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- 20 Oct 2015
- Working Paper Summaries
Internalizing Global Value Chains: A Firm-Level Analysis
Manufacturing activities that used to be performed in close proximity are increasingly fragmented across firms and countries. This paper provides strong evidence that considerations driven by contractual frictions critically shape firms' ownership decisions along their value chains.
- 17 Mar 2015
- Research & Ideas
Where Did My Shopping Mall Go?
The growing popularity of online shopping is remaking the world of offline shopping—stores are getting smaller, malls are getting scarcer. Rajiv Lal and José Alvarez look ahead five years at our radically transforming shopping experience. Plus: Book excerpt. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 02 Feb 2015
- Working Paper Summaries
Mobile Money: The Effect of Service Quality and Competition on Demand
Mobile money—the use of electronic money transfer through cellular networks—is rapidly expanding in developing countries, especially among the "unbanked." One persistent problem for mobile money agents, however, has been managing inventory and service quality. Using data from Kenya and Uganda, two East African countries at different stages of mobile money market development, the authors introduce an operations management lens for mobile money and explore the effects of competition and service quality on demand. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 02 Feb 2015
- Research & Ideas
Disruptors Sell What Customers Want and Let Competitors Sell What They Don’t
By "decoupling" activities that consumers value from the ones they don't, enterprising digital startups are wreaking havoc on established firms. Thales Teixeira discusses his research on the second wave of Internet disruption. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 02 Jun 2014
- Research & Ideas
Secrets to a Successful Social Media Strategy
Misiek Piskorski explores the secrets of successful social media tactics in his new book, A Social Strategy: How We Profit From Social Media. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 02 Jun 2014
- Research & Ideas
Excerpt: ‘A Social Strategy’
An excerpt from A Social Strategy: How We Profit From Social Media by Mikolaj Jan Piskorski Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 19 May 2014
- Research & Ideas
Why Companies Should Compete for Your Privacy
Consumers are sometimes willing to trade personal data for lower prices. How should companies compete for that valuable information? A discussion with Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Andrés Hervás-Drane. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 24 Feb 2014
- Research & Ideas
Busting Six Myths About Customer Loyalty Programs
Low-margin retailers argue they can't afford customer loyalty programs, but is that true? Rajiv Lal and Marcel Corstjens make the case that such programs are profit-enhancing differentiators. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 04 Feb 2014
- What Do You Think?
Has Listening Become a Lost Art?
Summing Up: Managers may have ears, but do they use them? Jim Heskett's readers offer opinions on why listening might be a lost art. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 11 Nov 2013
- Research & Ideas
A Smarter Way to Reduce Customer Defections
Companies can't afford to lose hard-won customers, but in truth some are more important to keep than others. Recent research by Sunil Gupta and Aurélie Lemmens explains how to find them. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 10 Oct 2013
- Working Paper Summaries
Managing Churn to Maximize Profits
Customer defection or "churn" is a widespread phenomenon across a variety of industries. As customer acquisition costs continue to rise, managing customer churn has become critically important for the profitability of companies. This paper provides a novel method for determining which customers to target in order to maximize the profit of a retention campaign. The authors developed a binary classification method that uses a gain/loss matrix, which incorporates the gain of targeting and retaining the most valuable churners and the cost of incentives to the targeted customers. Results show that this approach leads to far more profitable retention campaigns than the traditional churn modeling approaches. In addition, the additional profits come at no cost for companies. The implementation of the retention campaign is unchanged, only the composition and size of the target group changes compared to traditional approaches. Key concepts include: The authors describe a new method of customer retention that leads to substantial improvements for companies with no additional implementation cost. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 22 Apr 2013
- Working Paper Summaries
Competing with Privacy
