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    • COVID-19 Business Impact Center
      COVID-19 Business Impact Center
      Cold Call
      A podcast featuring faculty discussing cases they've written and the lessons they impart.
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      • 06 Apr 2021
      • Cold Call Podcast

      Disrupting the Waste Industry with Technology

      Rubicon began with a bold idea: create a cloud-based, full-service waste management platform, providing efficient service anywhere in the US. Their mobile app did for waste management what Uber had done for taxi service. Five years after the case’s publication, Harvard Business School Associate Professor Shai Bernstein and Rubicon founder and CEO Nate Morris discuss how the software startup leveraged technology to disrupt the waste industry and other enduring lessons of professor Bill Sahlman’s case about Rubicon.  Open for comment; 0 Comment(s) posted.

      Read the Transcript

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      PriceRemove Price →

      New research on price from Harvard Business School faculty on issues including how to predict demand and set prices from new products, the benefit of deconstructing the price tag, and why more comapnies don't bundle products and services.
      Page 1 of 33 Results →
      • 22 Oct 2020
      • Working Paper Summaries

      Estimating Causal Effects in the Presence of Partial Interference Using Multivariate Bayesian Structural Time Series Models

      by Fiammetta Menchetti and Iavor Bojinov

      A case study of an Italian supermarket introducing a new pricing policy—in which it reduced prices on some brands—offers managers a new approach to reduce uncertainty. The approach is flexible and can be applied to different business problems.

      • 02 Jul 2020
      • Working Paper Summaries

      Inflation with COVID Consumption Baskets

      by Alberto Cavallo

      Examining the impact that changes in expenditure patterns are having on the measurement of consumer price indices (CPI) inflation in 17 countries, this study finds that the cost of living for the average consumer is higher than estimated by the official CPI. This implies that real consumption is falling more quickly over time.

      • 01 Jun 2020
      • Working Paper Summaries

      Rebates in the Pharmaceutical Industry: Evidence from Medicines Sold in Retail Pharmacies in the U.S.

      by Pragya Kakani, Michael Chernew, and Amitabh Chandra

      Retail pharmacy data illustrates it can be misleading to use list prices instead of net prices to understand pharmaceutical prices. Analysts and economists working in public policy should be extremely cautious in drawing policy conclusions based on list prices alone.

      • 05 May 2020
      • Research & Ideas

      China Tariffs and Coronavirus a Double Hit to American Retailers

      by Michael Blanding

      American retailers have yet to pass along higher prices caused by Chinese tariffs, but shrinking product demand caused by the coronavirus could change that, warns Alberto Cavallo. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

      • 09 Mar 2020
      • Research & Ideas

      Warring Algorithms Could Be Driving Up Consumer Prices

      by Kristen Senz

      Companies increasingly use software to conduct rapid price changes. Alexander MacKay explains why firms might benefit but consumers should be worried. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

      • 03 Feb 2020
      • Working Paper Summaries

      Competition in Pricing Algorithms

      by Zach Y. Brown and Alexander MacKay

      The adoption of pricing technology can lead to higher prices, by increasing the frequency of price changes and/or encoding pricing strategies in algorithms. This raises new antitrust questions for policymakers, as firms do not need to coordinate or collude to raise prices.

      • 11 Sep 2019
      • Research & Ideas

      Germany May Have the Answer for Reducing Drug Prices

      by Danielle Kost

      In Germany, drugmakers must prove that a new medication’s benefits merit a higher price than existing drugs. Ariel Dora Stern asks whether "value-based pricing" should become the standard elsewhere. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

      • 05 Jun 2019
      • Research & Ideas

      If Your Customers Don't Care What You Charge, What Should You Charge?

      by Kristen Senz

      Consumer inertia is the tendency of some customers to buy a product, even when superior options exist. Alexander J. MacKay discusses how that habit affects competitive strategy and even regulatory oversight. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

      • 24 Apr 2019
      • Research & Ideas

      The 'Amazon Effect' Is Changing Online Price Competition—and the Fed Needs to Pay Attention

      by Roberta Holland

      Amazon's power in the retail sector puts price pressure on what competitors charge, with implications for how federal regulators govern inflation, says Alberto F. Cavallo. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

      • 05 Mar 2019
      • Working Paper Summaries

      The Impacts of Increasing Search Frictions on Online Shopping Behavior: Evidence from a Field Experiment

      by Donald Ngwe, Kris J. Ferreira, and Thales Teixeira

      This paper challenges the logic that making it easier for consumers to search across a wide assortment of products is the best strategy for online retailers. Experiments show that adding extra search costs to find discounted items can improve gross margins and sales by increasing the number of items inspected and serving as a self-selecting price discrimination mechanism among customers.

