Publications

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January 2014
Technical Note

Learning From Extreme Consumers

By: Jill Avery and Michael Norton

Traditional market research methods focus on understanding the average experiences of average consumers. This focus leads to gaps in our knowledge of consumer behavior and often fails to uncover insights that can drive revolutionary, rather than evolutionary... View Details

Keywords: Market Research; Ethnography; Design Thinking; Innovation; New Product Development; Research; Marketing; Consumer Behavior; Innovation and Invention

13 Sep 2021
Research & Ideas

Science: The Unlikely Frontier for New Business Ideas

“Fail fast” has become the corporate innovation mantra, but new research suggests that inventions that build on science, with its systematic observation and methodical experiments, may deliver more value to companies. US patent filings... View Details

Keywords: by Avery Forman

08 Jul 2002
Research & Ideas

How to Fashion Your New E-Business Model

and infrastructure to launch new product lines or businesses, or enter new markets. Industrial Age business innovation's favored producers. The innovations included: Physical or analog production and... View Details

Keywords: by Lynda M. Applegate

05 Sep 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, September 5, 2017

exploit a quasi-natural experiment that holds constant the information event across firms, but varies the availability of a major news outlet in local markets. We find that firms subject to the threat of slanted coverage suppress the... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

06 Feb 2018
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas: February 6, 2018

2018 Columbia Studies in the History of U.S. Capitalism American Capitalism: New Histories By: Beckert, Sven, and Christine Desan, eds. Abstract—The United States has long epitomized capitalism. From its enterprising shopkeepers, wildcat... View Details

May 2015 (Revised May 2017)
Case

Colgate-Palmolive Company: Marketing Anti-Cavity Toothpaste

By: John A. Quelch and Margaret L. Rodriguez

In October 2013, Colgate-Palmolive Company, the world's leading oral care company, was about to launch its new Colgate® Maximum Cavity Protection™ plus Sugar Acid Neutralizer™ toothpaste in Brazil. Oral care category accounted for 46 percent of Colgate's $17.4 billion... View Details

Keywords: New Product Management; Consumer Segmentation; Global Marketing; Corporate Social Responsibility; Healthcare; Sustainability; Health Care and Treatment; Environmental Sustainability; Marketing; Segmentation; Product Development; Product Launch; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Product Positioning; Consumer Products Industry; Brazil; United States

09 Mar 2003
Research & Ideas

Six Keys to Building New Markets by Unleashing Disruptive Innovation

can't seem to get innovation right. When companies keep improving their existing products and services to meet their best customers' needs, they eventually run into the "innovator's dilemma." By doing everything right, they create opportunities for View Details

Keywords: by Clayton M. Christensen, Michael E. Raynor & Scott D. Anthony

14 Aug 2018
First Look

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

economy. Success requires a continuous influx of new ideas, new challenges, and critical thought, and the interpersonal climate must not suppress, silence, ridicule, or intimidate. Not every idea is good,... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

08 May 2018
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, May 8, 2018

response to the WWII experience. We show that internment aggravated existing staffing challenges, impacted the perception of racial lines of distinctions, and recast the category “European business.” While internment was perceived and... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

09 Jul 2018
Research & Ideas

Overcoming the Challenges of Selling Brand New Technology (Hey, Need a 3-D Printer?)

“Nothing sells itself,” says Frank Cespedes, senior lecturer in the Entrepreneurial Management Unit at Harvard Business School. “When companies introduce new products, they are offering something that by definition is going to replace... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Technology; Consumer Products; Electronics; Industrial Products; Information Technology; Manufacturing; Medical Devices & Supplies; Retail

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

2019
Working Paper

Does Apple Anchor a Shopping Mall? The Effect of the Technology Stores on the Formation of Market Structure

By: Doug J. Chung, Kyoungwon Seo and Reo Song

This study examines the effect of technology stores—company-owned Apple and Microsoft retail stores—on mall configuration. We formulate a structural model that considers the endogenous location decisions of retail stores, taking into account both market characteristics... View Details

Keywords: Apple Store; New Anchor Store; Discrete Game; Complete Information; Multiple Equilibria; GPGPU Technology; Simulator; Bayesian Estimation; Shopping Mall; Spillover

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October 2003 (Revised January 2004)
Case

Burberry

By: Youngme E. Moon, Erika Kussmann, Emma Penick, Susan Wojewoda and Kerry Herman

In 2003, Rose Marie Bravo, Burberry's CEO, is debating how to maintain the currency and cachet of the brand across its broad customer base, while entering new product categories and expanding distribution. In the past five years, the brand has become one of the hottest... View Details

Keywords: Brands and Branding; Management Teams; Luxury; Product Launch; Distribution; Product Positioning; Advertising; Market Entry and Exit; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Fashion Industry; United Kingdom

July 2022
Case

boAt Lifestyle

By: Rajiv Lal and Kairavi Dey

boAt began as a lifestyle brand in the consumer electronics category in 2016 with the aim of bringing affordable, durable, and fashionable audio products and accessories to millennials and Gen-Z customers in India. Born in 2016 with Amazon India as its only sales... View Details

Keywords: Marketing; Brands and Branding; Initial Public Offering; Digital Marketing; Product Development; Product Marketing; Business or Company Management; Electronics Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Web Services Industry; Asia; India

2015
Working Paper

The Market That Wasn't: The Non-Emergence of the Online Grocery Category.

By: C. Navis, G. Fisher, Ryan Raffaelli and Mary Ann Glynn

In this paper, we examine the non-emergence of a potential new market category. In the late 1990s, the entrepreneurial firms that attempted to sell groceries online in the US attracted significant resources, made impressive technological advancements, and generated... View Details

Keywords: Emerging Markets; Failure; Food; Online Technology; Food and Beverage Industry; Web Services Industry