Publications

August 2010 (Revised November 2020)
Module Note

Integrating Around the Job to Be Done

By: Clayton Christensen, Rory McDonald, Laura E Day and Shaye Roseman

Unlike traditional market segmentations that are based on a correlation of product sales or service with the attributes of the purchaser (such as age, gender, income level, and education level), jobs-based segmentation seeks to understand the causal roots of... View Details

Keywords: Integration Planning; Jobs; Market Segmentation; Customer Satisfaction; Marketing; Jobs and Positions; Marketing Strategy; Segmentation; Integration; Planning

16 Aug 2010
Lessons from the Classroom

HBS Introduces Marketing Analysis Tools for Managers

Harvard Business Publishing has released new toolkits to help managers make key marketing decisions on market analysis, breakeven analysis, customer lifetime value, profit and pricing, and analyzing the competitive environment. The five... View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert

11 Aug 2010
Working Paper Summaries

The Influence of Prior Industry Affiliation on Framing in Nascent Industries: The Evolution of Digital Cameras

Keywords: by Mary J. Benner & Mary Tripsas; Electronics

13 May 2019
News

The Industrialist's Dilemma: Hubert Joly, Chairman and CEO of Best Buy

10 Nov 2008
What Do You Think?

How Much Can You Ask of Your Customers?

play on the standard pre-Internet belief, based on the results of only one research study that became a mantra, that satisfied customers tell five others but dissatisfied customers tell ten. Blackshaw's... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Heskett

July 2020 (Revised January 2021)
Case

Pattern Brands

By: Sunil Gupta, Elie Ofek and Julia Kelley

In March 2020, direct-to-consumer (DTC) company Pattern Brands needed to decide how to allocate resources across its different brands. Pattern Co-Founders Nick Ling and Emmett Shine hoped to avoid the pitfalls faced by some DTC companies—such as inability to scale and... View Details

23 Jan 2012
Research & Ideas

Break Your Addiction to Service Heroes

In their new book, Uncommon Service: How to Win by Putting Customers at the Core of Your Business, coauthors Frances Frei and Anne Morriss maintain that it is possible for organizations to reduce costs while dramatically enhancing View Details

Keywords: by Deborah Blagg; Service

03 May 2019
News

It’s All About Mindset

26 Jan 2021
Research & Ideas

A New Way to Cut Credit Card Debt: Pay Off One Purchase at a Time

Bush, senior manager at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia; and Zoë Chance, assistant professor of marketing at Yale School of Management. Putting ‘repayment-by-purchase’ to the test A field experiment conducted with the Commonwealth Bank... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz; Financial Services

17 Mar 2021
Research & Ideas

Beyond Pajamas: Sizing Up the Pandemic Shopper

When working professionals were shifting to home offices a year ago as COVID-19 was spreading, comedians and pundits predicted that people would no longer need bras and pants that aren’t stretchy. Instead customers would make room for... View Details

Keywords: by Ayelet Israeli, Eva Ascarza, and Laura Castrillo; Retail

26 May 2003
Research & Ideas

What Your Competition is Telling You

competitors can help grow the market for your products and services, thereby boosting your sales at a time when, with the U.S. slowdown entering its third year, new revenue is exceedingly hard to find. Moreover, the presence of a competitor can also influence View Details

Keywords: by David Stauffer

29 Jan 2015
Blog Post

Ask about the FIELD Immersion during your next interview

student’s ability to engage with a diverse group of people and apply the knowledge he/she gained from those conversations to solve a problem or dilemma. Delving into the customer interaction experience... View Details

November 2006 (Revised March 2007)
Case

Liz Claiborne and the New Working Woman

By: Anthony Mayo and Mark Benson

At age 47, with two decades of experience as a lead designer for a Fortune 500 fashion company, Liz Claiborne put her life savings on the line to form Liz Claiborne, Inc., a partnership that included her husband. A decade later, in 1986, Claiborne was CEO of her own... View Details

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Entrepreneurship; Business History; Leadership; Gender; Brands and Branding; Personal Development and Career; Apparel and Accessories Industry

October 2023 (Revised June 2024)
Case

ReUp Education: Can AI Help Learners Return to College?

By: Kris Ferreira, Christopher Thomas Ryan and Sarah Mehta

Founded in 2015, ReUp Education helps “stopped out students”—learners who have stopped making progress towards graduation—achieve their college completion goals. The company relies on a team of success coaches to engage with learners and help them reenroll. In 2019,... View Details

Keywords: AI; Algorithms; Machine Learning; Edtech; Education Technology; Analysis; Higher Education; AI and Machine Learning; Customization and Personalization; Failure; Education Industry; Technology Industry; United States

18 Feb 2013
Research & Ideas

Breaking Through a Growth Stall

where a company seems weighted down by the bounds of its original start-up business model, a lack of experience by its founder(s), and an accelerating, expense-fueled burn rate through working capital and investor patience. "Once a... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

October 2023 (Revised March 2024)
Case

KOKO Networks: Bridging Energy Transition and Affordability with Carbon Financing

By: George Serafeim, Siko Sikochi and Namrata Arora

The problem was massive: two million hectares of African forests were lost annually to charcoal production for cooking, an area equivalent to 13 times Greater London, resulting in one billion tons of carbon emissions yearly. At the same time, an estimated 700,000... View Details

Keywords: Clean Tech; Digital; Carbon Credits; Carbon Offsetting; Climate Change; Entrepreneurship; Energy Sources; Environmental Sustainability; Health; Market Design; Business Startups; Transition; Environmental Regulation; Policy; Energy Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Africa; Kenya; Rwanda

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 between order completion and the... View Details

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

April 1989 (Revised March 1990)
Case

Burlington Northern (B)

By: Janice H. Hammond

Describes the experiences of a seasoned Burlington Northern (BN) sales representative after the introduction of ShipSmart, a decision support system developed by the BN to help its employees and customers analyze logistics problems. After a brief description of a... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Expansion; Rail Transportation; Logistics; Distribution Channels; Truck Transportation; Innovation and Invention; Sales; Rail Industry; United States

October 2005
Case

Wipro Technologies: The Factory Model

Based in Bangalore, Wipro Technologies is a rapidly growing software services company. Wipro is experimenting with a new software service delivery model that draws on the principles of the Toyota production system and "lean" manufacturing. Addresses the advantages and... View Details

Keywords: Job Cuts and Outsourcing; Service Operations; Applications and Software; Standards; Information Technology Industry; Bangalore