Publications

January 2011
Case

Serious Materials

By: Thomas J. Steenburgh and Elizabeth A. Kind

Serious Materials is a start up who is moving into clean tech markets. The company's first product, QuietRock, originated the sound proofing drywall category and created a steady stream of revenue. It was now considering how to expand its product line to compete in the... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Brands and Branding; Marketing Strategy; Product Launch; Product Positioning; Market Entry and Exit; Green Technology Industry

November 2015 (Revised May 2016)
Case

Aspiring Minds

By: Karim R. Lakhani, Marco Iansiti and Christine Snively

By 2015, India-based employment assessment and certification provider Aspiring Minds had helped facilitate over 300,000 job matches through its assessment tools. Aspiring Minds' flagship product, the Aspiring Minds Computer Adaptive Test (AMCAT), used machine learning... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Strategy; Higher Education; Technological Innovation; Employment; Technology Industry; India; China

May 2016 (Revised September 2016)
Case

Hillside Beach Club: Delivering the Ultimate Family Vacation in the Mediterranean

By: Rajiv Lal and Gamze Yucaoglu

In 2015, Edip Ilkbahar, HBC’s founder and CEO, was looking over the plans for a new branch in Cyprus. Since the inception of the company by the Alarko Group of companies in 1994, Ilkbahar’s company had enjoyed high occupancy, high guest satisfaction, and high... View Details

14 Sep 2007
Research & Ideas

How to Profit from Scarcity

company. It wasn't just direct sales of these two products that benefited from the scarcity illusion, however: The heavy crowds drove sales of related products in Apple stores and bookstores during a... View Details

Keywords: by John Quelch; Consumer Products; Consumer Products

June 2014
Case

Airgas, Inc.

By: Eric Van den Steen and Jason Karl

In 2013, Airgas was the market leader in packaged industrial gas distribution. Recent acquisitions had made it into a larger player in upstream gas production as well, where it competed with Praxair and Air Products. Should Airgas continue building a position in gas... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Competitive Strategy; Competency and Skills; Value Creation

01 Jan 2006
News

August 1985
Supplement

Benetton Factory Tour--Ponzano, Italy, Video

By: James L. Heskett

Shows the flow of products through Benetton's Ponzano factory, including its use of subcontractors. Includes information about Benetton's manufacturing, logistics, and retailing strategies. View Details

Keywords: Factories, Labs, and Plants; Logistics; Product; Production; Strategy; Italy

20 Nov 2019
Video

Susana Balbo

Susana Balbo, owner and chief winemaker of Susana Balbo Wines based in Argentina, discusses innovating through two different means: innovating by applying technology to a traditional product in order to keep... View Details

October 2016
Case

Elon Musk: Balancing Purpose and Risk

By: Shikhar Ghosh and Sarah Mehta

The case is used to illustrate the place of ‘Purpose’ versus financial risk and returns in a founder’s objectives. It also addresses personal risk profile of different founders, and when paired with the Risk Tolerance Exercise, it enables evaluating one’s own appetite... View Details

Keywords: Electric Vehicle; Solar Power; Vision; Trade-offs; Leadership; Mission and Purpose; Risk and Uncertainty; Entrepreneurship; Failure; United States; North America

January 1982
Background Note

Sustainable Growth and the Interdependence of Financial Goals and Policies

Demonstrates the interaction of product market and capital market goals. View Details

Keywords: Financial Management

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

24 Jan 2024
Op-Ed

Why Boeing’s Problems with the 737 MAX Began More Than 25 Years Ago

in design and production with its newest jumbo jet, the 787 Dreamliner. Such frequent, repeated crises point to a deeper issue than isolated engineering mishaps. The underlying cause of these issues is a leadership failure that has... View Details

Keywords: by Bill George; Air Transportation; Transportation; Aerospace

Steven C. Wheelwright

Steve Wheelwright is the Edsel Bryant Ford Professor of Business Administration, Emeritus at Harvard Business School.

Following his retirement from HBS in 2006, he served with former Dean Kim B. Clark at BYU-Idaho and then from 2007-2015 he served as... View Details

04 Nov 2019
News

What Microsoft Japan’s Successful 4-Day Week Suggests About Work-Life Balance

19 Feb 2019
News

Payless liquidation sale prices: What you need to know about store closing sales

October 1975 (Revised August 1986)
Case

Limited Editions, Inc.

Describes a new venture: production of figurines in limited quantities as works of art and investments. Company guarantees to repurchase at original price. View Details

Keywords: Revenue Recognition; Business Startups; Consumer Products Industry

Article

Advertising, the Matchmaker

By: Bharat N. Anand and Ron Shachar

We empirically study the informational role of advertising in matching consumers with products when consumers are uncertain about both observable and unobserved program attributes. Our focus is on the network television industry, in which the products are television... View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Information; Consumer Behavior; Television Entertainment; Risk and Uncertainty; Product; Decision Choices and Conditions; Advertising Industry

Find at Harvard

Read Now

December 2015 (Revised September 2016)
Supplement

ANA (B)

By: Doug J. Chung and Mayuka Yamazaki

All Nippon Airways (ANA) became the largest airline in Japan in 2013. Having been designated as a domestic carrier by the Japanese government till the mid-1980s and Japan being the sixth largest domestic airline market, two-thirds of ANA’s passenger revenue came from... View Details

Keywords: Demand and Consumers; Analysis; Economics; Price; Marketing Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Product; Policy; Air Transportation Industry; Japan

December 2010 (Revised January 2012)
Case

Zespri

By: Jose B. Alvarez and Mary Louise Shelman

Grower-owned Zespri is the sole exporter of New Zealand-grown kiwifruit outside of Australia and New Zealand. Facing growing international competition, Zespri invested in consumer branding and innovation, which has led to new types of kiwifruit that taste better and... View Details

Keywords: Plant-Based Agribusiness; Globalized Firms and Management; Innovation and Invention; Patents; Brands and Branding; Cooperative Ownership; Competition; Corporate Strategy; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; New Zealand