Publications

21 Feb 2005
Op-Ed

Is Business Management a Profession?

Frederick Taylor's application of scientific methods to the study of physical labor had begun to be extended to the organization of industry as well as to spheres such as higher education and government. While Taylorism was quickly... View Details

Keywords: by Rakesh Khurana, Nitin Nohria & Daniel Penrice

July 2017
Case

Magpie: Developing and Using Buyer Personas

By: Frank V. Cespedes

The founders of a start-up platform for publishers have developed preliminary personas of target customers and are evaluating the implications for initial target buyers, messaging, and marketing programs. The case is useful for discussing the process of developing... View Details

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

Web

In the News - Creating Emerging Markets

transcended the boundaries of her industry in terms of her social impact” by using – and in doing so risking – her status as an actress in order to fight for change. Working Knowledge A Dedication to Creation: India's Ad Man Ranjan Kapur... View Details

19 Aug 2021
Op-Ed

Don't Ignore Your Employees' Misery—TAKE Control

profitability in many instances. So why are so many employers pushing so forcefully for all employees to return to the office, even as employee turnover across industries is increasing? It’s a pattern not isolated to the corporate world.... View Details

Keywords: by Hise O. Gibson and MaShon Wilson

29 Oct 2006
Research & Ideas

The History and Influence of Andy Grove

professional life. His odyssey epitomizes the fulfillment of the American dream. A penniless immigrant from an environment entirely unlike that in the United States comes here and winds up at the center of the industry which is at the... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Computer

July 2015 (Revised January 2020)
Case

Horst Dassler, Adidas, and the Commercialization of Sport

By: Geoffrey Jones, Michael Norris and Sophi Kim

The case focuses on the career of Horst Dassler, the son of the founder of the German-based sports shoe manufacturer Adidas. The origins of the firm were in the interwar years, and it rose to public prominence after it provided spikes for Jesse Owens, the famous... View Details

01 Dec 2022
News

Full Court Press

as a platform to not only improve the health and wellness of one of the world’s youngest and fastest growing populations but also to create a whole new industry around the business of sports,” says Tatum. Creating an View Details

Keywords: Dan Morrell

November 2022 (Revised June 2023)
Case

UGG Steps into the Metaverse

By: Shunyuan Zhang, Sharon Joseph, Sunil Gupta and Julia Kelley

In the fall of 2022, boot maker UGG and its parent company, Deckers, were working to position the brand in the nascent but fast growing metaverse. The metaverse, the online realm that individual users could navigate as digital avatars, was becoming more commercialized,... View Details

Keywords: Metaverse; Digital Marketing; Innovation and Invention; Marketing Channels; Marketing Strategy; Social Marketing; Internet and the Web; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry; United States

15 Jan 2019
First Look

New Research and Ideas, January 15, 2019

transform traditional industries such as banking, real estate, and healthcare. More recently, it has gained attention as a way to finance new ventures, through what is known as an Initial Coin Offering (ICO). Less noticed, though, is ICOs... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

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

01 Dec 2009
News

One Man Crime Wave

and with a family to support, “living in a dump over a hardware store with kerosene heat,” one biographer wrote. But the Army learned that MacDonald had done well in Industrial Procurement at HBS and offered him a job. He enlisted in... View Details

Keywords: Garry Emmons; fiction writing; Publishing Industries (except Internet); Publishing Industries (except Internet); Publishing Industries (except Internet)

08 Nov 2016
First Look

November 8, 2016

incremental sustainability strategies over decades at his firm. Tompkins, who went on to manage the fashion company Esprit, opted in 1989 to exit business entirely having concluded that capitalism could never be sufficiently sustainable... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

Research Summary

Markets of Progress: Coffee, Commerce, and Community in the Soconusco, Chiapas, 1867-1920

Markets of Progress presents a new holistic story of rural development in Mexico at the turn of the century. In the Soconusco, as in regions throughout the world, the accelerating circulation of commodities and capital, ideas and immigrants reshaped society... View Details

Keywords: Commodities; Coffee; Mexico; Foreign Investment; Institutions; Immigration; Developing Agriculture; Development; Export Crop; Emerging Market; Property Rights; Labor History; History; Capital Markets; Business History; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Latin America; Mexico; Central America

10 May 2020
Blog Post

Let’s Hear it For the Moms – The Incredible Balancing Act of Student Mothers

insurance industry Proudest Accomplishment: Being the mother of Elisa and the wife of Andrés Summer Internship: Boston Consulting Group (BCG) - Boston Office How do you do it? I have a great partner (Andy), I’m positive and enjoy the... View Details

September 2013 (Revised August 2015)
Background Note

Leadership and Teaming

By: Ethan Bernstein

Small differences in the leadership of teams can have large consequences for the success of their efforts. Many initiatives fail not because of a fatal error in judgment or insufficient ideas, knowledge, motivation, or capabilities to deliver a solution. They fail... View Details

14 May 2008
Research & Ideas

Getting Down to the Business of Creativity

of employees that can prove most difficult." It Takes An Innovative Village Creativity is doubtless a significant force in the Indian fashion business, the focus of research by HBS professor Mukti Khaire. While the View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Fashion; Fashion; Fashion; Fashion

September 2023
Teaching Note

Esquel Group

By: William C. Kirby and Noah B. Truwit

Teaching Note for HBS Case Nos. 307-076 and 322-058. These cases focus on the experience of China's largest shirt manufacturer, Esquel Group, and how it manages various aspects of government relations in China and abroad. The A case identifies a wide variety of social... View Details

Keywords: International Relations; Trade; Globalized Markets and Industries; Fashion Industry; China