- 19 Sep 2017
- Working Paper Summaries
An Invitation to Market Design
Effective market design can improve liquidity, efficiency, and equity in markets. This paper illustrates best practices in market design through three examples: the design of medical residency matching programs, a scrip system to allocate food donations to food banks, and the recent “Incentive Auction” that reallocated wireless spectrum from television broadcasters to telecoms.
- 15 Feb 2017
- Op-Ed
What Africa Can Teach the United States About Funding Infrastructure Projects
John Macomber explains why the solution to America’s infrastructure woes may lie in finance models that have proven successful in several nations in Africa. Open for comment; Comment(s) posted.
- 17 Jun 2015
- Lessons from the Classroom
Excellence Comes From Saying No
In a new course designed by Frances Frei and Amy Schulman, business and law students help each other define and achieve their own interpretations of success. Lesson one: You can't be great at everything. Open for comment; 17 Comment(s) posted.
- 12 Mar 2008
- Working Paper Summaries
Allocating Marketing Resources
Deciding how to allocate marketing resources is particularly difficult because decisions need to be made at many different levels—across countries, products, marketing mix elements, and different vehicles within elements of the mix (e.g., television versus the Internet for advertising). With the increasing availability of data and sophistication in methods, it is now possible to more judiciously allocate marketing resources. In this paper, HBS professors Gupta and Steenburgh discuss a two-stage process where a model of demand is estimated in stage-one and its estimates are used as inputs in an optimization model in stage-two. The researchers propose a matrix with three approaches for each of these two stages, and discuss the pros and cons of these methods. They highlight each method with applications and case studies to present rigorous yet practical approaches to making marketing resource allocation decisions. Key concepts include: This paper lays out a framework for managers who are responsible for allocating marketing resources for their products and services. Scores of studies in the area of allocating marketing resources now make it possible to form empirical generalizations about the impact of marketing actions on sales and profits. In practical terms, information about marketing resource allocation makes a significant impact at all levels of an organization. Closed for comment; 0 Comment(s) posted.
- 10 Jan 2008
- Sharpening Your Skills
- 22 Oct 2007
- Research & Ideas
Bringing ‘Lean’ Principles to Service Industries
Toyota and other top manufacturing companies have embraced, improved, and profited by lean production methods. But the payoffs have not been nearly as dramatic for service industries applying lean principles. HBS professor David Upton and doctoral student Bradley Staats look at the experience of Indian software services provider Wipro for answers. Key concepts include: In terms of operations and improvements, the service industries in general are a long way behind manufacturing. Not all lean manufacturing ideas translate from factory floor to office cubicle. A lean operating system alters the way a company learns through changes in problem solving, coordination through connections, and pathways and standardization. Successful lean operations at Wipro involved a small rollout, reducing hierarchies, continuous improvement, sharing mistakes, and specialized tools. Closed for comment; 0 Comment(s) posted.
- 11 Aug 2003
- Research & Ideas
Why Budgeting Kills Your Company
Why doesn’t the budget process work? Read what experts say about not only changing your budgeting process, but whether your company should dispense with budgets entirely. Closed for comment; 0 Comment(s) posted.
- 14 Jul 2003
- Research & Ideas
Understaffed and Overworked: What Now?
When resources are scarce, you need a plan for managing your career, your team, and even your boss. Here's what works: balance, focus, and effective communication. Closed for comment; 0 Comment(s) posted.
Equity Concerns Are Narrowly Framed
This paper based on a large online study finds that individuals tend to differentiate in their concerns about fairness along specific dimensions, especially time and money, and are much more worried about fairness in one (time) than the other (money). These attitudes may help explain a seemingly wide variety of phenomena.