Publications

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October 1987
Background Note

High-Tech vs. Low-Tech Marketing: Where's the Beef?

Intended to demystify the notion of high-tech marketing. Its first objective is to clarify the definition of high-tech marketing. Second, it provides a new framework for evaluating the question: "How is high-tech marketing different from traditional marketing... View Details

Keywords: Technology; Marketing

January 2009 (Revised May 2009)
Case

Innovation at Mahindra & Mahindra (A)

By: Stefan H. Thomke and Briana Doerr Luthra

Describes the Mahindra & Mahindra Group's approach to innovation. The Group is among the top industrial houses in India and its managing director Anand Mahindra has put innovation at the core of its growth strategy. Emphasis is placed on managing the balance between... View Details

Keywords: Innovation and Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Problems and Challenges; Marketing; Business Processes; Product; Innovation Strategy; Organizational Design; Demand and Consumers; Auto Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; India

March 1998 (Revised December 2005)
Case

Beta Golf

By: William A. Sahlman, Michael J. Roberts and Laurence E. Katz

The Beta Group is a technology incubator in Menlo Park, CA that has successfully built a portfolio of businesses in the medical, consumer products, and industrial technology sectors by systematically matching proprietary technologies to unmet market needs. Beta has... View Details

Keywords: Business Strategy; Investment; Financial Strategy; Information Technology; Commercialization

September 2020 (Revised May 2024)
Case

Hot Wheels: Launching The Mixed Play Experience

By: Elie Ofek, Andres Terech and Nicole Tempest Keller

Chris Down, Global Brand General Manager for Hot Wheels, and his team from the Advanced Play Group within Mattel, Inc., had developed an entirely new “mixed play” product experience that blended familiar Hot Wheels play in the physical world with breakthrough play in... View Details

Keywords: Toys; Go-to-market Strategy; Product Development; Technological Innovation; Product Launch; Product Positioning; Decision Making; Marketing; Strategy; Los Angeles

August 2011 (Revised May 2012)
Case

Haier: Taking a Chinese Company Global in 2011

By: Tarun Khanna, Krishna G. Palepu and Phillip Andrews

In 2011, Haier, China's leading appliance manufacturer, had over $20 billion in worldwide sales and had just been named the leading refrigerator manufacturer worldwide. Describes Haier's rise over three decades from a defunct refrigerator factory in China's Qingdao... View Details

Keywords: Business Growth and Maturation; Global Strategy; Expansion; Diversification; Emerging Markets; Consumer Products Industry; Manufacturing Industry; China

25 Sep 2000
Research & Ideas

Cyber-Marketing: Scouting the Digital Communications Frontier

environment in which to grow. Participants also discover that the technological development of the medium itself continues to outrun the capacity of its audience to adapt. Profitable long-term marketing in... View Details

Keywords: by Peter K. Jacobs

December 1994 (Revised January 1995)
Case

Zoll Medical Corporation (A)

When is a product ready for the market? In this case, engineers present a prototype medical device product to the CEO for approval. The product, developed under a tight deadline, is essentially identical to the main competitor's product, but that competitor is... View Details

Keywords: Innovation and Management; Product Development; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

November 2018
Case

Cepuros Foods Malaysia: Finding the Secret Sauce for Growth (Brief Case)

By: John A. Quelch and Katherine B. Hartman

Shelby Diaz, country manager for Cepuros Foods International—Malaysia (CFI-M), must decide a growth strategy for the expansion of CFI-M's line of salsas, particularly regarding whom to target and how to allocate marketing investments. CFI-M could expand aggressively by... View Details

Keywords: Growth and Development Strategy; Marketing Strategy; Marketing Communications; Product Positioning

Most books thus far on emerging markets are either investing-oriented (Mobius, Pereiro), or country - or market-specific (Farrell, Lindahl), or descriptive (Friedman, van Agtmael). No book has definitively targeted the corporate strategists who need a practical... View Details

August 2023
Case

Quotient

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Matt Higgins

The founders of Quotient, a web-based service for onboarding new engineers, face decisions about how to bring their nascent product to market amidst a tech sector contraction. View Details

Keywords: Engineers; Entrepreneurial Management; Growth; Go-to-market; Product Management; Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Product Launch; Market Entry and Exit; Strategy; New York (city, NY); San Francisco

July 2020
Case

Amanda and Kristen: Mented Cosmetics

By: Steven Rogers, Jeffrey J. Bussgang and Alterrell Mills

The co-founders (Black HBS alumnae) of an e-commerce beauty startup explore the unmet needs within the beauty industry. This case study examines the entrepreneurial opportunities that come from identifying an underserved market, specifically within the Black community... View Details

January 2024 (Revised March 2024)
Case

Tesla Motors in 2024--Turbulence Ahead?

By: Felix Oberholzer-Gee and Kate Stoppiello

Over its 20 years in existence, Tesla had become nearly synonymous with electric vehicles, and the company assumed an enviable market position. By 2023, however, Tesla faced intense competition. Traditional carmakers and EV upstarts were expected to introduce close to... View Details

Keywords: Competitive Strategy; Product Positioning; Competition; Industry Growth; Auto Industry; North America; Europe; China; Australia

Article

Divide and Conquer: Competing with Free Technology under Network Effects

By: Deishin Lee and Haim Mendelson

We study how a commercial firm competes with a free open source product. The market consists of two customer segments with different preferences and is characterized by positive network effects. The commercial firm makes product and pricing decisions to maximize its... View Details

Keywords: Profit; Product Launch; Network Effects; Open Source Distribution; Adoption; Competitive Strategy; Competitive Advantage

Find at Harvard

November 2005 (Revised March 2006)
Case

Genentech - Capacity Planning

By: Daniel C. Snow, Steven C. Wheelwright and Alison Berkley Wagonfeld

While facilitating a complex clinical approval process over the next two to three years for a family of new cancer drugs, Genentech must develop a long-term capacity plan for a major class of new cancer products. Adding to the complexity and uncertainty is the fact... View Details

Keywords: Factories, Labs, and Plants; Growth and Development Strategy; Management Style; Management Teams; Time Management; Product; Product Development; Business Processes; Performance Capacity; Planning; Risk and Uncertainty; Complexity; Pharmaceutical Industry

04 Aug 2020
News

Glossier Built a Cult Brand and a Digital Community, but What’s Next?

09 Jan 2007
First Look

First Look: January 9, 2007

information. In contrast, the recent historiography of Brazil suggests that after 1890 the network of corporate relations became less important for entrepreneurs trying to obtain capital and concessions, once the institutions promoted financial View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

07 Mar 2013
HBS Seminar

Mike Toffel, Harvard Business School

November 1996 (Revised February 1997)
Case

Farmington Fresh: Growers Changing Produce Distribution

By: Ray A. Goldberg and Don Daniels

Opening up of Asian markets for U.S. produce provided an opportunity for large-scale producers to develop their own packing house and airline to ship their product to Asian markets. Teaching Purpose: How do farmers take a proactive strategy in reaching global produce... View Details

Keywords: Distribution; Global Strategy; Air Transportation; Asia; United States