Publications

Article

Fake AI People Won't Fix Online Dating

By: Scott Duke Kominers

Computer-generated images may inspire even more distrust and surely won’t lead to the love of a lifetime. View Details

Keywords: Artificial Intelligence; Dating Services; Internet and the Web; Ethics; AI and Machine Learning

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January 2022
Case

Dating Ring

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Lindsay N. Hyde

In 2015, the co-founders of Dating Ring, an online dating startup that relied on human matchmakers to arrange dates between its members, were deciding whether to either shut down the service or instead manage Dating Ring as a "lifestyle company," ramping down growth... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Failure; Business Exit or Shutdown; Internet and the Web; Venture Capital; Service Industry; Service Industry; United States

28 Aug 2006
Research & Ideas

Online Match-Making with Virtual Dates

Literally millions of people have found dates through online match-making services, so who says the Internet is isolating? The problem for many users, however, is that initial matches are often imperfect—even frustrating—because the View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Publishing

16 May 2005
Research & Ideas

Confronting the Reality of Web Services

format and expect the date to be the first field in any electronic purchase order it receives. Before any systems integration can take place, these dissimilarities need to be resolved. There is no magic bullet in the Web View Details

Keywords: by Sara Grant

Research Summary

Using IT to Leverage Human Resources in Services

Discussion of the Internet and IT to date concentrates on how they will replace, rather than support, human service providers. While this approach is appropriate for a few firms, it is inadequate for many. The Internet and other information technology... View Details

March 2017 (Revised May 2019)
Case

Marketing Transformation at Mastercard

By: Sunil Gupta, Srinivas K. Reddy and David Lane

Since 2013, Mastercard CMO M.V. Rajamannar (Raja) had transformed the firm's marketing by using unique experiences, digital technology, and social media to intensify linkages not only with cardholders, but also with Mastercard's direct bank and merchant stakeholders.... View Details

Keywords: Mastercard; Financial Services; Ingredient Brand; B2B2C; Experiential Marketing; Digital Marketing; ROI; Marketing; Customer Focus and Relationships; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Brands and Branding; Internet and the Web; Investment Return; Financial Services Industry

04 Dec 2007
First Look

First Look: December 4, 2007

identities, specifically previously enacted ones, constitute potent incentives for inducing efforts or actions. People Are Experience Goods: Improving Online Dating with Virtual Dates Authors:Jeana H. Frost,... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

August 1999
Case

Health Resources & Technology

Health Resources & Technology is an entrepreneurial company with aggressive growth goals. The company sells medical-consultation services to insurance carriers that then repackage the service with their health care policies. Founded by two Brigham & Women's Hospital... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Goals and Objectives; Competitive Strategy; Health Care and Treatment; Growth and Development Strategy; Health Industry

Find at Harvard

12 Mar 2006
Research & Ideas

New Research Explores Multi-Sided Markets

School, defines these multi-sided markets as platforms that serve two or more distinct groups of customers who value each other's participation. Examples: EBay provides markets for both buyers and sellers, dating club clients are both men... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Technology

February 2018 (Revised March 2018)
Case

Artificial Intelligence and the Machine Learning Revolution in Finance: Cogent Labs and the Google Cloud Platform (GCP)

By: Lauren Cohen, Christopher Malloy and William Powley

This case examines the intersection of two firms (Cogent Labs—a machine learning software firm in Tokyo; and Google, the technology infrastructure giant) attempting to exploit the benefits of artificial intelligence and machine learning in the financial services... View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Finance; Growth and Development Strategy; Business Model; Applications and Software; Infrastructure; Financial Services Industry; Financial Services Industry

September 2006 (Revised July 2012)
Case

PSI India—Will Balbir Pasha Help Fight AIDS? (A)

By: Elie Ofek and Peter Wickersham

In 2002, Population Services International (PSI) was committed to curbing the growing HIV/AIDS epidemic in India. Sanjay Chaganti, program director of HIV/AIDS at PSI India, has to decide on the best communication strategy to achieve this goal. Up to this date most... View Details

Keywords: Advertising Campaigns; Communication Strategy; Health Disorders; Marketing Communications; Social Marketing; Social Enterprise; India

20 Dec 2004
Research & Ideas

How an Order Views Your Company

reasons, there's considerably less differentiation across products and services than in the past. One way the companies can compete in this harsh environment is to provide better customer service by... View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Johnston

January 2011 (Revised June 2011)
Supplement

Fixed Income Arbitrage in a Financial Crisis (B): US Treasuries in December 2008

The B case briefly recounts the action that investment manager James Franey takes in the matter of two U.S. Treasury bonds with identical maturity dates but widely different yields. He must decide what to do next. View Details

Keywords: Bonds; Financial Management; Investment Return; Financial Crisis; Financial Services Industry; United States

06 Feb 2018
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas: February 6, 2018

notifications for the specific product before. Moreover, low service providers improve their service. At the same time, there is an increase in opportunistic behavior among top retailers, retailers that received notifications for other... View Details

February 2025
Case

RedBird Capital Partners

By: Anita Elberse and David Moreno Vicente

In July 2024, Gerry Cardinale, the founder and managing partner of RedBird Capital Partners (‘RedBird’) has helped orchestrate a high-profile deal in the world of entertainment: one in which Skydance Media (‘Skydance’), a content production studio led by David Ellison... View Details

Keywords: Entertainment; Media; Film; Television; Sports; Superstars; Marketing; Strategy; General Management; Investing; Mergers and Acquisitions; Private Equity; Asset Management

September 2017 (Revised January 2025)
Case

Dinesh Moorjani and Hatch Labs

By: Christopher Stanton, Shikhar Ghosh, Allison Ciechanover and Jeff Huizinga

This case is about Tinder. It discusses different business models and ways of structuring the initial team. With a $6 million investment from IAC/Interactive in 2010, Dinesh Moorjani founded Hatch Labs to build mobile apps. His mission was to attract entrepreneurial... View Details

Keywords: Returns; Incubator; Mobile App; Venture Capital; Entrepreneurship; Decision Choices and Conditions; Business Model; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Talent and Talent Management; Valuation; Equity; Finance; United States; North America

15 Aug 2016
Working Paper Summaries

Liquidity Transformation in Asset Management: Evidence from the Cash Holdings of Mutual Funds

Keywords: by Sergey Chernenko and Adi Sunderam; Financial Services

June 2014
Teaching Note

Andreessen Horowitz

By: Thomas Eisenmann

Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), a venture capital firm launched in 2009, has quickly broken into the VC industry's top ranks, in terms of its ability to invest in Silicon Valley's most promising startups. The case recounts the firm's history; describes its co-founders'... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Venture Capital; Disruption; Organizational Structure; Entrepreneurship; Industry Structures; Service Industry; United States