Consumer - Publications - Faculty & Research

30 Oct 2014
Blog Post

Alumni: Where are they now? Featuring Robert Leke...

Current Position: Senior Associate, Tana Africa Capital Current Location: Johannesburg, South Africa Tell us what you’re up to these days. I maintain a position at the same company I joined shortly after my graduation from HBS in 2012. I work at Tana Africa Capital... View Details

Keywords: Consumer Products / Retail

15 Jul 2014
Blog Post

Discovering a new organization and state as an intern

I have a tendency to plan rather far in advance (huge understatement), so I was pretty psyched to get the MBA intern calendar from Walmart in my email prior starting my internship. Opening it was actually overwhelming- there is literally at least one training / tour /... View Details

Keywords: Consumer Products / Retail

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Keywords: Consumer Products / Retail

Fast Answer

Africa: research, news, analysis

restaurants kenya). Search tips: use concise keywords. Go to "Analysis" section for full industry reports. Also helpful: the "Consumer Lifestyles in X" reports ("Consumer Lifestyles in South Africa") and "Mobile in... View Details

01 Jun 2016
News

Feedback

This pioneering effort is now a multibillion-dollar industry. —Donn Walklet (MBA 1976) via alumni.hbs.edu Community from Cuisine Re: Doug Duda (MBA 1985) Food is love, and love drives consumer behavior. As the developed world becomes... View Details

01 Apr 2000
News

The World at a Click

services for leisure and small-business travelers. Consumers enjoy one-stop shopping for airline tickets, car rentals, vacation packages, hotels, and cruises, as well as a wealth of travel news and merchandise. "Preview Travel and... View Details

Keywords: Margie Kelly

September 2021 (Revised December 2021)
Case

Telepass: From Tolling to Mobility Platform

By: Chiara Farronato, Stefano Denicolai and Sarah Mehta

Telepass, until very recently the sole processor of electronic toll payments on Italy’s highways, has ambitions beyond tolling. Since the mid-2010s, the company has been expanding into adjacent services. In 2017, Telepass launched TelepassPay—a mobile payment... View Details

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Stafford is credited with moving American Home Products from a diversified manufacturer of consumer health products into a major pharmaceutical company. He did so while consistently achieving impressive financial returns – continuing... View Details

Keywords: Healthcare

31 Oct 2004
Research & Ideas

Bypass Marketing: Are Docs Influenced?

Until the close of the last decade, health consumers received much of their knowledge and advice about prescription drugs from their physicians or other health care professionals. Today, pharmaceutical companies are spending several... View Details

Keywords: by Manda Salls

May 2004 (Revised July 2004)
Case

Clarence Saunders: The Comeback King

By: Nitin Nohria and Bridget Gurtler

Follows the rise and fall of the founder of the modern supermarket, Clarence Saunders. Prior to 1915, all staple shopping took place in the market or general store, where a clerk behind a counter pulled items from shelves for customers , measured them from a barrel, or... View Details

Keywords: Inflation and Deflation; Mission and Purpose; Business Processes; Leadership; Consumer Behavior; Leadership Style; Advertising; Customer Relationship Management; Customer Value and Value Chain; Order Taking and Fulfillment

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21 May 2009
Working Paper Summaries

Do Friends Influence Purchases in a Social Network?

Keywords: by Raghuram Iyengar, Sangman Han & Sunil Gupta; Technology

March 2006
Case

Bringing OTC back to the Exchange: Euronext.liffe's launch of ABC

Euronex.liffe, a derivatives trading exchange, launches matching, clearing, and confirmation services for the over-the-counter market. This combination of services creates a new platform for a market that potentially cannibalizes its current exchange-based services. Is... View Details

Keywords: Value Creation; Digital Platforms; Consolidation; Financial Markets; Network Effects

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April 2002 (Revised July 2002)
Case

Imagicast

By: John T. Gourville and Alison Berkley Wagonfeld

Imagicast has brought to market an interactive, multimedia retail kiosk designed to increase product sales. In spite of promising projections by industry analysts and detailed demand forecasts by Imagicast management, the company has yet to sell a single kiosk. Time... View Details

Keywords: Forecasting and Prediction; Crisis Management; Product Launch; Demand and Consumers; Sales; Technology; Retail Industry; United States

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November 2001 (Revised August 2002)
Case

Audio Spotlight, The

By: Youngme E. Moon

Joe Pompei, a graduate student at the MIT Media Lab, has invented a breakthrough audio invention. The invention is an "Audio Spotlight" that projects a narrow beam of sound in the same way a laser beam projects a narrow beam of light. He must now decide how to... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Entrepreneurship; Independent Innovation and Invention; Marketing; Demand and Consumers; Value Creation

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Keywords: Agribusiness

01 Mar 2014
News

Innovation: Crowdfunding College Costs

Savingforcollege.com, which Cordero describes as "the Consumer Reports of 529 plans.") The plan is to capitalize on market share down the road: "There is a lot of value in processing millions of dollars of new assets," he remarks. "Our... View Details

Keywords: Hanna, Julia; Gradsave; crowdfunding; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services; Finance

October 2018 (Revised July 2019)
Case

Sidewalk Labs: Privacy in a City Built from the Internet Up

By: Leslie K. John, Mitchell Weiss and Julia Kelley

Email mking@hbs.edu for a courtesy copy.

By the time Dan Doctoroff, CEO of Sidewalk Labs, began hosting a Reddit “Ask Me Anything” session in January 2018, he had only nine months remaining to convince the people... View Details

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November 2001
Case

Gold Kist Inc.

By: Ray A. Goldberg and Stephanie Oestreich

An oversupply of poultry causes a major decrease in margins for the company and the industry. How does the only cooperative in the industry respond to short-term and long-term economic pressures? View Details

Keywords: Decision Making; Economics; Profit; Consumer Behavior; Supply and Industry; Strategic Planning; Business Strategy

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October 2000
Background Note

Creating Value

By: Rohit Deshpande

Creating value involves understanding consumers/customers and bringing this knowledge into the organization. Market-driven and market-driving strategies are contrasted in the context of new product development. View Details

Keywords: Knowledge Use and Leverage; Marketing Strategy; Consumer Behavior; Product Development; Value Creation

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