Publications

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September 2019
Article

The Persistence of Broadband User Behavior: Implications for Universal Service and Competition Policy

By: Andre Boik, Shane Greenstein and Jeffrey Prince

In several markets, firms compete not for consumer expenditure but consumer attention. We examine user priorities over the allocation of their time, and interpret that behavior in light of salient tensions in policy discussions over universal service, data caps, and... View Details

Keywords: Broadband Service; Attention Allocation; Consumer Behavior; Household; Internet and the Web; Competition; Policy

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2019
Working Paper

The Comprehensive Effects of a Digital Paywall Sales Strategy

By: Doug J. Chung, Ho Kim and Reo Song

This paper explores the multiple and comprehensive effects of a digital paywall sales strategy, an increasingly common means of go-to-market for media firms. Specifically, we examine the effects of a digital paywall on a media firm’s two sources of income—subscription... View Details

Keywords: Digital Paywall; Demand Substitution; Spillover Effect; Synthetic Control; Sales; Strategy; Media; Newspapers; Publishing Industry

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September–October 2019
Article

How Purchase Probability Scales Can Shed Light on Consumer Purchase Intentions

By: Rene Befurt and Alvin J. Silk

Market researchers generally, and survey experts specifically, study consumers to learn about their behavior: What are consumers’ opinions, attitudes, thoughts, and actions at the various stages of the buying process? Especially in litigation cases, these and other... View Details

Keywords: Purchase Intentions; Buying Process; Consumer Behavior; Surveys

September 2011 (Revised February 2013)
Case

Trucost: Valuing Corporate Environmental Impacts

By: Michael W. Toffel and Stephanie van Sice

Trucost provided corporate environmental performance data and analysis to institutional investors and corporate managers, but after operating for a decade had yet to achieve profitability. Trucost was struggling to effectively differentiate its high quality products... View Details

Keywords: Competitive Strategy; Knowledge Use and Leverage; Distribution Channels; Investment; Measurement and Metrics; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Information; Value; Environmental Sustainability; Financial Services Industry

November 1978 (Revised December 1979)
Case

Federal Express (C)

The Marketing Director for Federal Express, a fast growing freight airline specializing in small packages, must select a strategy to achieve a big sales increase for one of the company's services. First he must decide on the relative emphasis to place between... View Details

Keywords: Product Marketing; Sales; Air Transportation Industry; Service Industry; United States

February 2021
Technical Note

Probability Distributions

By: Michael Parzen and Paul Hamilton

This technical note introduces students to the concept of random variables, and from there the normal and binomial distributions. After a brief introduction to random variables, the note describes the standard properties of the normal distribution: a single peak, and a... View Details

Keywords: Analysis; Risk and Uncertainty; Theory; Analytics and Data Science

Tatiana Sandino is the Arthur Lowes Dickinson Professor of Business Administration in the Accounting and Management Unit, most recently teaching and undertaking the role of course head for the required first-year MBA course Financial Reporting and Control. She has... View Details

Keywords: retailing; service industry

Web

Advancing Racial Equity

Action Plan We’ve developed a plan that makes clear where we stand and where we aim to go, including specific and measurable actions we’re committed to taking. See The Plan The Tulsa Massacre Case New multimedia case by Mihir Desai explores reparations for historic... View Details

07 Feb 2022
Research & Ideas

Digital Transformation: A New Roadmap for Success

those who are less familiar with them. For some companies, visualization tools have been key to getting everyone (even those who fear numbers and math) to use data to inform their decisions and actions. Unfortunately, the consensus among... View Details

Keywords: by Linda A. Hill, Ann Le Cam, Sunand Menon, and Emily Tedards

08 Jun 2010
First Look

First Look: June 8

PublicationsThe New Science of Retailing: How Analytics Are Transforming the Supply Chain and Improving Performance Authors:Marshall Fisher and Ananth Raman Publication:Harvard Business School Press, 2010 Abstract Retailers today are drowning in View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

03 May 2024
Research & Ideas

How Much Does Proximity Influence Startup Innovation? 20 Meters' Worth to Be Exact

100,000-square-foot coworking space that is one of the largest of its kind in the United States. The facility hosts companies focused on financial technology, marketing technology, and software development, and assigns office space to new entrants randomly. The... View Details

Keywords: by Ben Rand

15 Feb 2022
Book

When Working Harder Doesn’t Work, Time to Reinvent Your Career

Lawyers, financial professionals, doctors—these types of workers often expect their abilities to remain steady or grow with time. But Brooks points to data showing that’s not the case. In almost every high-skill profession, he finds,... View Details

Keywords: by Avery Forman

19 Mar 2014
Working Paper Summaries

The Use of Broker Votes to Reward Brokerage Firms’ and Their Analysts’ Research Activities

Keywords: by David A. Maber, Boris Groysberg & Paul M. Healy; Financial Services

19 Dec 2023
Research & Ideas

The 10 Most Popular Articles of 2023

Statistics, They Tell StoriesThat killer fever chart in your slide deck might not be as impressive as you think. In fact, your audience might soon forget that critical data point. If you want them to remember your message, research by... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost

April 2020
Article

Technological Leadership (de)Concentration: Causes in Information and Communication Technology Equipment

By: Yasin Ozcan and Shane Greenstein

Using patent data from 1976 to 2010 as indicators of inventive activity, we determine the concentration level of where inventive ideas originate and then examine how and why those concentrations change over time. The analysis finds pervasive deconcentration in every... View Details

Keywords: Deconcentration; Technological Innovation; Innovation Leadership; Patents; Market Entry and Exit; Telecommunications Industry

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April 1999 (Revised March 2002)
Case

Aluminum Smelting in South Africa: Alusaf's Hillside Project

With prices at all-time lows at the beginning of 1994, South Africa's sole primary aluminum producer--Alusaf--is considering building the world's largest greenfield smelter. Using cost estimates in this case, students can evaluate the relative cost position of this... View Details

Keywords: Metals and Minerals; Analysis; Markets; Profit; Capital; Industrial Products Industry; South Africa