Publications

SSRN

22 Mar 2013
Research & Ideas

Pulling Campbell’s Out of the Soup

Douglas Conant is an introvert. But when he took over as president and CEO of struggling Campbell Soup Co., he realized he had to break out of his comfort zone, get in front of... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Food & Beverage

Article

Use of Connected Digital Products in Clinical Research Following the COVID-19 Pandemic: A Comprehensive Analysis of Clinical Trials

By: Caroline Marra, William J. Gordon and Ariel Dora Stern

Objectives: In an effort to mitigate COVID-19 related challenges for clinical research, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued new guidance for the conduct of ‘virtual’ clinical trials in late March 2020. This study documents trends in the use of... View Details

Keywords: Connected Digital Products; Telehealth; Remote Monitoring; Health Testing and Trials; Research; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Information Technology

26 Apr 2017
Working Paper Summaries

Assessing the Quality of Quality Assessment: The Role of Scheduling

Keywords: by Maria Ibanez and Michael W. Toffel; Food & Beverage; Food & Beverage

January 2020 (Revised April 2020)
Teaching Note

Brandless: Disrupting Consumer Packaged Goods

By: Jill Avery

Brandless, an online direct-to-consumer seller of upscale private-label consumer packaged goods (CPG), offered consumers a limited assortment of values-conscious products delivered directly to their homes with the simplicity of one fixed $3.00 price point that promised... View Details

Keywords: Brand; Brand Management; DTC; Private Label; Groceries; Packaged Food; Personal Care; Startups; Retailing; Amazon; Brands and Branding; Marketing; Marketing Strategy; Business Startups; Disruption; E-commerce; Consumer Products Industry; Retail Industry; United States

May 2017 (Revised February 2024)
Case

Battle for the Soul of Capitalism: Unilever and the Kraft Heinz Takeover Bid (A)

By: William W. George and Amram Migdal

This case describes Kraft Heinz Company’s (KHC) February 2017 unsolicited $143 billion takeover offer to acquire Unilever. The offer was made to Unilever CEO Paul Polman by KHC chairman Alexandre Behring, who was also co-founder and CEO of Brazilian-based 3G Capital... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Value Creation; Decision Choices and Conditions

27 Feb 2019
Research & Ideas

The Hidden Cost of a Product Recall

Evidence from Medical Device Firms, released in January. Bigger recalls, bigger reactions Using 13 years of US Food and Drug Administration data and a novel set of competitor... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost; Manufacturing; Consumer Products; Auto; Medical Devices & Supplies

November 1999 (Revised March 2000)
Case

Florida Department of Citrus

By: Ray A. Goldberg, Carin-Isabel Knoop and David Benedict Pearcy

The Florida Department of Citrus (FDOC) is a state agency responsible for the welfare of the Florida citrus industry. This case describes the FDOC's efforts to turn around grapefruit juice consumption. Using a health message, Dan Santangelo, the FDOC's new director,... View Details

Keywords: Marketing Strategy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Change Management; Management Teams; Product Marketing; Demand and Consumers; Food and Beverage Industry; Florida

Find at Harvard

14 Jan 2019
Op-Ed

These 4 CEOs Created a New Standard of Leadership

how food and beverages were impacting consumer health. In early 2007, she launched PepsiCo’s new mission, “Performance with Purpose.” She committed to reduce the sugar and sodium in PepsiCo’s core snacks and sodas, which generated most... View Details

Keywords: by Bill George; Food & Beverage; Food & Beverage; Food & Beverage; Food & Beverage

2021
Working Paper

Being the Boss: Gig Workers' Value of Flexible Work

By: Laura Katsnelson and Felix Oberholzer-Gee

Workers who join the gig economy face a challenging trade-off. Gig work provides worktime flexibility and a sense of being one’s own boss, but gig workers forgo certain protections that employees enjoy. In this paper, we study the work patterns of a large sample of... View Details

Keywords: Gig Workers; Flexible Work Arrangements; Worker Welfare; Labor; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms

