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- November 2023
- Case
Infarm: Betting the (Indoor) Farm on Food Security
By: Elie Ofek
In the summer of 2023, the co-founders of Infarm, a controlled environment agriculture (CEA) company, were contemplating a major pivot going forward. While Infarm had successfully shown it could grow over 75 products – mainly herbs, leafy greens and mushrooms – in...
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- November 2023
- Technical Note
Customer Data Privacy
By: Eva Ascarza and Ta-Wei Huang
This note provides an overview of the evolving landscape of customer data privacy in 2023. It highlights two pivotal aspects that make privacy a central concern for businesses: building and maintaining customer trust and navigating the intricate regulatory...
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- October 2023
- Case
KOKO Networks: Bridging Energy Transition and Affordability with Carbon Financing
By: George Serafeim, Siko Sikochi and Namrata Arora
The problem was massive: two million hectares of African forests were lost annually to charcoal production for cooking, an area equivalent to 13 times Greater London, resulting in one billion tons of carbon emissions yearly. At the same time, an estimated 700,000...
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- 2022
- Working Paper
Why Do Index Funds Have Market Power? Quantifying Frictions in the Index Fund Market
By: Zach Y. Brown, Mark Egan, Jihye Jeon, Chuqing Jin and Alex A. Wu
Index funds are one of the most common ways investors access financial markets and are perceived to be a transparent and low-cost alternative to active investment management. Despite these purported virtues of index fund investing and the introduction of new products...
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- October 2023
- Case
GameStop: Social Media Finds a Cheat Code
By: Joseph Pacelli and Sarah Mehta
This case covers the events leading up to the 2021 GameStop short squeeze. Using GameStop as an illustrative example, the case explores the rise in retail trading, increased financial information sharing on social media, and the gamification of investing enabled by...
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- October 2023
- Technical Note
Design and Evaluation of Targeted Interventions
By: Eva Ascarza and Ta-Wei (David) Huang
Targeted interventions serve as a pivotal tool in business strategy, streamlining decisions for enhanced efficiency and effectiveness. This note delves into two central facets of such interventions: first, the design of potent decision guidelines, or targeting...
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- October 2023
- Case
FARM Rio: Bringing a Brazilian Fashion Brand to the World
By: Isamar Troncoso and Jill Avery
FARM Rio, a twenty-six year old Brazilian fashion brand had recently put down roots in the U.S. The brand, known for its bold, colorful, nature-inspired tropical prints, was testing the waters in Europe to assess if and how the brand should further expand globally....
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- October 2023
- Article
Stock Market Stimulus
By: Robin Greenwood, Toomas Laarits and Jeffrey Wurgler
We study the stock market effects of the arrival of the three rounds of “stimulus checks” to U.S. taxpayers and the single round of direct payments to Hong Kong citizens. The first two rounds of U.S. checks appear to have increased retail buying and share prices of...
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- September 2023
- Supplement
Design and Evaluation of Targeted Interventions
By: Eva Ascarza
Targeted interventions serve as a pivotal tool in business strategy, streamlining decisions for enhanced efficiency and effectiveness. This note delves into two central facets of such interventions: first, the design of potent decision guidelines, or targeting...
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- September 2023
- Case
FoodCloud: Tackling Food Insecurity and Climate Change in One Bite
By: Brian Trelstad and Emer Moloney
In 2013, Aoibheann O’Brien and Iseult Ward founded FoodCloud, a non-profit social enterprise that aimed to address food waste and food insecurity issues. Through its technology platform, Foodiverse, FoodCloud connected surplus food from retailers with community groups...
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- September 2023
- Case
The Meteoric Rise of Skims
Since its founding in 2019 by Kim Kardashian and Jens Grede, Skims, a solutions-oriented brand creating the next generation of underwear, loungewear, and shapewear with an eye toward body-type and skin-tone inclusivity, has experienced a meteoric rise. Kardashian, who...
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Keywords:
Brand;
Branding;
Direct-to-consumer;
DTC;
Influencers;
Influencer Marketing;
Fashion;
Growth;
Direct Marketing;
Influence;
Reputation;
Social Inference;
Consumer Goods;
Consumer Products;
Female Entrepreneur;
Female Protagonist;
Entrepreneurship And Strategy;
Brand ＆ Product Management;
Competitive Advantage;
Online Followers;
Retail;
Retail Formats;
Retailing;
Online Retail;
Celebrities;
Celebrity;
Celebrity Endorsement;
Go To Market Strategy;
Apparel;
Startup Marketing;
Startups;
Brands and Branding;
Growth and Development Strategy;
Growth Management;
Distribution Channels;
Digital Marketing;
Advertising;
Power and Influence;
Fashion Industry;
Apparel and Accessories Industry;
Consumer Products Industry;
United States
- August 2023
- Case
WayCool: Reimagining the Food Supply Chain
By: Paul Gompers and Kairavi Dey
Founded in 2015, WayCool, is an Indian agri-tech start-up that built a B2B operation acquiring fruits and vegetables from product-specific agriculture companies and small-holding farmers. It sold them to business customers, such as local retail stores, restaurants, and...
