Publications

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14 Jul 2014
Research & Ideas

Pay Attention To Your ‘Extreme Consumers’

for consumers—and selling a lot more razor blades. Such hidden opportunities can become even more apparent by investigating "extreme consumers," since they can overemphasize thoughts and behaviors that all View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

September 1992 (Revised July 1994)
Case

MEM Company, Inc.: English Leather

By: Frank V. Cespedes and Laura Goode

In 1992, the president of MEM (a producer of personal care products, including men's fragrances) considered a redeployment of field sales efforts and changes in sales compensation policies. Any changes, moreover, must consider the context of strategic decisions... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Decision Choices and Conditions; Brands and Branding; Product Positioning; Consumer Behavior; Distribution Channels; Business Strategy; Consumer Products Industry

February 2002 (Revised April 2011)
Case

The Future of Hybrid Electric Vehicles

By: John T. Gourville, Alice Tzou and David Lane

Set in 2002, this case looks at the potential for hybrid electric vehicles in the United States. Looks at the pressures on the automotive industry to produce a commercially viable, environmentally friendly vehicle and the consumer behavior surrounding purchase of those... View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Marketing Strategy; Consumer Behavior; Environmental Sustainability; Technology Adoption; Auto Industry; United States

2019
Working Paper

Status Pivoting: Coping with Status Threats through Motivated Trade-off Beliefs and Consumption across Domains

By: Dafna Goor, Anat Keinan and Nailya Ordabayeva

Prior research established that status threat leads consumers to display status-related products such as luxury brands. While compensatory consumption in the domain of the status threat (e.g., products associated with financial and professional success) is the most... View Details

Keywords: Status and Position; Luxury; Consumer Behavior

27 Feb 2024
Research & Ideas

Why Companies Should Share Their DEI Data (Even When It’s Unflattering)

studies, the team investigated how consumers respond when companies voluntarily disclose that data, since sharing those numbers with the public is optional. Maya Balakrishnan and Jimin Nam, doctoral students at HBS, wrote the study with... View Details

Keywords: by Shalene Gupta

19 Sep 2013
News

Q & A with Professor John Deighton

2011
White Paper

Brands Are People Too! Harnessing the Power of Brand Warmth and Competence

By: Chris Malone, Jill Avery and S. T. Fiske

Research in customer behavior has revealed that the way humans respond to brands is simply an extension of the way they instinctively perceive, judge, and behave towards one another. Understanding how consumers judge brands using social processes akin to those used in... View Details

Keywords: Brands; Brand Management; Customer Relationship Management; CRM; Brand Positioning; Brand Equity; Customers; Customer Focus and Relationships; Customer Satisfaction; Brands and Branding; Marketing; Marketing Communications; Marketing Strategy; Consumer Products Industry

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13 May 2024
Research & Ideas

Picture This: Why Online Image Searches Drive Purchases

In a visual world, most online retailers still rely on consumers to define and enter their own search keywords. But using images to help shoppers sharpen their queries could push them to buy more, spend more, and feel happier about their... View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Consumer Products; Consumer Products; Consumer Products; Consumer Products

25 Aug 2018
News

The Other Amazon Effect: How Prices Have Become Less Insulated From Supply Shocks

March 2021 (Revised January 2023)
Background Note

The Pandemic's Impact on the U.S. Food System

By: José B. Alvarez and Natalie Kindred

This note is intended not as a comprehensive account but as a starting point for discussion about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the U.S. food system. Written in late 2020, the note describes, in part through the voices of industry leaders, how the pandemic... View Details

Keywords: COVID-19 Pandemic; Agribusiness; Risk and Uncertainty; Risk Management; Leadership; Change Management; Safety; Health; Health Pandemics; Disruption; Adaptation; Supply Chain; Supply Chain Management; Consumer Behavior; Retail Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Transportation Industry; United States

17 Dec 2014
Research & Ideas

How Our Brain Determines if the Product is Worth the Price

primacy (viewing the price first) makes consumers more likely to focus on whether a product is worth its price, and consequently can help induce the purchase of specific kinds of bargain-priced items. Their study, Cost Conscious? The... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Retail

17 Aug 2023
Research & Ideas

‘Not a Bunch of Weirdos’: Why Mainstream Investors Buy Crypto

the growth of cryptocurrency, many consumers and businesses remain skeptical. The findings, the authors say, provide the first large-scale portrait of cryptocurrency investors, offering valuable insights for regulators, financial... View Details

Keywords: by Ben Rand

Article

Advertising, the Matchmaker

By: Bharat N. Anand and Ron Shachar

We empirically study the informational role of advertising in matching consumers with products when consumers are uncertain about both observable and unobserved program attributes. Our focus is on the network television industry, in which the products are television... View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Information; Consumer Behavior; Television Entertainment; Risk and Uncertainty; Product; Decision Choices and Conditions; Advertising Industry

Find at Harvard

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January 2019 (Revised February 2024)
Teaching Note

Hubble Contact Lenses: Data Driven Direct-to-Consumer Marketing

By: Ayelet Israeli

Teaching Note for HBS No. 519-011. As its Series A extension round approaches, the founders of Hubble, a subscription-based, social-media fueled, direct-to-consumer (DTC) brand of contact lenses, are reflecting on the marketing strategies that have taken them to a... View Details

17 May 2016
First Look

May 17, 2016

industries and geographies, this collection provides students with an appreciation for the importance of consumer empowerment and consumer behavior in shaping both health and... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

September 2015
Case

Eco7: Launching a New Motor Oil

By: John Quelch and Sunru Yong

Aaron Jonnerson, vice president of marketing at the automotive division of Avellin, must make marketing mix decisions for the launch of Eco7, a new environmentally-friendly motor oil. The company's performance has been mediocre, shareholder pressure is increasing, and... View Details

Keywords: Distribution Channels; Environmental Sustainability; Product Launch; Transportation; Energy Sources; Auto Industry