Publications

July 2009 (Revised August 2010)
Case

Radiant Cosmetics: What's in a Pout?

By: Robert C. Pozen and Mary Ellen Webster Hammond

In 2006, Radiant Cosmetics president and CEO, Margaret Clark, was contemplating the launch of a new, lip-plumping product called "Four Carat Pout." Clark faced many decisions concerning the launch: marketing the product as a luxury brand or a retail item; how to... View Details

Keywords: Global Strategy; Globalized Markets and Industries; Intellectual Property; Marketing Strategy; Product Marketing; Product Launch; Product Positioning; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry

28 Mar 2016
News

Drawing Connections Between Business and Art

as a commodity and an investment. Japanese culture has always valued art and incorporated it into nearly everything, Shibayama notes. Something as minor as the gift wrapping on a box is usually carefully... View Details

Keywords: Constantine von Hoffman

April 2007 (Revised June 2008)
Background Note

AmorePacific

By: Elie Ofek and Kerry Herman

Describes the dominant firm in the Korean cosmetics market up to the mid-2000s. Gives background on AmorePacific's historical evolution, its current brands, and the competition it faces from local and international players. Also provides information on the market... View Details

Keywords: History; Competition; Distribution Channels; Brands and Branding; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; South Korea

01 Sep 2018
News

September 2018 Alumni and Faculty Books

entrepreneurial powerhouse. Carolyn’s mix of pep talk and tough love got Tyra to where she is today, and here they pay it forward to empower readers. Whether they’re writing about watching Tyra’s most... View Details

01 Mar 2023
News

March 2023 Alumni and Faculty Books

Edited by Margie Kelley Alumni Books Invisible Trillions: How Financial Secrecy Is Imperiling Capitalism and Democracy—and the Way to Renew Our Broken System By Raymond W. Baker (MBA 1960) Berrett-Koehler Publishers Over the last half century, capitalism has created... View Details

Keywords: Publishing Industries (except Internet); Information

April 1991 (Revised March 2017)
Teaching Note

Mary Kay Cosmetics: Sales Force Incentives (A) and (B)

By: Robert Simons

Teaching Note for (9-190-103) and (9-190-122). View Details

Keywords: Motivation and Incentives; Salesforce Management; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry

March 2003 (Revised March 2004)
Case

P&G Japan: The SK-II Globalization Project

By: Christopher A. Bartlett

Traces changes in P&G's international strategy and structure, culminating in Organization 2005, a reorganization that places strategic emphasis on product innovation rather than geographic expansion and shifts power from local subsidiary to global business management.... View Details

Keywords: Business Subsidiaries; Trade; Globalization; Global Strategy; Innovation Strategy; Business or Company Management; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; Hong Kong; Japan; Taiwan; Europe

21 Aug 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, August 21, 2018

2018 Boston: Harvard Business Review Press Driving Digital Strategy: A Guide to Reimagining Your Business By: Gupta, Sunil Abstract—Disruption and transformation get a lot of hype and for good reason.... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

01 Dec 2018
News

Alumni and Faculty Books for December 2018

they work to peel away a portion of the consumer decision-making process, the way Birchbox offered women a new way to sample new beauty products from a variety of cosmetics and... View Details

22 Feb 2022
News

March 2022 Alumni and Faculty Books

above and beyond than what Mama asked. Fu’s playful humor and bouncy rhythms, set against Julie Kwon’s expressive illustrations, perfectly captures how a plucky daughter’s exuberance View Details

October 2005 (Revised July 2009)
Case

MD Beauty, Inc.

By: William A. Sahlman and Elizabeth Kind

Describes some of the issues confronting the entrepreneurial team responsible for creating a highly successful natural beauty and skin care company. They are considering selling all or some portion of the company's stock. View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Stocks; Financial Strategy; Management Teams; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry

Find at Harvard

July–August 2012
Article

The Growth Opportunity That Lies Next Door

By: G. Jones

This article uses the case of Natura, the largest Brazilian beauty company and one of the world's top twenty beauty companies, to explore how the logic of globalization is changing for corporations from emerging countries as growth opportunities in those countries... View Details

Keywords: Brazil; Marketing; Green Marketing; Environment; Globalization; Developing Countries and Economies; Geographic Location; Growth and Development Strategy; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; Latin America; Europe

Find at Harvard

June 1995
Supplement

Dow Corning and the Breast Implant Controversy (B)

By: Willis M. Emmons III, Monica Brand and Greg Keller

Provides an update to the (A) case. View Details

Keywords: Health Industry; Health Industry

25 Feb 2020
News

Alumni and Faculty Books for March 2020

who is invested in keeping it that way. The book presents a new vision of how health care could work if it were truly designed to meet consumer needs, creating a call to action on how to demand and help create such a system. A wake-up... View Details

January 1983 (Revised June 1985)
Case

Mary Kay Cosmetics, Inc.: Marketing Communications

By: John A. Quelch

Marketing executives at the company are considering the merits of a variety of communications programs designed to increase the effectiveness of the company's sales force of beauty consultants. View Details

Keywords: Marketing Communications; Salesforce Management; Decision Making; Performance Effectiveness; Management Teams; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; United States

Web

Building Iconic Brands and Brighter Futures: Interview with Glossier CEO, Kyle Leahy - Recruiting

platform for purpose.” “The beauty industry is a $500 billion industry that's been built to make women feel that they should look a certain way or feel a certain way. We are... View Details

June 2011 (Revised May 2012)
Case

L'Oréal: Global Brand, Local Knowledge

By: Rebecca M. Henderson and Ryan Johnson

Worldwide, and in the U.S. marketplace in particular, the French cachet of L'Oréal was one of its most powerful marketing tools. However, with the opening up of emerging markets, L'Oréal had to cater to a diverse customer base: an aging population in the West, ethnic... View Details

Keywords: Globalization; Brands and Branding; Marketing Communications; Change Management; Sales; Emerging Markets; Segmentation; Innovation and Invention; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; France; United States