Publications

July 2002
Case

Introducing ... The XFL!

By: Susan M. Fournier, Stephen A. Greyser and Seth Schulman

When the XFL professional football league debuted on February 3, 2001, it generated a Nielsen rating of 10.1, higher than any nationally televised program in a Saturday evening time slot. The next week, ratings plummeted, and by week nine the XFL game earned the title... View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Forecasting and Prediction; Product Positioning; Consumer Behavior; Product Development; Culture; Commercialization

28 Jun 2004
Research & Ideas

Microfinance: A Way Out for the Poor

for someone to get off the ground: enough to buy inventory, rent space, and begin to generate an income in order to feed, clothe, and shelter a family. A legal loan of that amount from a real bank is also the difference between paying... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

February 1987 (Revised August 1988)
Case

Gillette Personal Care Division: Marketing Planning and Control

Bill Ryan, president of the Gillette Co.'s Personal Care Division, is considering changing the division's planning and control system for marketing. White Rain, the division's most recent success, had been launched by taking shortcuts through the system, while other... View Details

Keywords: Marketing; Management Systems; Consumer Products Industry; United States

01 Aug 2005
What Do You Think?

Is There an “Efficient Market” in CEO Compensation?

leader. . . . If they do not generate wins for the team, a CEO should get what the rest of us get when we don't deliver: nothing." These suggestions leave us with some interesting questions. Can... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

10 Oct 2005
Research & Ideas

Homers: Secrets on the Factory Floor

consequences of homer making seem cut and dried. But not so fast, says Harvard Business School assistant professor Michel Anteby. In interviews with retirees of the French Pierreville aeronautics plant,... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Manufacturing

04 Jul 2016
Research & Ideas

Is Your Org Chart Stuck in a Rut? Try a Scientific Experiment

theoretical target always makes for a more difficult synthesis. But that’s the fun part too: taking a bunch of interesting experiments and data and figuring out how to make it useful to us as a research... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

05 Mar 2014
What Do You Think?

When Will the Next Dot.com Bubble Burst?

Summing Up Is "Collateral Damage" from Economic Bubbles Inevitable, Necessary, and Useful? According to the old saw, markets are made by differences of opinion. If that's the case, there is a real market around the question... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Publishing; Retail

February 2021
Teaching Plan

Soofa: Displaying the Right Path?

By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang and Amy Klopfenstein

This teaching plan serves as a supplement to the case “Soofa: Displaying the Right Path?” HBS 820-098. The case explores the tension between two different financing and expansion plans for a startup, and explores issues related to business model pivots and industry... View Details

July 2020
Teaching Note

Shindigz

By: Frank Cespedes

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 819-010. Shindigz sells party and celebratory items through its branded direct online channel, third-party retail and wholesale channels, and online marketplaces. Shindigz has for decades successfully executed a premium-priced branded... View Details

Keywords: Ecommerce; Pricing; Price; Strategy; Decision Making; Distribution Channels; Brands and Branding; E-commerce; Consumer Products Industry

December 1993 (Revised November 2009)
Case

Manville Corporation Fiber Glass Group (A)

By: Lynn S. Paine and Sarah Gant

Manville Corp.'s senior managers must decide how to respond to a new scientific study suggesting that fiberglass, the source of 75% of the company's profits, may be another asbestos and must act under conditions of great uncertainty. In particular, when should a... View Details

Keywords: Communication Strategy; Decision Choices and Conditions; Ethics; Health Disorders; Risk Management; Marketing Communications; Product; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Safety; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry

16 Dec 2008
First Look

First Look: December 16, 2008

Publication:Annual Review of Psychology 60 (2009): 475-499 Abstract As technology has simplified meeting basic needs, humans have cultivated increasingly psychological avenues for occupying their consumption energies, moving from View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

March 1992 (Revised April 2000)
Case

Joline Godfrey and the Polaroid Corporation (A)

By: Linda A. Hill and Nancy A Kamprath

Describes how Joline Godfrey, an intrapreneur at the Polaroid Corp., introduced and developed a project that could help Polaroid move to a more service- as opposed to product-oriented focus. Also depicts the mentor-protege relationship between Godfrey and Gerald... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Entrepreneurship; Rank and Position; Leading Change; Problems and Challenges; Change; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry

30 Jan 2017
Research & Ideas

Vanguard, Trian And The Problem With 'Passive' Index Funds

is not in the best interest of their investors. For example, Vanguard has participated in proxy votes at shareholder meetings. While it has mostly voted in accordance with recommendations by management, in... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Financial Services

14 Apr 2009
First Look

First Look: April 14, 2009

consumers to purchase more than one brand. When consumers purchase all varieties from which they derive non-negative net utility, there is no competition, so that each firm behaves like an unconstrained... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

20 Nov 2007
First Look

First Look: November 20, 2007

a period of financial repression. Nationalization led to lower interest rates and lower quality intermediation and may have slowed employment gains in trade and services. Development lending goals were met,... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

April 1980 (Revised September 1985)
Background Note

The Disposable Diaper Industry in 1974

By: Michael E. Porter

Describes the rapidly growing disposable diaper industry in 1974, a period in which Procter and Gamble's industry leadership faced strong challenges from Kimberly Clark, Johnson and Johnson, and Union Carbide. The latter two firms were in the process of entry into the... View Details

Keywords: Market Entry and Exit; Competition; Consumer Products Industry

21 May 2001
Research & Ideas

From Tigers to Kaleidoscopes: Thinking About Future Leadership

of its own; it reflects only the collective outcome of a relentless pursuit of individual gain. "A company prospers by creating a broader sense View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

March 2007 (Revised March 2007)
Case

Burt's Bees: Leaving the Hive

Rapid growth is pushing Burt's Bees' natural personal care products into mass distribution channels, with products and brand elements that are less quirky, more commercial than they used to be. Indeed, CEO John Replogle believes that by focusing on efficacious,... View Details

Keywords: Growth Management; Consumer Behavior; Asset Pricing; Entrepreneurship; Distribution Channels; Product Development; Brands and Branding; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; United States