Publications

2017
Working Paper

Reinventing the American Wine Industry: Marketing Strategies and the Construction of Wine Culture

By: Ai Hisano

This working paper examines the remarkable growth of wine consumption in the United States since the 1960s. The country is now the largest wine consumer in the world, exceeding the wine-producing European countries such as France and Italy, which had long dominated... View Details

Keywords: Marketing Strategy; Industry Growth; Transformation; Perception; Food and Beverage Industry; United States

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14 May 2018
Research & Ideas

Amazon vs. Whole Foods: When Cultures Collide

bad guy" Harvard Business School professors Dennis Campbell and Tatiana Sandino took notice, suspecting a clash of corporate cultures was at work. Their forthcoming case study discusses the limits of trying to force one View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Food & Beverage

December 1993
Case

Ford Motor Coompany: Changing the Dealer Culture

Confronted by increasing market emphasis on customer satisfaction coupled with the success of General Motors' Saturn Division with "no haggle" pricing, Ford Motor Co. examines the sales culture within its own dealers and considers how to implement policies that will... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Salesforce Management; Customer Satisfaction; Auto Industry; United States

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11 Jan 2021
Working Paper Summaries

The Political Effects of Immigration: Culture or Economics?

Keywords: by Alberto Alesina and Marco Tabellini

December 2012
Case

Chobani: Growing a Live and Active Culture

By: Joshua D. Margolis and Matthew Preble

Hamdi Ulukaya, CEO of the Greek yogurt company Chobani, Inc., was reflecting on what explained his young company's meteoric rise. The company held over half of the U.S. Greek yogurt market, and nearly 20% of the total yogurt market. The company's innovative approach to... View Details

Keywords: Innovation; Growth Strategy; Growth Management; Yogurt; Innovation Strategy; Leadership; Culture; Entrepreneurship; Marketing; Agribusiness; Manufacturing Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; United States; Canada; Australia

12 Aug 2009
Working Paper Summaries

Culture Clash: The Costs and Benefits of Homogeneity

Keywords: by Eric J. Van den Steen

August 2014
Background Note

The Structure and Functioning of Art Markets

By: Mukti Khaire and Eleanor Kenyon

The production, valuation, and consumption of contemporary art are guided by cultural and economic forces that play out in primary and secondary markets. Artists seek the attention of art dealers, who, along with auction houses, play a large role in determining what is... View Details

Keywords: Art Dealer; Art Market; Arts; New York (city, NY)

September 30, 2019
Article

Climate Change and Our Emerging Cultural Shift

By: Andrew J. Hoffman

Today, we have made climate change trivial by making its solutions easy, looking for simple answers that are palatable, generally framing it in the language of commerce. In the long run, it won’t work. There is no technological or political silver bullet to solving our... View Details

Keywords: Culture; Climate Change; Values and Beliefs; Transition

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July 2015
Teaching Note

CJ E&M: Creating a K-Culture in the U.S.

By: Elie Ofek and Michael Norris

This teaching note is intented to help instructors with running a class discussion for the case "CJ E&M: Creating a K-Culture in the U.S.". It contains several areas of analysis and discussion that provide guidance to instructors on how to use the case in order to... View Details

Keywords: Global Marketing Strategy; Event Marketing; Marketing Plan; Marketing Culture; Marketing Strategy; Entertainment; Global Strategy; Culture

August 2024 (Revised January 2025)
Case

Barbie: Reviving a Cultural Icon at Mattel

By: Elie Ofek, Ryann Noe and Sarah Mehta

The 2023 release of the live-action film Barbie, and its accompanying marketing blitz, incited a worldwide Barbie craze. Suddenly Barbie was everywhere, a celebrated icon reinstated at the forefront of cultural conversation. This goodwill stood in contrast to... View Details

Keywords: Brands and Branding; Media; Intellectual Property; Business Strategy; Entertainment; Gender; Public Opinion; Marketing Strategy; Consumer Products Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Motion Pictures and Video Industry; Retail Industry; United States

Research Summary

Customer-Centric Marketing Strategy

By: Rohit Deshpande

Rohit Deshpandé's research program focuses on Customer-Centricity. A stream of projects examines the interaction between corporate and national culture as they influence the development and implementation of global marketing strategies in high performance firms. This... View Details

23 Nov 2021
Book

What It Takes to Build an Organizational Culture That Wins

There’s a feeling among many business leaders that culture is both everything and nothing. That it’s squishy and can’t be quantified. That it’s nice to have until something more urgent gets in the way [read: all the time]. Author James L.... View Details

