Publications

13 Jan 2023
Research & Ideas

Are Companies Actually Greener—or Are They All Talk?

Most companies now account for social good in their financial reports in some way, but with regulation scattershot and evolving, it’s complicated for investors to assess so-called ESG reports. The disclosures, known as Environmental, Social, and Governance reports,... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne

April 2001 (Revised July 2001)
Case

Zaplet, Inc.

By: Dorothy A. Leonard and Brian DeLacey

Start-up Zaplet, Inc., has radical software, prestigious venture capital funding, and a multitude of business opportunities. New CEO Alan Baratz must select a strategy and redesign the organization to deliver. This case describes the roles and philosophies of the... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Entrepreneurship; Business or Company Management; Information Technology; Organizational Design; Venture Capital; Valuation; Business Strategy; Restructuring; Expansion; Product Development; Innovation Strategy; Human Resources; Information Technology Industry; California

May 24, 2021
Article

What Makes an Online Marketplace Disruptive?

By: Clifford Maxwell and Scott Duke Kominers

Platforms like Airbnb, eBay, and Angie’s List have changed how markets work. But while many are innovative and make life easier for consumers, which are truly disruptive? Hewing to Clay Christensen’s theory of disruption, platforms—which operate as online... View Details

Keywords: Digital Platforms; Disruption; Framework

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09 Jun 2009
First Look

First Look: June 9

also accounts reasonably well for the large gyration in stock prices over this period. Finally, the endogenous adoption mechanism plays a significant role in amplifying other shocks. Download the paper: http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/09-134.pdf Farsighted Stability... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

August 2015
Article

Cost Conscious? The Neural and Behavioral Impact of Price Primacy on Decision-Making

By: Uma R. Karmarkar, Baba Shiv and Brian Knutson

Price is a key factor in most purchases, but it can be presented at different stages of decision making prior to a purchase. We examine the sequence-dependent effects of price and product information on the decision-making process at both neural and behavioral levels.... View Details

Keywords: fMRI; Retail Promotion; Purchase Decisions; Price; Value; Decision Choices and Conditions; Consumer Behavior; Product Marketing; Retail Industry

November–December 2022
Article

Your Company Needs a Space Strategy. Now.

By: Matthew Weinzierl, Prithwiraj (Raj) Choudhury, Tarun Khanna, Alan MacCormack and Brendan Rosseau

Space is becoming a potential source of value for businesses across a range of sectors, including agriculture, pharmaceuticals, consumer goods, and tourism. To understand what the opportunities are for your company, the authors advise you to consider the four ways in... View Details

Keywords: Space Strategy; Emerging Markets; Natural Resources; Analytics and Data Science; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Adaptation; Competition; Aerospace Industry

2010
Book

Government and Markets: Toward a New Theory of Regulation

By: Edward J. Balleisen and David A. Moss

After two generations of emphasis on governmental inefficiency and the need for deregulation, we now see growing interest in the possibility of constructive governance, alongside public calls for new, smarter regulation. Yet there is a real danger that regulatory... View Details

Keywords: Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Government and Politics; Markets; Business and Government Relations; Research

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07 Dec 2021
Op-Ed

Want to Build Better Leaders? Focus on Mindset, Skills, Knowledge

Middle management used to be the place where careers stalled, but the COVID-19 pandemic has turned that notion on its head. In fact, mid-level leaders possess more agency now than at any other time in recent history. The tight job market... View Details

Keywords: by Hise Gibson and Shawnette Rochelle

December 2010
Article

Can Higher Prices Stimulate Product Use? Evidence from a Field Experiment in Zambia

By: Nava Ashraf, James Berry and Jesse M. Shapiro

The controversy over how much to charge for health products in the developing world rests, in part, on whether higher prices can increase use, either by targeting distribution to high-use households (a screening effect), or by stimulating use psychologically through a... View Details

Keywords: Price; Product; Information; Zambia

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29 Jan 2008
First Look

First Look: January 29, 2008

leveraged buyout firm. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first paper to analyze the importance of leveraged buyout firms' bank relationships and provide evidence for leveraged buyout firms' favorable leverage terms. Institutional Stock Trading on Loan View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

11 Apr 2023
Research & Ideas

Is Amazon a Retailer, a Tech Firm, or a Media Company? How AI Can Help Investors Decide

distressed market conditions. Let’s take COVID 2020. You had certain stocks in certain sectors behaving in a certain way and they were not aligned. You look at Amazon’s stock price, for example. It was going through the roof, while... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost; Consumer Products; Real Estate; Financial Services; Retail

January 2012 (Revised March 2013)
Case

Ctrip: Scientifically Managing Travel Services

By: David A. Garvin and Nancy Hua Dai

Ctrip is a $437 million Chinese on-line travel services company with a scientific, data driven approach to management. The case explores Ctrip's founding and early growth, its expansion into multiple market segments including hotel reservations, air ticketing, leisure... View Details

Keywords: Scientific Management; Data-driven Management; Management; Expansion; Business Growth and Maturation; Market Entry and Exit; Mathematical Methods; Business Processes; Information Management; Travel Industry; China

2022
Working Paper

The Routledge Handbook of Digital Consumption, Chapter 41: The Internet’s Effects on Consumption: Useful, Harmful, Playful

By: John A. Deighton and Leora Kornfeld

This chapter considers how digital culture has changed over the past decade, as the internet has grown its scope and user base. Billions around the world connect daily to an ever-expanding set of applications. A framework for thinking about digital effects is offered:... View Details

Keywords: Digital Culture; Internet and the Web; Consumer Behavior; Society

January 2024
Case

The Financial Times (FT) and Generative AI

By: Andrew Rashbass, Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Jordan Mitchell

In September 2023, John Ridding, CEO of the Financial Times, was considering the possible impact of Generative AI on the industry and his business. Having navigated successfully the seismic shift from print to digital, and reporting record results, the company... View Details

Keywords: AI and Machine Learning; Technology Adoption; Change Management; Journalism and News Industry

September 2016 (Revised March 2020)
Teaching Note

Fasten: Challenging Uber and Lyft with a New Business Model

By: Feng Zhu

Fasten, a new ridesharing start-up in Boston, entered the scene in September 2015 hoping its unique vision of transparency for both driver and passenger and strategy to keep riders' fares low and charge drivers a flat $0.99 fee per ride, as opposed to the 20%–30%... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Transportation; Business Startups; Business Model; Transportation Industry; Boston

November 2001 (Revised September 2002)
Case

Four Products: Predicting Diffusion

By: John T. Gourville

One of the critical tasks in the marketing of new innovations is predicting demand and rates of diffusion for those products. Focuses on four innovative products from different domains. Although one can speculate on the scope and rate of diffusion for each of these... View Details

Keywords: Forecasting and Prediction; Innovation and Invention; Product Launch; Demand and Consumers; Technology Adoption