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• Case | HBS Case Collection | November 2019 (Revised February 2020)

  Away: Scaling a DTC Travel Brand

  Jill Avery and Joseph B. Fuller

  Away, a direct-to-consumer, digital native e-commerce seller of travel luggage, is debating how to invest its latest round of venture funding. How quickly could and should Away scale and what were the most promising growth trajectories to maximize its potential? Three decisions face the founders. Should Away continue to invest in driving growth in suitcases and other travel bags or was it time to begin to expand into other adjacent travel categories? How should they use the results of the company’s first customer segmentation study to select target segments and quantify their growth aspirations? What were the right distribution strategies moving forward following a series of pilots that included company-owned stores, temporary airport kiosks, and pop-up experiences with retailer partners?

  Keywords: brand management; DTC; e-commerce; brand extension; lifestyle brand; customer segmentation; retailing; Scaling and Growth; Startup; Brands and Branding; Marketing; Marketing Strategy; Marketing Channels; Entrepreneurship; Venture Capital; Consumer Behavior; Growth and Development Strategy; Business Startups; Consumer Products Industry; Travel Industry; United States; North America;

  Citation:

  Avery, Jill, and Joseph B. Fuller. "Away: Scaling a DTC Travel Brand." Harvard Business School Case 520-051, November 2019. (Revised February 2020.)  View Details

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• Chapter | Innovation Policy and the Economy, Volume 20 | 2020

  The Gift of Global Talent: Innovation Policy and the Economy

  William R. Kerr

  Talent is the most precious resource for today’s knowledge-based economy, and a significant share of the U.S. skilled workforce in technology fields is foreign born. The United States has long held a leading position in attracting global talent, but the gap to other countries is shrinking. Immigration policies like the H-1B visa program shape the admissions of foreign workers to the country and grant a particularly strong gatekeeping role to sponsoring firms and universities. This chapter explores the data around global talent flows and some of the economic implications of an employer-driven immigration approach.

  Keywords: global talent flows; Talent and Talent Management; Global Range; Immigration; Policy; Economy;

  Citation:

  Kerr, William R. "The Gift of Global Talent: Innovation Policy and the Economy." Chap. 1 in Innovation Policy and the Economy, Volume 20, edited by Josh Lerner and Scott Stern, 1–37. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press, 2020.  View Details

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• Case | HBS Case Collection | September 2019 (Revised December 2019)

  Google: To TVC or Not to TVC?

  William R. Kerr, Carl Kreitzberg, William R. Kerr and Carl Kreitzberg

  In late 2018, evidence emerged that many of Google’s temporary help agency workers, vendors, and independent contractors (“TVCs”) were unhappy with the company. TVCs, who reportedly made up 49.95% of Google’s 170,000 person global workforce, had raised concerns of mistreatment, citing instances of pay inequity, social exclusion, and physical endangerment. “Flexible” workers, such as TVCs, were often seen as a key cog for Silicon Valley’s IT companies: they made workforces scalable, they helped firms get access to specialized knowledge for temporary projects, and they boosted innovation by creating “knowledge spillovers” between firms. But, at the same time, many onlookers worried that flexible work arrangements were aggravating social inequality and making more jobs precarious. Google employees, major media outlets, and politicians demanded that the company change its policies on TVCs. One suggestion was that Google convert all of its TVCs to full-time status by early 2020. As tensions reportedly escalated between Google’s workforce and its management team, some began to wonder if Google was still an employer of choice.

  Keywords: workforce; independent contractors; talent management; Silicon Valley; google; employee attitude; Employee compensation; employee engagement; future of work; innovation; innovation and strategy; inequality; talent acquisition; Labor; Talent and Talent Management; Strategy; Technological Innovation; Employees; Attitudes; Innovation and Management; Human Resources; Equality and Inequality; Information Technology Industry; United States; San Francisco;

  Citation:

  Kerr, William R., and Carl Kreitzberg. "Google: To TVC or Not to TVC?" Harvard Business School Case 820-048, September 2019. (Revised December 2019.)  View Details

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