Publications

October 2022
Case

Single.Earth

By: Rembrand Koning and Emer Moloney

Estonian greentech company Single.Earth is launching a nature-backed token that is linked to and funds the protection of a specific plot fo land. The first landowners had been onboarded to the company's Digital Twin, a virtual representation of the planet's natural... View Details

Keywords: Alternative Assets; Business Startups; Entrepreneurship; Climate Change; Environmental Sustainability; Green Technology; Natural Resources; Pollution; Analytics and Data Science; Marketing; Product Marketing; Product Launch; Product Positioning; Markets; Market Timing; Strategy; Green Technology Industry; Estonia

15 Oct 2012
Research & Ideas

Why Business IT Innovation is so Difficult

chains, and speeding communications. The result: "People can spend more time thinking up new products and servicing customers, and less time checking boxes." To get there, most firms must be willing to engage in radical change and... View Details

Keywords: by Maggie Starvish

24 Oct 2013
News

Searching for a Better Society

experience I have had," he says. At 44, Dumon has had more experience than most. A self-described "Internet product guy," he has known both success and failure, and he believes that failure can be a good teacher. "Once, when we tried an... View Details

Keywords: Robert S. Benchley; Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services; Professional Services

September 2003 (Revised February 2004)
Case

Alessi: Evolution of an Italian Design Factory (B)

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

Since the 1970s, world-renowned architect and designer, Alessandro Mendini, has acted as adviser and counselor to Alessi, the Italian household goods design factory. By discussing Mendini's role as art director, the case introduces the artistic side of Alessi, where... View Details

Keywords: Design; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Leadership Style; Business or Company Management; Goals and Objectives; Consumer Products Industry; Italy

July 1991 (Revised August 1991)
Supplement

Philip Morris Companies, Inc. (C)

By: Samuel L. Hayes III

Supplements the (B) case. View Details

Keywords: Risk Management; Stocks; Initial Public Offering; Consumer Products Industry; United States

December 1973 (Revised November 1993)
Case

Cooper Industries, Inc.

By: Thomas R. Piper

The executive president of a major industrial company must decide 1) whether to acquire a small hand tool company and, if so, 2) the value and form that the acquisition package should take. View Details

Keywords: Decisions; Valuation; Acquisition; Management Teams; Consumer Products Industry

08 Dec 2008
Research & Ideas

Thinking Twice About Supply-Chain Layoffs

one-standard-deviation increase in store labor brought about a 10 percent increase in profit margin. These findings ran contrary to the thinking of store managers that Ton interviewed. They consistently identified service quality as a top... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Retail

28 May 2019
News

Tech for the People

about ways that tech companies can develop products and services that both benefit the public and align with their business model,” he observes. Tsai says courses such as Public Entrepreneurship, taught by Mitchell Weiss, professor of... View Details

Keywords: Deborah Blagg

01 Nov 2012
Research & Ideas

Book Excerpt: Judgment Calls

women's beauty products enterprise Tweezerman faced the dilemma that every entrepreneurial growth company eventually confronts: "How much bigger can we get—can we handle the risk, the scale, the exposure, and the demands on our... View Details

Keywords: by Thomas H. Davenport & Brook Manville; Consumer Products

October 1999 (Revised September 2005)
Case

Eddie Bauer, Inc.

By: David E. Bell and Ann Leamon

Eddie Bauer has decided to coordinate its merchandising strategy (price, selection) across its stores and catalog. But with e-commerce, is this still sensible? View Details

Keywords: Management; Brands and Branding; Marketing Channels; Product Positioning; Business Strategy; Internet

07 Oct 2019
Sharpening Your Skills

How Companies Can Make Up with (Very) Unhappy Customers

JetBlue employees and more than 130,000 customers whose flights were cancelled, delayed, or diverted. How did the airline make it right with customers and learn from its mistakes? The Hidden Cost of a Product Recall View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Retail; Air Transportation

November 2004
Case

ClozeX Medical (A): The New Standard of Wound Closure

By: William A. Sahlman and Ryland Matthew Willis

Describes a set of decisions confronting the founder of a company with a revolutionary new wound-closure product. He must decide how to finance and exploit his venture. View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Product Launch; Medical Specialties; Corporate Finance; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

August 2010 (Revised August 2011)
Supplement

Erik Peterson at Biometra (D)

By: John J. Gabarro, Thomas J. DeLong and Jevan Soo

Implicitly raises the question of what Peterson should do to extricate himself from his difficulties. Should he resign, go directly to his division's executive vice-president to seek relief, or attempt to clarify the situation within the company? A redisguised and... View Details

Keywords: Employee Relationship Management; Resignation and Termination; Leadership; Management; Product Launch; Problems and Challenges

November 2012 (Revised July 2014)
Supplement

Andrew Sullivan and Faraway Ltd (B): Sam Cartwright of Mothercare

By: Frank V. Cespedes and Alex Godden

The "Andrew Sullivan and Faraway Ltd" case series focuses on entrepreneurial selling, and is based on an older case study, "Deaver Brown and Cross River Inc." (9-394-042). It concerns two entrepreneurs, Andrew Sullivan and Hope Abasi, who have designed an innovative... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Sales; Marketing; Management; Consumer Products Industry; United Kingdom

25 Jun 2014
Lessons from the Classroom

FIELD Trip: Conquering the Gap Between Knowing and Doing

begins with 150-plus diverse teams working with global partners to develop new products and services. To help facilitate this process, faculty teach the concept of "design thinking," allowing students to generate ideas, quickly... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Education

January 2003 (Revised August 2003)
Case

General Mills and the Hawthorne Huddle (A)

Examines the role of General Mills in the formation and leadership of the Hawthorne Huddle. The Huddle was in the Hawthorne neighborhood in Northern Minneapolis, which in 1997 was plagued with high crime and poverty. The Huddle served as a forum, held the first... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Management Succession; Social Issues; Consumer Products Industry; Minneapolis

Find at Harvard

01 Sep 2012
News

What’s the Big Idea?

confronted with setbacks. Yet in a survey of 669 managers around the world, “progress” ranked dead last as a perceived source of employee motivation, falling behind more expected (but less effective) carrots such as bonuses and... View Details

Keywords: Garry Emmons;Julia Hanna;Roger Thompson; Management; Management; Management; Management

October 2018 (Revised April 2019)
Teaching Note

Kids & Company: Entering the U.S.

By: Boris Groysberg and Matthew G. Preble

Teaching Note for HBS No. 418-011. View Details

March 2001 (Revised March 2003)
Case

Kelon (A): China's Corporate Dragon

By: Yasheng Huang and David Lane

Kelon was founded in the small, rural town of Rongqi in the Guangdong Province in 1984. In a six-year span, Kelon became China's largest refrigerator maker. In the 1990s it faced fierce competition from other Chinese firms as well as from multinational corporations.... View Details

Keywords: Competition; Multinational Firms and Management; Ownership; Consumer Products Industry; China