Publications

June 2005
Background Note

Overview of the Japanese Apparel Market

By: Rajiv Lal and Arar Han

Provides an overview of the Japanese apparel market, which was a 13.1 trillion yen industry in 2003, reflecting 5.5% year-over-year shrinkage since 1997, when retailers logged 17.5 trillion yen in sales. Compared to their global counterparts, Japanese apparel shoppers... View Details

Keywords: Trends; Financial Crisis; Trade; Emerging Markets; Sales; Luxury; Competition; Segmentation; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Fashion Industry; Asia; China; Japan; Korean Peninsula

December 2005 (Revised August 2006)
Case

Bloemenveiling Aalsmeer

By: Felix Oberholzer-Gee, Vincent Marie Dessain, Daniela Beyersdorfer and Anders Sjoman

The Dutch "Verenigde Bloemenveiling Aalsmeer Cooperative" (VBA) was on of the world's largest flower exchanges. Around 6,300 flower growers, one half of them located in the Netherlands, used the auction to sell cut flowers and plants to more than 1,000 wholesalers. In... View Details

Keywords: Auctions; Bids and Bidding; Trade; Market Entry and Exit; Financial Markets; Segmentation; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Netherlands

March 1999
Case

Eastman Kodak Company

By: Robert J. Dolan

Eastman Kodak has suffered significant declines in film market share at the hands of lower-priced branded producers and private label products. The case presents Kodak's proposal to launch a new economy brand of film to combat these rivals. A rewritten version of an... View Details

Keywords: Segmentation; Product Positioning; Price; Brands and Branding; Product Launch; Consumer Products Industry

01 Mar 2004
What Do You Think?

Are Customer Loyalty Initiatives Worth the Investment?

program, but on whether or not the program is providing significant value to the segment for which it is intended." A third line of thought concerned the impact of rising customer expectations on loyalty initiatives. As Wendy Jameson... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

16 Jul 2014
HBS Case

Marketing Obamacare

segment consumers into four different groups: Confident Rejecters, Cautious Optimists, Stoic Skeptics, and Stressed and Strained. The agency then created different messages for each one—for example, emphasizing affordability for the... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Health

Fast Answer

Challenges and Opportunities in the Restaurant Industry

sectors including restaurants and food retail. Relevant topics covered include: -consumer trends in dining out -restaurant and food service segments including: full service restaurants, quick service restaurants, fast... View Details

01 Feb 2001
News

Volunteers Crack Case, Consider School's Future

HBS itself. Should the School set up international centers or develop in-country partners and sublicense its brand? Do we invest in the physical plant or go virtual campus? Can we be both Rolls Royce and VW? Can we segment the alumni?... View Details

Keywords: Laura Singleton; alumni; volunteers; conferences; cases; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services

September 2006 (Revised March 2007)
Case

QuickBase

By: Clayton M. Christensen and Mark Szigety

Describes the challenge that engineers and marketing executives at Intuit Corp. faced when finding markets and applications for their QuickBase product. The breakthrough occurred when they abandoned their conventional modes of market segmentation, and instead strove to... View Details

Keywords: Applications and Software; Engineering; Product Marketing; Segmentation; Jobs and Positions; Consumer Behavior; Information Technology Industry

January 2017
Case

SoulCycle

By: David Collis, Eric Van den Steen and Ashley Hartman

Co-founders Julie Rice and Elizabeth Cutler have grown SoulCycle from a business idea in 2006 to a major presence among urban boutique fitness studios in 2015. In March 2015, fitness company Equinox approaches them with an offer to buy them out. Evaluating the offer... View Details

Keywords: SoulCycle; Flywheel; Spinning; Indoor Cycling; Boutique Fitness; Fitness; Health Clubs; Community Engagement; Strategy; Business Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Expansion; Competitive Advantage; Competitive Strategy; Segmentation; Health Industry; Sports Industry

17 Apr 2017
News

Jeff Immelt Wants a Radical Transformation of GE

transformation that is as radical as it is methodical, as essential to the company’s survival as Steve Jobs’s iPhone was to Apple’s.” In overseeing the company’s transition to a lean operation more akin to a tech innovator, Immelt has systematically been selling off... View Details

Keywords: Miscellaneous Manufacturing; Manufacturing

15 Nov 2016
News

Enabling the Dream of Building A Healthy Future for India

Surabhi Bhandari (photo by Susan Young) Surabhi Bhandari (photo by Susan Young) Surabhi Bhandari (MBA 2017) wants to launch a medical technology startup in India that will help revolutionize health care in her native country. “Multinational companies dominate the... View Details

01 Feb 2002
News

If You're #1, Watch Out

such parts presents only marginal profit opportunity. Staying in the innovative segment of an industry may mean, in fact, manufacturing a key subsystem and even becoming a provider to competitors. The willingness to make such shifts and... View Details

Keywords: Manufacturing; Management, Scientific, and Technical Consulting Services; Professional Services

January 2018
Technical Note

The Scope of Business at the Base of the Pyramid: Middle and Lower Income Countries

By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Tricia Gregg

Using World Bank data, the note defines the Base of the Pyramid population as the 4.76 billion people living on less than $10/day. It briefly reviews the perspectives of key business articles that address this market, notably C.K. Prahalad’s work on Bottom of the... View Details

Keywords: Developing Countries and Economies; Poverty; Social Issues; Human Needs; Segmentation

22 Feb 2022
News

An Rx for Small Business Recovery

first-year MBA students will travel to 15 cities across the United States to work on projects that involve the design of a new product, service, or experience for a local segment of that city’s population. Students will partner with... View Details

Keywords: Deborah Blagg

29 Jun 2015
HBS Case

Consumer-centered Health Care Depends on Accessible Medical Records

2,000 data points on each of its 2.2 million patients, including clinical data, medication use, education, socioeconomic factors, and consumer spending information to segment patients into groups, such as "high risk of cancer,"... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Health; Technology

01 Mar 2017
News

Case Study: Moment in the Sun

be leaving money on the table not just in the short term but permanently,” he says. Should Ario stick to hospitality and own the market, or shine its light on new ground? The Answers: If a land grab is expected, then owning a segment or... View Details

Keywords: Dan Morrell

November 2000 (Revised April 2001)
Case

CMR Enterprises

By: Das Narayandas and Mary N. Caravella

Sam Marcus recently purchased a small cabinet-making company, and is looking for dramatic growth. The company competes in commercial and residential construction markets; shortly after the acquisition, the company gains a large new residential customer. The case traces... View Details

Keywords: Acquisition; Customer Relationship Management; Entrepreneurship; Leadership; Marketing Strategy; Performance Evaluation; Relationships; Segmentation; Construction Industry