Publications

05 Aug 2008
First Look

First Look: August 5, 2008

analyses of data covering 69 two-digit SIC industries at two points in time, 1991 and 1999. Across industries, we find that the likelihood of internalization of advertising services decreases as the size of... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

Article

Young and No Money? Never Mind: The Material Impact of Social Resources on New Venture Growth

By: Mukti Khaire

Although growth is a desirable outcome for new ventures due to the many advantages of large size, most new firms fail to grow, largely due to their limited resources and adaptability. This paper addresses the question of how new ventures grow despite their limited... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Growth and Development Strategy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Status and Position; Advertising Industry; Chicago; New York (city, NY)

Find at Harvard

February 2010 (Revised October 2010)
Case

YouTube: Time to Charge Users?

By: Anita Elberse and Sunil Gupta

In January 2010, YouTube, the world's largest online video aggregator, was still seeking to become profitable. Was the time right for Google, YouTube's parent company, to charge users seeking to upload content, as some analysts had suggested—and if so, who should be... View Details

Keywords: Digital Marketing; Business Model; Cost; Profit; Revenue; Consumer Behavior; Internet and the Web; Motion Pictures and Video Industry

21 May 2009
Working Paper Summaries

Do Friends Influence Purchases in a Social Network?

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

25 Nov 2008
First Look

First Look: November 25, 2008

will affect his continuing collaboration with Jobs. Purchase this case: http://harvardbusinessonline.hbsp.harvard.edu/ b01/en/common/item_detail.jhtml?id=809063 Butler, Shine, Stern & Partners Harvard Business School Case 508-043 Selling an intangible like View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

February 2019
Case

Canibal—Play It Green!

By: Frank V. Cespedes, Joseph B. Fuller, Tonia Labruyere and Elena Corsi

In 2011, Canibal launched a machine that could sort and compress aluminum cans, plastic bottles, and cups. Users could play a jackpot-style game on the machine’s digital display, while disposing of their beverage containers and earning coupons or other rewards. The... View Details

Keywords: Sales Growth; Recycling; Start-up; Scaling; Market Selection; Sales; Marketing; Business Startups; Growth and Development Strategy; Segmentation; Product Positioning; Technology Industry; France

25 Apr 2005
Research & Ideas

New Learning at American Home Products

pharmaceuticals, it concentrated on enlarging its OTC business by, as before, exploiting its advertising skills. By 1979 it had developed a broader line of new prescription drugs, beginning in 1968 with Inderal, a beta-blocker drug... View Details

Keywords: by Alfred D. Chandler Jr.; Chemical; Health; Manufacturing; Pharmaceutical

Rosabeth M. Kanter

Rosabeth Moss Kanter holds the Ernest L. Arbuckle Professorship at Harvard Business School, specializing in strategy, innovation, and leadership for change. Her strategic and practical insights guide leaders worldwide through teaching, writing, and direct... View Details

March 2002 (Revised May 2003)
Case

NeoPets, Inc.

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Elizabeth Kind

NeoPets, a rapidly growing Internet start-up, faces decisions about its international expansion strategy--whether to enter a joint venture with a conglomerate in Singapore to exploit Asian markets as well as which other regions to target. NeoPets allows its... View Details

Keywords: Expansion; Global Strategy; Network Effects; Joint Ventures; Business Conglomerates; Age; Internet and the Web; Product Positioning; Digital Marketing; Internet and the Web; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Information Technology Industry; Asia; Singapore

March 2010 (Revised November 2010)
Case

Pandora Radio: Fire Unprofitable Customers?

By: Willy C. Shih and Halle Alicia Tecco

Pandora Radio is at a crossroads. Founder Tim Westergren has just been told by a well known VC to get rid of his unprofitable customers in order to get his costs down, but Westergren is not sure that such actions are consistent with his company's business model.... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Customer Satisfaction; Music Entertainment; Venture Capital; Profit; Growth and Development Strategy; Consumer Behavior; Internet; Media and Broadcasting Industry

11 Jan 2017
Research & Ideas

The Paradoxical Quest to Make Food Look 'Natural' With Artificial Dyes

Historians.) Hisano’s paper looks at how industry players and regulators collectively decided what any given food is supposed to look like—and redefined the marketing meaning of “natural.” The quest for summery butter and orange oranges... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

January 2001 (Revised June 2001)
Case

COFIDIS

An offspring of French catalog marketer 3 Suisses, and a popular sponsor of Tour de France, Cofidis sells consumer credit over the phone, defying conventional banking with a product policy and a communication strategy that perfectly fits the company's comparative... View Details

Keywords: Marketing Strategy; Internet and the Web; Marketing Communications; Competitive Advantage; Product; Credit; Financial Services Industry; France

March 2003 (Revised October 2003)
Case

Mercury Rising: Knight Ridder's Digital Venture

Captures the efforts of newspaper publisher Knight Ridder to create a digital venture. Knight Ridder proves to be a pioneer in digital publishing, launching the first online newspaper site; builds a network of newspaper sites called Real Cities; and invests in... View Details

Keywords: Internet and the Web; Business Growth and Maturation; Market Entry and Exit; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Newspapers; Innovation and Invention; Journalism and News Industry

05 May 2003
What Do You Think?

Is This a Golden Era for Marketing Productivity?

Summing Up Questions raised in this month's column about the possibility of an era of marketing productivity based on innovative research techniques evoked a number of skeptical comments. However, in defense of such techniques, B. V. Krishnamurthy pointed out that... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

Teaching Interest

Digital Marketing Strategy

By: John A. Deighton

When the tools of marketing change, strategies change too. The focus of this course is on firms trying to navigate the transition from offline to online market-making and strategy development. Our concern is primarily with corporations that have products and... View Details

November 2017
Teaching Note

Facebook Fake News in the Post-Truth World

By: John R. Wells and Gabriel Ellsworth

Teaching Note for HBS No. 717-473. In January 2017, Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Facebook, was surrounded by controversy. The election of Donald Trump as the next president of the United States in November 2016 had triggered a national storm of protests, and... View Details

June 2009
Case

Manchester Products: A Brand Transition Challenge

By: John A. Quelch and Heather Beckham

In January of 2005, Manchester Products Inc., a longtime leader in office furniture that only recently entered into the home furniture market, acquired Paul Logan's Furniture Division (PLFD). The acquisition of PLFD made Manchester an instant market leader in household... View Details

Keywords: Acquisitions; Consumer Marketing; Brand Equity; Branding; Brands and Branding; Marketing Communications; Marketing Strategy; Mergers and Acquisitions; Retail Industry; Retail Industry; United States

April 2017 (Revised February 2023)
Case

Helena Rubinstein: Making Up the Modern Woman

By: Geoffrey Jones and Kathy Choi

This case examines the entrepreneurial career of Helena Rubinstein before 1938. Rubinstein is widely considered the single most important female entrepreneur in the United States in the 20th century. She was born in Poland but immigrated to Australia where she started... View Details

Keywords: Female Entrepreneur; Brands and Branding; Luxury; Entrepreneurship; Personal Development and Career; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry

January 2025
Case

Apax Partners: Deciding Whether to Bid for Trader Corp.

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Edward A. Meyer

Apax Partners’ investment committee was schedule to meet on March 21, 2011, to decide whether to invest in Trader Corporation, a Canadian classified advertising business for used automobiles with both print (magazines) and digital (website) distribution. What made this... View Details