Publications

12 PM – 1 PM EDT, 12 Apr 2018
Webinars: Career

The Challenge of Negotiating Inside Your Company

Our toughest negotiations often arent those with outside parties. Instead they are with our boss, our colleaguesand sometimes even people who report to us. Drawing on his recently launched HBX Negotiation Mastery course, Professor Wheeler will present strategies for... View Details

January 2003 (Revised March 2004)
Case

Silverado (A)

By: Jan W. Rivkin and Charles J. Woodard

Silverado has raised $50 million and launched its first product: an Internet-based trivia game with innovative software. In a highly uncertain environment, the young management team must decide whether to continue developing the product and whether to branch out into... View Details

Keywords: Risk and Uncertainty; Technological Innovation; Strategic Planning; Internet and the Web; Decision Choices and Conditions; Product Launch; Business Strategy; Entertainment and Recreation Industry

10 May 2015
Video

HBS Campaign - Washington D.C. Event

October 2001 (Revised June 2002)
Case

Centagenetix (A): Building a Business Model for Genetic Longevity

Describes a start-up company seeking to exploit population genetic data from long-lived, healthy people. The company must address legal, financial, ethical, and personal issues among its team to launch the company. View Details

Keywords: Ethics; Genetics; Business Startups; Biotechnology Industry

23 Jun 2015
Blog Post

What is SVMP?

too far off, and campus springs back into life with the arrival of our SVMP students. Each summer we welcome a class of about 90 rising college seniors for the annual week-long Summer Venture in Management Program. The program was first View Details

February 2022 (Revised April 2022)
Case

CVS Health: Prescription for Transformation

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Tuna Cem Hayirli

In 2021, new CEO Karen Lynch (named the most powerful woman in business) considered the next transformation phase for CVS Health (a Fortune 5 corporate giant. The 2018 acquisition of Aetna insurance brought her to the company as part of its long evolution from a... View Details

Keywords: COVID; Caregiving; Healthcare; Access; Change; Retail; Health; Health Care and Treatment; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Transformation; Health Industry; Retail Industry

January 2014 (Revised January 2017)
Case

Nivea (A)

By: Karim R. Lakhani, Johann Fuller, Volker Bilgram and Greta Friar

The case describes the efforts of Beiersdorf, a worldwide leader in the cosmetics and skin care industries, to generate and commercialize new R&D through open innovation using external crowds and "netnographic" analysis. Beiersdorf, best known for its consumer brand... View Details

Keywords: Innovation; Innovation Management; Crowdsourcing; Big Data; Innovation Strategy; Innovation and Management; Knowledge Management; Knowledge Sharing; Research and Development; Social and Collaborative Networks; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Analytics and Data Science; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; Consumer Products Industry

August 2021 (Revised February 2024)
Case

Perfect Diary (完美日记)

By: Shunyuan Zhang and Sunil Gupta

Jinfeng (David) Huang founded Yatsen Holding Limited in 2016 and launched the first direct-to-consumer (DTC) cosmetic brand, Perfect Diary, in 2017. Perfect Diary used social influencers or key opinion leaders (KOL) to successfully build brand awareness and to grow... View Details

Keywords: Direct-to-consumer; Social Influencers; Marketing; Digital Marketing; Competitive Strategy; Brands and Branding; Expansion; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; Asia

March 1990 (Revised January 1997)
Case

ROLM: The SIGMA Introduction

By: V. Kasturi Rangan

ROLM's product development manager, Bob Lundy, has to prepare a detailed plan for launching a new product, code named SIGMA. The new product, though outstanding in features, has the potential to drastically affect ROLM's fortunes because it is incompatible with its... View Details

Keywords: Leadership; Marketing Strategy; Product Launch; Product Development; Strategic Planning

Find at Harvard

September 1990 (Revised November 1994)
Case

Kao Corp.

By: John A. Quelch

As the Japanese diaper market expands, Kao management must determine its response to new product introductions by its two major competitors. Options include launching a new premium priced brand or a new low priced brand, or increasing advertising and promotion... View Details

Keywords: Competition; Marketing Strategy; Industry Growth; Product Launch; Brands and Branding; Consumer Products Industry; Japan

August 2017
Case

RoboTech: Storming into the U.S. Market

By: Christopher A. Bartlett, Rachel Gordon and John J. Lafkas

This case describes the challenges facing the CEO of a small, Singapore-based industrial robotics company that decides to diversify away from its core industrial robot business by leveraging its expertise into the medical-devices industry. It launches an innovative... View Details

Keywords: Market Entry and Exit; Diversification; Product Launch; Competitive Strategy; Globalized Firms and Management; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry; Technology Industry; Singapore; United States

February 2024
Case

Adventures Inc: 21st Century Brand Building

By: Boris Groysberg and Sarah L. Abbott

Founded in 2020, Adventures worked with celebrities in Brazil to create and launch digitally native brands. The idea was to match the celebrity’s skill in creating content and entertaining fans with Adventures’ skill in consumer packaged goods marketing and operations.... View Details

Keywords: Digital Brand; Influencer Marketing; Growth And Scaling; Capital Constraints; Brand Portfolio Strategy; CPG; Start-up; Celebrity Endorsement; Digital Marketing; Growth and Development Strategy; Entrepreneurship; Advertising; Social Media; Business Startups; Joint Ventures; Brands and Branding; Brazil

02 Oct 2024
Video

Entrepreneurial Insights: 20 Minutes with Rachel Blank (MBA 2018)

19 Feb 2015
Video

Jules Pieri, Founder, The Grommet

2024
Working Paper

Antitrust Platform Regulation and Entrepreneurship: Evidence from China

By: Ke Rong, D. Daniel Sokol, Di Zhou and Feng Zhu

Many jurisdictions have launched antitrust enforcement and brought in regulation of large tech platforms. The swift and strict implementation of China’s Anti-Monopoly Guidelines for the Platform Economy (Platform Guidelines) provides a quasi-natural experiment... View Details

Keywords: Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Competition; Venture Capital; Market Entry and Exit; Supply and Industry; China

Read Now

01 Aug 2023
Cold Call Podcast

Can Business Transform Primary Health Care Across Africa?

Keywords: Re: Regina E. Herzlinger; Pharmaceutical; Health

October 2009 (Revised July 2012)
Case

Emotiv Systems Inc.: It's the Thoughts that Count

By: Elie Ofek, Jason Riis and Paul Hamilton

Emotiv is getting ready to launch its innovative brain-computer interfacing (BCI) technology. The company has developed a special headset, called EPOC, and highly sophisticated software that can translate a person's emotions, cognitive thoughts, and facial expressions... View Details

Keywords: Technology Adoption; Sales; Technological Innovation; Demand and Consumers; Marketing Strategy; Partners and Partnerships; Entrepreneurship; Forecasting and Prediction; Product Launch; Business Startups; Technology Industry

June 2001
Case

Competitive Dynamics in Home Video Games (J): The Next Generation Nintendo

Nintendo must make some important decisions related to the launch and design of the successor to its 16-bit Super NES console. A rewritten version of an earlier case. This is part of a case series examining the competitive dynamics in the home video game industry from... View Details

Keywords: Competition; Product Design; Product Launch; Video Game Industry

2007
Case

The John Deere 8030 Tractor

By: Vijay Govindarajan and Chris Trimble

This is not your grandfather's tractor! Deere & Company created a technological marvel when they created the 8030 tractor, with options such as GPS, AutoTrac, and a high-tech comfortable seat. The case study illustrates the challenges of launching a complex new product... View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Machinery and Machining; Product Launch; Manufacturing Industry; Auto Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry