Publications

February 2006
Case

Bumble and bumble: Building a Successful Business in Beauty and Fashion

By: Nancy F. Koehn and Erica Helms

Explores the creation and subsequent rise of Bumble and bumble, a trend-setting hair-care company. Analyzes the vision and achievements of the founding entrepreneur, Michael Gordon, and charts the evolution of the company within the $230 billion global beauty industry.... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Entrepreneurship; Brands and Branding; Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Strategy; Financial Condition; Business Growth and Maturation; Success; Distribution; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry

June 1995
Supplement

Dow Corning and the Breast Implant Controversy (B)

By: Willis M. Emmons III, Monica Brand and Greg Keller

Provides an update to the (A) case. View Details

Keywords: Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry

01 Oct 2001
News

HBS Alumnae Chart Career Choices and Transitions

discussion, Hart presented principles of entrepreneurship, and Nancy Koehn shared insights from her research on the life of cosmetics entrepreneur Estée Lauder. Hart noted that the positive response to the seminar suggested the... View Details

Keywords: Laura Singleton; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services; Professional Services

01 Dec 2002
News

Building a Network for Social Enterprise in Latin America

Angela Serino, manager of corporate responsibility for Natura, a Brazilian cosmetics company, and Maria de Graça Fernandes Branco, principal of Matilde Elementary and High School. The pair are subjects of a case produced by the SEKN that... View Details

25 Apr 2005
Research & Ideas

New Learning at American Home Products

preparations; publicly advertised medicinal, pharmaceutical and dentifrice preparations; food products; household products; cosmetics and toilet preparations; and chemicals, organic colors and pigments, dye stuffs and intermediates."... View Details

Keywords: by Alfred D. Chandler Jr.; Chemical; Health; Manufacturing; Pharmaceutical

26 Jan 2004
Research & Ideas

What Developing-World Companies Teach Us About Innovation

giant; Natura, a leader in Brazil's cosmetics arena; and China's Haier, which sells appliances in one of the world's most demanding markets. What these companies and others like them share is a distinct approach to innovation: they... View Details

Keywords: by Donald N. Sull, Alejandro Ruelas-Gossi & Martin Escobari

01 Jul 2002
Research & Ideas

What it Takes to Lead Through Turmoil

building a better car. When Amazon.com bested Barnes & Noble on the Internet, among B&N's responses was to sue Amazon, alleging fraudulent advertising. Then the laggard company enters phase three: Cosmetic change. Executives... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

12 Mar 2014
Research & Ideas

Entrepreneurship and Multinationals Drive Globalization

In a new book on the origins and impacts of globalization, Harvard Business School's Geoffrey Jones focuses on the role played by a vital but often ignored actor in this conversation: business entrepreneurs and the multinational enterprises they create. "There has... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Beauty & Cosmetics; Beauty & Cosmetics; Beauty & Cosmetics; Beauty & Cosmetics

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

September 2010 (Revised September 2011)
Case

Leasing Decision at Magnet Beauty Products, Inc.

By: Krishna G. Palepu and George Serafeim

A fast-growing retailer is facing two different leasing options for its stores. In choosing between the two options, management is considering the potential impact of the two options on the company's financial statements, in light of the proposed new accounting... View Details

Keywords: Financial Statements; Decision Choices and Conditions; Growth and Development Strategy; Standards; Leasing; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry

January 1997
Exercise

Negotiating Corporate Change: Confidential Information, Paul Stokes, VP, Health and Beauty Aids Division

By: James K. Sebenius

This case provides the confidential role information necessary for one person in a four-person negotiation simulation about a major corporate change. Specifically, it describes the role of Paul Stokes as he attempts to negotiate a new uniform corporate information... View Details

Keywords: Business Units; Transformation; Information Management; Negotiation Deal; System; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry

07 Dec 2015
Research & Ideas

Why Immigrant Workers Cluster in Particular Industries

Vietnamese manicurists, Korean dry cleaners, Haitian cab drivers, Gujarati motel owners. Anyone who lives in an American city can see how immigrants tend to cluster in industries along ethnic lines. Is this because they are forced to by circumstance or because they... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Beauty & Cosmetics; Beauty & Cosmetics; Beauty & Cosmetics

04 May 2009
Research & Ideas

What’s Next for the Big Financial Brands

(Editor's note: Harvard Business School professor John Quelch writes a blog on marketing issues, called Marketing Know: How, for Harvard Business. It is reprinted on HBS Working Knowledge.) Recent news coverage of the cosmetic name change... View Details

Keywords: by John Quelch; Banking; Financial Services

04 Sep 2019
News

Clicks and Mortar

complementary channels has opened up possibilities that would not have been imaginable with the more traditional, siloed approach. JA: I would give the example of Glossier, which is a digitally native, direct-to-consumer cosmetics... View Details

Keywords: Jen McFarland Flint; Miscellaneous Store Retailers; Retail Trade

December 2012 (Revised August 2020)
Case

Rodan + Fields Dermatologists

By: Das Narayandas, Michael Roberts and Liz Kind

The case focuses on issues involved in managing the direct multilevel marketing sales consultants who sell R+F skin care products. The company is trying to better manage the inconsistent and highly variable recruitment behavior of the sales force i.e., the degree to... View Details

Keywords: Marketing; Salesforce Management; Recruitment; Compensation and Benefits; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; California

22 Sep 2009
First Look

First Look: September 22

forces within the team. Ends with a discussion of bridging differences in teams across both geographic and cultural divides. Purchase this note: http://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cb/product/410051-PDF-ENG Radiant Cosmetics: What's in a Pout? Harvard Business School Case... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

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

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