Publications

January 1996 (Revised April 1996)
Case

Digital Imaging in 1995: Opportunities in the Descent to the Desktop

The dramatic shifts of the imaging industry from analog to digital technology is creating emerging markets in 1995. How can a competitor position itself to enter the market successfully? This case describes the key technologies, market segments, competitors, and... View Details

Keywords: Technological Innovation; Innovation Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Consumer Products Industry

March 2019
Case

DayTwo: Going to Market with Gut Microbiome

By: Ayelet Israeli and David Lane

DayTwo is a young Israeli startup that applies research on the gut microbiome and machine learning algorithms to deliver personalized nutritional recommendations to its users in order to minimize blood sugar spikes after meals. After a first year of trial rollout in... View Details

March 1995 (Revised March 2001)
Case

The Black & Decker Corporation (A): Power Tools Division

By: Robert J. Dolan

Presents Black & Decker's performance against a Japanese competitor and others in the power tools market. Black & Decker is anxious to regain its market share leadership in particular segments of the market. View Details

Keywords: Brands and Branding; Product Positioning; Marketing Strategy; Product Launch; Competition; Globalization; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry

2020
Case

Brightline: Targeting a Successful Future with High Speed Rail

By: Andrew J. Hoffman

High-speed rail (HSR) is a high-performance transportation technology that is time competitive with airplanes and automobiles, and is an environmentally preferable alternative due to its low carbon dioxide emissions. Brightline is a Florida HSR system in Phase II of... View Details

Keywords: Environmental Sustainability; Marketing Strategy; Segmentation; Transportation Industry

22 Feb 2012
Working Paper Summaries

The Dynamic Effects of Bundling as a Product Strategy

Keywords: by Timothy Derdenger & Vineet Kumar; Video Game

2003
Casebook

Professional Services: Text and Cases

By: Thomas J. DeLong and Ashish Nanda

DeLong and Nanda's Professional Services: Text and Cases is the first casebook to be published on the management of professional service firms (law firms, architecture, financial services, consulting). It includes a comprehensive selection of case studies that... View Details

Keywords: Professional Service Firms; Management; Cases

April 2006 (Revised March 2007)
Case

PayPal Merchant Services

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann and Lauren Barley

In early 2006, PayPal management is deciding how to respond to Google's entry into online payments. PayPal, owned by eBay, has targeted online merchants outside eBay's auction community for its next wave of expansion. Google represents a potential threat to PayPal's... View Details

Keywords: Internet and the Web; Competition; Expansion; Service Operations; Auctions; Web Services Industry; Service Industry

July–August 2017
Article

Why Outlet Stores Exist: Averting Cannibalization in Product Line Extensions

By: Donald Ngwe

Outlet stores are a large and growing component of many firms' retailing strategies, particularly in the fashion industry. Outlet stores offer attractive prices in locations far from central shopping districts. The main perspectives on why outlet stores exist can be... View Details

Keywords: Fashion; Industrial Organization; Outlet Stores; Price Discrimination; Retail; Channel Management; Luxury; Product Marketing; Price; Retail Industry; Fashion Industry

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December 2017 (Revised March 2019)
Case

Armarium: Luxury Fashion Brands for Rent

By: Jill Avery, David Fubini, Natasha Dossa and Devon Stewart

Armarium, a two-sided online platform that offered consumers the opportunity to rent the most coveted, current season high fashion clothing and accessories from the top global luxury brands, had emerged from its first sales season with two distinct customer segments:... View Details

April 2009
Article

How to Market in a Downturn

By: John A. Quelch and Katherine Jocz

This article includes a one-page preview that quickly summarizes the key ideas and provides an overview of how the concepts work in practice along with suggestions for further reading. Because no two recessions are exactly alike, marketers find themselves in poorly... View Details

Keywords: Customers; Economic Slowdown and Stagnation; Spending; Marketing Strategy; Consumer Behavior; Segmentation

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23 Nov 2010
First Look

First Look: November 23

http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/11-048.pdf Regulating for Legitimacy: Consumer Credit Access in France and America Author: Gunnar Trumbull Abstract Theories of legitimate regulation have emphasized the role of governments either in fixing... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

18 Apr 2005
Research & Ideas

Selling Luxury to Everyone

Luxury is the new essential. Consumers know it and retailers are reaping the bounty. At a "Growth Strategies in the Luxury Goods Industry" panel on April 3 at the HBS Retail and Luxury Goods Conference, moderator Nancy F. Koehn... View Details

Keywords: by Julie Jette; Consumer Products

14 Dec 2007
Op-Ed

When Your Product Becomes a Commodity

speed from launch to maturity is faster than ever before. Marketers can do three things to delay the inevitable forces of commoditization. Innovate. A new product that better meets consumer needs, even an upgrade of an existing product,... View Details

Keywords: by John Quelch

Research Summary

Simultaneous Distinction, Democratization and Omnivorism Effects: A Longitudinal Analysis of Dynamic Symbolic Boundaries in Counterfeit Consumption Networks

Sociologists have long examined the interactive relationship between social structure, taste and power. This literature has overwhelmingly fallen into three, ostensibly competing, theoretical “camps”: Distinction, where high-status consumers use... View Details

November 2013
Article

Adding Bricks to Clicks: On the Role of Physical Stores in a World of Online Shopping

By: Jill Avery, Thomas Steenburgh, John A. Deighton and Mary Caravella

Buying a product has never been easier. Consumers can shop online, over the phone or via mail order, from home or on the go, and if they want to experience touch and feel, they can also visit a "real" store. Often, one and the same retailer offers several of these... View Details

Keywords: Channel Management; Retailing; Marketing; Marketing Channels; Marketing Strategy; E-commerce; Retail Industry; United States

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17 Sep 2007
Research & Ideas

Broadband: Remaking the Advertising Industry

strictly online. Who reads newspapers? Old guys. So this is an industry that is being dramatically transformed. “The reality for the advertising industry is that the old model is broken.” As broadband enables new forms of entertainment and new ways to View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Advertising; Media & Broadcasting; Publishing

Article

Divide and Conquer: Competing with Free Technology under Network Effects

By: Deishin Lee and Haim Mendelson

We study how a commercial firm competes with a free open source product. The market consists of two customer segments with different preferences and is characterized by positive network effects. The commercial firm makes product and pricing decisions to maximize its... View Details

Keywords: Profit; Product Launch; Network Effects; Open Source Distribution; Adoption; Competitive Strategy; Competitive Advantage

28 Nov 2005
Research & Ideas

Unilever: Transformation and Tradition

possessed, first, strong capabilities in branding and marketing. It understood local markets, and it knew how to market to them. It was at the frontier of market segmentation strategies in packaged consumer... View Details

Keywords: by Geoffrey Jones; Consumer Products

2018
Book

Food Citizenship: Food System Advocates in an Era of Distrust

By: Ray A. Goldberg

The global food system is the largest segment of the world's economy. As agribusiness-studies pioneer Ray Goldberg suggests, it is also the largest health system on the planet. And it is changing fast. Its size and importance to human, environmental, and economic... View Details

Keywords: Food; System; Global Range; Health; Environmental Sustainability; Development Economics; Partners and Partnerships; Public Opinion; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Food and Beverage Industry