Publications

20 Dec 2004
Research & Ideas

How an Order Views Your Company

the order management cycle? Benson Shapiro: In the late 1970s, when I was teaching the Industrial Marketing course in the MBA program at Harvard, it began to become clear to me that to really manage many businesses, one needed to deal... View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Johnston

September 2004 (Revised January 2005)
Case

IBM: Ordering Midrange Computers in Europe

IBM Europe is trying to expand business-to-business (B2B) efforts with its large distributors of midrange systems. These efforts aim to automate many transactions and business processes, removing the need for human involvement. IBM has completed an initial project with... View Details

Keywords: Customer Relationship Management; Information Technology; Information Infrastructure; Marketing Channels; Distribution Channels; Information Technology Industry; Computer Industry; Germany; United States

18 Mar 2014
News

The Oz of Data Opens the Curtain

valuable and transformative." Also last September, Acxiom unveiled its beta Audience Operating System, which allows marketers to connect traditionally disconnected data across all channels — online, offline,... View Details

Keywords: Robert S. Benchley; Data Processing, Hosting, and Related Services; Information

09 Oct 2017
Research & Ideas

Fearing Fox News, Democratic-leaning Companies Delayed Negative Announcements

world through television and print publications, as they had for decades. There was, however, one big media game changer: the Fox News Channel (FNC). Founded in 1996 by Australian media magnate Rupert Murdoch, FNC was an unusual newcomer... View Details

Keywords: by Jen Deaderick; Media & Broadcasting

24 Jul 2000
Research & Ideas

Global Brands: Connecting With Consumers Across Boundaries

to do with those who are in charge of marketing communications. As a result, the various channels of communication are out of alignment, and the negative impact on a brand can be considerable. If a product... View Details

Keywords: by James E. Aisner

June 2016
Teaching Note

Relating to Peapod

By: Jill Avery and Susan Fournier

This case concerns the topics of relationship marketing, customer acquisition and retention, brand loyalty, service failure and recovery, new product introduction, and the use of consumer ethnography to study consumer behavior. Specifically, the case explores the... View Details

Keywords: Brand Management; Customer Relationship Management; CRM; Customer Behavior; Consumer Behavior; Retailing; Marketing; Marketing Strategy; Brands and Branding; Marketing Channels; E-commerce; Retail Industry; United States

March 2010
Background Note

Airline Travel in the U.S.

By: Sunil Gupta and Kavita Shukla

How should airlines respond to the rising share of Online Travel Agencies (OTAs) as consumers increasingly search the web to buy tickets? View Details

Keywords: Management; Marketing Channels; Consumer Behavior; Market Participation; Agency Theory; Online Technology; Aerospace Industry; United States

Find at Harvard

January 2009
Case

VOSS Artesian Water from Norway

By: Youngme E. Moon, Gail J. McGovern, Daniela Beyersdorfer and Vincent Marie Dessain

VOSS is a Norwegian bottled water company that produces one of the world's purest drinking waters, sold at an ultra-premium price in a sleek cylindrical glass bottle of minimalist design. In the U.S. (the company's primary market), VOSS's high-end brand presence is... View Details

Keywords: Brands and Branding; Marketing Channels; Marketing Strategy; Product; Luxury; Food and Beverage Industry; Norway; United States

December 2013 (Revised October 2014)
Case

The Munich Oktoberfest: From Local Tradition to Global Capitalism

By: Juan Alcacer, Christian Bettinger and Andreas Philippi

Oktoberfest, an annual festival held in Munich (Germany) for more than 200 years, has grown in recent decades into a hugely popular event that attracts 7 million visitors annually, a large proportion of which are foreign. In fact, Oktoberfest's global appeal is so... View Details

Keywords: Value Creation; Product Positioning; Marketing Channels; Global Strategy; Food and Beverage Industry; Ohio; Munich; Brazil; Bangalore; Beijing

August 1983 (Revised May 1985)
Case

Jamestown Co.

