Publications

April 2007 (Revised June 2008)
Background Note

Describes the dominant firm in the Korean cosmetics market up to the mid-2000s. Gives background on AmorePacific's historical evolution, its current brands, and the competition it faces from local and international players. Also provides information on the market... View Details

Keywords: History; Competition; Distribution Channels; Brands and Branding; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; South Korea

March 2007 (Revised March 2007)
Case

Burt's Bees: Leaving the Hive

Rapid growth is pushing Burt's Bees' natural personal care products into mass distribution channels, with products and brand elements that are less quirky, more commercial than they used to be. Indeed, CEO John Replogle believes that by focusing on efficacious,... View Details

Keywords: Growth Management; Consumer Behavior; Asset Pricing; Entrepreneurship; Distribution Channels; Product Development; Brands and Branding; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; United States

October 2004 (Revised July 2013)
Case

Making China Beautiful: Shiseido and the China Market

By: Geoffrey G. Jones, Akiko Kanno and Masako Egawa

Describes the multinational growth of Shiseido, the world's fourth-largest cosmetics company, with a focus on its strategy in China since 1981. Explores the challenges facing firms in the globalization of a culturally specific industry such as cosmetics. The Japanese... View Details

Keywords: Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Globalized Firms and Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Resource Allocation; Competition; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; China; Japan

August 1984 (Revised October 1994)
Case

Suave

By: Mark S. Albion

Promotes discussion on advertising budgeting and media mix decisions in the shampoo market for low-priced, high-volume Suave. Provides various types of market research into consumer behavior and the competition context. The importance of retailers and shelf space is... View Details

Keywords: Consumer Behavior; Product Marketing; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry

December 1978 (Revised December 1985)
Case

Clairol Skin Machine (C)

By: Walter J. Salmon and Steven R. Palesy

Keywords: Beauty and Cosmetics Industry

Find at Harvard

December 1993 (Revised June 1994)
Case

Gloria Hilliard Mayfield at Mary Kay Cosmetics, Inc.

By: John P. Kotter and Andrew P. Burtis

Keywords: Beauty and Cosmetics Industry

Find at Harvard

30 Jul 2008
Op-Ed

Why the U.S. Should Encourage FDI

States outperformed the rest of the world in the majority of years. As such, there is something particularly bad about the return experience of foreign investors taking a controlling position in American companies. In short, America is a View Details

Keywords: by Mihir A. Desai

17 Feb 2003
Research & Ideas

Building Communities as Well as Companies

Enterprises, Inc., named his mother—the owner of a beauty parlor—as one of his earliest entrepreneurial influences. By tidying the shop and running errands for her, McMillan absorbed a simple lesson that continues to serve him well as a... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna

April 2021
Supplement

Exercise for Revlon: Surviving Covid-19

By: Kristin Mugford and Sarah Gulick

Exercise for Revlon: Surviving Covid-19 View Details

Keywords: Leveraged Buyouts; Insolvency and Bankruptcy; Financial Liquidity; Bonds; Corporate Finance; Borrowing and Debt; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; United States

September 1990 (Revised January 1992)
Case

Procter & Gamble Japan (A)

By: Michael Y. Yoshino

Ten years after entering Japan, P&G had accumulated over $250 million in operating losses on declining annual sales of $120 million by 1983. The decision facing the president of P&G International: exit, retrench or rebuild the operation? Ironically, the initial entry... View Details

Keywords: Restructuring; Change Management; Profit; Market Entry and Exit; Market Participation; Sales; Competition; Technology; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; Japan

19 Aug 2013
Research & Ideas

Studying How Income Inequality Shapes Behavior

financial stability, political representation, and average health and educational outcomes. But this research has done little to demonstrate the effects of inequality. Some researchers have found no effects at all, while others have identified opposite effects in... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

06 May 2015
Research & Ideas

A Flood of Picassos Threatens to Water Down the Art Market

beauty or appeal to someone and that contextualization that interplay is how value is created and comes together," Khaire said. "Auctions are great price-setting mechanisms because there is a clear sense of how much a person... View Details

20 May 2014
First Look

First Look: May 20

314-087 Jurlique: Globalizing Beauty from Nature and Science Considers the marketing and strategic challenges faced by natural beauty brands using the case of Australian-based Jurlique, which was acquired by... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

February 1985 (Revised July 1993)
Case

Puritan Drug Co.

David Thomas takes his first sales management assignment and is faced with a sales rep revolt because of a possible territory reorganization. In addition, his sales division is performing well below the national average. Rewritten version of a case by R.Z. Sorenson. View Details

Keywords: Salesforce Management; Conflict and Resolution; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry

13 May 2002
Book

Bringing the Master Passions to Work

looking inward to see the flaw, the shortcoming, the difference between himself and God, he curses and rebels; he leaks profanities wherever his athletic body takes him. And it usually takes him toward the beautiful and the damned—those... View Details

Keywords: by Mihnea C. Moldoveanu & Nitin Nohria

10 Mar 2015
Research & Ideas

The Surprising Winners and Losers in the Retail Revolution

disproportionately to Quick Serve Restaurants [QSRs]) and filling in their non-perishable needs (household items, canned goods, health and beauty care) on separate store-based trips. These non-perishable trips are a place where eCommerce... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Retail

12 Aug 2008
First Look

First Look: August 12, 2008

2001. In 1990 the German consumer goods company Benkiser began acquiring fragrance and cosmetics brands with the intent of developing a beauty business. These included the long-established, but relatively small, U.S. fragrance company... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

Teaching Interest

Overview

The Business of Aesthetics is a new course for second-year students who are considering careers in sectors and companies whose long-term financial value is built on their ability to deliver aesthetic value. Such companies are rewarded not only for eliciting a high... View Details

Keywords: Aesthetics; Luxury Goods; Retail; Consumer Goods; Design; Creativity; Consumer Behavior; Brand Building; Experience Goods; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry

January 2023
Case

Natura: Weathering the Pandemic at Brazil's Cosmetic Giant

By: Brian Trelstad, Pedro Levindo and Carla Larangeira

Brazil's Natura, a multi-brand cosmetics group, has taken several measures to safeguard the livelihoods of its thousands of employees and millions of sales representatives during the COVID-19 health and economic crisis. The company has also made strides in its efforts... View Details