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- August 2023
- Supplement
Zurich Insurance (C): Re-establishing a Leading Market Position in Retail
By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell, Stefano Brusoni, Claudio Freser, Karolin Frankenberger and Ana Procopio Schoen
- August 2023
- Supplement
Zurich Insurance (B): Re-establishing a Leading Market Position in Retail
By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell, Stefano Brusoni, Claudio Freser, Karolin Frankenberger and Ana Procopio Schoen
- July–August 2023
- Article
Demand Learning and Pricing for Varying Assortments
By: Kris Ferreira and Emily Mower
Problem Definition: We consider the problem of demand learning and pricing for retailers who offer assortments of substitutable products that change frequently, e.g., due to limited inventory, perishable or time-sensitive products, or the retailer’s desire to...
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- August 2023
- Case
Reimagining Hindustan Unilever (A)
By: Sunil Gupta and Rachna Tahilyani
In the fall of 2019, the CEO and MD of Hindustan Unilever (HUL), India’s largest fast-moving consumer goods (FMCG) firm, is wondering what to do about their experiments to digitize distribution. Despite three years of intense efforts, their apps to empower retailers...
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- July 2023 (Revised August 2023)
- Case
Zurich Insurance (A): Re-establishing a Leading Market Position in Retail
By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell, Stefano Brusoni, Claudio Feser, Karolin Frankenberger and Ana Procopio Schoen
- July 2023
- Case
Vytal: Packaging-as-a-Service
By: George Serafeim, Michael W. Toffel, Lena Duchene and Daniela Beyersdorfer
The Germany-based startup Vytal operated the largest digital-native reusable packaging-as-a-service network globally, having raised nearly €15 million, established a large network of restaurant partners, and prevented the use of millions of single-use take-out food...
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Keywords:
Climate Change;
Climate Risk;
Digital;
Platform Strategies;
Data;
Packaging;
Sustainability;
Start-up;
Startup;
Entrepreneurship;
Entrepreneur;
Impact;
Circular;
Growth Strategy;
Innovation;
Environmental Sustainability;
Innovation and Invention;
Business Growth and Maturation;
Growth and Development Strategy;
Business Startups;
Resource Allocation;
Risk Management;
Adoption;
Strategy;
Performance Productivity;
Service Delivery;
Service Operations;
Supply Chain;
Distribution;
Retail Industry;
Retail Industry;
Retail Industry;
Germany;
Europe
- 18 Jul 2023
- Interview
Jeffrey Rayport on Product Market Fit, Profit Market Fit and Whiplash, and More
By: Jeffrey F. Rayport and Doug Levin
This episode of "Lessons from Startup Life" podcast features Jeffrey Rayport, Senior Lecturer of Business Administration at the Harvard Business School. Jeffrey specializes in teaching and researching growth-stage technology ventures and their scalability. Prior to...
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- June 2023
- Simulation
Artea Dashboard and Targeting Policy Evaluation
By: Ayelet Israeli and Eva Ascarza
Companies deploy A/B experiments to gain valuable insights about their customers in order to answer strategic business problems. In marketing, A/B tests are often used to evaluate marketing interventions intended to generate incremental outcomes for the firm. The Artea...
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Keywords:
Algorithm Bias;
Algorithmic Data;
Race And Ethnicity;
Experimentation;
Promotion;
Marketing And Society;
Big Data;
Privacy;
Data-driven Management;
Data Analysis;
Data Analytics;
E-Commerce Strategy;
Discrimination;
Targeted Advertising;
Targeted Policies;
Pricing Algorithms;
A/B Testing;
Ethical Decision Making;
Customer Base Analysis;
Customer Heterogeneity;
Coupons;
Marketing;
Race;
Gender;
Diversity;
Customer Relationship Management;
Marketing Communications;
Advertising;
Decision Making;
Ethics;
E-commerce;
Analytics and Data Science;
Retail Industry;
Retail Industry;
United States