Personal consumer information has become a valuable asset in the marketplace and an important element of firm strategy. While consumers are unable to control the disclosure practices of services that collect their personal information, they can decide which services to trust and how much information to provide. How do these choices shape competition? The analysis in this paper explains how firms engaging in disclosure choose to share the benefits with consumers by subsidizing them, and firms charging positive prices choose not to engage in disclosure. Competition is likely to increase the supply of both subsidized and no-disclosure services. Moreover, subsidized services have the potential to remain highly profitable under competition despite the fact that disclosure generates consumer disutility. Overall, these findings are particularly relevant to the business models of Internet firms. Findings also contribute to inform the regulatory debate on consumer privacy. Key concepts include: High-disclosure services should be expected to play an important role in a competitive marketplace. Therefore, efforts to make disclosure practices salient and understandable for consumers are clearly desirable. High-disclosure services can outperform their no-disclosure counterparts in generating consumer surplus, ensuring that lower valuation consumers participate in the market. Initiatives to subsidize consumers in order to sustain disclosure revenues, such as Amazon's Special Offers program, are likely to become more widespread. There is scope for no-disclosure services to compete. Such services may attract consumers with larger stocks of personal information or those whose information is more sensitive to disclosure. Tensions surrounding consumer information provision and disclosure will remain for the foreseeable future. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 09 Jan 2013
- Sharpening Your Skills
Sharpening Your Skills: Understanding Customers
In these previous articles, professors discuss a range of topics about customers: why they are not always right; understanding their motivations; providing them dramatically enhanced services; and making things right when you don't meet their expectations. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 06 Jun 2012
- What Do You Think?
Is Something Wrong with the Way We Work?
Summing Up Who is to blame for our pressure-packed 24/7 work culture? Technology? Globalization? Increasingly demanding customers? Jim Heskett's readers say it's best to first look in the mirror. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 09 Feb 2012
- Sharpening Your Skills
Sharpening Your Skills: Online Marketing
In this collection from our archives, Harvard Business School faculty discuss the latest research on online marketing techniques, including consumer reviews, video ads, loyalty programs, and coupon offerings. Open for comment; 0 Comments.
- 23 Jan 2012
- Research & Ideas
Break Your Addiction to Service Heroes
In their new book, Uncommon Service, coauthors Frances Frei and Anne Morriss show it is possible for organizations to reduce costs while dramatically enhancing customer service. The key? Don't try to be good at everything. Interview and book excerpt from HBS Alumni Bulletin. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 26 Sep 2011
- HBS Case
HBS Cases: Lady Gaga
What goes into creating the world's largest pop star? Before her fame hit, Lady Gaga's manager faced decisions that could have derailed the performer's career. A new case by Associate Professor Anita Elberse examines the strategic marketing choices that instead created a global brand. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 15 Aug 2011
- Research & Ideas
A New Model for Business: The Museum
Looking for a new model to think about business? Look no further than your local art museum, says Assistant Professor Ray Weaver. Some of the most profitable Web businesses and retailers such as Apple succeed by acting like museum curators: providing a very limited amount of choices at a time; offering a brief, engaging description of each choice; and classifying products honestly. Key concepts include: "The firm as curator" is the theme of still-nascent research by HBS Assistant Professor Ray Weaver, who mis seeking feedback on the idea from practitioners. Weaver argues that Web giants Groupon and Facebook are successful not only because they offer great deals and engender social networking, but because of the careful way in which they present and organize information. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
- 27 Jul 2011
- Research & Ideas
Customer Loyalty Programs That Work
Thanks to ever-improving technology, customer loyalty programs are proving extremely popular among retailers—but merchants are not getting all they should out of them. The reason? Professor José Alvarez says retailers need to see customers as partners, not transactions. Key concepts include: Most retailers are at a very basic level in using loyalty programs, and many customers see the programs as punitive. Successful retailers connect with customers via loyalty programs at three levels starting with an introduction, followed by a retailer-initiated communication, and finally with customer- or retailer-initiated feedback loops. Retailers should ask themselves, How do I create a partnership with the consumer? Data collected from these programs can help merchants make smarter decisions on everything from where to open a new store to pulling the plug on a fading brand. Closed for comment; 0 Comments.
Self-Interest: The Economist's Straitjacket
Research explores the downsides of self-interest on businesses, government, and the economy as a whole.