Publications

16 Aug 2004
Research & Ideas

Luxury Isn’t What It Used to Be

Cashing in on the $60 billion global luxury goods market has never been tougher—or more rewarding. Competition is keen. And consumer preferences are constantly shifting, causing the concept of luxury itself... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Consumer Products

August 2016 (Revised November 2016)
Case

C.W. Dixey & Son

By: Anat Keinan and Michael B. Beverland

C.W. Dixey & Son is about to be relaunched as a luxury eyewear brand after a fifty-year absence from the marketplace. This case focuses on reviving a dormant brand with a 200-year plus heritage of innovation, craft excellence, and luxury. Drawing on extensive... View Details

Keywords: Luxury Branding; Authenticity; Inconspicuous Consumption; Brand Positioning; Brand Revitalization; Eyeyewear; Market Entry and Exit; Luxury; Market Participation; Brands and Branding; Consumer Products Industry

February 2022
Case

Toraya

By: Lauren Cohen and Akiko Kanno

Mitsuharu Kurokawa was the 18th generation leader of a family firm that produced and sold premium Japanese sweets, Toraya Confectionery Co., Ltd. He had succeeded the business from his father, Mitsuhiro Kurokawa who had led the firm for thirty years. Mitsuharu was... View Details

Keywords: Branding; Luxury Brand; Succession; Family Business; Management Succession; Brands and Branding; Luxury; Marketing; Expansion; Globalization; Innovation and Invention; Customer Satisfaction; Food and Beverage Industry; Retail Industry; Japan

May 2020 (Revised July 2022)
Case

Brand Storytelling at Shinola

By: Jill Avery, Giana M. Eckhardt and Michael B. Beverland

Detroit, Michigan, aka “The Motor City,” is most known as the birthplace of most of the American classic automotive brands. It is a city filled with the rich history of the industrial age, the pride of American manufacturing, and of the soulful sounds of Motown music.... View Details

Keywords: Marketing; Brands and Branding; Marketing Communications; Advertising; Luxury; Consumer Products Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Retail Industry; Detroit; United States; North America

June 2016 (Revised November 2021)
Case

Longchamp

By: Jill Avery, Tonia Junker and Daniela Beyersdorfer

Longchamp’s Le Pliage is one of the fashion world’s most successful products, a cultural icon across the globe. But managing the low priced, nylon handbag is challenging as Longchamp tries to move its brand upmarket into higher priced, luxury leather goods. How much... View Details

Keywords: Brand Management; Luxury Brand; Brand Positioning; Product Strategy; Retailing; Pricing Strategy; Marketing; Brands and Branding; Marketing Strategy; Luxury; Family Business; Price; Strategy; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Retail Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Fashion Industry; France; Europe

08 Apr 2019
Sharpening Your Skills

The Life of Luxury and How to Sell It

lucrative but often confusing dynamics of the luxury market. Harvard Business School researchers have studied the trends to answer a number of questions. Does a prestige brand like Longchamp dilute its aura... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Auto; Retail; Fashion

October 2016
Teaching Note

Longchamp

By: Jill Avery

Teaching Note for HBS No. 316-086. View Details

Keywords: Brand Positioning; Luxury Brand; Luxury; Retailing; Product Strategy; Marketing; Brands and Branding; Marketing Strategy; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Retail Industry; France; Europe

24 Aug 2017
Cold Call Podcast

Does Le Pliage Help or Hurt the Longchamp Luxury Brand?

Keywords: Re: Jill J. Avery; Fashion

January 2015 (Revised July 2015)
Case

Jimmy Choo

By: Anat Keinan and Sandrine Crener

Jimmy Choo is a British luxury accessories brand, specializing in shoes, handbags, accessories, and fragrances. Founded in 1996 in London by couture shoe designer Jimmy Choo and Vogue accessories editor Tamara Mellon OBE, the brand enjoyed immediate success and rapidly... View Details

January 2015 (Revised November 2016)
Case

Stella McCartney

By: Anat Keinan and Sandrine Crener

Stella McCartney launched her own fashion house under her name in a partnership with the luxury conglomerate Kering as a 50/50 joint venture in 2001. A lifelong vegetarian, Stella McCartney does not use any leather or fur in her collections, which include women's... View Details

22 May 2017
Lessons from the Classroom

A Luxury Industry Veteran Teaches the Importance of Aesthetics to Budding Business Leaders

to the judges—five teams in each of the two class sessions that Brown taught this spring. Ideas included ways to revive existing luxury brands (marketing diamonds Shreve, Crump & Low to a younger... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Beauty & Cosmetics; Apparel & Accessories; Auto; Tourism

November 2021
Case

The Wolf in Cashmere: LVMH's Bid to Acquire Tiffany

By: Stuart C. Gilson and Sarah L. Abbott

In November 2019, the iconic U.S. jeweler Tiffany agreed to be acquired by the luxury goods conglomerate LVMH. The $16.6 billion transaction was scheduled to close in mid-2020. However, in 2020, the global COVID-19 pandemic took a toll on the luxury goods sector. In... View Details

Keywords: Mergers ＆ Acquisitions; Luxury Brand; COVID-19 Pandemic; Mergers and Acquisitions; Health Pandemics; Lawsuits and Litigation; Consumer Products Industry; United States; Europe

27 Nov 2019
Sharpening Your Skills

Secrets for Creating a Long-Lasting Brand

of Social Media MarketingA decade-and-a-half after the dawn of social media marketing, brands are still learning what works and what doesn't with consumers. How Helena Rubinstein Used Tall Tales to Turn Cosmetics into a View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Retail

09 Jul 2008
Research & Ideas

Starbucks’ Lessons for Premium Brands

morale. None of this need have happened if Starbucks had stayed private and grown at a more controlled pace. To continue to be a premium-priced brand while trading as a public company is very challenging. Tiffany faces a similar problem.... View Details

Keywords: by John Quelch; Retail

January 2015 (Revised December 2015)
Case

Mauboussin

By: Anat Keinan, Sandrine Crener and Audrey Azoulay

Mauboussin is a French jewelry brand founded in 1827 in Paris. In the 1920s, the company earned a huge notoriety for capturing the aesthetic and emotional dimension of the Art Deco movement in its design and gained a worldwide reputation for innovation and expertise in... View Details

Research Summary

Rethinking Brand Contamination: How Consumers Maintain Distinction When Symbolic Boundaries Are Breached"

If consumers view their brands as extensions of themselves, what happens when undesirable consumers adopt these same brands? I address this question by examining an issue that is of great concern to managers of high-status brands: the rampant spread... View Details

29 Oct 2000
Research & Ideas

Building a Powerful Prestige Brand

started their business, their product line enjoyed little consumer awareness outside New York City. But the couple was determined to build a large market for premium cosmetics. One of the earliest and most important decisions that the Lauders made about the View Details

Keywords: by Nancy F. Koehn; Beauty & Cosmetics; Consumer Products; Retail

January 2018
Teaching Note

C.W. Dixey & Son

By: Anat Keinan and Michael B. Beverland

Teaching Note for HBS No. 517-019. View Details

Keywords: Luxury Branding; Authenticity; Inconspicuous Consumption; Brand Positioning; Brand Revitalization; Eyeyewear; Market Entry and Exit; Luxury; Market Participation; Brands and Branding; Consumer Products Industry