Publications

February 2020 (Revised April 2021)
Case

StockX: The Stock Market of Things

By: Chiara Farronato, John J. Horton, Annelena Lobb and Julia Kelley

Founded in 2015 by Dan Gilbert, Josh Luber, and Greg Schwartz, StockX was an online platform where users could buy and sell unworn luxury and limited-edition sneakers. Sneaker resale prices often fluctuated over time based on supply and demand, creating a robust... View Details

March 2017 (Revised March 2022)
Case

Flashion: Art vs. Science in Fashion Retailing

By: Kris Ferreira and Karim R. Lakhani

Kate Wilson, retail analytics manager at Flashion, a fashion flash-sale site, is tasked with developing analytics to optimize pricing for first-exposure products on the site. Many in the industry have relied on years of experience and intuition to determine pricing—can... View Details

Keywords: Analytics; Pricing; Data; Service Operations; Forecasting and Prediction; Internet and the Web; Technology Adoption; Mathematical Methods; Decision Making; E-commerce; Retail Industry; Fashion Industry; United States

October 1978 (Revised March 1987)
Background Note

Note on Market Definition and Segmentation

Outlines the problems involved in defining "markets" for purposes of 1) developing competitive strategies, 2) measuring market share, and 3) evaluating the extent of competition. The primary focus is on strategic planning--specifically, the questions of delimiting the... View Details

Keywords: Strategic Planning; Markets; Segmentation

2016
Blog

Building A Culture of Health - John A. Quelch: The Marketing of Prevention

By: John A. Quelch

The US will devote 17.5% of GDP to health care this year, around $3 trillion. Yet only 3 percent of that will be spent on prevention, including both primary prevention (preventing illness in the first place) and secondary prevention (preventing sick people getting... View Details

Keywords: Healthcare; Healthcare Marketing; Prevention; Wellbeing; Health; Marketing; Health Industry; Insurance Industry; Public Administration Industry; Europe; North and Central America

Read Now

April 2022
Teaching Note

Christie's and Leonardo da Vinci's Salvator Mundi: The Value of a Brand

By: Jill Avery

A sixteenth century Renaissance masterpiece, missing for 137 years, believed by many to have been destroyed, and then rediscovered less than a decade ago, becomes the most expensive painting ever sold, all the while surrounded by controversy. Did the buyer of Leonardo... View Details

Keywords: Brand Management; Brand Valuation; Art; Art Dealer; Auction House; Brand Storytelling; Marketing; Brands and Branding; Marketing Strategy; Fine Arts Industry; United States; Italy

05 Nov 2018
Working Paper Summaries

Pioneer (Dis-)advantages in Markets for Technology

Keywords: by Moritz Fischer, Joachim Henkel, and Ariel Dora Stern; Medical Devices & Supplies

18 Jun 2014
Research & Ideas

Leading Innovation is the Art of Creating ‘Collective Genius’

sustaining an innovative organization? A new book written with three coauthors attempts to answer the question of why some companies, such as Pixar, are able to invent continuously, while others aren't. “Conventional leadership won't get you to innovation” The book,... View Details

Keywords: by Kim Girard

December 2004 (Revised April 2006)
Case

Mavens & Moguls: Because Marketing Matters...

By: Myra M. Hart, Kristin Lieb and Victoria Winston

Mavens & Moguls is a virtual marketing-consulting firm of approximately 40 professionals. Examines the processes by which Paige Arnof-Fenn (an HBS grad with deep industry experience)draws on her experience and her network to create a high-quality marketing consulting... View Details

Keywords: Networks; Values and Beliefs; Business Growth and Maturation; Organizational Structure; Marketing; Entrepreneurship; Experience and Expertise; Growth and Development Strategy; Consulting Industry

Find at Harvard

2019
Chapter

The Art of (Creative) Thought: Graham Wallas on the Creative Process

By: Teresa M. Amabile

BOOK ABSTRACT: The Creativity Reader is a necessary companion for anyone interested in the historical roots of contemporary ideas about creativity, innovation, and imagination. It brings together a prestigious group of international experts who were tasked with... View Details

Keywords: Cognition and Thinking; Creativity

Find at Harvard

January 2018 (Revised October 2019)
Case

Christie's and Leonardo da Vinci's Salvator Mundi: The Value of a Brand

By: Jill Avery

A 16th century Renaissance masterpiece, missing for 137 years, believed by many to have been destroyed and then rediscovered less than a decade ago, becomes the most expensive painting ever sold, all the while surrounded by controversy. Did the buyer of Leonardo da... View Details

20 Oct 2011
Research & Ideas

Getting the Marketing Mix Right

they studied the three primary ways these drugs were marketed by Pfizer, Merk, Bristol-Myers Squibb, and AstraZeneca: "detailing," in which drug firm representatives personally visit physicians to... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman

April 2021 (Revised July 2021)
Case

StockX: The Stock Market of Things (Abridged)

By: Chiara Farronato, John J. Horton, Annelena Lobb and Julia Kelley

Founded in 2015 by Dan Gilbert, Josh Luber, and Greg Schwartz, StockX was an online platform where users could buy and sell unworn luxury and limited-edition sneakers. Sneaker resale prices often fluctuated over time based on supply and demand, creating a robust... View Details

17 Jan 2008
Research & Ideas

If Marketing Experts Ran Elections

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.For all the... View Details

Keywords: by John A. Quelch

February 2017
Teaching Note

The Tate's Digital Transformation

By: Jill Avery

John Stack was the visionary Head of Digital Transformation at the Tate, a collection of four major art galleries in the UK, including Tate Modern, the most visited gallery devoted to modern and contemporary art in the world. Stack was the architect of the Tate’s... View Details

2009
Case

Innovamedica: Innovation in an Emerging Market

By: Roberto Charvel, Fernando Fabre and T. Putimahtama

Innovamedica was a medical start up with several state of the art devices such as a silicon substitute heart and other inventions. However, the founding scientist was struggling in attracting talent and fundraising and that had an impact on growth. View Details

Keywords: Biotech; Entrepreneurial Finance; Entrepreneurship; Start-up; Emergent Countries; Business Startups; Talent and Talent Management; Design; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Private Equity; Health Testing and Trials; Innovation and Invention; Managerial Roles; Biotechnology Industry; Latin America; North and Central America