Publications

01 Sep 2004
News

Tracking a Turnaround

Levy, CEO of Boston’s Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, if he would serve as the subject for a multimedia case study currently taught in the MBA Program’s General Management elective and in the AMP Executive Education program. “I told... 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

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

01 Dec 2014
News

@Soldiers Field

modified by former product manager Ellen Chisa (HBS 2016). Former New Jersey Governor and EPA Administrator Christine Todd Whitman chatted with professor Joe Lassiter about the future of nuclear energy,... View Details

Keywords: John Shad (MBA 1949); Educational Services

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

18 Apr 2005
Research & Ideas

Selling Luxury to Everyone

and retailers keep the segment growing? Tahari said she and her husband have considered the idea of buying one of their retailers in an effort to get more information about how their products are selling, improve their margins, and better... View Details

Keywords: by Julie Jette; Consumer Products

01 Mar 2008
News

Innovation, Inc.

help students launch and creatively manage new businesses, including both stand-alone start-ups and ventures operating within an established organization. Tripsas notes, “Whenever a firm introduces a truly novel product, it has... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna; Mary Tripsas; Management; Management; Management

September 2020 (Revised June 2021)
Case

Algramo

By: Michael Chu, Monica Silva and Mariana Cal

Founded in 2013 by José Manuel Moller in Chile, Algramo first became known for addressing the “poverty tax” (the surcharge paid by lower income families for staples sold in smaller sizes) through specially-designed dispensers in low-income neighborhood grocery stores... View Details

Keywords: Packaging-as-a-wallet; Plastic Waste; Business At The Base Of The Pyramid; Reusable Packaging; Alliances With FMCGs To Meet ESG Goals; Social Entrepreneurship; Environmental Sustainability; Strategy; Value Creation; Goals and Objectives; Business Model; Consumer Products Industry; Latin America; South America; Chile

Keywords: Business Schools & Computer & Management Training; Business Schools & Computer & Management Training; Business Schools & Computer & Management Training; Business Schools & Computer & Management Training; Business Schools & Computer & Management Training

16 Jun 2003
Research & Ideas

Peeling Back the Global Brand

Few would argue that detergent is about as dull a product as might exist. Yet the odyssey of laundry soap and dishwashing liquid in Europe, according to two presenters, shines a streak of sunlight on some of the messier issues of... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace; Consumer Products; Consumer Products

01 Mar 2008
News

Lessons from Private Equity

specific and focused version of the following question: ‘If I put a dollar into this capital project, am I going to get three dollars back out?’ Public company managers who apply the same analysis with working capital and cash... View Details

Person Page

AOM Ethno PDW 2009-2014

AOM PDW 2014: Being There/Being Them: Entry, Exit, and In-Between in Organization Ethnography

Co-Organizers: Michel Anteby, Harvard; Curtis K. Chan, Harvard; Julia DiBenigno,... View Details

01 Sep 2020
News

Ink: The Habit of Innovation

seminal research into product failure notes, “knowledge gained from failures [is] often instrumental in achieving subsequent successes.” So capture knowledge to maximize the return on your investments in innovation. Celebrate success. Any... View Details

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

01 Mar 2011
News

Tax and Grow

currently have an incentive to keep money abroad. A temporary holiday of the repatriation tax coupled with the tax on excess cash holdings would help ensure that the disgorged cash would be used productively in the United States. Coupling... View Details

Keywords: Mihir A. Desai; Corporate, Subsidiary, and Regional Managing Offices; Corporate, Subsidiary, and Regional Managing Offices; Corporate, Subsidiary, and Regional Managing Offices; Corporate, Subsidiary, and Regional Managing Offices

01 Sep 2006
News

Faculty Books

Corporate Information Strategy and Management by Lynda M. Applegate, Robert D. Austin, and F. Warren McFarlan (Irwin/McGraw-Hill) This extensive collection of HBS cases devoted to IT gives an overview of contemporary information systems... View Details

Keywords: Business Schools & Computer & Management Training; Business Schools & Computer & Management Training

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

26 Jul 2010
Research & Ideas

Yes, You Can Raise Prices in a Downturn

customers willingly pay higher prices. The relevant readers are general managers responsible for a P&L, marketing and sales managers responsible for making product and... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Consumer Products; Consumer Products

22 Jan 2001
Research & Ideas

Control Your Inventory in a World of Lean Retailing

Manufacturers generally classify products in terms of broad product lines, developing a single marketing strategy and production plan for each line. That makes sense for... View Details

Keywords: by Frederick H. Abernathy, John T. Dunlop, Janice H. Hammond & David Weil; Consumer Products

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

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