Publications

12 Feb 2007
Working Paper Summaries

Adding Bricks to Clicks: The Effects of Store Openings on Sales through Direct Channels

Keywords: by Jill Avery, Mary Caravella, John Deighton & Thomas Steenburgh; Retail

September 2008 (Revised June 2010)
Case

Hearts On Fire - Brand Development Manager

By: Frank V. Cespedes and Benson P. Shapiro

Hearts On Fire, a successful branded diamond producer, established the position of Brand Development Manager (BDM) to build the company's presence, sales, and relationships with its retail customers. After one year, the CEO, CFO and President must evaluate the impact... View Details

Keywords: Customer Focus and Relationships; Investment Return; Brands and Branding; Marketing Strategy; Business Processes; Salesforce Management; Business Strategy

March 2005 (Revised August 2019)
Case

Cisco Systems: Managing the Go-to-Market Evolution

By: V. Kasturi Rangan

With the collapse of the dot-com market and related shrinkage in the high-tech industry, Cisco took a dip in its sales and profits in 2001. Coming back from the recession, Cisco had to manage and evolve its go-to-market strategy and design in keeping with its new... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Design; Business Cycles; Growth and Development Strategy; Marketing Channels; Marketing Strategy; Market Entry and Exit; Business Strategy

May 06 2021
Tout

Earn a Certificate of Management Excellence

The Comprehensive Effects of Sales Force Management: A Dynamic Structural Analysis of Selection, Compensation, and Training

This study provides a comprehensive model of an agent’s behavior in response to multiple sales management instruments, including compensation, recruiting/termination, and training. The model takes into account many of the key elements that constitute a realistic... View Details

July 2017
Article

What Do Measures of Real-Time Corporate Sales Tell Us About Earnings Surprises and Post-announcement Returns?

By: Kenneth A. Froot, Namho Kang, Gideon Ozik and Ronnie Sadka

We develop real-time proxies of retail corporate sales from multiple sources, including approximately 50 million mobile devices. These measures contain information from both the earnings quarter (within quarter) and the period between that quarter's end and the... View Details

Keywords: Announcements; Business Earnings; Sales; Retail Industry

Find at Harvard

February 2024
Teaching Note

Accelerating with Caution: Forecasting and Managing birddogs' Growth (A) and (B)

By: Mark Egan

Teaching Note for HBS Case Nos. 224-023 and 224-024. As 2017 was drawing to a close, birddogs’ founder and CEO, Peter Baldwin, was working with his CFO Jack Sullivan to prepare for 2018. A nascent direct-to-consumer apparel brand, birddogs had carved its niche in men’s... View Details

Keywords: Inventory Management; Forecasting Demand; Financial Constraints; Apparel; Startups; Corporate Finance; Forecasting and Prediction; Working Capital; Financing and Loans; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Demand and Consumers; Apparel and Accessories Industry; United States

June 1989 (Revised November 1991)
Supplement

Ingersoll-Rand (B): Managing Multiple Channels--1986

By: V. Kasturi Rangan

Peter Baldwin takes over Clabough's job and is charged with the responsibility to improve sales force morale, control expenses, and improve market share. View Details

Keywords: Salesforce Management; Supply and Industry; Management Teams; Industrial Products Industry

May 2017 (Revised November 2017)
Case

Cotopaxi: Managing Growth for Good

By: Andy Wu and Laura Huang

Cotopaxi, an innovative outdoor gear business targeting millennials, focuses on profit and social impact. This registered benefit corporation was formed by Davis Smith who coalesced his experiences as a Wharton MBA student along with professional knowledge from an... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Social Venture; Benefit Corporation; B-Corp; Retail; Consumer Products; Apparel; Social Impact; Social Entrepreneurship; Business Model; Product Positioning; Social Enterprise; Mission and Purpose; Consumer Products Industry; Retail Industry

November 2022
Case

The Battle Among Channels for Marketing Pharmaceuticals: UpScript, Pharmacy Benefit Managers, and Direct-to-Consumer Sales

By: Regina E. Herzlinger and Tiffany Farrell

Can an online, direct-to-consumer pharmacy both improve the quality and speed of care for patients who need branded drugs and stabilize profits for pharmaceutical manufacturers? UpScript, after years spent achieving legal and regulatory compliance and simultaneous... View Details

Keywords: DTC; Internet and the Web; Marketing Channels; Customer Value and Value Chain; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Competitive Strategy; Service Delivery; Growth and Development Strategy; Pharmaceutical Industry; Health Industry; Retail Industry

May 2024
Supplement

HubSpot and Motion AI (B): Generative AI Opportunities

By: Jill Avery

The technologies driving artificial intelligence (AI) had progressed significantly since HubSpot’s acquisition of Motion AI in 2017. Generative AI was the newest major development. Software-as-a-service (SaaS) companies such as HubSpot were analyzing how generative AI... View Details

Keywords: Artificial Intelligence; CRM; Chatbots; Sales Management; Generative Ai; SaaS; Marketing; Sales; AI and Machine Learning; Customer Relationship Management; Applications and Software; Technological Innovation; Competitive Advantage; Technology Industry; United States

Personal selling represents one of the most important elements in the marketing mix, and appropriate management of the sales force is vital to achieving the organization’s objectives. Among the various instruments of sales management, compensation plays a pivotal... View Details

Research Summary

The Effects of Firm Size and Sales Growth Rate on Inventory Turnover Performance in the U.S. Retail Sector

We review and extend recent academic literature on the inventory turnover performance of public-listed U.S. retailers using firm-level financial data. Past research has shown that there is a large variation in the inventory turnover performance of retailers across... View Details

The Sales Acceleration Formula: Using Data, Technology, and Inbound Selling to go from $0 to $100 Million

The Sales Acceleration Formula provides a scalable, predictable approach to growing revenue and building a winning sales team. Everyone wants to build the next $100 million business and author Mark Roberge has actually done it using a unique methodology... View Details

October 2017
Case

Pricing PatientPing

By: Frank V. Cespedes, Julia Kelley and Amram Migdal

In 2017, Jay Desai, the CEO of Boston-based health care technology company PatientPing, had to consider a number of interrelated pricing challenges. Founded in late 2013, PatientPing sold a software platform that allowed health care providers to receive real-time... View Details

Keywords: Pricing; Health Tech; Health Technology; Marketing; Sales Process; Sales Strategy; Price; Sales; Marketing Strategy; Health Care and Treatment; Health Industry; Technology Industry; Boston; North America; Massachusetts; United States

27 Mar 2015
News

The Sales Director Who Turned Work into a Fantasy Sports Competition

June 2001 (Revised May 2002)
Case

Spir-It, Inc. (B): Managing People

When Jack Sindler founded Spir-it, Inc. in 1934, he was the company's sole employee. By 1999, Sindler's firm more than survived its first 55 years. Employment was up to nearly 200, with facilities in two states and work done in three shifts. The product line--which had... View Details

Keywords: Growth Management; Production; Business Growth and Maturation; Interpersonal Communication; Logistics; Human Resources; Diversity Characteristics; Manufacturing Industry

March 13, 2023
Article

Sales Teams Need to Stop Focusing on the Customer Funnel

By: Frank V. Cespedes

Understanding where customers are, how they navigate streams in your market, and how to interact with them in a given stream is now central to crafting a good customer experience, and that has implications. Among other things, companies need to shift from thinking... View Details

Keywords: Customer Experience; Customer Value and Value Chain; Customer Relationship Management; Consumer Behavior