Keywords: by Avery Forman

07 Jan 2013
Lessons from the Classroom

Culture Changers: Managing High-Impact Entrepreneurs

get inspired by people like Robert Redford, like Allen Lane, like James Beard, all of whom are true category creators," Khaire says. "They created new categories in the market for cultural goods... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Beauty & Cosmetics; Food & Beverage; Entertainment & Recreation; Information; Publishing

October 2009 (Revised June 2011)
Case

Zappos.com 2009: Clothing, Customer Service, and Company Culture

By: Frances X. Frei, Robin J. Ely and Laura Winig

On July 17, 2009, Zappos.com, a privately held online retailer of shoes, clothing, and other soft line retail categories, learned that Amazon.com, a $19 billion multinational online retailer, had won its board of directors' approval to offer to merge the two companies.... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Customer Focus and Relationships; Decision Choices and Conditions; Governing and Advisory Boards; Service Delivery; Organizational Culture; Internet and the Web; Valuation; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Retail Industry

September 2014
Module Note

The Development of the Markets for Natural, Organic, and Health Foods in the U.S.

By: Mukti Khaire and Eleanor Kenyon

Discourses on the links between eating, health, and social standing in America have deep roots. As mechanisms of food production, distribution and storage were developed in the nineteenth century, Americans began receiving information about what to and not-to eat, from... View Details

Keywords: Food Marketing; Food; Markets; Food and Beverage Industry; United States

November 2019
Teaching Note

Magnus Resch: Transforming the Art Market Through Transparency

By: Henry McGee and Sarah Mehta

Teaching Note for HBS No. 319-002. This teaching note pairs with a case on economist and entrepreneur Magnus Resch, who is on a mission to make the art market more transparent. He has built the Magnus app, which catalogues the price and transaction history of millions... View Details

Keywords: Art Market; Transparency; Art Pricing; Business Startups; Innovation Strategy; Culture; Business Strategy; Mobile Technology; Fine Arts Industry; Information Technology Industry

2022
Working Paper

Category Kings or Commoners? Marketing Shaping and Its Consequences in Nascent Categories

By: Rory McDonald

For a new market category to materialize, someone must actively bring it into existence. Yet it remains a mystery how entrepreneurs, whose resources are stretched thin, can accomplish this task. Prior research emphasizes the importance of market-shaping... View Details

Keywords: Nascent Markets; New Categories; Innovation; Qualitative Methods; Emerging Markets; Strategy; Cultural Entrepreneurship; Innovation and Invention

September 2024
Case

Barbie: Reviving a Cultural Icon at Mattel (Abridged)

By: Elie Ofek, Ryann Noe and Sarah Mehta

The 2023 release of live-action film Barbie, and its accompanying marketing blitz, incited a worldwide Barbie craze. Suddenly Barbie was everywhere, a celebrated icon reinstated at the forefront of cultural conversation. This goodwill stood in contrast to decades of... View Details

Keywords: Gender; Intellectual Property; Brands and Branding; Marketing Strategy; Public Opinion; Business Strategy; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Motion Pictures and Video Industry

February 22, 2023
Article

How to Seed Organic Marketing in a Video-First World

By: Ayelet Israeli, Leonard A. Schlesinger and Matt Higgins

Early direct-to-consumer (DTC) companies relied on plentiful capital and low-cost digital marketing to power growth. But as this sector has matured, capital is more constrained, social media is more cluttered, and customer acquisition costs are rising. DTC companies... View Details

Keywords: Online Business; Ecommerce; E-commerce; E-Commerce Strategy; Omnichannel Retail; Omnichannel Retailing; Influencer Marketing; Consumer; Organic Growth; Video Advertising; Promotion; Celebrities; Online Advertising; Online Channel; Online Communities; Online Community; Go To Market Strategy; Platform; Media; Media Content; Digital; Digital Culture; Digital Influencers; Direct To Consumer Marketing; Direct-to-consumer; Innovation ＆ Entrepreneurship; Innovation; Sales; Digital Platforms; Digital Marketing; Digital Strategy; Consumer Behavior; Internet and the Web; Advertising; Business Model; Growth Management; Marketing; Marketing Strategy; Marketing Channels; Marketing Communications; Communication Strategy; Innovation Strategy; Retail Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Fashion Industry; Advertising Industry; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Media and Broadcasting Industry; United States; North America