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- February 22, 2023
- Article
How to Seed Organic Marketing in a Video-First World
By: Ayelet Israeli, Leonard A. Schlesinger and Matt Higgins
Early direct-to-consumer (DTC) companies relied on plentiful capital and low-cost digital marketing to power growth. But as this sector has matured, capital is more constrained, social media is more cluttered, and customer acquisition costs are rising. DTC companies...
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Keywords:
Online Business;
Ecommerce;
E-commerce;
E-Commerce Strategy;
Omnichannel Retail;
Omnichannel Retailing;
Influencer Marketing;
Consumer;
Organic Growth;
Video Advertising;
Promotion;
Celebrities;
Online Advertising;
Online Channel;
Online Communities;
Online Community;
Go To Market Strategy;
Platform;
Media;
Media Content;
Digital;
Digital Culture;
Digital Influencers;
Direct To Consumer Marketing;
Direct-to-consumer;
Innovation ＆ Entrepreneurship;
Innovation;
Sales;
Digital Platforms;
Digital Marketing;
Digital Strategy;
Consumer Behavior;
Internet and the Web;
Advertising;
Business Model;
Growth Management;
Marketing;
Marketing Strategy;
Marketing Channels;
Marketing Communications;
Communication Strategy;
Innovation Strategy;
Retail Industry;
Consumer Products Industry;
Fashion Industry;
Advertising Industry;
Apparel and Accessories Industry;
Beauty and Cosmetics Industry;
Food and Beverage Industry;
Media and Broadcasting Industry;
United States;
North America
- February 2023 (Revised March 2023)
- Case
Hey, Insta & YouTube, Are You Watching TikTok?
In early 2023 the entertainment app TikTok reached close to 1 billion users globally, placing it 4th behind the leading social networks of Facebook, YouTube, and Instagram. Featuring a sophisticated recommendation engine, TikTok mastered the art of keeping users...
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- 2022
- Working Paper
The Evolution of ESG Reports and the Role of Voluntary Standards
By: Ethan Rouen, Kunal Sachdeva and Aaron Yoon
We examine the evolution of ESG reports of S&P 500 firms from 2010 to 2021. The
percentage of firms releasing these voluntary disclosures increased from 35% to 86%
during this period, although the length of these documents experienced more modest
growth. Using a...
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- March 2022 (Revised April 2022)
- Teaching Note
Spotify's Audio-First Strategy: Leading the Podcasting Market
By: Hong Luo and Carol Lin
Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 721-439. Within 15 years, CEO Daniel Ek had led Spotify from an ambitious startup to a multi-billion dollar company that had transformed the music industry. As part of Spotify’s next phase of growth, the platform would invest heavily in...
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- Article
Pattern Detection in the Activation Space for Identifying Synthesized Content
By: Celia Cintas, Skyler Speakman, Girmaw Abebe Tadesse, Victor Akinwande, Edward McFowland III and Komminist Weldemariam
Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) have recently achieved unprecedented success in photo-realistic image synthesis from low-dimensional random noise. The ability to synthesize high-quality content at a large scale brings potential risks as the generated samples may...
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- Fall 2021
- Article
Emboldening and Contesting Gender and Skin Color Stereotypes in the Film Industry in India, 1947–1991
By: Sudev Sheth, Geoffrey Jones and Morgan Spencer
This article examines how the film industry influenced prevailing gender and skin color stereotypes in India during the first four decades after Independence in 1947. It shows that Bollywood, the mainstream cinema in India, shared Hollywood's privileging of paler skin...
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- November 2021
- Article
Ratings, Reviews, and the Marketing of New Products
By: Itay P. Fainmesser, Dominique Olié Lauga and Elie Ofek
We study how user-generated content (UGC) about new products impacts a firm's advertising and pricing decisions and the effect on profits and market dynamics. We construct a two-period model where consumers value quality and are heterogeneous in their taste for the new...
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- October 2021
- Case
(180) Days of Quibi
By: David J. Collis and Terrence Shu
Mobile streaming app Quibi was ready to take the entertainment world by storm at its April 2020 launch. Backed by $1.75 billion, influential investors from Hollywood to Wall Street eagerly anticipated early success for this brainchild of Meg Whitman, former CEO of...
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- October 2021
- Article
Can Self-Regulation Save Digital Platforms?
By: Michael A. Cusumano, Annabelle Gawer and David B. Yoffie
This article explores some of the critical challenges facing self-regulation and the regulatory environment for digital platforms. We examine several historical examples of firms and industries that attempted self-regulation before the Internet. All dealt with similar...
