Publications

February 2010 (Revised March 2016)
Background Note

Marketing Analysis Toolkit: Break-even Analysis

By: Thomas J. Steenburgh and Jill Avery

Marketing managers are often called upon to make recommendations for or against programs that cost money to implement. Before expenditures are made, managers want to be sure that they will be getting a return on their investment. One way of assessing this is by... View Details

Keywords: Decision Making; Investment Return; Spending; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Marketing Strategy; Strategic Planning; Mathematical Methods

April 2020
Article

CEO Behavior and Firm Performance

By: Oriana Bandiera, Stephen Hansen, Andrea Prat and Raffaella Sadun

We measure the behavior of 1,114 CEOs in six countries parsing granular CEO diary data through an unsupervised machine learning algorithm. The algorithm uncovers two distinct behavioral types: "leaders" and "managers." Leaders focus on multi-function, high-level... View Details

Keywords: CEOs; Management; Behavior; Organizations; Performance; Analysis

October 1990 (Revised July 1991)
Case

Zenith: Marketing Research for High Definition Television (HDTV)

Managers at Zenith must decide what marketing research, if any, needs to be done now in order to assess market potential and consumer preference for a technological innovation, high definition television (HDTV) that is yet to be introduced. The case describes various... View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Research; Marketing; Television Entertainment; Electronics Industry

October 1988 (Revised June 1993)
Case

Siemens Electric Motor Works (A): Process-Oriented Costing

Explores how a cost system can help support a firm's decision to change strategies. In the process, the students are introduced to a simple activity-based cost system. Siemens Electric Motor Works found itself facing an increasingly competitive environment and so made... View Details

Keywords: Production; Activity Based Costing and Management; Manufacturing Industry

January 1996
Background Note

Creativity and Innovation in Organizations

By: Teresa M. Amabile

Creativity, the production of new and useful ideas by individuals or teams, can appear in many forms and many functions within firms of all kinds--from entrepreneurial start-ups to well-established enterprises. This note describes the varieties of creativity in... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Entrepreneurship; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Organizational Design; Situation or Environment; Creativity

February 2000 (Revised September 2002)
Case

Forever: De Beers and U.S. Antitrust Law

By: Debora L. Spar and Jennifer Burns

For over a century, the international diamond market has been dominated by one of the most successful cartels on earth. Run by the legendary De Beers Corp., the cartel has managed to keep diamond prices increasing and to prevent the defection that dooms most other... View Details

Keywords: Lawfulness; Monopoly; Luxury; Business and Government Relations; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Africa; United States

February 2012
Teaching Note

Kent Chemical: Organizing for International Growth (Brief Case)

By: Christopher A. Bartlett and Laura Winig

Teaching Note for Product #4409 View Details

Keywords: International Business; Organizational Change; Multinational Corporations; Organizational Change and Adaptation; International Finance; Multinational Firms and Management; Organizational Design; Organizational Structure; Corporate Strategy

06 Aug 2012
Research & Ideas

Strategic Intelligence: Adapt or Die

Sometimes when John R. Wells, a professor of management practice at Harvard Business School, meets a senior manager from a successful company, he likes to ask the provocative question, "Is your company... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

November 2018 (Revised August 2020)
Case

The Reinvention of Kodak

By: Ryan Raffaelli and Christine Snively

The Eastman Kodak Company (Kodak) was a name familiar to most Americans. The company had dominated the film and photography industry through most of the 20th Century and was known for making affordable cameras (and the “Kodak Moment”) and supplying the movie industry... View Details

Keywords: CEO; Leadership; Asset Management; Transformation; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Competitive Strategy

January 8, 2025
Article

Why Retailers Are Turning to Third-Party Marketplaces

By: Antonio Moreno

Some traditional retailers—including Walmart, Target, and Best Buy—are adopting third-party marketplaces, which connect customers with external sellers and thereby offer customers a much broader selection. Many other traditional retailers are considering whether to... View Details

Keywords: Marketplace Matching; Distribution Channels; Customer Focus and Relationships; Cost vs Benefits; Retail Industry

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19 Feb 2014
News

Choosing the Right Customer

01 Jul 2021
News

Off the Shelf: Recent Books with Harvard Connections

January 1973 (Revised March 2006)
Case

Tyler Abrasives, Inc.

Involves multinational pricing policy. Should a multinational industrial products supplier, with plants on several continents, grant a single worldwide price on given products to multinational customers who purchase on several continents? If so, what should the... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Marketing Strategy; Price; Multinational Firms and Management; Sales; Industrial Products Industry

Teaching Interest

Executive Education: Finance for Senior Executives

By: Malcolm P. Baker

Finance for Senior Executives provides the frameworks to strategically use financial resources and position your company for future success. By examining corporate finance from both internal and external perspectives, this HBS Executive Education View Details

June 2019
Article

Learning to Become a Taste Expert

By: Kathryn A. Latour and John A. Deighton

Evidence suggests that consumers seek to become more expert about hedonic products to enhance their enjoyment of future consumption occasions. Current approaches to becoming expert center on cultivating an analytic mindset. In the present research the authors explore... View Details

Keywords: Learning; Experience and Expertise; Analysis; Perception

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Research Summary

Overview

By: Iavor I. Bojinov

Over the last decade, technology companies like Amazon, Google, and Netflix have pioneered data-driven research and development processes centered on massive experimentation. However, as companies increase the breadth and scale of their experiments to millions of... View Details

October 1993 (Revised September 1994)
Case

Catalina Marketing Corp.

By: David E. Bell, Walter J. Salmon and Dinny Starr

Catalina Marketing is a very successful marketing service firm. Their current customers include major supermarket retailers and consumer products manufacturers nation-wide. Catalina provides a unique way for these clients to distribute coupons for their products via... View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Information Management; Expansion; Product; Salesforce Management; Information Technology; Growth and Development Strategy; Customer Value and Value Chain; Advertising Industry

January 2012 (Revised March 2012)
Case

Dimensional Fund Advisors (DFA)'s Entry into the Retirement Market

By: Lauren Cohen and Christopher Malloy

This case examines Dimensional Fund Advisors (DFA)'s decision to enter the retirement market with their new "Dimensional Managed DC" product, a complete retirement solution that aimed to provide investors with what they really wanted: the same standard of living in... View Details

Keywords: Retirement; Asset Management