Browsing HBS Theses and Dissertations by Issue Date
Now showing items 1-20 of 54
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Symbolic Consumption and Alternative Signals of Status
(2015-05-26)My dissertation is composed of three papers on symbolic consumption–how consumers use products, brands, and time to express who they are and signal status. The first paper (Brand Tourists: How Non–Core Users Enhance the ... -
Essays on the Social Consumer: Peer Influence in the Adoption and Engagement of Digital Goods
(2015-05-26)In this dissertation, I study how consumers influence each other in the adoption and engagement of digital goods. In the first essay, I study peer influence in mobile game adoption. Although peer effects are expected to ... -
Platform and Ecosystem Transitions: Strategic and Organizational Implications
(2015-05-26)By most conventional measures of corporate success (revenue, market capitalization, global brand growth, etc.) businesses operating as multi-sided platforms (MSPs) and their associated ecosystems constitute the majority ... -
Complexity, Contract Design and Incentive Design in the Construction Management Industry
(2015-05-26)In this paper I examine how one construction management company uses contract design and incentive design to respond to aspects of task complexity and relationship complexity present in its construction projects. In terms ... -
The Digital Commons: Tragedy or Opportunity? The Effect of Crowdsourced Digital Goods on Innovation and Economic Growth
(2015-05-26)The classic economic concept of the tragedy of the commons occurs when individuals overuse a public good, resulting in the complete depletion of the good. Comparatively, in the digital world public goods are non-rival and ... -
Essays on Strategy and Management of Platforms
(2015-05-26)In this thesis, I research the management of platforms by participating organizations and study the ensuing performance of both participating organizations and the platform. In the first essay, titled ``The Impact of ... -
Essays on Operations Management: Setting Employees Up for Success
(2015-05-26)As a result of globalization, organizations expect more from their employees. While organizations have become leaner, the productivity requirements have not decreased. Further, there is greater importance being placed on ... -
Strategies for the Non-Market Environment
(2015-05-26)ABSTRACT 1: This paper examines whether mobile telecom operators with access to different kinds of knowledge pursue different strategies in politically risky markets. Using data from 2000-2010 I find that firms with ... -
Essays on Human Capital and Executive Compensation
(2015-05-26)The contemporary executive career looks different from the “company man” era of post World War II. At that time, executives rose almost exclusively within a single firm, learning the business over many loyal years of ... -
Essays in Intellectual Property Bargaining and Trade
(2015-09-16)In this dissertation, I present three essays on the dynamics of intellectual property bargaining and trade, particularly of patents. The first essay presents a game theoretic model examining the sale of intellectual ... -
Strategies to Grow Network Goods
(2015-09-16)A network good is a product or service which becomes inherently more valuable as its adoption increases. The mechanism driving this value varies by context: for example, a software ecosystem produces more software as the ... -
Essays on Innovation, Strategy and Competition
(2015-09-16)This dissertation is composed of three essays on innovation, strategy and competition. The first essay studies how entry of patent intermediaries known as "patent assertion entities" (PAEs) impacts behavior of other firms ... -
Essays on External Context and Operating Models
(2016-04-27)Effective operating models based on carefully selected resources, processes and logic allow organizations to develop the right products and services and deliver them to customers. However, there has been little investigation ... -
Why Do Firm Practices Differ? Examining the Selection and Implementation of Organizational Practices
(2016-04-27)This dissertation is comprised of three studies investigating sources of variation in firm practices. Firm practices may differ both due to differences in the practices firms choose to implement – different types of firms ... -
Essays on the Design and Industrial Organization of Online Markets
(2016-04-27)The internet has revolutionized marketing. Firms use the internet to procure advertising content, reach consumers, and offer a convenient channel of purchase. Given the growing importance of the internet, marketers must ... -
The Continuum of Choice: Essays on How Consumer Decisions Are Made, Changed, and Perceived
(2016-05-13)This research investigates the continuum of choice—unseen, unanticipated causes and consequences of consumer decisions. Three essays investigate hidden factors that influence the choices we make, subtle ways to affect ... -
Donations and Differentiation: Three Essays on Non-Profit Strategy
(2016-05-13)Given increased competition with for-profit firms, the issue of the comparative advantage of non-profit organizations is renewed. While non-profits may want to differentiate themselves when faced with additional non-profit ... -
How Micro-Processes Change Social Hierarchies in Teams
(2016-05-13)Social hierarchies can prevent teams from hearing and using all of their members’ contributions. They are also ubiquitous and difficult to change, reinforced by conscious and unconscious factors as well as social-structural ... -
Essays on Corporate Governance and Shareholder Activism
(2016-05-13)In these essays, I explore the relation between shareholder activism and corporate governance, mainly the board of directors and takeover defense measures. In the first essay, “Takeover defenses in the era of shareholder ... -
Management Control and Employee-Driven Innovation
(2016-05-13)Organizations increasingly empower their employees to conduct local experimentation and generate innovation ideas. The aim of this dissertation is to understand the role of management control mechanisms in motivating and ...