Publications

Research Summary

Quality in Service Operations

Rogelio Oliva is interested in understanding how the operational characteristics of service delivery processes interact with human resource and marketing policies to determine the long term productivity, quality, and profitability of a service operation. Specifically,... View Details

January 2023 (Revised December 2023)
Case

OhmConnect: Energizing the Future

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport, Jennifer Fonstad and Nicole Tempest Keller

Founded in 2013, OhmConnect was a free consumer web app that alerted customers about peak hours of electricity demand, and paid them to lower their energy use at home during these periods. The company sold the aggregated reductions generated by thousands of households... View Details

Keywords: App Development; Renewable Energy; Electricity Usage; Regulations; VC; Technology; Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC); Scalability; Applications and Software; Growth and Development Strategy; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Business Model; Venture Capital; Energy Industry; United States; California; Texas; Europe

27 Feb 2019
Research & Ideas

The Hidden Cost of a Product Recall

competitors to take advantage of the market opportunity,” she says. Danielle Kost is senior editor at Harvard Business School Working Knowledge. Image: Jarretera Related Reading: Mattel: Getting a Toy Recall Right Don’t Just... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost; Manufacturing; Consumer Products; Auto; Medical Devices & Supplies

20 Feb 2017
Research & Ideas

Having No Life is the New Aspirational Lifestyle

an aspirational lifestyle. “The new conspicuous consumption is about saying, I am the scarce resource, and therefore I am valuable” The finding suggests a new way for marketers to sell their products and services to consumers by... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

05 May 2008
Research & Ideas

Connecting with Consumers Using Deep Metaphors

invoked imagery of Noah's Ark, one of the most famous containers of all time that withstood a major catastrophe. Q: How do you see the future of marketing? Is marketing becoming more or less responsive to... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Consumer Products

09 Nov 2023
Blog Post

The No. 1 Character Trait You Will Need to Succeed in Business

If you choose to pursue a career in business, I can guarantee that you will experience moments that will test you as never before. At times like those, what quality will you need more than any other? I believe that quality is courage.... View Details

September 2013
Case

Vogue: Defining the Culture of Fashion

By: Anita Elberse, Joseph Ferrer, Elizabeth Gough and Victoria Katsarou

In March 2013, Susan Plagemann, vice president and publisher of Vogue—widely regarded as the world's most influential fashion magazine, and publishing conglomerate Condé Nast's marquee title—is seeking answers to two questions. First, how she can best approach the... View Details

Keywords: Creative Industries; Fashion; Publishing; Digital Technology; Entertainment; Product Portfolio Management; Magazines; Journals and Magazines; Internet and the Web; Change Management; Resource Allocation; Creativity; Media; Advertising; Fashion Industry; Publishing Industry; Media and Broadcasting Industry

17 Jun 2017
Research & Ideas

Amazon, Whole Foods Deal a Big Win for Consumers

Source: 400tmax Editor's Note. Online retailing behemoth Amazon announced June 16 that it would acquire upscale grocery chain Whole Foods Market in a deal valued at more than $13 billion. Though the company has dabbled with the idea of a brick-and-mortar footprint in... View Details

Keywords: by Jose Alvarez and Len Schlesinger; Retail

18 Nov 2016
Working Paper Summaries

Standardized Color in the Food Industry: The Co-Creation of the Food Coloring Business in the United States, 1870–1940

Keywords: by Ai Hisano; Food & Beverage

26 May 2010
Working Paper Summaries

Unraveling Results from Comparable Demand and Supply: An Experimental Investigation

Keywords: by Muriel Niederle, Alvin E. Roth & M. Utku Unver

2011
Teaching Note

China Merchants Bank in Transition (TN)

By: F. Warren McFarlan, Guoqing Chen and Ziqian Zhao

This case depicts China Merchants Bank's second strategic transformation. In the 90's, China Merchants Bank creatively introduced an all-in-one-card and an all-in-one-net based on IT systems and network, enabling itself to expand nationwide. By successfully entering... View Details

Keywords: Commercial Banks; Credit Cards; Strategy; Transformations; China; Banking; Information Technology; Banking Industry; China

October 2000 (Revised May 2001)
Case

Digitas (A): Strategic Interactive Group

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter, David Lane and Courtenay Sprague

Kathy Biro, president of Digitas, an e-strategy consulting firm, has successfully grown out of the company's roots in the strategic interactive group. Her challenges now include managing the integration of the SIG with Digitas's other component, direct marketing firm... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Business Strategy; Internet and the Web; Integration; Expansion; Business or Company Management; Business Model; Organizational Design; Consulting Industry; Massachusetts

Find at Harvard

26 Nov 2010
News

Q&A: Harvard Study on Taj Employee Heroism

August 1998 (Revised July 2002)
Case

Innovation at 3M Corporation (A)

By: Stefan H. Thomke and Ashok Nimgade

Describes how 3M Corp. introduces and learns a new and innovative methodology called Lead User research to understand future customer and market needs. A team from 3M's Medical-Surgical Markets Division applies the Lead User methodology to the field of surgical... View Details

Keywords: Innovation and Management; Innovation Strategy; Managerial Roles; Marketing Strategy; Demand and Consumers; Market Timing; Product Development; Problems and Challenges; Business Strategy; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

14 Jul 2014
Research & Ideas

Pay Attention To Your ‘Extreme Consumers’

everyone. Click to watch. This past year, when it came time for students in the FIELD course to perform market research in advance of their trip overseas, Avery and Norton urged them to look for their own... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

January 2022
Case

Bee-ing Better at Bombas

By: Elizabeth A. Keenan, Youngme Moon and John Masko

David Heath and Randy Goldberg founded Bombas in 2013 to serve two missions: to deliver the “best socks in the history of feet,” and to donate socks (the most requested item in homeless shelters) to Americans experiencing homelessness. Eight years later, Bombas had... View Details

Keywords: Social Entrepreneurship; Values and Beliefs; Brands and Branding; Marketing Strategy; Digital Marketing; Distribution; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Mission and Purpose; Quality; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Human Needs; Poverty; Growth and Development Strategy; Apparel and Accessories Industry; New York (city, NY)