General Management

- September–October 2022
- Article
Should Your Company Sell on Amazon?: Reach Comes at a Price

By: Ayelet Israeli, Leonard A. Schlesinger, Matt Higgins and Sabir Semerkant

Selling on Amazon allows brands to reach millions of consumers—but that exposure comes with costs. They include smaller margins, more competition, the risk of commoditization, and less knowledge about customers. In this article, the authors present a scorecard to help brands determine whether the benefits exceed those costs. Companies can evaluate themselves on such topics as ease of shipping their products, degree of customization needed, distribution issues, and counterfeiting concerns. Companies that choose to sell on the platform will need to make smart decisions about assortment offerings, page design, and fulfillment options so that they can take advantage of Amazon’s scale while protecting the long-term value of their brands.
- September–October 2022
- Article
Should Your Company Sell on Amazon?: Reach Comes at a Price

By: Ayelet Israeli, Leonard A. Schlesinger, Matt Higgins and Sabir Semerkant

Selling on Amazon allows brands to reach millions of consumers—but that exposure comes with costs. They include smaller margins, more competition, the risk of commoditization, and less knowledge about customers. In this article, the authors present a scorecard to help brands determine whether the benefits exceed those costs. Companies can evaluate...
- September 22, 2022
- Article
How to Build a Life: Don’t Objectify Yourself

By: Arthur C. Brooks
- September 22, 2022
- Article
How to Build a Life: Don’t Objectify Yourself

By: Arthur C. Brooks
- September 2022
- Case
BancoSol: Financial Inclusion in the Perfect Storm

By: Michael Chu and Carla Larangeira
- September 2022
- Case
BancoSol: Financial Inclusion in the Perfect Storm

By: Michael Chu and Carla Larangeira

About the Unit

The General Management Unit is concerned with the leadership and management of the enterprise as a whole. This concern encompasses:

the personal values and qualities of effective general managers and enterprise leaders;
the philosophies, values, and strategies that inform successful enterprises; and
the relation of enterprise to the broader community and other external constituencies.

The Unit's work is conceived and carried out principally in four interest groups, each of which has its own leadership, research agenda, and teaching programs:

Management Policy and Process
Management Information Systems
Society and Enterprise
Leadership, Values, and Corporate Responsibility

Recent Publications

Should Your Company Sell on Amazon?: Reach Comes at a Price

By: Ayelet Israeli, Leonard A. Schlesinger, Matt Higgins and Sabir Semerkant

September–October 2022 |
Article |
Harvard Business Review

Selling on Amazon allows brands to reach millions of consumers—but that exposure comes with costs. They include smaller margins, more competition, the risk of commoditization, and less knowledge about customers. In this article, the authors present a scorecard to help brands determine whether the benefits exceed those costs. Companies can evaluate themselves on such topics as ease of shipping their products, degree of customization needed, distribution issues, and counterfeiting concerns. Companies that choose to sell on the platform will need to make smart decisions about assortment offerings, page design, and fulfillment options so that they can take advantage of Amazon’s scale while protecting the long-term value of their brands.

Citation

Find at Harvard

How to Build a Life: Don’t Objectify Yourself

By: Arthur C. Brooks

September 22, 2022 |
Article |
The Atlantic

Citation

How to Build a Life: 11 Ancient Solutions for Modern Malaise

By: Arthur C. Brooks

September 15, 2022 |
Article |
The Atlantic

Citation

How to Build a Life: What’s Missing from Empathy

By: Arthur C. Brooks

September 8, 2022 |
Article |
The Atlantic

Citation

BancoSol: Financial Inclusion in the Perfect Storm

By: Michael Chu and Carla Larangeira

September 2022 |
Case |
Faculty Research

Citation

Educators

Giving a Buck or Making a Buck? Donations by Pharmaceutical Manufacturers to Independent Patient Assistance Charities

By: Leemore Dafny, Christopher Ody and Teresa Rokos

September 2022 |
Article |
Health Affairs

The federal Anti-Kickback Statute prohibits biopharmaceutical manufacturers from directly covering Medicare enrollees’ out-of-pocket spending for the drugs they manufacture, but manufacturers may donate to independent patient assistance charities and earmark donations for a condition treated by their drugs. To assess whether this law and its associated regulations prevent manufacturers from profiting from their donations, we analyzed drug spending of more than three million Medicare Advantage enrollees in 2010 and 2017, together with data on conditions and drugs covered by these charities. We found that donations by the leading manufacturer of drugs for each condition were often likely to be profitable, even if relatively few patients were induced to use the manufacturer’s drugs as a result. This was particularly true among the ten costliest conditions, where the leading manufacturer accounted for 67 percent of sales in 2010 and 89 percent in 2017, on average, indicating that manufacturers could effectively assist in the purchase of their own medications by contributing to condition-specific charities. We conclude that the current regulations or enforcement permit donations that violate the spirit of Medicare’s Anti-Kickback Statute.

Keywords: Cost Sharing; Prescription Drugs; Drug Spending; Medicare; Dual Eligibility; Cost; Health Care and Treatment; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Pharmaceutical Industry

Citation

Find at Harvard