Publications

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

24 Jun 2002
Research & Ideas

Building ’Brandtopias’—How Top Brands Tap into Society

pursue these two models and do fine, says Holt. 'something Different' But the brands that interest him most, consumer brands that maintain the most powerful grip on the market for years running, don't fit... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

03 Jan 2017
First Look

January 3, 2017

regulate the industry. Publisher's link: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=52032 Populism and the Return of the 'Paranoid Style': Some Evidence and a Simple Model of View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

March 2013 (Revised May 2014)
Case

Unilever's New Recipe for Growth

By: Jordan Siegel, Christopher Poliquin and Barbara Zepp Larson

This case looks at Unilever and its ongoing efforts at regional strategy and organizational change in Europe. View Details

Keywords: Regional Strategy; Aggregation; Organizational Change; Global Strategy; Consumer Products Industry; Europe

30 Sep 2013
Research & Ideas

Do Mergers Hurt Product Quality?

There's a lot of worry afoot whenever companies merge. Wall Street worries about the stock price. Employees worry about potential job cuts. And consumers worry about the fate of their favorite products:... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Consumer Products

12 May 2015
Blog Post

A Summer Internship in General Management

FIELD courses and wanted to build my understanding of the discipline. How did your summer internship change what you wanted to do in the long term? My summer internship opened my eyes up to the rising importance of the marketing function... View Details

October 2007
Module Note

Managing Networked Businesses: Network Mobilization Module

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann

Keywords: Network Effects; Management

01 Dec 2020
News

Steady as She Goes

consumer behavior brought on by the pandemic to persist. Coles has seen a significant uptick in online ordering—Weckert estimates the company saw five years’ worth of adoption in six months—and people are View Details

Keywords: April White; COVID-19; change management; leadership; women; grocery stores; Food and Beverage Stores; Food and Beverage Stores

02 Jun 2010
First Look

First Look: June 2

the downstream party has the ability to exert a costly effort to increase demand (e.g., through sales promotions, advertising, etc.) during the selling season and compare two situations: one where there is... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

29 Aug 2006
First Look

First Look: August 29, 2006

patent holder are zero, and an "aggressive" form where they are strictly positive. Even though the patentee's profits are protected with the lost profits damage measure, innovation incentives are reduced relative to a regime... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

November 2023
Case

Swanson Health: Becoming a Super Seller

By: William R. Kerr, Daniel O'Connor and Paige Boehmcke

Founded in 1969, Swanson Health sold vitamins, supplements, natural health products, and organic foods. Over the years, the company had successfully navigated multiple industry transitions as it expanded from a print catalog to sell products on its own... View Details

Keywords: Sales; Transition; Growth Management; Distribution Channels; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry; United States

April 2003 (Revised February 2004)
Case

Kodak (A)

By: Giovanni M. Gavetti, Rebecca Henderson and Simona Giorgi

The introduction of digital imaging in the late 1980s had a disruptive effect on Kodak's traditional business model. Examines Kodak's strategic efforts and challenges as the photography industry evolves. After discussing Kodak's history and its past strategic moves in... View Details

Keywords: History; Business Model; Leadership; Disruption; Industry Growth; Business Strategy; Consumer Products Industry

September–October 2022
Article

Should Your Company Sell on Amazon?: Reach Comes at a Price

By: Ayelet Israeli, Leonard A. Schlesinger, Matt Higgins and Sabir Semerkant

Selling on Amazon allows brands to reach millions of consumers—but that exposure comes with costs. They include smaller margins, more competition, the risk of commoditization, and less knowledge about customers. In this article, the authors present a scorecard to... View Details

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November 2021
Supplement

Ant Group (B)

By: Krishna G. Palepu, Feng Zhu and Susie L. Ma

Keywords: Information Technology; Value Creation; Network Effects; Strategy; Disruptive Innovation; Technology Industry; Financial Services Industry; China

April 2008 (Revised March 2014)
Case

Flying J (A)

By: Rohit Deshpande and Lauren Barley

The largest retailer of diesel fuel in the U.S., Flying J, is rethinking its growth strategy as the economy goes into a recession. Its major customer base, owner-operated truck drivers, are facing increasing costs of doing business. Yet Flying J is considering whether... View Details

Keywords: Decision Choices and Conditions; Growth and Development Strategy; Price; Consumer Behavior; Non-Renewable Energy; Energy Industry; United States

10 Jun 2002
Research & Ideas

Reinventing the Industrial Giant

efficient for consumers and for GM. First, it would reduce the amount of time customers had to wait for their car to arrive. A car ordered online would take only 15 to 20 days to reach the customer compared... View Details

Keywords: by Nitin Nohria, Davis Dyer & Frederick Dalzell; Manufacturing

December 1997 (Revised April 1998)
Case

www.springs.com

By: F. Warren McFarlan and Melissa Dailey

Business Week's June 1997 "Rising Star" profile of Springs Industries' president and COO, Crandall Bowles, reported that she was poised to become one of the top two or three women executives in the country. In November 1997, the company announced Bowles' appointment to... View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Operations; Product Marketing; Management; Strategy; Consumer Products Industry; South Carolina

21 Dec 2010
First Look

First Look: December 21

insight of that paper, which is that a demand for fairness could lead to different economic systems such as those observed in France versus the U.S. (multiple equilibria). Download the paper: http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/11-059.pdf A... View Details

April 2019
Case

Afterpay U.S.: The Omnichannel Dilemma

By: Antonio Moreno, Donald Ngwe and George Gonzalez

In 2018, Nick Molnar, the founder of the Australia-based online payment service Afterpay began its expansion to the U.S. market. The service had gained a loyal following in Australia by enabling customers to pay for online purchases through four interest-free... View Details