Publications

January 2023 (Revised January 2023)
Case

Belden and Digital Transformation: From Product Sales to Solutions Sales

By: Frank V. Cespedes and Amy Klopfenstein

This case concerns the industrial automation division at Belden, a hardware manufacturer. While Belden historically sold products such as cables, wires, and other networking devices, EVP of Industrial Automation Ashish Chand recognized that IT vendors were entering the... View Details

Keywords: Implementation; Sales Cycle; Digital Transformation; Sales; Product Positioning; Business Model; Market Entry and Exit; Customer Focus and Relationships; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Supply and Industry; Technology Industry; North America; United States

10 Jun 2010
Working Paper Summaries

Corporate Governance and Internal Capital Markets

Keywords: by Zacharias Sautner & Belén Villalonga

May 1993 (Revised October 1993)
Case

Vanity Fair Mills: Market Response System

Describes the "Quick Response" program developed by Vanity Fair Mills (VFM), a division of the VF Corp. Beginning in 1989, VFM reorganized its manufacturing systems, invested heavily in computer and telecommunications equipment, and formed "partnership" agreements with... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Logistics; Distribution Channels; Manufacturing Industry

Find at Harvard

09 Nov 2016
Op-Ed

6 Lessons from Donald Trump's Winning Marketing Manual

Donald Trump's victory may be a surprise—but not to astute marketers. Here are six important lessons from Trump's brand marketing playbook: Give consumers a job. The best marketing campaigns always call on... View Details

Keywords: by John A. Quelch

21 Jun 2010
Research & Ideas

Strategy and Execution for Emerging Markets

Emerging markets such as the BRIC countries—Brazil, Russia, India, and China—entice and intimidate. When managers are asked what is special about emerging markets, they typically point to rapid economic growth, potential competitors, and... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

05 May 2003
What Do You Think?

Is This a Golden Era for Marketing Productivity?

Summing Up Questions raised in this month's column about the possibility of an era of marketing productivity based on innovative research techniques evoked a number of skeptical comments. However, in defense of such techniques, B. V.... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

07 Jul 2020
Research & Ideas

Market Investors Pay More for Resilient Companies

The steep market drop in the early days of the COVID-19 crisis is being used as a laboratory to study the importance of companies investing in stakeholder relations with their employees, suppliers, and customers, and how those investments could be strategic resources... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz; Financial Services

19 Jan 2011
Research & Ideas

Activist Board Members Increase Firm’s Market Value

Public company shareholders have long complained that corporate boards don't always act in the best interest of their investors. But does the addition of a shareholder-sponsored board member increase the market value of the firm? The... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

13 Nov 2019
Research & Ideas

Don't Turn Your Marketing Function Over to AI Just Yet

learning to gain new knowledge about current and potential market segments. “It might be that people on the bus use their cell phones more,” Amano posits, “so they just tend to buy cell phones more often.” Personalization vs. privacy... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz

Article

Are REC Markets a WRECk Waiting to Happen?

By: Jurgen Weiss

The paper examines a weakness of renewable portfolio standards (RPS) implemented via the use of renewable energy certificates (RECs) related to the uncertainty of REC-based revenue streams for renewable projects. Since the production of RECs in any given year depends... View Details

Keywords: Renewable Energy; Markets; Energy Industry

Find at Harvard

19 Mar 2008
Research & Ideas

Finding Success in the Middle of the Market

Editor's Note: Harvard Business School professor John Quelch writes a blog on marketing issues, called Marketing Know: How, for Harvard Business Online. It is reprinted on HBS Working Knowledge.In soccer,... View Details

Keywords: by John Quelch; Auto; Retail

09 Apr 2001
Research & Ideas

Marketing a Country: Promotion as a Tool for Attracting Foreign Investment.

primary objectives of screening investment or negotiating with investors. These agencies had the flexibility to attract personnel with the marketing expertise successful investment promotion requires. In addition, they were able to obtain... View Details

Keywords: by Louis T. Wells & Alvin G. Wint

November 2014 (Revised February 2016)
Case

DoubleDutch

By: Frank V. Cespedes and Matthew G. Preble

Lawrence Coburn and Pankaj Prasad, co-founders of the event solution startup DoubleDutch, have to make a significant decision about their young company's sales function. DoubleDutch's key product was a mobile application (app) and event management platform that... View Details

Keywords: Sales Management; Selling; Marketing Management; Strategy Implementation; Business Marketing; Sales Force Management; Salesforce Management; Marketing; Sales; Marketing Strategy; Strategy; Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Technology Industry; United States; Europe; Asia

May 2012 (Revised August 2012)
Case

Apple Inc. in 2012

By: David B. Yoffie and Penelope Rossano

On October 5, 2011, Steve Jobs tragically died of cancer. The recently retired CEO of Apple Inc. was a legend: he had changed Apple from a company near bankruptcy to one of the largest and most profitable companies in the world. Moreover, he had revolutionized several... View Details

Keywords: Competition; Market Positioning; Strategic Planning; Technology; Computer Industry; Strategy Implementation; Consumer Electronics; Telecommunications; Information Infrastructure; Innovation and Invention; Competitive Strategy; Leadership; Product Positioning; Telecommunications Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Electronics Industry

June 2015
Article

Does Google Leverage Market Power Through Tying and Bundling?

By: Benjamin Edelman

I examine Google's pattern and practice of tying to leverage its dominance into new sectors. In particular, I show how Google used these tactics to enter numerous markets, to compel usage of its services, and often to dominate competing offerings. I explore the... View Details

Keywords: Competition; Antitrust; Google; Tying; Bundling; Competitive Strategy; Search Technology; Law; Information Technology Industry; Advertising Industry

Find at Harvard

Read Now

05 Jul 2006
Working Paper Summaries

A Survey-Based Procedure for Measuring Uncertainty or Heterogeneous Preferences in Markets

Keywords: by Pai-Ling Yin; Technology; Web Services

26 Jul 2006
Research & Ideas

The Strategic Way to Go to Market

partners, and the channel steward. Q: Who in an organization needs to be responsible for creating and implementing a channel steward strategy? How does the CEO fit in? A: It has to be the responsibility of the senior View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

March 2015 (Revised June 2015)
Case

Medalogix

By: Richard G. Hamermesh and Matthew G. Preble

This case examines an exciting new approach to health care that will help care providers identify when hospice services are the appropriate type of care for patients. The company, Medalogix, already has a product on the market that uses a proprietary algorithm to... View Details

Keywords: Health Care; Health Care Entrepreneurship; Health Care Services; Implementing Strategy; Dissemination; Innovation; Market Selection; Health; Health Care and Treatment; Analytics and Data Science; Marketing Strategy; Innovation and Management; Innovation Strategy; Health Industry; United States

2008 - 2008
Conference Presentation

Organizational Identity as an Anchor for Adaptation: An Emerging Market Perspective

By: Andres Hatum, Luciana Silvestri and Roberto Vassolo

There is little doubt that organizational identity—that which is central, distinctive, and enduring about an organization—mediates in adaptive processes. Exactly how this mediation takes place, and whether it is favorable or unfavorable to adaptation, must still be... View Details

Keywords: Identity; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Family Business; Strategy; Emerging Markets