Publications

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June 2017
Case

Harmonie Water: Refreshing the World Naturally

By: John A. Quelch and John L. Teopaco

The marketing director of Harmonie Mineral Water—the second-best selling bottled water in the world—is using findings from two project studies to assess how to establish a global brand identity for Harmonie via television advertising. He must decide what product... View Details

Keywords: Brands and Branding; Advertising; Marketing Communications; Global Strategy; Food and Beverage Industry

July 1972 (Revised September 1985)
Case

Saturday Evening Post (Revised)

Permits analysis of the need for adapting strategy to environmental change and for choosing among strategic alternatives in the light of new environmental opportunities. Management and board failures in these areas may be traced to some of the underlying causes,... View Details

Keywords: Journals and Magazines; Management Style; Values and Beliefs; Governing and Advisory Boards; Adaptation; Leadership Style; Media and Broadcasting Industry; United States

Profile

Hiroshi Mikitani

to customize their web presence rather than be forced to conform to a standard design. “We encouraged them to interact directly with customers because we’d found that merchants who told their View Details

Article

Smart People Ask for (My) Advice: Seeking Advice Boosts Perceptions of Competence

By: A.W. Brooks, F. Gino and M.E. Schweitzer

Although individuals can derive substantial benefits from exchanging information and ideas, many individuals are reluctant to seek advice from others. We find that people are reticent to seek advice for fear of appearing incompetent. This fear, however, is misplaced.... View Details

Keywords: Behavior; Cognition and Thinking

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24 Jun 2015
HBS Case

Upgrading School with a Startup Mentality

prioritizing customer satisfaction, and using technology to gather classroom data to create continuous improvement and personalization. In short, Ventilla is combining the... View Details

Keywords: Re: John Jong-Hyun Kim; Education

July 1989 (Revised April 2001)
Case

Kanthal (A)

By: Robert S. Kaplan

Multinational company needs an improved cost system to determine the profitability of individual customer orders. Its strategy is to have significant sales and profitability growth without adding additional administrative and support people. The new cost system... View Details

Keywords: Cost Accounting; Earnings Management; Cost Management; Financial Management; Multinational Firms and Management; Business or Company Management; Customer Relationship Management; Sales; Business Strategy; Profit; Electronics Industry

24 May 2017
News

J.Crew Boss Mickey Drexler Confesses: I Didn’t Get the Web

March 1984 (Revised August 1990)
Case

Petite Playthings, Inc.--1984 (A)

By: Benson P. Shapiro

Provides background information for the (B) case, in which a young sales person is asked for a bribe by an experienced children's wear buyer. View Details

Keywords: Crime and Corruption; Ethics; Information; Sales; Apparel and Accessories Industry

16 Jul 2024
Op-Ed

Corporate Boards Are Failing in Their No. 1 Duty

oversee the outcomes. A development plan should be prepared for each person to provide the varied experiences required if they are chosen, with opportunities to shine in different roles and exposure to the... View Details

Keywords: by Bill George

26 Jul 2019
News

10 Common-Sense Rules for a Customer-Centric Business Culture

2020
Other Teaching and Training Material

Leading the Charge: A Podcase about Product Management at Opower

By: Jeffrey Rayport and John J. Lafkas

The Opower podcase materials contain audio from professor Jeffrey Rayport's interview with Ben Foster, the former vice president of product management at Opower, and more recently the co-founder of Prodify. In the podcase, Ben discusses how product management works in... View Details

Keywords: Product; Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Customization and Personalization; Conflict Management; Software

March 2011 (Revised April 2011)
Case

State Bank of India: Transforming a State Owned Giant

By: Rajiv Lal and Rachna Tahilyani

February 2011: O.P. Bhatt reflected contentedly on his five-year term as Chairman of State Bank of India (SBI), India's largest commercial bank. He had led SBI on a journey of transformation from an old, hierarchical, transaction oriented, government bank to a modern,... View Details

Keywords: Transformation; Customer Relationship Management; Commercial Banking; Leading Change; Growth and Development Strategy; Marketing; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Banking Industry; India

09 Jun 2014
News

The Manager in Red Sneakers

16 Jul 2007
Research & Ideas

Understanding the ‘Want’ vs. ’Should’ Decision

analyzed a year of individual-level data from a North American online grocer to determine how the delay between when a person's order was completed and when it was delivered affected the content of the order. In general, as the delay... View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert; Retail; Entertainment & Recreation

October 1998 (Revised November 2001)
Case

Boston Beer Company: Light Beer Decision

By: Linda A. Cyr, Joseph B. Lassiter III and Michael J. Roberts

Boston Beer's current light-beer offering, Boston Lightship, has not been successful, and a student team is charged with investigating the problem and recommending a strategy. Highlights issues around branding, target customer selection, and cannibalization, and... View Details

Keywords: Problems and Challenges; Brands and Branding; Customers; Growth and Development Strategy; Marketing Strategy; Entrepreneurship; Food and Beverage Industry; Boston

June 2018 (Revised February 2019)
Teaching Note

Home Nursing of North Carolina

By: Richard S. Ruback, Royce Yudkoff and Ahron Rosenfeld

In 2011, immediately after graduating HBS, Ari Medoff began a self-funded search for a small firm to buy and run as its CEO. After just three month of searching, he identified Home Nursing of North Carolina (HNNC), a home care agency based in Greensboro, NC, as a... View Details

Keywords: Small Firms Management; Acquisition; Negotiation Process; Investment; Small Business; Management; Personal Development and Career

April 18, 2023
Article

The Rebirth of Software as a Service

By: Frank V. Cespedes and Jacco van der Kooij

Traditional sales models focus on customer acquisition and the “funnel” or “pipeline” metrics that dominate talk about sales. But this approach falls short when applied to a recurring revenue business, where the customer life cycle looks more like a bowtie, not a... View Details

Keywords: Customers; Sales; Technology Industry