Publications

11 Aug 2008
Research & Ideas

Strategy Execution and the Balanced Scorecard

financial strategy. If the company does not have a distinctive brand or market presence, a focus on identifying an attractive customer segment, such as through Harvard University professor Michael Porter's positioning framework, W. Chan... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

14 Sep 2012
Working Paper Summaries

What Do Managers Do? Exploring Persistent Performance Differences among Seemingly Similar Enterprises

An abstract is unavailable at this time. View Details

Keywords: by Robert Gibbons & Rebecca Henderson

July–August 2017
Article

Why Outlet Stores Exist: Averting Cannibalization in Product Line Extensions

By: Donald Ngwe

Outlet stores are a large and growing component of many firms' retailing strategies, particularly in the fashion industry. Outlet stores offer attractive prices in locations far from central shopping districts. The main perspectives on why outlet stores exist can be... View Details

Keywords: Fashion; Industrial Organization; Outlet Stores; Price Discrimination; Retail; Channel Management; Luxury; Product Marketing; Price; Retail Industry; Fashion Industry

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25 Jan 2017
HBS Case

How Should Advertisers Respond to Consumer Demand for Whiter Skin?

case, lighter-skinned women have been favored in India’s ads. Advertisements in the 1980s told stories of dark-skinned women unable to find husbands until they applied fairness creams. Later, skin lightening brand Fair & Lovely linked... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Beauty & Cosmetics

Research Summary

Moving Beyond Direct-to-Consumer

By: Leonard A. Schlesinger

Changing consumer behaviors have redefined what it means to be direct to consumer ("DTC"). What once began online a decade ago as a distribution and disintermediation strategy has since evolved into a multifaceted approach for the modern-day brand.

The... View Details

September 2023 (Revised June 2024)
Case

Kaspi.kz: Building Trust through Innovation

By: Sandra J. Sucher, Fares Khrais and Marilyn Morgan Westner

This case is written to help students explore how companies can maintain and develop trust while innovating, how to identify and respond effectively to warning signs that they may not be as trusted as they believe, and how being trusted can aid in expanding and growing... View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development Strategy; Organizational Culture; Trust; Technology Adoption; Innovation and Invention; Banking Industry

May 2018
Case

Inditex: 2018

By: John R. Wells and Gabriel Ellsworth

In 2018, Inditex, based in Spain, was the largest specialist fashion retailer in the world, generating sales of $31.5 billion in 2017 from a portfolio of eight retail brands selling through a total of 7,475 stores located in 96 countries and from websites in 49... View Details

Keywords: Fashion; Succession; IPO; Competition; Initial Public Offering; Multinational Firms and Management; Management Succession; Growth and Development Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Retail Industry; Fashion Industry

Web

Historical Data & Sources - Business History

Harvard Business Review 90 (July/August 2012): 141-45 Natura Annual Reports, 2007-2013 Map created by John Regan, MBA 2016 Download Data Set in Excel Pampers Brand Sales by Country Courtesy of Proctor & Gamble Map created by John Regan,... View Details

September 2020
Case

Blackstone: Crocs Investment

By: Victoria Ivashina, John D. Dionne and Terrence Shu

This case follows Prakash Melwani (HBS MBA '86), CIO of Blackstone's Private Equity Group, and his teams’ investment in the footwear company Crocs. Instead of a traditional secondary offering, Crocs opted for a unique deal structure by taking Blackstone's cash in a... View Details

Keywords: Private Investment In Public Equity; PIPE Deal; Investment; Brands and Branding; Strategy

13 Apr 2016
Research & Ideas

Why Your Company Wants to be a 'Cognitive Referent' (Hint: SpaceX)

When Rory M. McDonald was working on his PhD at Stanford University in 2007, it was the heyday of the lean startup in Silicon Valley. “It seemed like pretty much every week there was some new market category being touted as the next big thing,” says McDonald, an... View Details

Keywords: by Roberta Holland; Aerospace; Food & Beverage; Retail

November 2022
Background Note

The Future of E-Commerce: Lessons from the Livestream Wars in China

By: Ayelet Israeli, Jeremy Yang and Billy Chan

This note explores the emerging multi-billion dollar commerce trend of livestream commerce. Livestream commerce is the sale of goods or services directly to consumers via live shows on digital platforms (such as social media or e-commerce platforms). It is a form of... View Details