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- 2023
- Working Paper
A Welfare Analysis of Gambling in Video Games
By: Tomomichi Amano and Andrey Simonov
In 2020, gamers worldwide spent more than $15 billion on loot boxes, a lottery of virtual items built into video games. Loot boxes are contentious, as regulators worry that they constitute gambling. In contrast, video game companies maintain that loot boxes are...
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- February 2023
- Case
Doing Business in Istanbul, Turkey
By: Prithwiraj Choudhury, Leonard A. Schlesinger, Namrata Arora and Umut Arslan
This case examines the challenges and opportunities of doing business in Turkey. It highlights Turkey's economic transformation in the decades leading up to 2023 in the context of its history, culture, and politics. The case gives an overview of some of the main...
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- June 2022
- Teaching Note
Bespoken Spirits: Disrupting Distilling
By: Benjamin C. Esty and Daniel Fisher
Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 721-419. On October 7, 2020, Bespoken Spirits publicly announced it had received $2.6 million of seed funding for its “sustainable maturation process,” a process that could produce award-winning whiskeys in just days rather than years...
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- January 2022
- Supplement
Uber in China (C): The Cost of Success for Didi
By: William C. Kirby and Noah B. Truwit
On June 30, 2021, ride-hailing giant Didi Chuxing (Didi) raised $4.4 billion in its initial public offering (IPO) on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE), the largest IPO of a Chinese company listed on an American exchange since Alibaba raised $25 billion in 2014....
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Keywords:
China;
Uber;
Didi Chuxing;
Start-up Growth;
Regulation;
Ride-sharing;
Transportation;
Business Startups;
Business and Government Relations;
Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues;
Growth and Development;
Policy;
Competition;
Laws and Statutes;
Transportation Industry;
Technology Industry;
China
- 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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- September 2021 (Revised December 2021)
- Case
STARZPLAY: Shooting for the Stars
By: Elie Ofek, Marco Bertini and Alpana Thapar
In mid-2021, Maaz Sheikh, cofounder and CEO of STARZPLAY, a Dubai-based subscription video on demand (SVOD) provider that catered to the Middle East and North Africa region, was wrestling with how to find the right balance between continued subscriber growth and...
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Keywords:
Pricing;
Growth;
Profitability;
Subscription Business;
Business Model Innovation;
Fintech;
Subscription;
Performance Measurement;
Promotions;
International Marketing;
Streaming;
Competition;
Marketing;
Price;
Strategy;
Entrepreneurship;
Performance;
Measurement and Metrics;
Business Model;
Media and Broadcasting Industry;
Middle East;
North Africa
- July–August 2021
- Article
Why Do So Many Strategies Fail?
By: David J. Collis
THE PROBLEM: Seemingly successful new companies struggle to turn a healthy profit. Established firms get disrupted by upstarts. Companies that excel at serving their markets can’t adapt when customers’ tastes shift. THE ROOT CAUSE: All too often, business leaders focus...
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- January 2021
- Supplement
Bespoken Spirits: Disrupting Distilling
By: Benjamin C. Esty and Daniel Fisher
On October 7, 2020, Bespoken Spirits publicly announced it had received $2.6 million of seed funding for its “sustainable maturation process,” a process that could produce award-winning whiskeys in just days rather than years using a novel technology and data science. ...
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Keywords:
Business Ventures;
Business Strategy;
Competitive Advantage;
Disruption;
Entrepreneurship;
Environmental Sustainability;
Cash Flow;
Disruptive Innovation;
Innovation Strategy;
Brands and Branding;
Business Model;
Consumer Products Industry;
Food and Beverage Industry;
Service Industry;
United States;
California
- January 2021
- Case
Bespoken Spirits: Disrupting Distilling
By: Benjamin C. Esty and Daniel Fisher
On October 7, 2020, Bespoken Spirits publicly announced it had received $2.6 million of seed funding for its “sustainable maturation process,” a process that could produce award-winning whiskeys in just days rather than years using a novel technology and data science. ...
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Keywords:
Business Ventures;
Business Strategy;
Competitive Advantage;
Disruption;
Entrepreneurship;
Environmental Sustainability;
Cash Flow;
Disruptive Innovation;
Innovation Strategy;
Brands and Branding;
Business Model;
Consumer Products Industry;
Food and Beverage Industry;
Service Industry;
United States;
California
- December 2020 (Revised February 2021)
- Case
Kerry Group: Inspiring Food, Nourishing Life
By: Forest L. Reinhardt, José B. Alvarez, Damien McLoughlin, Tonia Labruyere and Tonia Junker
The Irish company Kerry Group, one of the leading global players in the taste and nutrition industry, wants to ensure its future growth in developing and developed markets. Founded in 1972 as a dairy cooperative, it had grown into a provider of taste and nutrition...
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- 2022
- Working Paper
Optimal Illiquidity
By: John Beshears, James J. Choi, Christopher Clayton, Christopher Harris, David Laibson and Brigitte C. Madrian
We calculate the socially optimal level of illiquidity in an economy populated by households with taste shocks and naive present bias. The government chooses mandatory contributions to accounts, each witha different pre-retirement withdrawal penalty. Collected...
