Publications

September 2009
Case

Culinarian Cookware: Pondering Price Promotion

By: John A. Quelch and Heather Beckham

In November of 2006, senior executives at Culinarian Cookware were debating the merits of price promotions for the company's premium cookware products. The VP of Marketing, Donald Janus, and Senior Sales Manager, Victoria Brown, had different views. Janus felt price... View Details

Keywords: Profitability Analysis; Consumer Marketing; Brand Equity; Pricing Policies; Sales Promotions; Small ＆ Medium-sized Enterprises; Decisions; Goals and Objectives; Price; Marketing Strategy; Consumer Behavior; Management Teams; Sales; Brands and Branding; Consumer Products Industry

30 Nov 2018
What Do You Think?

What’s the Best Administrative Approach to Climate Change?

Summing Up: Should a 'Montreal Protocol' for Administering Global Warming Be Pursued? Climate change and how to manage it is a daunting subject. Nevertheless, several readers of this month’s column were willing to venture a model or two for administering a system... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Energy

Profile

Bryan Guerra

Why was earning your MBA at HBS important to you? Prior to business school at HBS, the majority of my educational experience had taken place largely within a lecture-based setting. While this approach had provided a solid foundation of knowledge, in deciding to enroll... View Details

Keywords: Consumer Products; Consumer Products; Consumer Products

01 Mar 2018
News

Case Study: On the Record

sell 100 vinyl records a month or have their songs stream on Spotify 1.5 million times,” says Kelleher, who led music app partnerships at Google Play before founding Austin-based record manufacturer Gold Rush Vinyl. The company grew out of a need Kelleher saw in her... View Details

Keywords: April White

March 2011
Case

MorphoSys AG: The Evolution of a Biotechnology Business Model

By: Gary P. Pisano, Ryan Johnson and Carin-Isabel Knoop

In the biotech world, the 18-year-old Munich-based company MorphoSys was a rarity: it was profitable. The company achieved this profitability not by developing and selling its own drugs, but by licensing access to its proprietary library of human antibodies. Recently,... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Profit; Intellectual Property; Rights; Risk Management; Digital Platforms; Product Development; Business and Shareholder Relations; Vertical Integration; Biotechnology Industry; Munich

Profile

Ricardo De Armas

feminine-care products in Latin America," says Ricardo. "Then, in a senior position, I managed material and productions costs for our baby-care business. Finally, I... View Details

04 Sep 2007
Research & Ideas

Jumpstarting Innovation: Using Disruption to Your Advantage

More importantly, when the CEOs were asked "What's your past level of success in managing significant change?" only 15 percent said they had been "very successful." Another 15 percent said they had had "little or... View Details

Keywords: by Lynda M. Applegate

April 1991 (Revised July 1991)
Case

RJR Nabisco Board: Guardians of the Gate? (A)

By: Jay W. Lorsch

Charles Hugel, the chairman of RJR Nabisco, receives a call from RJR Nabisco's CEO, Ross Johnson; Johnson plans to present an LBO plan to the board of directors at the board meeting the following week. The case details Hugel's actions as chairman, and describes the... View Details

Keywords: Leveraged Buyouts; Situation or Environment; Bids and Bidding; Decision Making; Managerial Roles; Governing and Advisory Boards; Management Teams; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry

June 1992 (Revised March 1993)
Case

Fleetwood Enterprises, Inc. 1990

By: Timothy A. Luehrman

The CFO of Fleetwood Enterprises is considering whether to recommend a large share repurchase to the board of directors. Fleetwood's core businesses, manufactured housing and recreational vehicles, are very sensitive to business cycles and oil prices. Following Iraq's... View Details

Keywords: Business Cycles; Capital Structure; Stock Shares; Price; Crisis Management; Production; Manufacturing Industry; Iraq; Kuwait

09 Sep 2021
News

Let’s Redefine 'Productivity' for the Hybrid Era

20 Feb 2020
Blog Post

Know Your Audience – Recruiting HBS Students for Technology

companies students are interested in as well, from startups to high growth to the Fortune 500. Product management continues to be a popular functional area for students eager to use their general View Details

Keywords: Technology

01 Sep 2007
News

Riding It Out

of hundreds and perhaps thousands of dogs and cats (the numbers remain unclear, as there is no centralized database of such information). While the situation was uncertain, there was some concern that a production run of SmartPak’s... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna; dog food; pets; Food Manufacturing; Manufacturing; Food and Beverage Stores; Retail Trade

Web

Field Course: Startup Operations - Course Catalog

Organization: Structuring early teams and the processes by which to operate your business. Topics will include: Who to hire and when - from technical hires and managing freelancers/first hires to product... View Details

01 Dec 2015
News

Complements to the Case Method

Learning by Doing: Stock Pitching When it comes to getting an edge in a stock trade, HBS finance professors Lauren Cohen and Christopher Malloy urge students to go straight to the source. “We encourage them to get out in the field and talk to View Details

November 1998 (Revised December 1998)
Case

Asea Brown Boveri (Condensed)

By: Robert L. Simons

The merger of Asea AB and BBC Brown Boveri required a restructuring of operations and a change in organizational cultures. Competitive success also necessitated the benefits of scale while remaining "local" for political and customer-responsiveness reasons. The case... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Mergers and Acquisitions; Restructuring; Cost vs Benefits; Competitive Strategy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Growth and Development; Performance Effectiveness; Consumer Products Industry