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- Faculty Publications (468)
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- November 1989 (Revised February 1992)
- Case
Ford Motor Co.: Dealer Sales and Service
Since Henry Ford founded Ford Motor Co., Ford vehicles have been sold and serviced the same way. By the late 1980s Ford began to consider making changes in its sales and service process. Two developments forced Ford to reconsider these processes. First, Ford found... View Details
Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Change Management; Distribution Channels; Customer Focus and Relationships; Service Industry; Auto Industry; Retail Industry; United States
Schlesinger, Leonard A. "Ford Motor Co.: Dealer Sales and Service." Harvard Business School Case 690-030, November 1989. (Revised February 1992.)
- May 2011
- Supplement
Baria Planning Solutions, Inc.: Fixing the Sales Process, Faculty Spreadsheet (Brief Case)
By: Steven C. Wheelwright and William Schmidt
- May 2011
- Supplement
Baria Planning Solutions, Inc.: Fixing the Sales Process, Spreadsheet Supplement (Brief Case)
By: Steven C. Wheelwright and William Schmidt
- 22 Mar 2017
- Research & Ideas
What's the Ideal Frequency for a Sales Quota?
More frequent quotas can motivate underperforming sales reps. StockPhoto Personal selling is a key ingredient in making the American economy go. According to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, about 10 percent of the labor force in... View Details
Keywords: by Carmen Nobel
- 06 Jul 2015
- Research & Ideas
Money and Quotas Motivate the Sales Force Best
It's well understood that cash bonuses often motivate a sales force to step up its game, but they don't work in every scenario and in some cases can backfire, a new study from Harvard Business School has found. The key variable? Whether... View Details
- September 2002
- Case
Align Technology, Inc.: Matching Manufacturing Capacity to Sales Demand
By: H. Kent Bowen and Jonathan P Groberg
Align Technology is a four-year-old medical products company that has invented a new product requiring new manufacturing processes. Demand for the new product has grown more slowly than initial forecasts predicted, and the cost structure is preventing the company from... View Details
Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Problems and Challenges; Product; Forecasting and Prediction; Marketing Strategy; Sales; Demand and Consumers; Production; Health Industry
Bowen, H. Kent, and Jonathan P Groberg. "Align Technology, Inc.: Matching Manufacturing Capacity to Sales Demand." Harvard Business School Case 603-058, September 2002.
- October 1988 (Revised December 1989)
- Case
Siemens Electric Motor Works (B): Pricing Interdivisional Sales
Examines Siemens' policy for pricing products transferred between the manufacturing and sales divisions of their Electric Motor Works, where both are profit centers. It is unique in that the organizational linkage between the product costing system and the transfer... View Details
Keywords: Production; Price; Organizational Structure; Profit; Business Processes; Manufacturing Industry
Wruck, Karen. "Siemens Electric Motor Works (B): Pricing Interdivisional Sales." Harvard Business School Case 189-090, October 1988. (Revised December 1989.)
- August 2016 (Revised June 2017)
- Case
Oversight Systems
By: Frank V. Cespedes and Amram Migdal
The case, set in May 2016, discusses sales strategy and managing sales and service at Oversight Systems, an Atlanta, Georgia–based software firm that developed analytics for organizations to monitor their data for errors, fraud, and operational inefficiencies. Included... View Details
Keywords: Sales; Sales Strategy; Entrepreneurial Sales; Entrepreneurial Sales And Marketing; Software Sales; Marketing; Marketing Management; Pricing; Salesforce Management; Distribution Channels; Marketing Strategy; Technology Industry; North America; United States; Atlanta; Georgia (state, US)
Cespedes, Frank V., and Amram Migdal. "Oversight Systems." Harvard Business School Case 817-015, August 2016. (Revised June 2017.)
- April 2021
- Supplement
Buy Online, Pickup in Store: Vice President of Store Operations Supplement
By: Antonio Moreno, Santiago Gallino and Amy Klopfenstein
In April 2019, Sylvarella VP of Store Operations Axley Vega must review an analysis of her department’s sales data to determine the impact of the company’s Buy Online, Pickup in Store (BOPS) program. BOPS implementation created significant problems for the store... View Details
Keywords: Operations; Service Delivery; Logistics; Infrastructure; Distribution Channels; Order Taking and Fulfillment; Analysis; Retail Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry; United States; Canada
Moreno, Antonio, Santiago Gallino, and Amy Klopfenstein. "Buy Online, Pickup in Store: Vice President of Store Operations Supplement." Harvard Business School Supplement 621-105, April 2021.
- August 2022 (Revised November 2022)
- Case
Wasabi Technologies
By: N. Louis Shipley and Mel Martin
After launching a successful hot cloud storage company, Founder and CEO David Friend is ready to scale the venture rapidly. Wasabi Technologies had focused primarily on direct sales, but an opportunity to pivot to channel sales was on the horizon. The company’s major... View Details
Keywords: Direct Sales; Channel Sales; Information Management; Sales; Product Development; Growth and Development Strategy; Business Divisions; Information Technology Industry; United States
Shipley, N. Louis, and Mel Martin. "Wasabi Technologies." Harvard Business School Case 823-021, August 2022. (Revised November 2022.)
- Article
How a Fast-Growing Startup Built Its Sales Team for Long-Term Success
By: Frank V. Cespedes and David Mattson
It’s common for leaders of sales teams to focus almost exclusively on short-term tactics and current operations while failing to think and act in a way that supports the longer-term needs of their businesses—and it’s hard to fault them. The biggest problem with a... View Details
Cespedes, Frank V., and David Mattson. "How a Fast-Growing Startup Built Its Sales Team for Long-Term Success." Harvard Business Review (website) (December 4, 2017).
- Article
Execution: The Missing Link in Retail Operations
By: Ananth Raman, Nicole DeHoratius and Zeynep Ton
Keywords: Sales
Raman, Ananth, Nicole DeHoratius, and Zeynep Ton. "Execution: The Missing Link in Retail Operations." California Management Review 43, no. 3 (Spring 2001).
- February 2017
- Teaching Note
Oversight Systems
By: Frank Cespedes
This Teaching Note accompanies the case, set in May 2016, which discusses sales strategy and channel partnerships at Oversight Systems, an early stage software firm that developed analytics for organizations to monitor their data for errors, fraud, and operational... View Details
- September 2010
- Article
Do Inventory and Gross Margin Data Improve Sales Forecasts for U.S. Public Retailers?
By: Saravanan Kesavan, Vishal Gaur and Ananth Raman
Firm-level sales forecasts for retailers can be improved if we incorporate cost of goods sold, inventory, and gross margin (defined here as the ratio of sales to cost of goods sold) as three endogenous variables. We construct a simultaneous equations model, estimated... View Details
Keywords: Sales; Forecasting and Prediction; Distribution; Goods and Commodities; Cost; Public Sector; Profit; Mathematical Methods; Analytics and Data Science; Retail Industry; United States
Kesavan, Saravanan, Vishal Gaur, and Ananth Raman. "Do Inventory and Gross Margin Data Improve Sales Forecasts for U.S. Public Retailers?" Management Science 56, no. 9 (September 2010): 1519–1533.
- 13 Mar 2017
- Research & Ideas
Hiding Products From Customers May Ultimately Boost Sales
Concealment, co-authored by Kris Johnson Ferreira and Joel Goh, both assistant professors in the Technology and Operations Management Unit at Harvard Business School. The paper is novel in that it considers product categories in which... View Details
- 12 Feb 2007
- Working Paper Summaries
Adding Bricks to Clicks: The Effects of Store Openings on Sales through Direct Channels
- November 2008 (Revised May 2009)
- Supplement
BMW's Project Switch (B): Importers vs. National Sales Companies
By: Das Narayandas, Kerry Herman and Laura Winig
BMW is faced with potential channel conflicts across several EU country markets. The case concludes the (A) case's exploration of BMW's approach to redesigning the channel in Greece. The case provides details on both headquarter and country head perspective on BMW's... View Details
Keywords: Business Units; Business Headquarters; Marketing Strategy; Distribution Channels; Conflict and Resolution; Auto Industry; European Union
Narayandas, Das, Kerry Herman, and Laura Winig. "BMW's Project Switch (B): Importers vs. National Sales Companies." Harvard Business School Supplement 509-024, November 2008. (Revised May 2009.)
- September 2008 (Revised February 2009)
- Case
BMW's Project Switch (A): Importers vs. National Sales Companies
By: Das Narayandas and Kerry Herman
BMW is faced with potential channel conflicts across several EU country markets. The case highlights BMW's approach to redesigning its channel in Greece. The case provides details on both headquarter and country head perspective on BMW's channel strategy. View Details
Keywords: Marketing Strategy; Distribution Channels; Conflict and Resolution; Auto Industry; European Union; Greece
Narayandas, Das, and Kerry Herman. "BMW's Project Switch (A): Importers vs. National Sales Companies." Harvard Business School Case 509-023, September 2008. (Revised February 2009.)
- November 2022
- Case
The Battle Among Channels for Marketing Pharmaceuticals: UpScript, Pharmacy Benefit Managers, and Direct-to-Consumer Sales
By: Regina E. Herzlinger and Tiffany Farrell
Can an online, direct-to-consumer pharmacy both improve the quality and speed of care for patients who need branded drugs and stabilize profits for pharmaceutical manufacturers? UpScript, after years spent achieving legal and regulatory compliance and simultaneous... View Details
Keywords: DTC; Internet and the Web; Marketing Channels; Customer Value and Value Chain; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Competitive Strategy; Service Delivery; Growth and Development Strategy; Pharmaceutical Industry; Health Industry; Retail Industry
Herzlinger, Regina E., and Tiffany Farrell. "The Battle Among Channels for Marketing Pharmaceuticals: UpScript, Pharmacy Benefit Managers, and Direct-to-Consumer Sales." Harvard Business School Case 323-031, November 2022.
- February 2021
- Article
How Transparency into Internal and External Responsibility Initiatives Influences Consumer Choice
By: Ryan W. Buell and Basak Kalkanci
Amid growing calls for transparency and social and environmental responsibility, companies are employing different strategies to improve consumer perceptions of their brands. Some pursue internal initiatives that reduce their negative social or environmental impacts... View Details
Keywords: Sustainable Operations; Corporate Social Responsibility; Operational Transparency; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Operations; Environmental Sustainability; Consumer Behavior; Perception
Buell, Ryan W., and Basak Kalkanci. "How Transparency into Internal and External Responsibility Initiatives Influences Consumer Choice." Management Science 67, no. 2 (February 2021): 932–950.