Publications

February 2023 (Revised March 2025)
Case

Doing Business in Accra, Ghana

By: Hakeem Belo-Osagie, Leonard Schlesinger and Namrata Arora

This case examines the challenges and opportunities of doing business in Ghana. It highlights Ghana economic transformation in the decades leading up to 2024 in the context of its history, culture, and politics. The case gives an overview of some of the main obstacles... View Details

Keywords: Business History; Business and Government Relations; Technological Innovation; Foreign Direct Investment; Economic Growth; Financial Crisis; Agribusiness; Food and Beverage Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Ghana

06 May 2019
News

Are You Ready for Veggie Fast-Casual?

The founder and former CEO of Panera Bread has a new lease on life. Life Alive, that is. And it’s not a lease—he’s the owner. Ron Shaich (MBA 1978), has tapped his $300 million fund, Act III Holdings, to buy... View Details

Keywords: Food and Beverage Stores; Food and Beverage Stores

January 2018 (Revised October 2021)
Case

Château Margaux: Launching the Third Wine (Abridged)

By: Elie Ofek

Château Margaux, one of only five prestigious estates in the Bordeaux Medoc wine region to have been classified as a "first-growth", is facing a host of strategic decisions in early 2013. Up until this point the estate had been selling two red wines, a first wine whose... View Details

Keywords: New Product Launch; Marketing Plan; Brand Management; Go To Market Strategy; Channels Of Distribution; Wine Industry; Marketing Strategy; Distribution Channels; Product Launch; Brands and Branding; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; France

May 2011
Article

Underdog Branding: Why Underdogs Win in Recessions

By: Neeru Paharia, Anat Keinan and Jill Avery

Underdog stories about overcoming great odds through passion and determination are particularly resonant during difficult times as they inspire us and give us hope when the outlook we face is bleak. They promise that success is still possible, a much needed message in... View Details

Keywords: Marketing; Brand Building; Brand Management; Brand Positioning; Competitive Positioning; Brands and Branding; Economics; Marketing Communications; Marketing Strategy; Advertising Campaigns; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry

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Web

Staff Catering Guidelines | About

Head (AOM) or Business Manager. HBS may also pay for a meal when there is a business meeting with EXTERNAL guests. In some cases, the School pays for the food and beverages for... View Details

Research Summary

Overview

Dr. Lurtz researches the history of agricultural economies in Latin America. She has a particular interest in export agriculture and attendant state- and locally-driven modernization projects. Her current work looks to the coffee economy of southern Mexico in the 19th... View Details

14 Oct 2014
News

The Steve Jobs of Beer

Keywords: Beverage and Tobacco Product Manufacturing; Beverage and Tobacco Product Manufacturing

January 1991 (Revised March 2010)
Case

Westchester Distributing, Inc. (A)

By: Robert L. Simons and Robert Boxwell

Focuses on the three-way interaction among internal controls, employee behavior, and incentives. Salesmen are illegally providing kickbacks to customers of this beer-distribution firm. In turn, salesmen are reimbursing themselves by filing fraudulent expense reports.... View Details

Keywords: Financial Reporting; Crime and Corruption; Corporate Governance; Governance Controls; Salesforce Management; Behavior; Motivation and Incentives; Food and Beverage Industry; Food and Beverage Industry

01 Oct 2002
News

What's Cookin'

chocolate-chip cookies. Fox, who owns Community Bakery in Little Rock, Arkansas, says he never imagined he'd one day make his living absorbed in the business of food and its many challenges, including long... View Details

Keywords: Hanna, Julia

22 Mar 2011
First Look

First Look: March 22

certain. What worried the company's leadership was the prospect of Reb A taking off—that is, being widely accepted by consumers and used by food and View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

18 Mar 2008
First Look

First Look: March 18, 2008

Beshears, Katherine Lyford Milkman, Max H. Bazerman, and Lisa Sutherland Abstract Background—Research over the last several decades indicates the failure of existing nutritional labels to substantially improve the healthiness of... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

14 Feb 2012
First Look

First Look: February 14

Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Rakesh Khurana, Rajiv Lal, and Eric BaldwinHarvard Business School Case 412-079 This case explores a shift in strategic direction at PepsiCo, the second-largest food View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

February 2012 (Revised November 2012)
Case

Bain Capital: Outback Steakhouse

By: Paul Gompers, Kristin Mugford and J. Daniel Kim

Bain Capital had purchased Outback Steakhouse in 2007 and despite the myriad initiatives to improve operations, the financial collapse in 2008 threatened the company's ability to meet its loan covenants. Outback's performance steadily declined throughout the year. How... View Details

Keywords: Private Equity; Acquisition; Mergers and Acquisitions; Performance Expectations; Borrowing and Debt; Food and Beverage Industry; Food and Beverage Industry

01 Mar 2015
News

Feedback

Five Degrees of Doriot Re: Lasting lessons My fondest memory of the Business School is having lunch with the professor and discussing my thesis on “making the automatic factory a reality” that I did with classmate John Diebold. Doriot... View Details

Keywords: Food Manufacturing; Food Manufacturing; Food Manufacturing; Food Manufacturing; Food Manufacturing; Food Manufacturing

October 2016 (Revised November 2016)
Case

DO & CO: Gourmet Entertainment

By: Juan Alcácer and Esel Çekin

This case is about a global catering, restaurant, and hospitality company, DO & CO, growing geographically with its existing businesses while also adding new brands to its portfolio. The company had $1 billion in revenues in 2015 from its three divisions: airline... View Details

30 Sep 2016
News

To Lincoln Vintner, It’s All About ‘Exceptional Care’

Keywords: Food Manufacturing; Food Manufacturing

November 1991
Case

Monsanto's March into Biotechnology (B)

By: Dorothy A. Leonard

Monsanto has yet to receive FDA approval for BST, a growth hormone for cows. Anti-BST groups have successfully lobbied Wisconsin and Minnesota, major milk producing states, to ban milk from BST-injected cows; the FDA has charged Monsanto with improperly promoting BST... View Details

Keywords: Animal-Based Agribusiness; Safety; Food; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Law Enforcement; Conflict and Resolution; Research and Development; Technology; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Minnesota; Wisconsin

03 Mar 2020
News

Can This Man Change the American Diet?

in the Boston area, Clover serves an always-changing, all-vegetarian menu to a 90 percent non-vegetarian customer base. In this episode of Skydeck, associate editor Julia Hanna takes listeners behind the scenes at a Clover food... View Details

Keywords: Agriculture

November 2018
Case

Yatooq: Longing for Arabic Coffee

By: Mark Roberge, Gamze Yucaoglu and Samer Al-Rachedy

As one of the few female entrepreneurs in Saudi Arabia, Lateefa Alwaalan had been trying to produce the perfect cup of Arabic coffee for over a decade. In 2007, she began testing various coffee blends, which she later branded Yatooq, the Arabic word for “craving” or... View Details