Publications

11 Jun 2001
Research & Ideas

E-Commerce Unplugged

In this excerpt, Nohria and Leestma outline the challenges and rewards awaiting businesses that target the mobile-commerce customer. The best place to start? Develop a thorough knowledge of View Details

Keywords: by Nitin Nohria & Marty Leestma

15 Jan 2019
Blog Post

Interning in the Retail Sector

Jasmyn Beausejour, MBA 2019, describes his summer at Wayfair. As a native from Montreal and having worked in management consulting, Jasmyn was excited by the opportunity to analyze Wayfair’s expansion and... View Details

Keywords: Consumer Products / Retail

27 Jun 2007
Lessons from the Classroom

Learning to Make the Move to CEO

time left, and that if they want to do something, they've got to move." Launched in 1945, AMP is the longest-running executive education program in the world. And at 8 weeks, it View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Education

September 2001 (Revised January 2002)
Case

The American Medical Association-Sunbeam Deal (C): Denouement

By: Ashish Nanda and Kimberly A. Haddad

On September 5, 1997, the American Medical Association(AMA) withdrew from a contract with Sunbeam Corporation, the maker of small home appliances. Sunbeam sued the AMA to pay for the damages or to comply with the contract. The fracas led to the dismissal of three top... View Details

Keywords: Medical Services; Appliances; Lawsuit; Litigation; Professionalism; Contracts; Corporate Accountability; Organizations; Lawsuits and Litigation; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry; United States

19 Nov 2012
Research & Ideas

LEED-ing by Example

In the debate over whether to increase or decrease the stringency of environmental regulations, the possibility that government agencies might use purchasing to stimulate market demand for "green" products View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Construction; Real Estate; Energy; Utilities

26 Jan 2021
Research & Ideas

A New Way to Cut Credit Card Debt: Pay Off One Purchase at a Time

A novel approach to repaying debt could help consumers free themselves from crushing credit card balances faster, according to new research. Rather than asking borrowers to make payments toward their total balances, Harvard Business... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz; Financial Services

28 Jun 2016
First Look

June 28, 2016

"CEO activism" can influence public opinion and consumer attitudes. Our field experiment examines the impact of Apple CEO Tim Cook’s public statements opposing a pending religious freedom law that critics... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

May 2011
Article

Think Customers Hate Waiting? Not So Fast...

By: Ryan W. Buell and Michael I. Norton

Managers typically look for ways to reduce wait time to increase customer satisfaction. New research suggests there's a better approach: showing customers a representation of the effort, whether literal or not, being expended on their behalf while they wait. (The... View Details

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Service Delivery; Consumer Behavior; Performance Effectiveness; Customer Satisfaction

Find at Harvard

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20 Nov 2000
Research & Ideas

Moving from Supply Chains to Supply Networks

has supply chain management become such a hot topic in recent years? Shapiro: Changes in five factors are largely responsible for the increased attention. I'll quickly list them and then talk about each. Information technology Visibility... View Details

Keywords: by Staff

August 1993 (Revised April 1994)
Case

Flanders of Springfield

By: Arthur Schleifer Jr.

Flanders is a catalog merchandiser. Various decisions on catalog distribution policy, ordering and inventory policy, and catalog format design are considered. This was a final examination, and serves as a review for a number of topics in the course. View Details

Keywords: Decisions; Policy; Distribution; Product Design; Supply Chain; Mathematical Methods; Consumer Products Industry

08 Nov 2016
First Look

November 8, 2016

with oversupply and declining demand and to New World winemakers faced with rising costs and a deteriorating image. But changing Chinese market... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

January 2010
Case

DR Corporation

By: Roy D. Shapiro

DR Corporation is a manufacturer of major appliances. The traffic manager is facing a decision of selecting a carrier for the inbound movement of motors. The primary case decisions are 1) what factors are critical to the decision; 2) how to calculate the tradeoffs... View Details

Keywords: Cost vs Benefits; Decision Choices and Conditions; Managerial Roles; Logistics; Supply Chain Management; Truck Transportation; Consumer Products Industry

03 Feb 2016
Research & Ideas

The State of Customer Service Leadership

spread throughout the organization. Aisner: What do you see as the future of the service sector, and how can organizations stay ahead of the curve? Sasser: We admit that we really don’t know what the future holds beyond the current trends... View Details

Keywords: by Jim Aisner; Retail

27 Jan 2015
First Look

First Look: January 27

that agents experience reduced demand for service failures due to stockouts, but not for service failures due to network downtime, suggesting that consumers differentially ascribe responsibility for service... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

29 Mar 2016
First Look

March 29, 2016

scrutiny in the last decade, with an increased expectation that private profit not come at the expense of consumer welfare. Consumers, Corporations, and Public Health assembles 17 case studies at the... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

Profile

Bryan Guerra

craved a learning experience that was more immersive and interactive, and I knew that the case method would provide this advantage. Likewise, by throwing myself into this unique setting, I knew I'd be forced... View Details

Keywords: Consumer Products; Consumer Products; Consumer Products

May 1986 (Revised February 1989)
Case

Gillette Co.: Dry Idea Advertising (B), The Bake-Off

Presents the second of two cases describing the struggle to find "the right advertising" for the Dry Idea antiperspirant brand introduced in 1978 by the Gillette Co. and its advertising agency, Batten, Barton, Durstine & Osborne (BBDO). The case begins with Gillette's... View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Product Marketing; Consumer Products Industry; United States