This website uses technical, customisation and analytical cookies, both first-party and third-party, to anonymously facilitate browsing and analyse statistics on use of the website. Learn more
Search results
-
Fixing Discrimination in Online Marketplaces
Fisman, Ray; Luca, MichaelArticle HBS-R1612G-EInformation TechnologiesOnline marketplaces such as eBay, Uber, and Airbnb have the potential to reduce racial, gender, and other forms of bias that affect the off-line world. And in the early days of internet commerce, the relative anonymity of transactions did make it harder for participants to discriminate. But as listings began to include photos, names, and other means of identification, bias emerged in areas ranging from labor markets to credit applications to hous...Starting at €8.20
-
Algorithms Need Managers, Too
Luca, Michael; Kleinberg, Jon; Mullainathan, SendhilArticle HBS-R1601H-EInformation TechnologiesAlgorithms tend to be myopic. They focus on the data at hand--which often pertains just to short-term outcomes. Algorithms are powerful predictive tools, but they can run amok when not applied properly. Consider what often happens with social media sites. Today many use algorithms to decide which ads and links to show users. But when these algorithms focus too narrowly on maximizing click-throughs, sites quickly become choked with low-quality con...Starting at €8.20
-
Afghanistan 2006: Building a Brand New State
Maurer, Noel; Spar, Debora L.; Trumbull, GunnarCase HBS-707033-EEconomicsIn 2006, Afghanistan remains a country in turmoil. It has a newly elected democratic government, a rebounding economy, and considerable economic potential. But the country is still torn by rival factions and dominated by the opium trade. Explores how Afghanistan has been rebuilt since the U.S. invasion of 2001, and what it means to create a modern state. Can state institutions be imposed from the outside? And what are the prospects for democracy ...Starting at €8.20
-
Airbnb (A)
Edelman, Benjamin; Luca, MichaelCase HBS-912019-EInformation TechnologiesAfter widely-publicized complaints of destructive guests and unreliable hosts, online apartment rental site Airbnb explores mechanisms to facilitate trust between guests and hosts. Flexible online reputation systems can collect and share information with ease, but Airbnb must decide which information guests and hosts should have to provide and how much flexibility each should have in selecting whom to do business with. A full-featured system coul...Starting at €8.20
-
Extend Fertility: Conceiving the Market for Egg Preservation (A)
Spar, Debora L.; Hull, OliviaCase HBS-719019-EStrategyThe case follows entrepreneur Christy Jones as she tries to imagine, and then build, a firm that will enable young women to preserve their eggs -- and thus extend their fertility. In April 2003, entrepreneur and MBA student Christy Jones was planning a new venture to help women preserve their fertility. Her company, Extend Fertility, would commercialize a technique known as egg freezing, in which a woman's eggs were extracted and stored at low te...Starting at €8.20
-
Facebook Faces the Regulators
Spar, Debora L.Case HBS-720019-EEconomicsThe Inside the Case video that accompanies this case includes teaching tips and insight from the author (available to registered educators only). In the fall of 2019, Facebook and its CEO Mark Zuckerberg are facing increased scrutiny on multiple fronts. Regulators from around the globe are threatening the company with punitive measures. Users are organizing against it. But there is little consensus around what, precisely, Facebook has done wrong...Starting at €8.20
-
Afrigen Biologics: Vaccines for the Global South
Spar, Debora L.; Comeau, JuliaCase HBS-323030-EEconomicsThe majority of vaccines used on the continent of Africa (99%) are produced offshore. This makes African nations reliant on the West for major health care needs, a problem which was exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic. Afrigen Biologics (in partnership with the WHO) is seeking to lessen this disparity by putting vaccine production in the hands of South Africans and other low- and middle-income countries. Afrigen Biologics is the first in a plann...Starting at €8.20
-
Hitting Home: Amazon and Mary's Place
Healy, Paul M.; Spar, Debora L.; Klopfenstein, AmyCase HBS-122017-EBusiness Ethics and Corporate Social ResponsibilityIn 2020, Amazon, the $386 billion online retail behemoth, built an eight-story shelter for women and families experiencing homelessness on its expanding headquarters in Seattle, Washington. The shelter, operated in partnership with a non-profit organization known as Mary's Place, was designed to address what had become a searing problem for Seattle and many other wealthy American cities: although urban areas like New York, Los Angeles and San Fra...Starting at €8.20
-
Airbnb (A) (Spanish version)
Edelman, Benjamin; Luca, MichaelCase HBS-914S09Information TechnologiesAfter widely-publicized complaints of destructive guests and unreliable hosts, online apartment rental site Airbnb explores mechanisms to facilitate trust between guests and hosts. Flexible online reputation systems can collect and share information with ease, but Airbnb must decide which information guests and hosts should have to provide and how much flexibility each should have in selecting whom to do business with. A full-featured system coul...Starting at €8.20
-
Racial Discrimination on Airbnb: The Role of Platform Design
Luca, Michael; Stern, Scott; Cook, Devin; Kim, HyunjinCase HBS-920051-EStrategyThe case opens with a description of Airbnb's successful growth from 2008-2016. The case emphasizes the vital role played by trust among guests and hosts in the platform's success. Airbnb's co-founder and CEO Brian Chesky is quoted explaining, "Access is built on trust, and trust is built on transparency. When you remove anonymity, it brings out the best in people. We believe anonymity has no place in the future of Airbnb or the sharing economy....Starting at €8.20