Publications

August 1995 (Revised January 1997)
Exercise

Consumer Behavior Exercise (F)

By: John A. Deighton and Susan M. Fournier

Students are instructed to interview a recent purchaser of a high-involvement/ego-expressive product or service in depth about his/her ownership and usage experiences. The exercise provides students with first-hand understanding of important concepts in consumption... View Details

Keywords: Consumer Behavior

August 1995 (Revised January 1997)
Exercise

Consumer Behavior Exercise (D)

By: John A. Deighton and Susan M. Fournier

Students are instructed to interview a recent purchaser of a low-involvement product or service in depth about his/her ownership and usage experiences. The exercise provides students with first-hand understanding of important concepts in consumption domain (e.g.,... View Details

Keywords: Consumer Behavior

28 Jun 2020
News

The Disparate Racial Impact of Requiring a College Degree

22 Feb 2012
News

Employee Happiness Matters More Than You Think

2009
Working Paper

Principles that Matter: Sustaining Software Innovation from the Client to the Web

By: Marco Iansiti

Economic analysis often reviews the role of principles—such as respect for intellectual property rights—in driving innovation. Given the interdependent nature of innovation in information technology, three core principles have emerged that work together to ensure that... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Technological Innovation; Intellectual Property; Partners and Partnerships; Competition; Information Technology; Internet and the Web

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September 1998 (Revised July 1999)
Case

Costco Companies, Inc.

By: David E. Bell and Ann Leamon

Costco Companies, one of the major players in the wholesale club industry, has developed a new class of membership that offers discounted services--auto, health, and home insurance, business credit card processing, real estate services--in exchange for a higher annual... View Details

Keywords: Cost vs Benefits; Cost Management; Brands and Branding; Marketing Strategy; Supply and Industry; Service Delivery; Service Operations; Risk and Uncertainty; Retail Industry

Rebecca Karp is an Assistant Professor in the Strategy Unit at Harvard Business School. She teaches Strategy in the MBA required curriculum. Professor Karp is a field researcher and ethnographer. Her research examines how companies formulate and... View Details

September 1988 (Revised June 1993)
Case

Ring Medical

By: V. Kasturi Rangan

Describes the progress of a new product launch (HCS-100, a hospital communication system). Ring Medical has sold only five systems in six months against an annual target of 30. There is a lack of agreement internally on how the new product effort should be organized.... View Details

Keywords: Conferences; Marketing Strategy; Product Launch; Distribution Channels; Performance

November 2005
Case

Inventec Corporation

By: Krishna G. Palepu and Ingrid Vargas

Inventec Corp., with $4.5 billion in annual revenues, was one of Taiwan's leading original design manufacturers (ODMs). Inventec designed and manufactured electronic products such as computers, servers, MP3 players, PDAs, and cellular telephones for client companies... View Details

Keywords: Multinational Firms and Management; Competitive Strategy; Emerging Markets; Manufacturing Industry; Electronics Industry; China; India

December 2009 (Revised February 2012)
Case

Monsanto: Helping Farmers Feed the World

By: David E. Bell, Carin-Isabel Knoop and Mary Shelman

Monsanto has led the effort to bring biotechnology to bear on food production. Through some management missteps and consumer resistance the company had difficulties in its early years. But since Hugh Grant became CEO the picture has brightened with widespread adoption... View Details

Keywords: Food; Global Strategy; Leadership; Production; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Biotechnology Industry; United States

June 2023
Article

Managing Medical Device Liability Through Innovation: A Strategic Approach

By: Alberto Galasso and Hong Luo

In this article, we discuss several aspects of the relationships among product liability risk, safety, and innovation strategies of medical device companies. View Details

Keywords: Safety; Public Opinion; Legal Liability; Product; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

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26 Apr 2010
Research & Ideas

When Other Companies Compete Like Crazy, Dare to Be Different

dizzying array of options to choose from, options that are notable, not for their difference, but for their apparent sameness. And so there is a disconnect between the way companies talk about their products and brands, and the way... View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert

12 Nov 2015
Blog Post

3 Facts About HBS Discussion Groups

students have a chance to ask questions and evaluate their conclusions in a small group setting (called discussion groups) before heading to class. So what exactly is a discussion group? We checked in with Jay Garg (MBA 2016), a former View Details

February 13, 2023
Editorial

The Secret Tax on Women’s Time

By: Lauren C. Howe, Lindsay B. Howe and Ashley V. Whillans

When studies revealed the so-called pink tax, showing in 2015 that personal hygiene products “for her” cost 13% more than similar products for men, it caused outrage and action. The irony that women, despite generally having fewer financial resources than men, are... View Details

Keywords: Gender; Equality and Inequality; Work-Life Balance

Find at Harvard

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Research Summary

The Role of IT in Firm Scope Choice: Diversification or Specialization?

The use of IT can have two, actually opposing, effects on product diversification depending on how technologies are used by the firm. On the one hand, some uses of IT can increase specialization because they allow customers to research and order products remotely,... View Details

May 1995 (Revised April 1998)
Case

AT&T Paradyne

By: Robert S. Kaplan

A company making data communication devices has adopted a Total Quality philosophy for working with suppliers, employees, and customers. The finance group finds its existing cost system has become obsolete because of a shift from manual to automatic production... View Details

Keywords: Decisions; Product; Corporate Accountability; Activity Based Costing and Management; System; Performance Efficiency; Financial Reporting; Operations; Technology Industry; Telecommunications Industry

September 1988 (Revised October 1992)
Case

Suzuki Samurai

By: John A. Quelch

Suzuki and advertising agency executives are debating the product positioning and accompanying copy strategy alternatives for the Suzuki Samurai prior to its U.S. introduction. View Details

Keywords: Product Positioning; Marketing Strategy; Market Entry and Exit; Advertising Campaigns; Advertising Industry; Auto Industry; Japan; United States