Publications

Firm-induced migration typically entails firms relocating workers to fill value-creating positions at destination locations. But such relocated workers are often exposed to external employment opportunities at their destinations, possibly triggering turnover. We... View Details

December 2023 (Revised February 2024)
Case

Transforming Healthcare Delivery at Karolinska University Hospital

By: Susanna Gallani, Mary Witkowski, Elena Corsi and Nikolina Jonsson

The case study examines the journey toward value-based healthcare at Karolinska University Hospital. The hospital's ambitious shift to a patient-centered care delivery model, accompanied by the construction of a new facility, encountered challenges such as high costs,... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Transformation; Transition; Business Organization; Communication Strategy; Information Infrastructure; Service Delivery; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Organizational Structure; Health Industry; Sweden; Europe

December 1994 (Revised May 2008)
Case

Jensen Shoes: Jane Kravitz's Story

Jane Kravitz (Caucasian female), strategic product manager, and Lyndon Twitchell (African American male), a member of her staff at Jensen Shoes, a successful producer and marketer of casual, athletic, and children's footwear, are assigned to new positions and to each... View Details

Keywords: Prejudice and Bias; Race Characteristics; Attitudes; Personal Development and Career; Performance Evaluation; Gender Characteristics; Apparel and Accessories Industry

February 2010 (Revised January 2014)
Case

Tennant Company

By: Toby E. Stuart, Lynda M. Applegate and James Weber

Tennant, a leading producer of floor cleaning equipment, must determine how to create, finance, structure, staff, govern, measure, and manage a new venture for developing a fundamentally new product line. In 2005, Tennant Company had developed an innovative,... View Details

Keywords: Business Startups; Change Management; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Disruptive Innovation; Product Development; Organizational Design; Organizational Structure; Research and Development

September 2019 (Revised January 2020)
Case

Gun Safety in America: Three Leaders Propose Innovative Solutions

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Joseph Paul

Gun violence was a significant problem in America. Three Harvard Advanced Leadership Initiative Fellows Christy Wood, Russell Sternlicht, and Gareth Glaser each decided to do something about gun safety. They each used their professional and leadership experience to... View Details

February 1997 (Revised January 2002)
Case

Launching the BMW Z3 Roadster

By: Robert J. Dolan and Susan M. Fournier

James McDowell, vice president of marketing at BMW North America, Inc., must design Phase II communication strategies for the launch of the new BMW Z3 Roadster. The program follows an "out-of-the-box" prelaunch campaign centered on the placement of the product in the... View Details

Keywords: Management Teams; Marketing Communications; Marketing Strategy; Brands and Branding; Product Launch; Product Positioning; Innovation and Invention; Auto Industry; North America

October 1982 (Revised August 1999)
Case

Johnson Wax: Enhance (A)

Johnson Wax has produced a new hair conditioner for problem hair. Before committing themselves to test market, they analyze the new product using a field based, pretest-market procedure called ASSESSOR. The testing reveals product positioning, advertising, and... View Details

Keywords: Product Positioning; Analysis; Marketing Communications; Advertising; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry

Steve Wheelwright is the Edsel Bryant Ford Professor of Business Administration, Emeritus at Harvard Business School.

Following his retirement from HBS in 2006, he served with former Dean Kim B. Clark at BYU-Idaho and then from 2007-2015 he served as... View Details

March 2014
Article

Search Diversion and Platform Competition

By: Andrei Hagiu and Bruno Jullien

Platforms use search diversion in order to trade off total consumer traffic for higher revenues derived by exposing consumers to unsolicited products (e.g., advertising). We show that competition between platforms leads to lower equilibrium levels of search diversion... View Details

Keywords: Market Intermediation; Search; Two-Sided Markets; Platform Design; Platform Competition; Competition; Two-Sided Platforms

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December 2019 (Revised March 2020)
Case

Impossible Foods

By: Jose B. Alvarez and Natalie Kindred

Impossible Foods founder and CEO Pat Brown started the company out of concern over livestock production’s impact on climate change. Impossible’s mission is to end consumption of animals by 2035, and its strategy is to develop and market plant-based foods so similar to... View Details

June 2018 (Revised January 2020)
Case

Voice War: Hey Google vs. Alexa vs. Siri

By: David B. Yoffie, Liang Wu, Jodie Sweitzer, Denzil Eden and Karan Ahuja

By early 2018, voice-controlled intelligent assistants had become a major new front in the battle between the giants of the technology sector. "Voice War" focuses on Alphabet’s strategy for Google Assistant, its entrant in the voice assistant space, and asks how the... View Details

Keywords: Alphabet; Amazon; Apple; Strategy; Technology; Intelligent Assistants; Smart Speaker; Voice Assistants; Voice; Platform; Technology Adoption; Digital Platforms; Competitive Strategy; Product Positioning; Technology Industry

January 2014
Case

CleanSpritz

By: John A. Quelch and Alisa Zalosh

Sales of CleanSpritz all-purpose cleaning spray have been steadily declining for the past five years, and management believes the decline correlates to a growing environmental concern among U.S. consumers. CleanSpritz's management is considering several options to... View Details

Keywords: Product Positioning; Competition; Marketing Strategy; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Performance Improvement; Environmental Sustainability; Product Launch; Product Development; Consumer Products Industry

September 2020
Article

Customer Supercharging in Experience-Centric Channels

By: David R. Bell, Santiago Gallino and Antonio Moreno

We conjecture that for online retailers, experience-centric offline store formats do not simply expand market coverage, but rather, serve to significantly amplify future positive customer behaviors, both online and offline. We term this phenomenon “supercharging” and... View Details

Keywords: Retail Operations; Marketing-operations Interface; Omnichannel Retailing; Experience Attributes; Quasi-experimental Methods; Operations; Internet and the Web; Marketing Channels; Consumer Behavior; Retail Industry

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We conjecture that for online retailers, experience-centric offline store formats do not simply expand market coverage, but rather, serve to significantly amplify future positive customer behaviors, both online and offline. We term this phenomenon “supercharging”... View Details

October 1981 (Revised June 1985)
Case

Vicks Health Care Division: Project Scorpio (B)

Reveals that Vicks chose a multi-condition positioning for the product. Describes testing of name and concept, and extensively reports on a four-city test market. Students are expected to evaluate both the design and results of the test, and face options ranging from... View Details

Keywords: Product Positioning; Health Care and Treatment; Product Launch; Health Industry

19 Mar 2019
First Look

New Research and Ideas, March 19, 2019

forthcoming Academy of Management Discoveries Creativity, Artificial Intelligence, and a World of Surprises By: Amabile, Teresa M. Abstract—In recent years, progress has been made toward AI Creativity, which I define as the production of... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

11 Aug 2011
Lessons from the Classroom

Perfecting the Project Pitch

new venture. Getting other people interested enough to either invest their money or buy the product is the really difficult part, and it's often the spot where even the most experienced executives and entrepreneurs stumble. “An idea isn't... View Details

Keywords: by Dennis Fisher

October 2021 (Revised September 2022)
Case

GoPro: Becoming a Subscription Hero

By: Elie Ofek, Marco Bertini and Nicole Tempest Keller

In 2021, Nick Woodman, founder and CEO of GoPro, was reviewing the company’s subscription offering, considering whether to extend it beyond benefits that were directly related to the company’s iconic camera. Founded in 2002, GoPro had gained renown for its innovative... View Details

Keywords: Subscription Model; Pricing; Lifestyle Brands; Value Proposition; Business Model; Growth and Development Strategy; Marketing Strategy; Consumer Products Industry; California