Price Customization - Publications - Faculty & Research

May 2022
Case

Maestro Pizza: Coming in Hot!

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Fares Khrais

Maestro Pizza opened its first store in 2013 after its founder, Khalid Al Omran, recognized an opportunity in Saudi Arabia to offer high quality pizza at affordable prices. The business grew rapidly and under the radar at first, but soon enough caught the attention of... View Details

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Does the adoption of descriptive analytics impact online retailer performance, and if so, how? We use the synthetic difference-in-differences method to analyze the staggered adoption of a retail analytics dashboard by more than 1,500 e-commerce websites, and we... View Details

03 Mar 2003
Research & Ideas

The Basics of Consumer Marketing in Asia

2002 he was CEO of Philips China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. He pointed to Unilever's early experience in China as a cautionary tale. Unilever had done well selling high-end soap products elsewhere, but in China it had a difficult time convincing View Details

Keywords: by Julie Jette

21 Jan 2014
First Look

First Look: January 21

Hervas-Drane Abstract—We analyze the implications of consumer privacy for competition in the marketplace. We consider a market where firms set prices and disclosure levels for consumer information, and consumers observe both before... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

12 Jun 2006
Research & Ideas

The Promise of Channel Stewardship

end users would agree: Their distribution channels are outdated and unwieldy, serving neither customers nor channel partners as well as they should. In a few cases, distribution channels are streamlined and satisfying for all... View Details

Keywords: by V. Kasturi Rangan & Marie Bell; Consumer Products

January 2023 (Revised January 2023)
Case

Belden and Digital Transformation: From Product Sales to Solutions Sales

By: Frank V. Cespedes and Amy Klopfenstein

This case concerns the industrial automation division at Belden, a hardware manufacturer. While Belden historically sold products such as cables, wires, and other networking devices, EVP of Industrial Automation Ashish Chand recognized that IT vendors were entering the... View Details

Keywords: Implementation; Sales Cycle; Digital Transformation; Sales; Product Positioning; Business Model; Market Entry and Exit; Customer Focus and Relationships; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Supply and Industry; Technology Industry; North America; United States

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May 2025
Case

stc Group: DARE to Transform

By: Sunil Gupta and Sadika El Hariri

Established as a government-owned entity in 1998, stc Group was the sole telecommunications operator in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA). Soon after it was privatized in 2003, regional players started entering the Saudi market. To deal with the competition and to... View Details

Keywords: Expansion; Diversification; Digital Transformation; Customer Focus and Relationships; Telecommunications Industry; Saudi Arabia

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Web

The Five Forces - Institute For Strategy And Competitiveness

industry profitability. If there are only one or two suppliers of an essential input product, for example, or if switching suppliers is expensive or time consuming, a supplier group wields more power. Bargaining Power of Buyers Powerful View Details

18 Apr 2005
Research & Ideas

Tips to Reinvent the Department Store

"I think we are at a crossroads in terms of what exactly we do want to represent to our consumers," she said. The very variety that department stores offer, and the fact that they carry multiple brands that sometimes overlap across chains, has made some View Details

Keywords: by Julie Jette; Retail

September 2010
Case

Angie's List

Angie's List is a paid subscription-based service that gives consumers online access to member-submitted reviews of plumbers, electricians, and other home service providers. Customer and revenue growth are strong, but customer acquisition costs are high and the company... View Details

Keywords: Internet and the Web; Price; Competitive Advantage; Product Launch; Service Industry; United States

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Educators

February 2011 (Revised May 2011)
Case

Utilis: Designing, Producing, and Selling Rapid Deployment Shelters for a Troubled World

By: Herman B. Leonard, Daniela Beyersdorfer and Simon Harrow

How can a company that supplies disaster response and humanitarian agencies best handle the intrinsically unpredictable and highly volatile demand for its products? Utilis is a French supplier of rapid-deploy high-end tent solutions for civilian and military uses (such... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Growth and Development Strategy; Demand and Consumers; Strategic Planning; Natural Disasters; Competitive Strategy; Consumer Products Industry; Industrial Products Industry; France

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August 2020
Supplement

Luckin Coffee (B): Revelations of Fraud

By: Ramon Casadesus-Masanell and Karen Elterman

This case describes revelations of fraud at Luckin Coffee, beginning with an anonymous report in January 2020 and continuing with the company’s admission in April 2020 that it had inflated its revenues by 2.2 billion RMB ($310 million), almost half its reported... View Details

Keywords: Fraud; Corporate Misconduct; Business Earnings; Financial Statements; Financial Condition; Stocks; Financial Management; Profit; Revenue; Price; Food; Lawfulness; Crime and Corruption; Food and Beverage Industry; Technology Industry; Asia; China

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21 Jul 2008
Research & Ideas

Solving the Marketing Resources Allocation Puzzle

customers to target, which new customers to acquire, and how to balance resources between promotions and advertising, allocate promotional dollars, and determine the effectiveness of word-of-mouth... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

16 Feb 2016
First Look

February 16, 2016

https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=50588 forthcoming Marketing Science Minimum Advertised Pricing: Patterns of Violation in Competitive Retail Markets By: Israeli, Ayelet, Eric Anderson, and Anne Coughlan Abstract—Manufacturers in many industries frequently... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

December 1989 (Revised April 1997)
Case

Destin Brass Products Co.

By: William J. Bruns Jr.

A specialized manufacturer of brass valves, pumps, and flow controllers is troubled by competitive pricing in pumps and higher than expected margins for flow controllers. Managers suspect that cost accounting and cost allocations to products may be to blame. Two... View Details

Keywords: Cost Accounting; Activity Based Costing and Management; Five Forces Framework; Customer Value and Value Chain; Competition; Business Strategy; Design; Inflation and Deflation; Asset Pricing; Governance Controls; Manufacturing Industry

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Benson P. Shapiro is a well-known authority on marketing strategy and sales management with particular interests in pricing, product line planning, and marketing organization. He is also the Malcolm P. McNair Professor of Marketing Emeritus at the Harvard Business... View Details

31 May 2023
Research & Ideas

With Predictive Analytics, Companies Can Tap the Ultimate Opportunity: Customers’ Routines

a new working paper. “We find that routine customers have higher value to the organization, even after controlling for their level of consumption,” Ascarza says. These customers may also tolerate View Details

Keywords: by Rachel Layne; Transportation

December 2013 (Revised January 2015)
Case

Barbara Krakow Gallery

By: Jose Alvarez and Nyssa Liebermann

The Barbara Krakow Gallery is a successful contemporary art gallery located in Boston. It utilizes a very rare "no haggle pricing" strategy and extended sales cycle when selling pieces to collectors. Though it remains profitable and very respected, the size and scope... View Details

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04 May 2009
Research & Ideas

What’s Next for the Big Financial Brands

valuable brands list. The rival 2008 Interbrand ranking of the top 100 global brands included 13 financial services brands. Citi appeared on both lists. Today, with its brand reputation seriously damaged, Citi's stock price is in the... View Details

Keywords: by John Quelch; Banking; Financial Services

July 2003 (Revised March 2004)
Case

XM Satellite Radio (A)

By: David B. Godes and Elie Ofek

XM Satellite Radio is a radically new way to listen to radio. Management must develop a marketing strategy to launch the firm and the category. A crucial aspect of the strategy is to determine which of two business models the company will pursue. Should it focus... View Details