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- December 2014
- Article
Second Thoughts About a Strategy Shift
By: Elie Ofek and Jill Avery
A retail guru attempts to reposition an established brand and introduce an entirely new pricing scheme. Early financial results from the strategic shift are not favorable. Based on the experience of U.S. retailer J.C. Penney, the piece raises fundamental questions... View Details
- November 2014
- Article
Beyond Bedlam: How Consumers and Brands Alike Are Playing the Web
By: John A. Deighton and Leora Kornfeld
The new marketing order, as played out on media platforms like YouTube, Twitter and Instagram, is so unlike the order it is displacing that it might seem like bedlam, an asylum of sorts for ideas intelligible only to their creators. And yet, surely, something... View Details
- Article
The Upside to Large Competitors
By: Neeru Paharia, Anat Keinan and Jill Avery
Large companies are often viewed as a major threat for startups and small companies; big companies have more financial resources and greater scale, market power, and brand awareness than small ones. However, our research finds that a smaller brand can actually benefit... View Details
- October 2014 (Revised June 2016)
- Case
MasterCard: Driving Financial Inclusion
By: Sunil Gupta, Rajiv Lal and Natalie Kindred
MasterCard CEO Ajay Banga was investing significant time and attention to increase financial inclusion among individuals with historically no access to banking or financial services in countries around the world with large underserved populations. The effort included... View Details
- October 2014
- Article
Making Charity Pay
By: Michael I. Norton and Jill Avery
Companies are increasingly experimenting with the use of philanthropy to enhance consumer loyalty, brand awareness, and sales. But even highly creative approaches that garner a lot of buzz often fall short of sales goals, leading many companies to conclude,... View Details
- September 2014 (Revised June 2016)
- Case
edX: Strategies for Higher Education
By: David Collis, Matthew Shaffer and Ashley Hartman
In May 2012, Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) founded edX, a new non-profit joint venture that would provide a platform for massive open online courses (MOOCs). edX did not produce original courses or instructional content—it made... View Details
- September 2014
- Article
The Interrelationships Between Brand and Channel Choice
By: Scott Neslin, Kenshuk Jerath, Anand Bodapati, Eric T. Bradlow, John A. Deighton, Sonja Gensler, Leonard Lee, Elisa Montaguti, Rahul Telang, Raj Venkatesan, Peter C. Verhoef and Z. John Zhang
We propose a framework for the joint study of the consumer's decision of where to buy and what to buy. The framework is rooted in utility theory where the utility is for a particular channel/brand combination. The framework contains firm actions, the consumer search... View Details
- August 2014
- Teaching Note
Peter Guber: The 'Me' vs. 'We' Brand
By: Stephen A. Greyser, William Ellet and Nelson Gayton
Well-known film producer Peter Guber must decide whether to commit to a time-consuming personal project. He is about to sign a contract for a business book in which he will share what he has learned in his long career. At the same time, he is keenly aware of problems... View Details
- 2014
- Working Paper
The Nobel Prize: A 'Heritage-based' Brand-oriented Network
By: Mats Urde and Stephen A. Greyser
Purpose — Understanding the Nobel Prize as a 'true' heritage brand in a networked situation and its management challenges, especially regarding identity and reputation.