      • 23 Oct 2018
      • Working Paper Summaries

      Opportunistic Returns and Dynamic Pricing: Empirical Evidence from Online Retailing in Emerging Markets

      by Chaithanya Bandi, Antonio Moreno, Donald Ngwe, and Zhiji Xu

      Dynamic pricing is widely applied in industries like airline ticketing, ride-sharing, and online retailing. This paper identifies two downsides of dynamic pricing: opportunistic returns and strategic choice of payment method. The impact can be significant and has implications for managers and researchers.

      • 16 Oct 2018
      • Working Paper Summaries

      Shipping Fees and Product Assortment in Online Retail

      by Chaoqun Chen and Donald Ngwe

      This study highlights a strong link between an online retailer’s product assortment decisions and shipping policies in determining purchase outcomes and profits. Consumers are less sensitive to shipping fees than to product prices, but free shipping for orders above the minimum is a strong motivator for increasing average basket sizes.

      • 20 Aug 2018
      • Research & Ideas

      Bargain Hunters Beware: A Store's 'Original Price' Might Not Be After All

      by Michael Blanding

      Retailers often compare a "sale" price to the original price. Donald Ngwe says consumers should be skeptical of those original prices — and so should regulators. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

      • 13 Jun 2018
      • Sharpening Your Skills

      That Costs HOW Much?

      by Sean Silverthorne

      Beyond the attributes of the product itself, price is probably the leading determinant of success in the marketplace. What does it takes to get the price right? Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

      • 30 May 2018
      • Research & Ideas

      Should Retailers Match Their Own Prices Online and in Stores?

      by Dina Gerdeman

      For multichannel retailers, pricing strategy can be difficult to execute and confusing to shoppers. Research by Elie Ofek and colleagues offers alternative approaches to getting the price right. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

      • 21 May 2018
      • HBS Case

      How Would You Price One of the World's Great Watches?

      by Roberta Holland

      For companies with lots of innovation stuffed in their products, getting the price right is a crucial decision. Stefan Thomke discusses how watchmaker A. Lange & Söhne puts a price on its 173-year-old craftsmanship. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

      • 07 May 2018
      • Research & Ideas

      Why Online Retailers Should Hide Their Best Discounts

      by Michael Blanding

      Online retailers should take a tip from brick-and-mortar shops: Shove your best deals to the back of the store. Research by Thales Teixeira and Donald Ngwe. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.

      • 15 Mar 2018
      • Working Paper Summaries

      Targeted Price Controls on Supermarket Products

      by Alberto Cavallo and Diego Aparicio

      Governments sometimes consider targeted price controls when popular goods become less affordable. Looking at price controls in Argentina between 2007 and 2015, this study’s findings suggest that new technologies like mobile phones are allowing governments to better enforce targeted price control programs, but the impact of these policies on aggregate inflation is small and short-lived.

      • 12 Mar 2018
      • Working Paper Summaries

      Using Online Prices for Measuring Real Consumption Across Countries

      by Alberto Cavallo, W. Erwin Diewert, Robert C. Feenstra, Robert Inklaar, and Marcel P. Timmer

      The increasing availability of big data can improve measurement of real consumption in closer to real time. This study shows that online prices may enhance data of the International Comparisons Program, dramatically improving the frequency and transparency of purchasing power parities compared with traditional data collection methods.

      • 04 Feb 2018
      • Working Paper Summaries

      The Long-Run Dynamics of Electricity Demand: Evidence from Municipal Aggregation

      by Alexander MacKay, Tatyana Deryugina, and Julian Reif

      This study provides the first quasi-experimental estimate of the long-run elasticity (responsiveness) of residential electricity demand, and finds that it is about double the short-run elasticity. Our findings highlight the importance of accounting for consumption dynamics when evaluating energy policy.

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