Sales - Publications - Faculty & Research

01 Jun 2020
What Do You Think?

Will Challenged Amazon Tweak Its Retail Model Post-Pandemic?

competitive challenges to Amazon in ways unimagined before the pandemic. While Amazon’s sales increased during the early months of the COVID-19 scare, by mid-April its share of online spending had fallen from 42 percent (imagine that for... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Retail

02 Jan 2019
News

Not Waiting for Progress

civil rights movement leader Reverend Ralph Abernathy was Diamond’s godfather. Diamond credits his mother—who worked in sales with Mary Kay cosmetics—with instilling in him a “high level of enthusiasm about business in general, and... View Details

Keywords: Deborah Blagg

November 2002 (Revised May 2003)
Case

Epicentric

By: William A. Sahlman

Describes a set of decisions confronting the management of a software company that sells portal management tools to large companies. Management must raise additional funds under difficult circumstances. View Details

Keywords: Finance; Investment Funds; Business or Company Management; Product Marketing; Problems and Challenges; Sales; Information Technology Industry

Citation

Find at Harvard

21 Feb 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research: February 21

executives, middle managers, and sales people from companies across a variety of industries. The survey focused on questions about how well their companies’ strategies informed six critical elements of their View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

01 Oct 1999
News

White knight in the rye

three, "had a right, really a duty to herself and her children, to safeguard their economic security," said Norton, adding that the sale and its circumstances were filled with "moral ambiguity." View Details

01 Jun 2000
News

Slam Dunk

video, including games from some of the country's best playground leagues. "We want to be the No. 1 online basketball destination," said O'Neil, who cut his teeth in the sports business working in sales for the Philadelphia Eagles and the... View Details

01 Sep 2005
News

Fixer Upper

she’s “sold 1” — as in $1 billion in sales. Baum is senior vice president and “Director of the Exclusive Properties Division” at the Corcoran Group, the top-selling residential real estate firm in a city where the average sale price for... View Details

Keywords: Real Estate

01 Mar 2004
News

Gibson Hits a High Note

quality, acquisitions, and new markets, Gibson is back. Sales have doubled to more than $250 million since 2000. And the company is hiring another one hundred people to increase its handmade guitar output to four hundred a day, reported... View Details

Keywords: Performing Arts, Spectator Sports, and Related Industries; Arts, Entertainment

28 May 2021
Blog Post

Taking Measure on Memorial Day

Academy and commissioning as an engineer officer in the US Army, I joined the founders of Steel Hearts, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to honoring the fallen cadets, midshipmen, and graduates of America’s service academies through the View Details

Web

Robert Reiss | Baker Library | Bloomberg Center | Harvard Business School

started out as a waiter at resorts in upstate New York. He moved on after graduating from HBS to run the personalized-pencil division of a small New York company. He saw that as an opportunity to learn about running a business while someone else “picked up the tab.” He... View Details

15 Oct 2012
Research & Ideas

Why Business IT Innovation is so Difficult

"When you talk to people on the front lines, they know this is complicated and hard," she says. Communication Breakdown Investing in technology change without organizational change won't work either. For the Harvard Business Review article The Short Life of Online... View Details

Keywords: by Maggie Starvish

Profile

Georges F. Doriot

“a group of stodgy old bankers with a unique proposition: Let’s set up a fund that will invest in promising young companies, often companies with little or no sales and with little management experience but with potentially... View Details

05 Nov 2012
Research & Ideas

What Wall Street Doesn’t Understand About International Trade

on with X.” Global sales are critical to the success of most big businesses. In fact, for companies in the S&P 500, some 46 percent of sales came from outside the United States in 2011. "When nearly half... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

01 Sep 2003
What Do You Think?

To Whom Should Boards be Accountable?

shareholders to get the best price." In the experience I related, the board decided that the 20 percent discount involved in the sale to the desired bidder was just too much. Influenced in part by large shareholders, the board... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

01 Mar 2023
News

Action Plan: Casting Call

market over the years. While the company continues to make envelopes and printed products, it also produces packaging for pharmacies and other e-commerce mailing needs. With 9 manufacturing facilities and more than 20 sales offices in the... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna; hobbies; balance; meaning; longevity; aging; Paper Manufacturing; Manufacturing

02 Dec 2010
News

Ten Rules for Entrepreneurs

The most successful entrepreneurs read books, hire executive coaches, and recognize that continually learning to lead is a must. 8. Learning to sell requires a lifelong commitment. Ethical, effective sales technique is one of the most... View Details

Keywords: Roger Thompson; Management; Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services; Professional Services

14 Dec 2010
First Look

First Look: Dec. 14

addresses a decision to replace salesmen netbook PCs with iPhones, including converting the company's sales and customer applications to the iPhone platform. Purchase this case:http://cb.hbsp.harvard.edu/cb/product/911413-PDF-ENG Hikma... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

18 Mar 2001
Research & Ideas

Want to Be an Entrepreneur? [Part I]

tasks like perfecting their technology, learning how to manufacture it, and financing the needed investments in research, development, and marketing through a combination of product sales and venture funding. And so emerged several... View Details

Keywords: by John S. Rosenberg

01 Mar 2012
News

School’s Financial Picture Brighter than Expected

million to $132 million. Although Harvard Business Publishing experienced planned increases for expenses to boost its technology platform and expand its sales organization, revenue grew by $17 million to $152 million. Together, Executive... View Details

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

05 May 2017
News

Barnes & Noble Names Demos Parneros CEO

challenge is the sales performance; that’s no secret,” Parneros told the Times. “We’ve got to figure out ways to change things up a little bit and increase traffic.” Parneros told the Times that he sees strengths in the company’s... View Details

Publications