Publications

March 2008 (Revised May 2008)
Case

Carlyle Japan (A)

By: David B. Godes, Masako Egawa and Mayuka Yamazaki

Tamotsu Adachi, Managing Director of Carlyle Japan, wants to formulate a strategy to improve his firm's ability to source high-quality deals at competitive valuations, or prices. Buyout funds like Carlyle typically have two deal phases: sourcing and monitoring. These... View Details

Keywords: Financial Instruments; Leveraged Buyouts; Supply Chain Management; Marketing Channels; Sales; Financial Services Industry; Japan

March 2003
Background Note

Managing a Customer Relationship Over Time

By: Das Narayandas

Describes the different ways in which vendors can sell a portfolio of products to industrial customers. View Details

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Management; Marketing Strategy; Product Marketing; Networks; Sales; Manufacturing Industry

April 2002 (Revised July 2002)
Case

Imagicast

By: John T. Gourville and Alison Berkley Wagonfeld

Imagicast has brought to market an interactive, multimedia retail kiosk designed to increase product sales. In spite of promising projections by industry analysts and detailed demand forecasts by Imagicast management, the company has yet to sell a single kiosk. Time... View Details

Keywords: Forecasting and Prediction; Crisis Management; Product Launch; Demand and Consumers; Sales; Technology; Retail Industry; United States

Find at Harvard

October 1993 (Revised November 1994)
Case

Becton Dickinson & Co.: Multidivisional Marketing Programs

By: Frank V. Cespedes

In response to a potential competitive inroad at a key account, managers at Becton Dickinson are considering a multidivisional marketing effort. View Details

Keywords: Marketing Communications; Accounting Audits; Management; Supply Chain Management; Organizations; Sales; Change Management; Health Industry

08 May 2014
News

The Sky's the Limit

to how sheltered I was," Eaton says. After completing the PMD program, Eaton returned to the business world as international program manager for the Blackhawk helicopter at Sikorsky Aircraft, then as commercial sales manager. She also... View Details

Keywords: Jill Radsken; women's issues; avaition; Air Transportation; Transportation

Nelson Doubleday

Doubleday focused his efforts on the mass production and distribution of inexpensive books. In 1934, Doubleday purchased full ownership of the Literary Guild of America, a book club that generated sales of 1 million books a year. Under... View Details

Keywords: Publishing & Print Media

Berry Gordy, Jr.

Gordy’s Motown Records became the most successful African-American enterprise of its time with sales in the early 1970s of $50 million. Gordy’s first gold record came just one year after the founding of Motown - Smokey Robinson and the... View Details

Keywords: Entertainment & Broadcast Media

01 Feb 2013
News

Growth Strategy Has Double Bottom Line

playbook, but it has cultivated an additional source of revenue: the sale of conservation easements. Lyme Timber buys pieces of land targeted by conservation groups such as the Nature Conservancy and the Trust for Public Land, which pay... View Details

Keywords: Louisa Rigali; Forestry and Logging; Agriculture; Funds, Trusts, and Other Financial Vehicles; Finance

November 2021 (Revised March 2022)
Case

AppHarvest: Rebuilding the Appalachian Economy Through Agriculture

By: Joshua Lev Krieger, William R. Kerr and Christian Godwin

In 2021, AppHarvest completed construction of a 60-acre indoor farming facility, one of the world’s largest, recorded its first sales, and went public in a multi-billion dollar IPO. Described as “a force of nature,” Jonathan Webb founded the company to bring jobs back... View Details

Keywords: Agricultural; Entrepreneur; Business Startups; Development Economics; Sales; Goals and Objectives; Going Public; Growth Management; Buildings and Facilities; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; North America

03 Jan 2007
First Look

First Look: January 3, 2007

Kendall Square Research was a small competitor in the supercomputer industry. Sales grew rapidly in 1992 and early 1993 and the company sold stock to the public for the first time. Analysts forecast higher earnings for 1993, then the... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

Brandon Farwell

Gusto, Patreon, Boom Supersonic, Andela, Bustle, Customer.io, VRChat, and others. This portfolio was awarded #1 in VR /AR and frontier technology by Goldman Sachs, CB Insights, and Pitchbook. Brandon spent time in sales operations and... View Details

Keywords: Business Products and Services (B2B)

25 Sep 2019
News

Leading the Evolution of E-Commerce

assistant,” she explains. “We’re actually getting back to the interaction you might have had years ago, when you’d walk into a store and interact with a sales associate who’s knowledgeable about the product.” READ MORE View Details

Keywords: ecommerce; work-life balance; entrepreneurship; Retail Trade

06 Dec 2016
Working Paper Summaries

Assortment Rotation and the Value of Concealment

Keywords: by Kris Johnson Ferreira and Joel Goh; Retail

August 2018
Teaching Note

Magpie: Developing and Using Buyer Personas

By: Frank V. Cespedes

Teaching Note for HBS No. 818-013. Magpie is a startup with a platform that allows publishers to natively tag the products discussed in their content and thus allows consumers to purchase those products without needing to leave that publisher’s web page. A key aspect... View Details

Keywords: Buying Process; Marketing; Sales; Distribution Channels; Segmentation; Entrepreneurship; Social Media; Consumer Products Industry; Fashion Industry; United States

December 2000
Case

Daymon Associates

By: Ray A. Goldberg

How does a firm act as a coordinater between the food retailer and manufacturer and satisfy both? View Details

Keywords: Food; Globalized Markets and Industries; Distribution; Production; Sales; Relationships; Food and Beverage Industry