Publications

Article

Scale Economies in Statistical Analyses of Market Power

By: R. E. Caves, J. Khalizadeh-Shirazi and M. E. Porter

Keywords: Economics; Mathematical Methods; Markets

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January 2014
Case

Entrepreneurial Finance Lab: Scaling an Innovative Start-up Financing Venture

By: Joan Farre-Mensa, William R. Kerr and Alexis Brownell

EFL provides credit-scoring services in developing countries using psychometric assessment, but the potential loss of a large customer makes them reconsider their scaling narrative. View Details

Keywords: Finance; Developing Countries; Lending; Psychometrics; Scaling; Entrepreneurship; Credit; Developing Countries and Economies; Growth and Development Strategy; Financial Services Industry; Banking Industry; Africa; Latin America

2003
Other Unpublished Work

Scale and Scope Economies in the Global Advertising and Marketing Services Business

By: Alvin J. Silk and Ernst R. Berndt

Keywords: Globalized Firms and Management; Advertising; Marketing; Advertising Industry

March 2020
Teaching Note

onefinestay: Building a Luxury Experience in the Sharing Economy

By: Jill Avery and Anat Keinan

onefinestay was a two-sided marketplace that offered high-end home rentals to travelers who sought a more authentic and local experience than a typical upscale hotel might provide. After five years of rapid growth, it was time to do a comprehensive analysis of the... View Details

March 2003 (Revised April 2006)
Background Note

Scale and Scope in Professional Service Firms

By: Ashish Nanda

This case discusses why economies (and diseconomies) of scale and scope exist in professional service firms (PSFs) and how they influence the amount and range of services that PSFs offer. It is distributed with a case that focuses on determining the optimal scale/scope... View Details

Keywords: Cost Management; Operations; Microeconomics; Service Industry

22 Feb 2022
Cold Call Podcast

How to Scale a Startup Marketplace for Used Furniture

Keywords: Re: Ayelet Israeli; Consumer Products

July 2019 (Revised May 2020)
Supplement

Piramal e-Swasthya (C): A New Name, Bigger Scope, and Public-Private Partnerships

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Joyce J. Kim

In 2010, Anand Piramal acquired the Health Management Research Institute (HMRI), a healthcare venture, and merged it with his original digital healthcare startup Piramal e-Swasthya (PeS), so that PeS became Piramal Swasthya. After acquiring HMRI, Piramal Swasthya... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneur; Healthcare; Innovation; Emerging Economies; Scaling; Social Enterprise; Entrepreneurship; Health Care and Treatment; Innovation and Management; Emerging Markets; Growth and Development; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Partners and Partnerships; India

February 2021 (Revised March 2021)
Case

AptDeco: Circular Economy Furniture Marketplace

By: Ayelet Israeli and Jamie Merkrebs

AptDeco, a used furniture marketplace, was growing rapidly in the tri-state area. The co-founders were confident that the business model, financial position, and unit economics positioned AptDeco for scaling in the massive $120 billion furniture market, despite its... View Details

February 2022
Teaching Note

AptDeco: Circular Economy Furniture Marketplace

By: Ayelet Israeli

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 521-069. AptDeco, a used furniture marketplace, was growing rapidly in the tri-state area. The co-founders were confident that the business model, financial position, and unit economics positioned AptDeco for scaling in the massive $120... View Details

Keywords: E-Commerce Strategy; Mobile; Word-of-Mouth; Word Of Mouth; Word-of-mouth Marketing; Internet Marketing; Growth Strategy; Platform; Platforms; Two Sided Markets; Two-sided Market; Two-sided Marketplace; Two-Sided Markets; Two-sided Network; Black Entrepreneurs; Black Leadership; African Americans; African-American Protagonist; Circular; Peer-to-peer Markets; Furniture Industry; Growth Hacking; Monetization Strategy; Growth Management; Marketing Strategy; Entrepreneurship; Digital Platforms; Marketing Channels; Digital Marketing; Consumer Behavior; Acquisition; Retention; Growth and Development Strategy; Customer Focus and Relationships; Expansion; Brands and Branding; E-commerce; Retail Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Technology Industry; Web Services Industry; United States; North America; New York (city, NY); New York (state, US)

