Publications

Find at Harvard

21 Aug 2013
Research & Ideas

What Went Wrong at J.C. Penney?

backfire. Sales last year fell 25 percent, resulting in a net loss of $985 million, and the blood-letting continued in quarterly results released this week. In a recent interview, Harvard Business School marketing expert Rajiv Lal, the... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Aisner; Retail

Research Summary

Innovation and Productivity

In this stream of research, Professor Steinwender examines how firms adjust their innovative behavior and productivity in response to changes in the external environment. Analyzing Spanish firm-level data, she finds that two mechanisms proposed in the economic... View Details

20 Apr 2016
Research & Ideas

When CEOs Become Activists

debate about gay rights in Indiana” To investigate, Toffel and Chatterji designed an experiment to gauge whether mentioning Cook’s concerns about the RFRA influenced public support for the law, and whether Cook’s opinion affected consumers’ intent to buy Apple... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Technology; Publishing

25 Jan 2017
HBS Case

How Should Advertisers Respond to Consumer Demand for Whiter Skin?

superior to those with darker skin colors, are marketers crossing a line? Cream makers say they are merely meeting a market need, but social activists argue that these companies have an ethical... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Beauty & Cosmetics

03 Dec 2008
What Do You Think?

Can Housing and Credit be “Nudged” Back to Health?

loan. Further, they suggest in a recent Financial Times op-ed that "government and the market should try to deal with temptation" (our limited self-control) by, for example, requiring that families accumulate some savings or be... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett

January 2016 (Revised July 2018)
Case

Cyberdyne: A Leap to the Future

By: Doug J. Chung and Mayuka Yamazaki

Cyberdyne Inc. was a Japanese technology venture that wanted to commercialize a hybrid assistive limb (HAL). HAL was a robotic exoskeleton system for people who had difficulty walking due to nervous system disabilities resulting from stroke, spinal cord injury (SCI),... View Details

Keywords: Go-to-market Strategy; Pricing; Sales Channel; Technological Innovation; Marketing; Sales; Distribution; Strategy; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

June 2010 (Revised August 2021)
Case

Vereinigung Hamburger Schiffsmakler und Schiffsagenten e.V. (VHSS): Valuing Ships

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Albert Sheen

After booming for more than five years, the global shipping (maritime) industry experienced a dramatic crash in late 2008 as the global financial system froze and the global economy slid into recession. Ship charter rates (revenue) fell by as much as 90% causing prices... View Details

Keywords: Fair Value Accounting; Financial Crisis; Capital Markets; Financial Liquidity; International Finance; Globalized Markets and Industries; Valuation; Banking Industry; Shipping Industry; Germany

September 2019 (Revised June 2021)
Case

Dove and Real Beauty: Building a Brand with Purpose

By: Mark R. Kramer, Myriam Sidibe and Gunjan Veda

Unilever subsidiary Dove soap became a "brand with a purpose" and created shared value when the company decided to launch a Campaign for Real Beauty to combat the artificial media-driven stereotype of female beauty that causes appearance anxiety in women and girls... View Details

Keywords: Stereotype; Body Image; Female; Self-Esteem; Brands and Branding; Mission and Purpose; Advertising Campaigns; Gender; Resource Allocation

May 2016 (Revised March 2020)
Teaching Note

Cyberdyne: A Leap to the Future

By: Doug J. Chung and Mayuka Yamazaki

Cyberdyne Inc. was a Japanese technology venture founded in 2004 by scientist Yoshiyuki Sankai to commercialize a hybrid assistive limb (HAL). HAL was a robotic exoskeleton system for people who had difficulty walking due to nervous system disabilities resulting from... View Details

Keywords: Health Disorders; Technological Innovation; Marketing Strategy; Decisions; Product Launch; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

08 Dec 2017
News

Why Independent Bookstores Work in the Age of Amazon

23 Mar 2016
Research & Ideas

Researchers Prove C-Suite Gender Gap—but Can’t Explain It

sciences); family background (e.g. birth order and where the executive grew up); career (including years of labor market experience and number of days unemployed); and current family status (e.g. marital status and number of children at... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

09 Mar 2022
Research & Ideas

War in Ukraine: Soaring Gas Prices and the Return of Stagflation?

energy markets, but it is otherwise not an important market for most firms in the world, and certainly not for many American firms. It’s just because Russia is such a geopolitical player that it seems like Russia is a big part of the... View Details

Keywords: by Avery Forman; Energy

17 Aug 2021
Op-Ed

Dispensing Justice: The Case for Legalizing Cannabis Nationally

of the harm caused to mostly young people of color during the “war on drugs.” The proposal has also been lauded for reflecting public sentiment in removing cannabis’s classification as a Schedule I drug. "The legal cannabis industry is... View Details

Keywords: by Ashish Nanda and Tabatha Robinson

September 1986
Case

BOC Group: Ohmeda (A)

The president of Ohmeda, a wholly owned company of the BOC Group, plans to grow the company's medical equipment sales from $95 million in 1985 to $158 million in five years by focusing on the sale of "high-tech" equipment. At the same time, the president expects to... View Details

Keywords: Marketing Communications; Salesforce Management; Marketing Channels; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

September 1992 (Revised October 1995)
Case

Exxon: Communications After Valdez

By: Stephen A. Greyser and Nancy Langford

Focuses on the communications in the period immediately following the March 24, 1989 Alaska oil spill caused by the Exxon Valdez. Includes the text of Exxon Chairman Rawl's "open letter" in an April 3 newspaper advertisment. Addresses the timing and content of... View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Communication; Crisis Management; Marketing Communications

May 2022 (Revised December 2023)
Case

Founder Collective

By: Jo Tango and Alys Ferragamo

Founder Collective ("FC") launched in 2009 with a clear mission: to be the most aligned fund for founders at the seed stage. In keeping with its mission, FC maintained smaller fund sizes and was not a lifecycle investor. By November of 2021, the seed market had become... View Details

Keywords: Seed Investing; Business Startups; Mission and Purpose; Investment; Competitive Strategy; Venture Capital

September 2007 (Revised December 2008)
Case

Michael Fernandes at Nicholas Piramal

By: Michel Anteby and Nitin Nohria

Michael Fernandes, the Director of Custom Manufacturing Operations at the pharmaceutical company Nicholas Piramal India Limited (NPIL), schedules a meeting with three of his reports, whose interpersonal conflicts with one another are causing his business development... View Details

Keywords: Interpersonal Communication; Management Skills; Groups and Teams; Conflict Management; Cooperation; Pharmaceutical Industry; India; United Kingdom; Canada