More from these Authors

• Case | HBS Case Collection | March 2018 (Revised May 2018)

  Yo-Yo Ma and Silkroad

  Rohit Deshpandé, Paul A. Gompers and Scott Duke Kominers

  Silkroad — a cross-cultural music collaboration that world-famous cellist Yo-Yo Ma had spearheaded since 1998, was preparing to celebrate its twentieth anniversary. In parallel, Ma was stepping back from his role as the organization’s Artistic Director. Silkroad had come of age, gaining international recognition for its uniquely global music, which blended musical traditions from across the world — especially Asia, the Middle East, Europe, and America. The Ensemble had also forged strong partnerships with universities, local governments, and civic groups, and developed an array of outreach programs to help people understand and express themselves through music. Ma was confident that there could be no better time to hand over leadership. But the transition was bittersweet: He felt a deep personal connection both to the Ensemble as a whole and to every one of its performers and staff members. And he wondered how reducing his involvement would affect the organization’s sustainability.

  Keywords: Cultural entrepreneurship; Managing diverse teams; Leadership transitions; Global innovation; nonprofit organizations; music; Cultural Entrepreneurship; Nonprofit Organizations; Music Entertainment; Leadership; Transition;

  Citation:

  Deshpandé, Rohit, Paul A. Gompers, and Scott Duke Kominers. "Yo-Yo Ma and Silkroad." Harvard Business School Case 818-110, March 2018. (Revised May 2018.)  View Details

  CiteView DetailsEducators

  Related

• Working Paper | 2018

  The Impact of Increasing Search Frictions on Online Shopping Behavior: Evidence From a Field Experiment

  Donald Ngwe and Thales S. Teixeira

  Online retail accounts for a rapidly growing proportion of revenues in many industries. While selling online broadens firms’ access to consumers, operating margins are often lower in online stores than in physical stores. There are well-recognized reasons for this discrepancy: prices are easy to compare online, discount coupons and codes have high uptake, and sellers often bear the cost of shipping products to buyers. In addition to these factors, online selling precludes many methods of price discrimination exercised in offline environments. Many online stores present few barriers to accessing discounted products. We propose that deliberately increasing search frictions by placing obstacles to locating discounted items can improve online retailers’ margins and increase conversion. We demonstrate using a simple theoretical framework that inducing consumers to inspect higher-priced items first can simultaneously increase the average selling price and the overall purchase rate. We test these predictions in a series of field experiments conducted with an online fashion and apparel retailer. Using information from historical transaction data about each existing consumer, we demonstrate that price-sensitive shoppers are more likely to incur search costs in order to locate discounted items. Our results show that adding search frictions can be used as a self-selecting price discrimination tool to match high discounts with price-sensitive consumers and full priced offerings with price-insensitive consumers.

  Keywords: e-commerce; online retail; effor; search costs; price discrimination; Marketing; Consumer Behavior; Price; Fashion Industry; Retail Industry; Southeast Asia; Philippines;

  Citation:

  Ngwe, Donald, and Thales S. Teixeira. "The Impact of Increasing Search Frictions on Online Shopping Behavior: Evidence From a Field Experiment." Working Paper, March 2018.  View Details

  CiteView Details Read Now

  Related

• Case | HBS Case Collection | January 2017 (Revised January 2018)

  Vox Capital: Pioneering Impact Investing in Brazil

  Julie Battilana, Marissa Kimsey, Falko Paetzold and Priscilla Zogbi

  Vox Capital was the first certified impact investing fund in Brazil. Founded in 2009, it provides early-stage capital for companies offering innovative and scalable solutions to enhance the lives of low-income Brazilians, while aiming to simultaneously generate attractive market-rate financial returns for investors. This case examines the evolution of Vox Capital, across understanding the landscape, launching, raising funds, selecting investees, structuring deals, building investee capacities, tracking performance, developing internal systems, and advancing the field of impact investing.

  Keywords: impact investing; Brazil; social enterprise; social performance measurement; Social Entrepreneurship; Investment Funds; Social Enterprise; Brazil;

  Citation:

  Battilana, Julie, Marissa Kimsey, Falko Paetzold, and Priscilla Zogbi. "Vox Capital: Pioneering Impact Investing in Brazil." Harvard Business School Case 417-051, January 2017. (Revised January 2018.)  View Details

  CiteView DetailsEducatorsPurchase

  Related