By: Benson P. Shapiro and Edward J. Hoff

In May 1983 Ms. Katherine O'Brien, vice president of marketing, was deciding whether Jamestown should discontinue the use of independent representatives in favor of a direct company salesforce. Jamestown sold informal stoneware dinnerware through department and gift... View Details

Keywords: Decision Making; Leadership Style; Marketing Channels; Salesforce Management

01 Sep 2014
News

All For One

course before leaving for California in the morning, she arrives carrying a pile of books and papers. She’s considered one of the School’s preeminent management “gurus,” a title that has inevitably attached itself to her ability to View Details

Keywords: Michael Blanding; faculty; research; Market Research, Photo, Translation, Veterinary and Other Services; Market Research, Photo, Translation, Veterinary and Other Services

December 1999 (Revised February 2001)
Case

CVS: The Web Strategy

By: John A. Deighton and Anjali C. Shah

How should America's second-largest pharmacy chain respond to the challenge from online drugstores? What threat does the web pose to bricks and mortar distribution of prescription drugs and the other items that make up 50% of a drugstore's sales? This case describes... View Details

Keywords: Leveraged Buyouts; Marketing Channels; Distribution Channels; Service Operations; Corporate Strategy; Pharmaceutical Industry; Web Services Industry

01 Sep 2018
News

Case Study: A Good Fit

vendor agreement with a compelling business model, I suspect the superior path is the new opportunity. —J.W. Penland (MBA 1996) Definitely branch out beyond wellness, which is full of hype and competitors. Preferably go with a few apps that might tap into the same... View Details

Keywords: Jen McFarland Flint

22 Jan 2001
Research & Ideas

Control Your Inventory in a World of Lean Retailing

Manufacturers generally classify products in terms of broad product lines, developing a single marketing strategy and production plan for each line. That makes sense for marketing, but it's a mistake for production. Different SKUs... View Details

Keywords: by Frederick H. Abernathy, John T. Dunlop, Janice H. Hammond & David Weil; Consumer Products

18 Apr 2005
Research & Ideas

Prosper with Multi-Channel Retailing

For decades, major retailers offered customers only two methods of purchasing: directly at the store or from catalogs sent through the mail. With the advent of the Internet, retail companies that offered only one or two channels suddenly... View Details

Keywords: by Julie Jette; Consumer Products; Retail

2025
Working Paper

New Product Diffusion Within Retailers: The Effect of Managerial Quality on Rollout

By: Tomomichi Amano and Jorge Tamayo

Retailers are key intermediaries through which consumers encounter innovation in the form of new products. How are these products rolled out within retailers? We observe significant variation in the availability of new products across stores in a large retail chain in... View Details

Keywords: Managerial Quality; Firm Performance; Diffusion Of Innovation; New Product Rollout; Retailing; Distribution Channels; Product Launch; Management Skills; Retail Industry; Colombia

SSRN

Read Now

August 2012 (Revised August 2012)
Case

HealthAllies (A)

By: Regina E. Herzlinger and Michael Sherman

This case describes a "do good and do well" firm that enables individuals to buy health care services at discounted prices. It delineates the characteristics of the uninsured and others who are the primary targets for the firm. "HealthAllies (B)" provides information... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Health Care and Treatment; Marketing Channels; Demand and Consumers; Commercialization; Health Industry

14 Oct 2008
Research & Ideas

Should You Bring Advertising Expertise In-House?

services to "make" internally as opposed to what it buys in the marketplace. A firm may integrate "forward" into the channels used to distribute its output to customers, or "backward" into the supply chain... View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert; Advertising

June 2007 (Revised January 2008)
Case

BBC Worldwide: Global Strategy

By: John A. Quelch and Carin-Isabel Knoop

In January 2007, John Smith, chief executive officer of BBC Worldwide (BBC WW), the commercial arm of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), was preparing to meet with his senior managers to discuss BBC WW's global strategy options. BBC WW exploited and exported... View Details

Keywords: Global Strategy; Brands and Branding; Marketing Channels; Expansion; Internet; Media and Broadcasting Industry; Great Britain