Product Management - Publications - Faculty & Research

Career Coach

Minal Mehta

the Head of Product Management for the Next Billion Users (NBU) Initiatives at YouTube as well as Google. During her tenure, she led the growth-focused product domain uniquely... View Details

Keywords: Emerging Markets; Entrepreneurship; Technology

09 Jul 2018
Research & Ideas

Overcoming the Challenges of Selling Brand New Technology (Hey, Need a 3-D Printer?)

most new products don’t succeed in getting market traction or don’t meet forecasts.” One reason for these poor results, he notes, is that most companies—and especially tech firms—approach a product launch as... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Consumer Products; Consumer Products; Consumer Products; Consumer Products; Consumer Products; Consumer Products; Consumer Products; Consumer Products

20 Aug 2024
Book

Why Competing With Tech Giants Requires Finding Your Own Edge

products next to Apple’s own products such as charging cables. Anker has also managed to partner with offline retailers Best Buy, Costco, Target, and Walmart and sell through... View Details

Keywords: by Feng Zhu; Technology; Information Technology

June 2010
Teaching Note

Design Thinking and Innovation at Apple (TN)

By: Stefan H. Thomke

Teaching Note for 609066. View Details

Keywords: Product Development; Strategy; Product Design; Innovation and Management; Computer Industry; Electronics Industry

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19 Apr 2004
Research & Ideas

Ground-Floor Opportunities for Retail in India

diversified from there. Now, as CEO and managing director of Pantaloon Retail (India) Limited, he oversees thirty-two department stores in fifteen cities. "Ordinary people are buying what the rich can afford," he said, adding... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Consumer Products; Consumer Products

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

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25 Sep 2000
Research & Ideas

More Than the Sum of Its Parts: The Impact of Modularity on the Computer Industry

drives. CB: Ultimately, though, the power of modularity does not lie simply in the creation of financial option value and the ensuing impact on competition. Modularity also helps simplify complex systems and divvy up complex tasks so that individuals and companies can... View Details

Keywords: by Staff; Consumer Products; Consumer Products; Consumer Products

18 Jun 2001
Research & Ideas

Caught in the Cogs: When Manufacturing and IT Meet

their IT problems, Upton explained, managers are faced with a "spectrum of solutions." At one end is packaged software available off-the-shelf to all comers, including your competitors. Trouble is, when the same View Details

Keywords: by Jim Aisner

October 2022
Supplement

The SAH Group: The Time is Right, Instructor Spreadsheet

By: Juan Alcacer and Alpana Thapar

In January 2021, Jalila Mezni, 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, it expanded... View Details

Keywords: Growth Strategy; Entrepreneurship; Investment Decisions; Growth Management; Vertical Integration; Distribution; Competition; Strategy; Supply Chain; Presentations; Product Positioning; Market Entry and Exit; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Tunisia

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01 Dec 2007
News

Where Are the Innovators in Health Care?

drove productivity in the IT sector. These entrepreneurs, and so many others, have fundamentally improved our economy by making goods and services better, cheaper, and more accessible. But can you name any innovators in our bloated,... View Details

Keywords: Regina E. Herzlinger; 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

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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

01 Dec 2001
News

A Close-Up Look at the Men behind the Empire

Giants of Enterprise: Seven Business Innovators and the Empires They Built (HarperBusiness), a new book by HBS professor Richard S. Tedlow, presents fascinating biographical essays of seven men whose products and practices have... View Details

Keywords: 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 Mar 2007
News

The Joy of Work

AMABILE: A decade of research shows that to be creative, people need to feel good about their work. After thirty years of research, I am still passionate about creativity,” says Teresa M. Amabile, the Edsel Bryant Ford Professor of Business Administration, head of the... View Details

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

01 Apr 2001
News

Big Deals: Project Finance Helps Mitigate Risk in Large-Scale Investments

difficult to manage and prone to conflicts between actual and optimal investment behavior. An inherent lack of flexibility compounds these challenges, because most projects involve binary “go/no-go” decisions. Esty uses the forthcoming... 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

06 Dec 2021
News

Truth Be Told

Image by John Ritter In 2018, HBS associate professors Aiyesha Dey and Jonas Heese wrote a case about a whistleblower at a multi-national gambling company who exposed financial misstatements, first to his manager and later to the US... View Details

Keywords: April White; Corporate, Subsidiary, and Regional Managing Offices; Corporate, Subsidiary, and Regional Managing Offices

25 Feb 2020
News

Why Layoffs are a Losing Strategy

recommends alternatives that can result in stronger companies in the long run and reduce the damage layoffs do to workers and communities. “Typical layoffs harm employees, communities, and companies,” Sucher says. Mass layoffs were uncommon prior to the late 1970s,... View Details

Keywords: April White; Telecommunications; Information

Profile

Cynthia Samanian

through the Rock Center for Entrepreneurship, including the Minimum Viable Product Fund (MVP) and Business Plan Competition. Overall, these experiences at HBS gave me the confidence to pursue my goal of working at a startup and eventually... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Technology