Publications

September 2003 (Revised January 2005)
Case

Bridges to Excellence: Bringing Quality Health Care to Life

By: Richard M.J. Bohmer, Ingrid Marie Nembhard and Robert Galvin

General Electric launched Bridges to Excellence Diabetes Care Link, a program through which enrolled physicians receive bonuses of up to 10% of their salary for delivering quality care to diabetic patients covered by a participating employer or health plan. A day... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Motivation and Incentives; Programs; Ethics; Quality; Moral Sensibility; Service Delivery; Compensation and Benefits; Health Industry

April 2000 (Revised November 2000)
Case

Computer Power Group: Designing Brand Architecture

Computer Power Group (CPG), an Australian-based consulting, education, and staffing placement firm in the IT industry, is contemplating a brand architecture capable of structuring its eight branded business units. CEO Peter James is particularly curious about whether a... View Details

Keywords: Brands and Branding; Employment Industry; Education Industry; Consulting Industry; Australia

27 Aug 2013
News

The Global Dominance of ESPN

30 Oct 2020
News

The Pandemic Is Costing Americans More Money Than Official Numbers Suggest

Mandi Nerenberg

Mandi is a doctoral student in Organizational Behavior at Harvard Business School. She is interested in the impact of how gender and racial dynamics shape workplace evaluations. Her research explores gender biases in interpersonal professional contexts,... View Details

June 2012 (Revised November 2012)
Case

The Rise of Circuit City Stores, Inc.

By: John R. Wells and Galen Danskin

In fiscal 2000, Circuit City was at the top of its game. The world's leading consumer electronics retailer had delivered record sales and profits for the first year of the new millennium. It was a fitting moment for Richard Sharpe, the CEO of the last 14 years, to step... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Strategic Planning; Competition; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry; North America

25 Jul 2007
Lessons from the Classroom

The Evolution of Apple

different approaches led to new versions of the case and gave students insights as to what the CEO was trying to do and why he was having so much difficulty." Apple's market share has always been lower than its consumer mind share.... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Computer; Technology

07 Oct 2014
Working Paper Summaries

Lifting the Veil: The Benefits of Cost Transparency

Keywords: by Bhavya Mohan, Ryan W. Buell & Leslie K. John; Retail

Article

The Social Utility of Feature Creep

By: Debora V. Thompson and Michael I. Norton

Previous research shows that consumers frequently choose products with too many features that they later find difficult to use. Our research shows that this seemingly suboptimal behavior may in fact confer benefits when factoring in the social context of consumption.... View Details

Keywords: Impression Management; Social Influence; Conspicuous Consumption; Signaling; Product Features; Consumer Behavior; Information Technology; Experience and Expertise; Status and Position

December 2007 (Revised July 2008)
Case

General Mills (A)

By: Raymond V. Gilmartin, Marco Iansiti and Bianca Buccitelli

General Mills is an 80-year-old company that specializes in consumer foods such as cereal, snacks, baking, and dinner products. Although General Mills is, on the whole, a very successful company, they have, in the recent past, had to face challenges as a result the... View Details

Keywords: Competitive Strategy; Change Management; Cost Management; Problems and Challenges; Inflation and Deflation; Price; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry

05 Jul 2006
Working Paper Summaries

A Survey-Based Procedure for Measuring Uncertainty or Heterogeneous Preferences in Markets

Keywords: by Pai-Ling Yin; Technology; Web Services

Shawn A. Cole

Shawn Cole is the John G. McLean Professor in the Finance Unit at Harvard Business School, where he teaches and conducts research on financial services, impact investing, and Social Enterprise. He serves as faculty chair of the Social Enterprise... View Details

Keywords: banking; financial services; microfinance

May 2010
Case

Flare Fragrances Company, Inc: Analyzing Growth Opportunities

By: John A. Quelch and Lisa D. Donovan

Flare Fragrances, a manufacturer of perfumes for women, faces a growth challenge in a difficult economic environment. CEO Joely Patterson outlines two growth opportunities for her marketing staff to evaluate. One involves launching a new scent -- and possibly... View Details

Keywords: Quantitative Analysis; Market Segmentation; Product Introduction; New Product Marketing; Product Lines; Product Positioning; Distribution; Product Launch; Segmentation; Growth and Development Strategy; Consumer Products Industry

19 Apr 2016
First Look

April 19, 2016

is “liking” simply a symptom of being fond of a brand? We disentangle these possibilities and find evidence for the latter: brand attitudes and purchasing are predicted by consumers’ preexisting fondness for brands and are the same regardless of when and whether View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

14 May 2008
Research & Ideas

Getting Down to the Business of Creativity

a three-year study of 238 professionals from seven companies in the high-tech, consumer products, and chemicals industries. Without revealing the focus of their study, they asked the subjects (all of whom were working on projects... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Retail; Apparel & Accessories; Fashion; Entertainment & Recreation

September 2019 (Revised June 2021)
Case

Blenheim Chalcot

By: John R. Wells and Benjamin Weinstock

In April 2019, Manoj Badale and Charles Mindenhall, co-founders of Blenheim Chalcot, were contemplating how they might go about developing their portfolio. Since founding the company as an internet consultancy called netdecisions in 1998, Badale and Mindenhall had... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital; Entrepreneurship; Business Model; Growth and Development Strategy; United Kingdom; United States; India