Publications

June 2022
Case

The SAH Group: The Time is Right

By: Juan Alcacer and Alpana Thapar

In January 2021, Jalila Mezni, cofounder and CEO of the SAH Group, was preparing to present the company’s future growth plans to its board of directors. The Tunisian company was a leading producer and distributor of personal care and packaged hygiene products. In 2019,... View Details

Keywords: Growth Management; Expansion; Business Divisions; Product Positioning; Brands and Branding; Competition; Presentations; Consumer Products Industry; Tunisia; Kenya

December 1997 (Revised April 1998)
Case

www.springs.com

By: F. Warren McFarlan and Melissa Dailey

Business Week's June 1997 "Rising Star" profile of Springs Industries' president and COO, Crandall Bowles, reported that she was poised to become one of the top two or three women executives in the country. In November 1997, the company announced Bowles' appointment to... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Operations; Product Marketing; Management; Strategy; Consumer Products Industry; South Carolina

September 2003 (Revised January 2004)
Case

Alessi: Evolution of an Italian Design Factory (A)

By: Youngme E. Moon, Vincent Dessain and Anders Sjoman

Alessio Alessi, head of distribution at family-run Alessi S.p.A., is facing price and brand confusion among customers and is considering reorganizing Alessi's worldwide network of distributors. By describing the challenges facing Alessi, an internationally acclaimed... View Details

Keywords: Family Business; Transition; Cost Management; Brands and Branding; Product Positioning; Distribution; Production; Problems and Challenges; Networks; Consumer Products Industry

01 Jun 2013
News

Brick by Brick

Jørgen Knudstorp, just 35 years old when Kjeld promoted him from director of strategic development to CEO in 2004. Knudstorp's slow-it-down approach of managing cash carefully, focusing on core products, and reducing View Details

Keywords: toys; Miscellaneous Store Retailers; Retail Trade

January 2014 (Revised June 2014)
Supplement

23andMe: Genetic Testing for Consumers (B)

By: John A. Quelch and Margaret L. Rodriguez

Following the FDA's letter in November 2013, which ordered 23andMe to cease sales of its DNA test kits, observers wondered how co-founder and CEO, Anne Wojcicki, would guide the company in the presence of uncertainty. View Details

Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Genetics; Crisis Management; Health Care and Treatment; Product Development; Business and Government Relations; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry; United States

27 Aug 2007
Op-Ed

Mattel: Getting a Toy Recall Right

word out about the recall. Among other methods, the company is using bold red ads on high-traffic Internet sites such as Yahoo.com to find owners of the affected products and drive them to the Mattel Web site for more recall information.... View Details

Keywords: by John Quelch; Consumer Products

01 Sep 2009
News

From Bytes to Bites

which built the large machines that automate the production of cardboard boxes. “I’ve always been wired operationally,” says Thomas, who majored in industrial engineering at Stanford University before coming to HBS. That background,... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna; Management of Companies and Enterprises; Management of Companies and Enterprises; Management of Companies and Enterprises; Management of Companies and Enterprises

August 1973 (Revised September 1986)
Case

DAAG Europe (A)

By: Francis Aguilar

Company must decide whether to raise prices and tighten consumer credit in light of its strategy to rationalize production, introduce a new line of model elevators and increase its market share. Points up the interrelationships of the different functional areas within... View Details

Keywords: Change; Credit; Price; Policy; Business or Company Management; Marketing Strategy; Product Launch; Business Strategy; Industrial Products Industry; Europe

01 Dec 2000
News

Faculty News

pioneering African-American business leader. (More on the Fitzhugh chair will appear in an upcoming issue of the Bulletin.) Alan D. MacCormack, an expert in product development and the management of... View Details

Keywords: H. Naylor Fitzhugh (MBA '33); Business Schools & Computer & Management Training; Business Schools & Computer & Management Training

Profile

Nathalie du Preez

Why was getting a HBS MBA important to you? HBS, in particular, appealed to me for its general management focus, the diversity and quality of its people, its close alumni network, and of course, the case study method. I believed this... View Details

Keywords: Consumer Products

01 Sep 2011
News

Taking That Hill

Niekamp “Honestly I don’t spend a lot of time thinking about being a woman in a male industry,” Cynthia Niekamp (MBA 1983) told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (April 27, 2011). “It’s just my life; it’s been my life.” Niekamp, who as a student worked during summer... View Details

Keywords: Management of Companies and Enterprises; Management of Companies and Enterprises; Management of Companies and Enterprises; Management of Companies and Enterprises; Management of Companies and Enterprises

March 2017 (Revised February 2025)
Case

Edwin Land: The Art and Science of Innovation

By: Tom Nicholas, Christopher T. Stanton and Matthew G. Preble

Throughout the second half of the 20th century, Polaroid first invented—and then continuously reinvented—the field of instant photography. Under the leadership of its mercurial founder Edwin Land, the company regularly released new instant cameras and films, often... View Details

Keywords: Instant Photography; Company History; Change Management; Disruption; Forecasting and Prediction; Entrepreneurship; Business History; Innovation Strategy; Disruptive Innovation; Innovation and Management; Intellectual Property; Patents; Product Marketing; Brands and Branding; Product Launch; Product Development; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry; United States

01 Jun 2020
News

Inside Out

and more productive workers. In this excerpt, the authors sketch out the scope of the opportunity. “Why are we ignoring the 90 percent?” This is the question with which Joe likes to start most presentations, to get the audience thinking... View Details

Keywords: Dan Morrell; Corporate, Subsidiary, and Regional Managing Offices; Corporate, Subsidiary, and Regional Managing Offices

September 1991 (Revised March 2005)
Case

WPP Group and Its Acquisitions

By: William J. Bruns Jr.

WPP Group acquired J. Walter Thompson and Ogilvy & Mather, paying high premiums in relation to earnings. In each acquisition the goodwill acquired was immediately charged off against owners' equity. Then, WPP Group established a value for the brand names of the two... View Details

Keywords: Goodwill Accounting; Accounting; Brands and Branding; Product Positioning; Market Transactions; Equity; Private Equity; Relationships; Mergers and Acquisitions; Management Style; Consumer Products Industry; United States; United Kingdom