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- September 2021 (Revised March 2022)
- Case
Katie Couric Media: Landing the First Client
By: N. Louis Shipley and William R. Kerr
In May 2018, celebrated journalist Katie Couric and her husband, John Molner, had recently launched a full-service media firm called Katie Couric Media (KCM). Couric treasured the opportunity to address important social issues like gender equality, environmental...
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- May–June 2021
- Article
Capturing Value in Platform Business Models that Rely on User-Generated Content
By: Hemang Subramanian, Sabyasachi Mitra and Sam Ransbotham
Business models increasingly depend on inputs from outside traditional organizational boundaries. For example, platforms that generate revenue from advertising, subscription, or referral fees often rely on user-generated content (UGC). But there is considerable...
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- January 2021 (Revised October 2021)
- Case
iOpenEye: Theater and #MeToo in Nigeria
By: Caroline Elkins, Tarun Khanna and Joyce J. Kim
In 2014, Ifeoma Fafunwa, an award-winning playwright and director, founded iOpenEye, a commercial production company dedicated to driving social change through performance art. iOpenEye’s flagship theatrical production was called “Hear Word! Naija Woman Talk True,”...
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- 2021
- Working Paper
Bollywood, Skin Color and Sexism: The Role of the Film Industry in Emboldening and Contesting Stereotypes in India after Independence
By: Sudev Sheth, Geoffrey Jones and Morgan Spencer
This working paper examines the social impact of the film industry in India during the first four decades after Indian Independence in 1947. It shows that Bollywood, the mainstream cinema in India and the counterpart in scale to Hollywood in the United States, shared...
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- 2020
- Article
Worry at Work: How Organizational Culture Promotes Anxiety
By: Jeremy A. Yip, Emma E. Levine, Alison Wood Brooks and Maurice E. Schweitzer
Organizational culture profoundly influences how employees think and behave. Established research suggests that the content, intensity, consensus, and fit of cultural norms act as a social control system for attitudes and behavior. We adopt the norms model of...
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Keywords:
Anxiety;
Norms;
Stress;
Culture;
Tightness-looseness;
Curvilinear;
Organizational Culture;
Emotions;
Performance
- October 29, 2020
- Article
How to Build a Digital Brand That Lasts
By: William Collis and David Collis
What makes a brand durable even as business models, technology and consumer behavior radically change? The key is that durable brands are adaptable brands—even legacy ones. To create durability, apply the MACE framework: 1) Mastery: Give your consumers...
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- June 2020
- Article
Frenemies in Platform Markets: Heterogeneous Profit Foci as Drivers of Compatibility Decisions
By: Ron Adner, Jianqing Chen and Feng Zhu
We study compatibility decisions of two competing platform owners that generate profits through both hardware sales and royalties from content sales. We consider a game-theoretic model in which two platforms offer different standalone utilities to users. We find that...
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- 2021
- Working Paper
Issue Salience and Political Stereotypes
By: Pedro Bordalo, Marco Tabellini and David Yang
U.S. voters exaggerate the differences in attitudes held by Republicans and Democrats on a range of socioeconomic and political issues, and higher perceived polarization is associated with greater political engagement and affective polarization. In this paper, we...
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- August 2019
- Article
When and How to Diversify—A Multicategory Utility Model for Personalized Content Recommendation
By: Yicheng Song, Nachiketa Sahoo and Elie Ofek
Sometimes we desire change, a break from the same or an opportunity to fulfill different aspects of our needs. Noting that consumers seek variety, several approaches have been developed to diversify items recommended by personalized recommender systems. However,...
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- March 2019 (Revised March 2020)
- Case
Choosing the Right Esports Business Model
By: David Collis and Alexander MacKay
Two esports entrepreneurs must choose on which business model to focus their time and money. After successfully launching an online esports coaching platform, a number of new opportunities emerge in the rapidly growing esports space that now has close to one billion...
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Keywords:
Entrepreneurial Ecosystems;
Business Development;
Esports;
Business Ventures;
Entrepreneurship;
Business Model;
Management;
Strategy;
Sports;
Entertainment and Recreation Industry;
Information Technology Industry;
Media and Broadcasting Industry;
Sports Industry;
Video Game Industry;
North and Central America;
Europe;
Asia
- March 2019
- Article
Beliefs about Gender
By: Pedro Bordalo, Katherine Baldiga Coffman, Nicola Gennaioli and Andrei Shleifer
We conduct laboratory experiments that explore how gender stereotypes shape beliefs about ability of oneself and others in different categories of knowledge. The data reveal two patterns. First, men’s and women’s beliefs about both oneself and others exceed observed...
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