Methodology — The Nobel Prize serves as an in-depth case study and is analysed within... View Details
Methodology — The Nobel Prize serves as an in-depth case study and is analysed within... View Details
- August 2014
- Case
Peter Guber: The 'Me' vs. 'We' Brand
By: Stephen A. Greyser, William Ellet and Nelson Gayton
Well-known film producer Peter Guber must decide whether to commit to a time-consuming personal project. He is about to sign a contract for a business book in which he will share what he has learned in his long career. At the same time, he is keenly aware of problems... View Details
- Summer 2014
- Article
Taiwan's PC Industry, 1976–2010: The Evolution of Organizational Capabilities
By: Howard H. Yu and Willy C. Shih
The stellar growth of Taiwan's personal computer (PC) industry over the past three decades represents a paradox. Participating in the global production system, local firms in Taiwan grew in association with established firms in the West. Despite their technical... View Details
Keywords: Personal Computer; PC; PC Industry; Taiwan PC Industry; Taiwan PC Manufacturers; Innovation and Invention; Innovation and Management; Innovation Strategy; Growth and Development; Growth and Development Strategy; Growth Management; Industry Clusters; Industry Growth; Industry Structures; Information Technology; Technological Innovation; Mobile Technology; Information Technology Industry; Taiwan
- July–August 2014
- Article
Unlock the Mysteries of Your Customer Relationships
By: Jill Avery, Susan Fournier and John Wittenbraker
Consumers have always had relationships with brands, but sophisticated tools for analyzing customer data are finally allowing marketing organizations to personalize and manage those relationships. With this new power comes a new challenge: people now expect companies... View Details
- June 2014 (Revised March 2016)
- Case
Relating to Peapod
By: Susan Fournier and Jill Avery
Explores the relationships formed between consumers and the Peapod consumer-direct grocery delivery service, as revealed through an ethnographic study of Boston-area Peapod shoppers conducted between the Summer of 1997 and the Fall of 1999. Three representative case... View Details
- June 2014
- Article
Building Brand Knowledge Structures: Elaboration and Interference Effects on the Processing of Sequentially Advertised Brand Benefit Claims
By: Susan E. Heckler, Kevin L. Keller, Michael J. Houston and Jill Avery
Two experiments are reported that examine the effects of an ad campaign designed to link two different benefit claims to a brand. The findings indicated that recall for a subsequently advertised claim depended on the strength of existing brand-benefit links in memory.... View Details
- May 2014 (Revised March 2017)
- Case
Unilever's Lifebuoy in India: Implementing the Sustainability Plan
Unilever's new Global Brand VP must not only revitalize Lifebuoy soap's sagging market performance, but simultaneously impact the health of one billion people worldwide. The latter challenge comes from Unilever's new CEO who has introduced the Unilever Sustainable... View Details
Keywords: Multinational Management; Corporate Social Responsibility; Strategy Implementation; Marketing Strategy; Mission And Purpose; Change Management; International Business; Global; Fast-moving Consumer Goods; Soap; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Health Care and Treatment; Environmental Sustainability; Global Strategy; Developing Countries and Economies; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; Health Industry; India
- May 2014
- Case
Goldman Sachs: Anchoring Standards After the Financial Crisis
By: Rajiv Lal and Lisa Mazzanti
Goldman Sachs, a longtime venerable financial institution headquartered in New York City, had a partnership culture that was known to value its clients. But when the financial crisis hit in 2008 and Goldman Sachs emerged relatively unscathed, its public image took a... View Details
- Article
Making 'Green Giants': Environment Sustainability in the German Chemical Industry, 1950s–1980s
By: Geoffrey Jones and Christina Lubinski
This article examines the evolution of corporate environmentalism in the West German chemical industry between the 1950s and the 1980s. It focuses on two companies, Bayer and Henkel, that have been identified as "green giants," and traces the evolution of their... View Details
- 2014
- Other Teaching and Training Material
Marketing Reading: Brand Positioning
By: Jill Avery and Sunil Gupta
This Reading addresses the principles of brand positioning and demonstrates how companies can strategically craft powerful, resonant, and unique brand positions to help products stand out amidst the cacophony of the marketplace. Strategic brand positioning provides... View Details
Keywords: Brand Positioning; Branding; Consumer Research; Defensive Strategies; Market Positioning; Marketing; Product Differentiation; Product Positioning; Strategic Positioning; Value Proposition; Customer Relationship Management; Organizational Structure; Customer Satisfaction; Brands and Branding
- April 2014 (Revised July 2017)
- Case
The Park Hotels: Revitalizing an Iconic Indian Brand
By: Jill Avery and Chekitan S. Dev
Priya Paul, chairperson of The Park Hotels, an award-winning portfolio of thirteen boutique hotels scattered across India, was in the midst of a brand revitalization program. Landor Associates, a leading brand consultancy had identified three areas of concern: the... View Details