Mass Customization - Publications - Faculty & Research

Research Summary

Managing Marketspace Service Interfaces

Jeffrey F. Rayport is focusing on the strategic challenges that face businesses selling information-intensive products and services. A key strategic issue in such businesses is the dematerialization of information-intensive products and services as a consequence of... View Details

29 Oct 2008
Research & Ideas

The Next Marketing Challenge: Selling to ’Simplifiers’

sales depend on two things: the launch of new, higher-priced, higher-featured, often customized products that persuade consumers to trade in their existing appliances before they break down (think cellphones), as well as household... View Details

Keywords: by John Quelch; Retail; Consumer Products; Entertainment & Recreation

09 Jul 2008
Research & Ideas

Starbucks’ Lessons for Premium Brands

coffee, revitalizing the quality of its standard beverages. But none of these moves addressed the fundamental problem: Starbucks is a mass brand attempting to command a premium price for an experience that is no longer special. Either you... View Details

Keywords: by John Quelch; Retail

February 2021
Case

Apple: Privacy vs. Safety (A)

By: Henry McGee, Nien-hê Hsieh, Sarah McAra and Christian Godwin

In 2015, Apple CEO Tim Cook debuted the iPhone 6S with enhanced security measures that enflamed a debate on privacy and public safety around the world. The iPhone 6S, amid a heightened concern for privacy following the 2013 revelation of clandestine U.S. surveillance... View Details

Citation

Educators

Purchase

18 Apr 2005
Research & Ideas

Tips to Reinvent the Department Store

"I think we are at a crossroads in terms of what exactly we do want to represent to our consumers," she said. The very variety that department stores offer, and the fact that they carry multiple brands that sometimes overlap across chains, has made some View Details

Keywords: by Julie Jette; Retail

11 Aug 2010
Working Paper Summaries

The Influence of Prior Industry Affiliation on Framing in Nascent Industries: The Evolution of Digital Cameras

Keywords: by Mary J. Benner & Mary Tripsas; Electronics

The Sales Acceleration Formula: Using Data, Technology, and Inbound Selling to go from $0 to $100 Million

The Sales Acceleration Formula provides a scalable, predictable approach to growing revenue and building a winning sales team. Everyone wants to build the next $100 million business and author Mark Roberge has actually done it using a unique methodology... View Details

10 Oct 2011
Research & Ideas

Retailing Revolution: Category Killers on the Brink

categories) becomes unproductive due to customers migrating to e-tailers. As entire sections of these stores die from online competition, category killers are being pressed to come up with solutions to keep their overall model afloat. The... View Details

Keywords: by Rajiv Lal & Jose B. Alvarez; Retail

29 Oct 2000
Research & Ideas

Building a Powerful Prestige Brand

drew large crowds of shoppers who came to see the entrepreneur, have a makeover, and sample her products. She had learned early on that touching her customers was a very effective way of establishing a connection with them. Photograph... View Details

Keywords: by Nancy F. Koehn; Beauty & Cosmetics; Consumer Products; Retail

February 2001 (Revised October 2002)
Background Note

Entrepreneurial History: A Conceptual Overview

By: Nancy F. Koehn

Analyzes HBS cases on five entrepreneurs and the companies they built: Josiah Wedgwood, Henry Heinz, Marshall Field, Howard Schultz of Starbucks, and Michael Dell. These five cases and their accompanying teaching notes comprise a course module on entrepreneurial... View Details

Keywords: Transition; Demand and Consumers; Competition; Business History; Entrepreneurship; Customer Focus and Relationships; Business Strategy; Society

Citation

Educators

Purchase

18 Apr 2022
HBS Case

Dick’s Sporting Goods Followed Its Conscience on Guns—and It Paid Off

Days after the mass school shooting in Parkland, Florida, in 2018, a shaken Ed Stack, then the CEO and largest shareholder of Dick’s Sporting Goods, decided it was time for his 850-store chain to pull certain guns off its store shelves.... View Details

Keywords: by Jay Fitzgerald

10 Jan 2011
Research & Ideas

Is Groupon Good for Retailers?

would sign up en masse to buy the same product, and the price of the product would fall as more and more customers signed up. After about a year and a half, Mercata shut its doors. Other than timing, what is... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Advertising; Technology

14 Aug 2018
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, August 14, 2018

emerged from its first sales season with two distinct customer segments: the High Net Worth (HNW) woman and the High Earner, Not Rich Yet (HENRY) woman. As it began to scale its operations, it had to decide which View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

25 Apr 2023
Op-Ed

How SHEIN and Temu Conquered Fast Fashion—and Forged a New Business Model

information technology to directly match consumer demand to dispersed production by a collection of factories in China. This method of reaching customers should inspire any business that provides products or services that come from many... View Details

Keywords: by John Deighton; Fashion; Retail; Consumer Products

Web

Business & Environment

Losing Its Biotech Crown? Bio Conference Takes Place Amidst 10 Jun 2025 | Mass Live Measuring Climate Tech Investment Yields a New Shade of 'Green' Business Re: George Serafeim 27 May 2025 | Newsweek Faculty & Research Vail Resorts:... View Details

Research Summary

Social Innovation

My intellectual agenda addresses this question: How to innovate to solve the world’s toughest challenges? Out of the earth’s population, about 2 billion can afford good products whereas the remaining 5 billion are poor and therefore are nonconsumers.... View Details

17 Aug 2020
Research & Ideas

What the Stockdale Paradox Tells Us About Crisis Leadership

even excluding COVID-19 deaths) Mental health crises Secondary health problems from neglect/postponement of routine/preventative care Mass unemployment Dining, entertainment, arts, tourism industries—the whole experiential... View Details

Keywords: by Boris Groysberg and Robin Abrahams

Web

Podcast - Business & Environment

pilot programs at IKEA stores are reaching new customers, and how investments like RetourMatras are developing circular solutions for end-of-life mattresses. Karen also describes how policy, design, and customer nudges can accelerate... View Details

12 Oct 1999
Research & Ideas

It Came in the First Ships: Capitalism in America

became moderately wealthy, then that might be a sign of God's grace, so long as customers were not cheated or overcharged. The line between virtuous profit and damnable avarice was blurry then, as it remains today. But the Puritans had an... View Details

Keywords: by Thomas K. McCraw

19 Apr 2004
Research & Ideas

Birth of the American Salesman

were rooted in craftwork traditions, seldom exhibited a similar interest in mass selling campaigns. Salesmanship flourished in America for cultural reasons as well. In a country that, from the outset, held democratic elections and had no... View Details

Keywords: by Laura Linard

Publications