Publications

October 2001 (Revised November 2002)
Case

Herman Miller (A): Innovation by Design

By: Sandra J. Sucher and Stacy McManus

Gary Van Spronsen, president of Miller SQA, has been asked to leave the thriving subsidiary he helped to reinvent to join Herman Miller's corporate initiative on innovation. Miller SQA has pioneered processes new to the Herman Miller organization, such as... View Details

Keywords: Innovation and Invention; Product Design; Product Development; Supply Chain Management; Business Model; Organizations; Values and Beliefs; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry

30 Jun 2009
First Look

First Look: June 30

sector may be traced back to fundamental properties of the underlying technologies. Download the paper: http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/09-144.pdf Unraveling Results from Comparable Demand and Supply: An... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

November 1992 (Revised June 1994)
Case

Packaged Products Company: Handy-Pak Introduction

By: Frank V. Cespedes and Laura Goode

The product manager and the market research director for a new line of snacking nuts are reviewing options concerning the upcoming roll-out of the product. These options include changes in pricing, promotional plans, and salesforce incentives intended to build support... View Details

Keywords: Price; Marketing; Marketing Channels; Product Launch; Distribution; Planning; Research and Development; Sales; Salesforce Management; Alignment; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry

Find at Harvard

July 1991 (Revised August 1991)
Case

Philip Morris Companies, Inc. (A)

By: Samuel L. Hayes III

This large tobacco and diversified food processor is seeking to refinance debt funds raised to accomplish a large acquisition. It has filed a large "shelf" registration that authorizes it to issue during the subsequent two years. At the time of the case, the market... View Details

Keywords: Stocks; Initial Public Offering; Consumer Products 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

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

15 Dec 2015
Blog Post

One MBA's Path to Boston Consulting Group

people. Lastly, I wanted to build out my consumer packaged goods knowledge that I began building while working at PepsiCo. Consulting felt like the right match but the question became which firm and why.... View Details

Keywords: Consumer Products / Retail; Consumer Products / Retail

13 Oct 2010
First Look

First Look: October 13, 2010

http://hbr.org/2010/10/the-power-of-alumni-networks/ar/1 Prices or Knowledge? What Drives Demand for Financial Services in Emerging Markets? Authors:Shawn A.Cole, Thomas Sampson, and Bilal Zia... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

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

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

14 May 2013
First Look

First Look: May 14

mobilization that can improve labor conditions more broadly. Publisher's link: http://www.bostonreview.net/BR38.3/ndf_jodi_short_michael_toffel_global_brands_labor_justice.php Working Papers The Impact of Supplier Reliability on Retailer View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

01 Apr 2002
News

Stocking Up Can Build Customer Value

matching the ratio between his cost and the price he charges. For example, if he buys the papers for ten cents and sells them for seventy cents, and his records show that View Details

Keywords: Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools

December 1993 (Revised November 2009)
Case

Manville Corporation Fiber Glass Group (A)

By: Lynn S. Paine and Sarah Gant

Manville Corp.'s senior managers must decide how to respond to a new scientific study suggesting that fiberglass, the source of 75% of the company's profits, may be another asbestos and must act under conditions of great uncertainty. In particular, when should a... View Details

Keywords: Communication Strategy; Decision Choices and Conditions; Ethics; Health Disorders; Risk Management; Marketing Communications; Product; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Safety; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry

September 2001 (Revised June 2003)
Case

Henkel KGaA: Detergents Division

Henkel has to decide whether to replace its strong local detergent brands in Italy and Spain with its leading international brand, Persil. It faces pressure from retailers for international brand standardization. Its competitors, including P&G and Unilever, are... View Details

Keywords: Globalized Markets and Industries; Brands and Branding; Consumer Products Industry; Italy; Spain

September 1984 (Revised December 1992)
Case

Federated Industries (A)

By: Robert J. Dolan

The market leader in an overcapacity industry with a commodity product is trying to restore industry price levels. Price cutting has hurt overall industry price levels and the leader must determine whether (and how) to bring up price levels or exit the market. View Details

Keywords: Supply and Industry; Market Entry and Exit; Price; Goods and Commodities; Competition; Consumer Products Industry; United States

03 Nov 2008
HBS Case

Economics of the Ethanol Business

down again, and they did," he remarks. "Will demand from India and China change the equation? Maybe. Ordinarily when the price of something goes up, people figure out... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Agriculture & Agribusiness; Energy

Peter Vundla

Keywords: Advertising; Marketing

January 1991 (Revised November 1994)
Case

Black Caucus Groups at Xerox Corp. (A)

In 1970 Xerox had a very progressive affirmative action program yet, once hired, black employees faced serious problems, due both to overt discrimination and to their exclusion from the informal networks of support, information and mentoring that the other salespeople... View Details

Keywords: Prejudice and Bias; Alliances; Race Characteristics; Employees; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry; United States