Publications

Starting as a modest 20-bed hospital, Aravind had grown into a 1,400-bed hospital complex by 1992. It had by then screened 3.65 million patients and performed 335,000 cataract surgeries, nearly 70% of them free of cost for the poorest of India's blind population.... View Details

Keywords: Developing Countries and Economies; Social Marketing; Service Delivery; Service Operations; Welfare; Expansion; Health Industry; India

May 1994
Background Note

Designing Channels of Distribution

Presents a framework and a method for addressing the new product channel choice decision. Offers a six-step method that involves: 1) disaggregating and prioritizing a distribution channel by customers' channel function requirements; 2) obtaining and combining... View Details

Keywords: Distribution Channels; Framework; Cost; Customers; Cost vs Benefits; Management

November 2020 (Revised July 2022)
Case

Dell Technologies: Bringing the Cloud to the Ground

By: Navid Mojir and V. Kasturi Rangan

The case tells the story of Dell Technologies and its efforts to revitalize its value proposition and escape a commodity trap by acquiring EMC for $67 billion—the largest tech acquisition in history. It also shows the deeply intertwined connections between a company’s... View Details

Keywords: Value Proposition; Go-to-market; Strategic Positioning; Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Strategy; Marketing Strategy; Technological Innovation; Business Divisions; Information Technology Industry; Computer Industry

June 2005 (Revised August 2011)
Case

Narayana Hrudayalaya Heart Hospital: Cardiac Care for the Poor (A)

By: Tarun Khanna, V. Kasturi Rangan and Merlina Manocaran

Describes the mission, vision, and strategy of a team of entrepreneurs headed by a charismatic heart surgeon who founded a heart hospital in Bangalore, India. The purpose of the hospital was to offer health care for the masses. This tertiary care hospital performed... View Details

Keywords: Social Entrepreneurship; Health Care and Treatment; Goals and Objectives; Social Marketing; Mission and Purpose; Strategic Planning; Social Enterprise; Welfare; Health Industry; Service Industry; Bangalore

Web

Marketing Faculty - Faculty & Research

Administration Ayelet Israeli Marvin Bower Associate Professor Michael T. Moynihan Lecturer of Business Administration Das Narayandas Edsel Bryant Ford Professor of Business Administration V. Kasturi View Details

September 2014 (Revised November 2017)
Case

Sustainability at IKEA Group

By: V. Kasturi Rangan, Michael W. Toffel, Vincent Dessain and Jerome Lenhardt

By 2014, IKEA Group was the largest home furnishing company, with EUR28.5 billion of sales, and planned to reach EUR50 billion by 2020, mainly from emerging markets. At the same time, IKEA Group had adopted in 2012 a new sustainability strategy that focused the... View Details

Keywords: Furnishing; Sustainability; Supply Chain; Wood; Customer Value and Value Chain; Supply Chain Management; Environmental Sustainability; Growth and Development Strategy; Consumer Products Industry

December 2009
Case

TruEarth Healthy Foods: Market Research for a New Product Introduction

By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Sunru Yong

Topics covered include: consumer marketing, market research, new product introduction, and quantitative analysis. TruEarth Healthy Foods, a maker of gourmet pastas, sauces, and meals, wants to build on its successful introduction of fresh whole grain pasta by... View Details

Keywords: Market Research; Consumer Marketing; Brands; Food; Marketing Strategy; Consumer Behavior; Forecasting and Prediction; Product Launch; Brands and Branding; Retail Industry; Food and Beverage Industry

November 2022
Case

Goonj: Growing in the Face of a Pandemic

By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Priyank Narayan

Founded by the husband and wife team of Anshu and Meenakshi Gupta in 1999, Goonj had quickly emerged as one of the leading disaster relief and rural development organizations in India. Their main mode of development was through providing a clothing kit to the village... View Details

Keywords: COVID-19 Pandemic; Management; Family Business; Natural Disasters; Social Issues; Entrepreneurship; Operations; Business and Community Relations; Strategy; India

Web

Faculty & Research - Business & Environment

Matheson Entrepreneurial Management 4 results John C. Mulliken Strategy 1 result Ramana Nanda Entrepreneurial Management 27 results Lynn S. Paine General Management 24 results V. Kasturi View Details

Web

Advancing Global, Public, and Societal Health - Health Care

and teaching, including businesses serving low-income populations in both emerging markets and developed nations. Chu teaches the second year elective Business at the Base of the Pyramid , a course introduced jointly with Professor V.... View Details

September 1994 (Revised March 1995)
Supplement

Citibank: Launching the Credit Card in Asia Pacific (B)

Documents the decision taken by Citibank managers in 1989 regarding a new product. View Details

Keywords: Credit Cards; Banking Industry; Asia; Oceania

February 1998 (Revised February 1999)
Case

FreeMarkets OnLine

Describes the marketing strategy of an entrepreneurial start-up engaged in electronic purchasing for large manufacturers. By creating an electronic bidding platform, the company has been able to cut down procurement costs by about 15%. The case question concerns how... View Details

Keywords: Cost Management; Growth and Development Strategy; Marketing Strategy; Bids and Bidding; Market Entry and Exit; Digital Platforms; Production; Electronics Industry

June 1989 (Revised November 1991)
Supplement

Ingersoll-Rand (C): Managing Multiple Channels--1987

Describes the actions taken by Peter Baldwin to address the issues. View Details

Keywords: Industrial Products Industry

Web

Faculty & Research | Social Enterprise | Harvard Business School

Lecturer of Business Administration F. Warren McFarlan Albert H. Gordon Professor of Business Administration, Emeritus Henry W. McGee Senior Lecturer of Business Administration Lakshmi Ramarajan Diane Doerge Wilson Professor of Business Administration View Details

Web

Planning a Class Session - Christensen Center for Teaching & Learning

share their insights about presenting a new teaching plan and adjusting that plan over time. Transcript Tip Sheet Elements of Effective Class Preparation Suggested Reading 1996 Choreographing a Case Class by View Details

March 1990 (Revised April 1992)
Supplement

Rohm and Haas (B): 1989 Update on Kathon MWX

Updates the decision issues faced by Rohm and Haas in launching Kathon MWX for small customers. View Details

Keywords: Decision Making

March 2021 (Revised March 2024)
Case

M-KOPA: Empowering Lives

By: V. Kasturi Rangan, Wale Lawal and Pippa Tubman Armerding

The Pay As You Go solar power company in East Africa had sales of $71 million in 2019. It wished to grow to $300 million by 2025. M-KOPA, founded by three entrepreneurs in 2011, had grown nicely in Kenya and Uganda to reach nearly 750,000 households with an innovative... View Details

Keywords: Mobile Payment; Go-to-market Strategy; Business At The Base Of The Pyramid; Business Growth; Social Entrepreneurship; Renewable Energy; Business Model; Growth and Development Strategy; Expansion; Marketing Strategy; Developing Countries and Economies; Kenya; Uganda; Nigeria

August 2017 (Revised September 2018)
Case

Audubon in 2017: The Turnaround

The case briefly describes the 112-year history of the organization and focuses particularly on the changes wrought by its new leader David Yarnold who was brought in by the board in 2010. Under Yarnold's leadership the organization went through two strategic plans... View Details

Keywords: Nonprofit Strategy; Change Management; Change; Leadership; Nonprofit Organizations; Strategy; Transformation