Publications

19 Aug 2013
News

Bees Make a Sweet Deal for African Farmers

on the spot, then processed, packed, and distributed the honey and related products for sale in supermarket chains. To date, the company has helped more than 9,000 small-scale beekeepers (over 45 percent of them women) and its business... View Details

Keywords: Management; Management; Management; Management

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

September 1996
Case

Silicon Graphics, Inc. (B)

By: Marco Iansiti and Alan D. MacCormack

After the release of the "Challenge" computer in 1993, Silicon Graphics executives meet to discuss the follow-up project. Should they pursue an incremental improvement to the Challenge, or opt for a radically new design recently demonstrated at Stanford University? View Details

Keywords: Decisions; Technological Innovation; Management Practices and Processes; Product Development; Hardware; Computer Industry

April 1988 (Revised March 1991)
Case

Tektronix: Portable Instruments Division (B)

Describes the new material-burdening system they have implemented and the cycle-time-burdening system they are proposing. Asks students to analyze the new cost system. View Details

Keywords: Cost Accounting; Production; Management Systems; Manufacturing Industry

06 Apr 2016
What Do You Think?

As Tim Cook, How Would You Tackle Apple's Next Challenge?

Summing Up--Is Product Security A Potential Distraction for Apple’s Leadership? The saga of Apple’s stand-off with the United States government over the Company’s refusal to assist the FBI in hacking its own iPhone View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Computer

October 2010 (Revised October 2011)
Case

Polyface: The Farm of Many Faces

By: Deishin Lee and Stephanie van Sice

This case explores a method of value creation through exploiting synergies that exist in an environment where there is diversity. The context of the case is a farm where biodiversity is leveraged to create value. This is contrasted to industrial farming, which operates... View Details

Keywords: Agribusiness; Product Development; Production; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Environmental Sustainability; Value Creation; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry

01 Apr 2001
News

The Natural Advantage

After a long career in marketing and management with top U.K. and international companies, Alan Heeks (MBA 1976) turned over a new leaf in 1990. He set up the Wessex Foundation, an educational charity whose centerpiece is Magdalen Farm,... View Details

Keywords: Crop Production; Crop Production; Crop Production; Crop Production

29 Oct 2000
Research & Ideas

Building a Powerful Prestige Brand

generally worked with the advertising managers. In its early years, the cosmetics company could not afford a large, mass media campaign. Instead, Estée and department store managers sent mailings to targeted local consumers. When Lauder... View Details

Keywords: by Nancy F. Koehn; Consumer Products; Consumer Products; Consumer Products

Career Coach

Judy Shen-Filerman

Judy (HBS '94) has a passion for helping students shape their career vision, improve their storytelling and be effective communicators in US corporate culture. Judy’s coaching firm specializes in developing professionals from non-US cultures, first generation... View Details

Keywords: Consumer Products; Consumer Products; Consumer Products; Consumer Products

August 2010 (Revised July 2011)
Supplement

Erik Peterson at Biometra (C)

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

Describes the outcome of Erik Peterson's meetings over the course of two days with a number of senior executives from the parent company. Students should have read the (A) and (B) cases. The (C) case may be assigned with the (D) case. A redisguised and updated version... View Details

Keywords: Conferences; Leadership; Management; Product Launch; Problems and Challenges

February 1996 (Revised April 2004)
Case

Eli Lilly and Company: Innovation in Diabetes Care

By: Clayton M. Christensen

Summarizes Eli Lilly's history of innovation in its business, describing how the dimensions along which innovations have been made in the industry have changed. Lilly's innovation strategy has been to pursue ever higher performance products, while others in the... View Details

Keywords: Change; Product; Service Delivery; Product Development; Innovation and Management; Innovation Strategy; Health Care and Treatment; Pharmaceutical Industry

Profile

Tiffany Niver

experiences. It also helped me think through the necessary skills and qualifications I need not only now, but also in the future. It gave me access and exposure to executives, their personal narratives and paths, and their advice and encouragement. Above all, however,... View Details

Keywords: Technology; Retail; Consulting

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

November 2012 (Revised July 2012)
Supplement

Andrew Sullivan and Faraway Ltd (C): Anthony Pierce of John Lewis

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; Management; Sales; Marketing; Consumer Products Industry; United Kingdom

26 Apr 2004
Research & Ideas

A Clear Eye for Innovation

The Roman god Janus had two sets of eyes—one pair focusing on what lay behind, the other on what lay ahead. General managers and corporate executives should be able to relate. They, too, must constantly look backward, attending to the... View Details

Keywords: by Charles A. O'Reilly III & Michael L. Tushman

May 1989
Supplement

Lincoln Electric Co., George Willis, Video

By: Norman A. Berg

Presents George Willis, chairman and CEO of Lincoln Electric Co., addressing an HBS PMD executive class on October 7, 1988. View Details

Keywords: Management Teams; Industrial Products Industry

2008
Case

Nike Considered: Getting Traction on Sustainability

By: Rebecca Henderson, C. Reavis, R. Locke and C. Liddy

Keywords: Innovation and Invention; Product Design; Environmental Sustainability; Apparel and Accessories Industry

Article

Repositioning and Cost-Cutting: The Impact of Competition on Platform Strategies

By: Robert Seamans and Feng Zhu

Organizational structures are increasingly complex. In particular, more firms today operate as multi-sided platforms. In this paper, we study how platform firms use repositioning and cost-cutting in response to competition, elucidate external and internal factors that... View Details

Keywords: Platform Strategy; Repositioning; Cost-cutting; Intra-firm Learning; Multi-Sided Platforms; Cost Management; Product Positioning; Organizational Structure; Competitive Strategy; Knowledge Acquisition; Journalism and News Industry