November 2022
Case

Arcos Dorados’ Quest for the Digitalization of Last-Mile Delivery in Colombia

By: Jorge Tamayo, Jenyfeer Martinez Buitrago and Mariana Cal

In 2018, Francisco Staton, Managing Director of Arcos Dorados in Colombia had to decide on the company’s strategy to expand its food ordering and delivery business in the country. Arcos Dorados stood as McDonald’s largest independent franchisee, and Colombia was one of... View Details

November 2009 (Revised March 2010)
Case

Managing Drugs on the Forefront of Personalized Medicine: The Erbitux and Vectibix Story

By: Richard G. Hamermesh, Raju Kucherlapati and Rachel Gordon

In May 2007, Amgen Inc. (Amgen) received disappointing news from the European Medicines Agency (EMEA) that its drug Vectibix, developed to fight metastatic colorectal cancer, had been rejected. This was especially surprising news given that a similar rival drug had... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Health Testing and Trials; Marketing Strategy; Product Positioning; Genetics; Biotechnology Industry; Europe; United States

February 2018 (Revised October 2019)
Technical Note

The Art and Science of Brand Valuation

By: Jill Avery

Brand valuation, the art and science of calculating the economic value accruing to a firm from its use of an intangible brand asset, yields frustratingly inconsistent, discrepant, and, therefore, controversial results. While it is widely accepted that brands are... View Details

2023
Working Paper

How Wicked Problems Drive Business Performance: A Review of the Academic Literature

By: Caroline Adelson, Charlotte Kuller, Cate Tompkins, Ellora Sarkar, Samantha Price and Marco Iansiti

Recent years have seen a rise in the number of businesses engaged in the pursuit of “purposeful” activities – that is, activities that engage with the broader community in ways that expand beyond the pursuit of shareholder value. Many of these activities involve... View Details

Keywords: Wicked Problems; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Social Issues; Performance

June 2011
Case

Reed Supermarkets: A New Wave of Competitors

By: John A. Quelch and Carole Carlson

Reed Supermarkets is a high-end supermarket chain with operations in several Midwestern states. Meredith Collins, vice president of marketing, visits stores located in Columbus, Ohio, an important region with the largest market and the greatest impact on revenue... View Details

Keywords: Product Positioning; Marketing Strategy; Business Growth and Maturation; Competitive Strategy; Consumer Behavior; Brands and Branding; Food and Beverage Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Ohio

03 Nov 2008
HBS Case

Economics of the Ethanol Business

production levels and the potential sale of the ethanol plant in an increasingly competitive, complex environment. "For the first time in history, the food and energy markets are converging," says... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Agriculture & Agribusiness; Energy

2022
Working Paper

An Anatomy of Performance Monitoring

By: Achyuta Adhvaryu, Anant Nyshadham and Jorge Tamayo

Performance monitoring is a mainstay management tool in most organizations. Yet we still know little about whether—and why—better monitoring yields better performance in practice. To shed light on these questions, we study the introduction of a performance monitoring... View Details

Keywords: Performance Monitoring; Worker Skills; Skill Depreciation; Managerial Inattention; On-the-job Training; Productivity; Multitasking; Quick Serve Restaurants; Performance Evaluation; Employees; Competency and Skills; Training; Performance Productivity; Management; Information Technology; Food and Beverage Industry; Puerto Rico

Research Summary

Sustainable Operations

Professor Lee studies how operational synergies between different supply chains can be used to create economic value and improve environmental sustainability. She uses an operational lens to approach sustainability problems, focusing on the management of material flow... View Details

Keywords: Environment; Environmental Operations; Sustainability; Operations Management; Operational Disruptions; Supply Chain; Supply Chain Management; Food Security

2023
Working Paper

Firm Purpose and Problem Wickedness: A Review of the Academic Literature

By: Caroline Adelson, Charlotte Kuller, Cate Tompkins, Ellora Sarkar, Samantha Price and Marco Iansiti

Our understanding of the firm’s role in society has evolved greatly over the past 70 years, with more recent years seeing a sharp rise in interest for how firms can contribute more than profits to society – that is, have a purpose beyond profits. Businesses engaged in... View Details

Keywords: Mission and Purpose; Problems and Challenges