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Keywords:
Illiquidity;
Commitment;
Flexibility;
Savings;
Social Security;
Retirement;
Government Legislation;
Taxation;
Saving
- June 2019
- Article
Learning to Become a Taste Expert
By: Kathryn A. Latour and John A. Deighton
Evidence suggests that consumers seek to become more expert about hedonic products to enhance their enjoyment of future consumption occasions. Current approaches to becoming expert center on cultivating an analytic mindset. In the present research the authors explore...
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- March 2019
- Case
Wattpad
By: John Deighton and Leora Kornfeld
How to run a platform to match four million writers of stories to 75 million readers? Use data science. Make money by doing deals with television and filmmakers and book publishers. The case describes the challenges of matching readers to stories and of helping writers...
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Keywords:
Platform Businesses;
Creative Industries;
Publishing;
Data Science;
Machine Learning;
Collaborative Filtering;
Women And Leadership;
Managing Data Scientists;
Big Data;
Recommender Systems;
Digital Platforms;
Information Technology;
Intellectual Property;
Analytics and Data Science;
Publishing Industry;
Entertainment and Recreation Industry;
Canada;
United States;
Philippines;
Viet Nam;
Turkey;
Indonesia;
Brazil
- December 2018
- Article
Some Elements of Peronist Beliefs and Tastes
By: Rafael Di Tella and Juan Dubra
We study the beliefs and values of Peronism. Instead of a comprehensive approach, we focus on three elements. First, we study beliefs and values about the economic system present in Peron’s speeches during the period 1943–1955. Second, given that these beliefs are...
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- November 2018 (Revised April 2019)
- Case
Zespri Grows
By: David E. Bell and Natalie Kindred
Controlling about a third of global kiwifruit exports by volume and nearly half by value in 2018, Zespri was a grower-owned “corporatized cooperative” with the exclusive right to export New Zealand-grown kiwifruit (except to Australia). Zespri did not grow fruit but...
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Keywords:
Agribusiness;
Kiwi;
Kiwifruit;
Agriculture;
Global Supply Chain;
Branding;
Produce;
Coordinated Industry Structure;
Industry Coordination;
Countercyclical Supply;
New Product Development;
Product Strategy;
Differentiation;
Food;
Quality;
Trade;
Brands and Branding;
Marketing;
Strategy;
Global Strategy;
Change Management;
Organizational Change and Adaptation;
Globalization;
Globalized Firms and Management;
Competitive Strategy;
Resource Allocation;
Product Development;
Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry;
Consumer Products Industry;
Food and Beverage Industry;
New Zealand
- July 2018
- Case
Hironobu Tsujiguchi and His Sweet Revolution
By: Boris Groysberg and Naoko Jinjo
Hironobu Tsujiguchi, a Japanese chocolatier, had chosen an unusual path to success as a pastry chef. Instead of spending most of his time in his kitchen and focusing on one or two confectionery categories like most pastry chefs, he chose to work on diverse projects and...
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- 2018
- Working Paper
Learning to Become a Taste Expert
By: Kathryn A. Latour and John A. Deighton
Evidence suggests that consumers seek to become more expert about hedonic products to enhance their enjoyment of future consumption occasions. Current approaches to becoming an expert center on cultivating an analytic mindset. In the present research the authors...
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- November 2017
- Teaching Note
Predicting Consumer Tastes with Big Data at Gap
By: Ayelet Israeli and Jill Avery
CEO Art Peck was eliminating his creative directors for The Gap, Old Navy, and Banana Republic brands and promoting a collective creative ecosystem fueled by the input of big data. Rather than relying on artistic vision, Peck wanted the company to use the mining of big...
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Keywords:
Brands;
Brand ＆ Product Management;
Big Data;
＂Marketing Analytics＂;
Consumer Behavior;
Predictive Analytics;
Forecasting;
Preferences;
Operation Management;
Distribution Channels;
Marketing;
Marketing Channels;
Marketing Strategy;
Brands and Branding;
Forecasting and Prediction;
Data and Data Sets;
Retail Industry;
Fashion Industry;
Apparel and Accessories Industry;
United States;
North America
- May 2017 (Revised March 2018)
- Case
Predicting Consumer Tastes with Big Data at Gap
By: Ayelet Israeli and Jill Avery
CEO Art Peck was eliminating his creative directors for The Gap, Old Navy, and Banana Republic brands and promoting a collective creative ecosystem fueled by the input of big data. Rather than relying on artistic vision, Peck wanted the company to use the mining of big...
View Details
Keywords:
Retailing;
Preference Elicitation;
Big Data;
Predictive Analytics;
Artificial Intelligence;
Fashion;
Marketing;
Marketing Strategy;
Marketing Channels;
Brands and Branding;
Consumer Behavior;
Demand and Consumers;
Analytics and Data Science;
Forecasting and Prediction;
E-commerce;
Apparel and Accessories Industry;
Consumer Products Industry;
Fashion Industry;
Retail Industry;
United States;
Canada;
North America
- August 2016
- Article
The Role of (Dis)similarity in (Mis)predicting Others' Preferences
By: Kate Barasz, Tami Kim and Leslie K. John
Consumers readily indicate liking options that appear dissimilar—for example, enjoying both rustic lake vacations and chic city vacations or liking both scholarly documentary films and action-packed thrillers. However, when predicting other consumers’ tastes for the...
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