acquisition

Tomomichi Amano

Tomomichi Amano is an Assistant Professor of Business Administration in the Marketing Unit at HBS. He teaches the Marketing course in the MBA required curriculum.

Professor Amano draws on economic theories to understand novel mechanisms by which new... View Details

September 2002 (Revised July 2003)
Case

Silhouette v. Hartlauer

Silhouette, an Austrian eyeglass frame manufacturer, sued Hartlauer, an Austrian retail discounter, for reselling Silhouette frames within the European Union (EU) that Hartlauer had purchased outside the EU. Does the EU follow the principle of exhaustion of trademarks? View Details

Keywords: Lawsuits and Litigation; Trademarks; Manufacturing Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry; European Union