2022
Working Paper

E-commerce During COVID: Stylized Facts from 47 Economies

By: Joel Alcedo, Alberto Cavallo, Bricklin Dwyer, Prachi Mishra and Antonio Spilimbergo

We study e-commerce across 47 economies and 26 industries during the COVID-19 pandemic using aggregated and anonymized transaction-level data from Mastercard, scaled to represent total consumer spending. The share of online transactions in total consumption increased... View Details

Keywords: COVID-19 Pandemic; Health Pandemics; Spending; Internet and the Web; Global Range; Analysis; E-commerce

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25 Jan 2010
Research & Ideas

A Macroeconomic View of the Current Economy

economy is going to falter, even if their reasons are wrong, in the short term the economy may well falter. If consumers believe that they'll soon be in economic trouble, they will reduce their consumption... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

07 Nov 2011
Research & Ideas

The Forgotten Book that Helped Shape the Modern Economy

A British merchant's long-forgotten seventeenth-century book may not only fuel a radical rethinking about how modern economies developed in Europe and America, but also add historical perspective on today's hot-button issue of the proper... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

02 Oct 2000
Research & Ideas

Networked Incubators: Hothouses of the New Economy

the Internet economy. It shares certain features with other incubators—mainly, it fosters a spirit of entrepreneurship and offers economies of scale. But its key distinguishing feature is its ability to give start-ups preferential access... View Details

Keywords: by Morten T. Hansen, Henry W. Chesbrough, Nitin Nohria & Donald N. Sull

May 2024
Case

Naked Wines: The Profit vs. Growth Decision

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Edward A. Meyer

Nick Devlin faced a difficult strategic decision in October 2022. As the CEO of a UK-based subscription business connecting wine drinkers in the US, UK, and Australia with winemakers from around the world (which one journalist called the “Netflix of Wine”), he had to... View Details

2012
Article

The Internalization of Advertising Services: An Inter-Industry Analysis

By: Sharon Horsky, Steven C. Michael and Alvin J. Silk

This study investigates the extent to which U.S. advertisers use in-house rather than independent advertising agencies and examines inter-industry variation in such internalization. Contrary to the widely held impression that use of an in-house advertising agency is... View Details

Keywords: Advertisers; In-house Advertising; Inter-industry Variation; Internalization; Scale Economies; Transaction Costs; Vertical Integration; Advertising Costs; Creative Industries; Marketing Strategy; Advertising Industry; Europe; North and Central America

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23 Sep 2017
Working Paper Summaries

Nowcasting the Local Economy: Using Yelp Data to Measure Economic Activity at Scale

Keywords: by Edward L. Glaeser, Hyunjin Kim, and Michael Luca

Research Summary

Dissertation: "Essays in International Non-market Strategy and the Political Economy of Environmental Regulation"

My dissertation is part of a research agenda intended to advance our understanding of the interaction between companies and non-market actors (e.g. regulators) in an international context. The empirical setting of my analysis is the European Union Emissions Trading... View Details

April 2011 (Revised September 2011)
Case

BlackRock Solutions

By: Kenneth A. Froot and Scott Waggoner

The BlackRock Solutions case examines the different functions and economics of a global asset manager's value chain, with particular emphasis on the "money management" and the "investment systems platform" businesses. Students analyze why BlackRock decided to unbundle... View Details

Keywords: Investment Management; Strategic Vision; Organizational Behavior; Economies Of Scale And Scope; Unbundling Of Services; Strategic Planning; Risk Management; Financial Management; Asset Management; Competitive Advantage; Value; Corporate Strategy; Organizational Culture; Investment; Financial Strategy

2016
Chapter

Evaluating the Effects of Large Scale Health Interventions in Developing Countries: The Zambian Malaria Initiative

By: Nava Ashraf, Gunther Fink and David N. Weil

Since 2003, Zambia has been engaged in a large-scale, centrally coordinated national anti-Malaria campaign, which has become a model in sub-Saharan Africa. This paper aims at quantifying the individual and macro-level benefits of this campaign, which involved mass... View Details

Keywords: Programs; Health Pandemics; Developing Countries and Economies; Zambia

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