Publications

13 Dec 2011
News

Harvard Business School Launches US Competitiveness Project

Competitiveness home page HBS Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness The Path to Economic Revival Made in America — Making Their Way How Boeing Competes — James McNerney Jr. Today Dean Nitin Nohria announced the launch of the US... View Details

Keywords: Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services

September 2006 (Revised November 2007)
Case

Patrimonio Hoy: A Financial Perspective

By: Arthur I Segel, Michael Chu and Gustavo A. Herrero

Patrimonio Hoy, a program targeting the housing needs of low-income families launched by CEMEX, a major Mexican corporation and a leading global cement company, has gone from a market research project to a highly visible initiative in 22 cities and has earned public... View Details

Keywords: Diversification; Housing; Income; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Emerging Markets; Finance; Mexico

24 Jul 2017
Blog Post

Transitioning to Product Management at HBS

with engineers, to beta testing, to launching for customers, all in 10 weeks. And I found exactly that during my summer at InsightSquared. Who was crazy enough to hire me? Sam Clemens, the Chief Product... View Details

26 Oct 2016
Blog Post

From Product Development to Business School

to clean it again through my novel filter. I had filed the patent. Lined up suppliers. Met the ridiculous margin requirements of a Fortune 500 company. The category was declining. Our last two product View Details

June 2022
Case

PFA Pensions: The Climate Plus Product

By: Daniel Green, Victoria Ivashina and Alys Ferragamo

The case explores whether alternative investments play a unique role in achieving low carbon dioxide emissions at the portfolio level. This case is set in April of 2020 and follows Kasper Ahrndt Lorenzen, Chief Investment Officer, and Peter Tind Larsen, Head of... View Details

Keywords: Carbon Emissions; Carbon Footprint; Alternative Assets; Alternative Investment Vehicles; Pension Fund Investing; Private Equity; Renewable Energy; Investment Portfolio; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Environmental Sustainability; Denmark

February 1991
Background Note

Managing Marginal New Products

By: Rajiv Lal

Keywords: Product Launch

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September 2017
Teaching Note

The Productivity Decline: Demographics, Robots, or Globalization?

By: Laura Alfaro and Hayley Pallan

In the early 21st century, there was a noticeable trend of declining productivity growth. Despite the persistent decline in productivity growth, a consensus on its explanation had not been reached. Some of the debate focused on the technicalities of productivity... View Details

Keywords: Performance Productivity; Measurement and Metrics; Technological Innovation; Economic Slowdown and Stagnation; Globalization; Business and Government Relations

October 2004 (Revised July 2010)
Case

Product Team Cialis: Getting Ready to Market

By: Elie Ofek

Lilly and ICOS are preparing for the launch of a new drug, Cialis, to compete against Viagra. To position against the incumbent firm Pfizer, which developed and markets Viagra, and other newcomers into the erectile dysfunction market, they must determine how best to... View Details

Keywords: Communication Strategy; Marketing Strategy; Product Launch; Product Positioning; Competition; Competitive Advantage; Segmentation; Pharmaceutical Industry

01 Mar 2017
News

HBX Launches Managing Your Career Development, First Program Offered via HBX Live Virtual Classroom

13 Nov 2013
Research & Ideas

Should Men’s Products Fear a Woman’s Touch?

really goes away. Since the dawn of advertising, retailers have made a point of marketing separate lines of branded products for men and women in many categories, even in cases where their functions are essentially the same. It's a... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Consumer Products; Consumer Products; Consumer Products

2003
Case

Capston-White's Document Management and Production Services

By: Vijay Govindarajan, Chris Trimble and Julie Lang

The development of multi-function devices that could copy, print, fax, and scan created a convergence in the markets for these devices. Copiers and printers had previously been purchased and managed in very different manners by large organizations. Facing an uncertain... View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Innovation Strategy; Service Delivery; Service Industry

April 6, 2023
Article

A New NFT Launch Strategy: The Wave Mint

By: Scott Duke Kominers and 1337 Skulls Sers

In an NFT project, the mint—the process by which tokens are initially allocated—largely determines who your community is and how they and the broader market view the project going forward. In this piece, we review a new minting strategy recently introduced by 1337... View Details

Keywords: NFTs; Mechanism Design; Sales Management; Sales Model; Crypto Economy; Non-fungible Tokens; Networks; Product Launch; Auctions; Market Design

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25 Apr 2005
Research & Ideas

New Learning at American Home Products

capabilities in maintaining and upgrading product portfolios through acquisition and divestiture. Acquisitions were financed almost wholly out of retained earnings and income received from divestitures. The resulting overall View Details

Keywords: by Alfred D. Chandler Jr.; Chemical; Health; Manufacturing; Pharmaceutical

July 2004 (Revised January 2007)
Case

H&R Block and "Everyday Financial Services"

By: Peter Tufano and Daniel Schneider

H&R Block, the U.S. market leader in tax preparation services, must decide whether to offer financial services to its low-income clients. H&R Block is facing increased competition from branded and nonbranded tax preparers, and the number of returns prepared by the... View Details

Keywords: Financial Management; Income; Taxation; Product Development; Financial Services Industry; United States

April 2013
Article

In Search of a Second Act: Riding the Popularity of a Great First Product Is Easy; Finding the Next One Is Hard

By: Elie Ofek and Jill Avery

The article presents a fictional case study on new product development and improvement after the successful launch of a first breakthrough product. Topics include business planning for brand name products, finance and investment for the development of educational toys,... View Details

Keywords: Innovation; Growth Strategy; Consumer Marketing; Marketing; Brand Management; Market Research; New Product Development; Marketing Management; Technology Commercialization; Technology; Brands and Branding; Marketing Strategy; Product Marketing; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry; North and Central America; United States

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11 Apr 2013
Panel Discussion

From Per Capita to Pro Capita: Launch of the Social Progress Imperative

By: Michael E. Porter, Michael Green, Heather Hancock, Judith Rodin, Madhav Chavan and Ngaire Woods

What is a successful country? The global debate about development has, for decades, been focused on a single, economic measure of success: Gross Domestic Product (GDP) Per Capita. But this tells us little about the real wellbeing of a nation or its sustainability. What... View Details

Keywords: Social Progress Index; Country; Measurement and Metrics; Social Issues

April 2010 (Revised November 2011)
Supplement

Soren Chemical: Why is the New Swimming Pool Product Sinking? Spreadsheet Supplement (Brief Case)

By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Sunru Yong

Keywords: Marketing Mix; New Product Marketing; Pricing; Branding; Price; Marketing Strategy; Marketing Channels; Product Launch; Brands and Branding; Communication Strategy