Publications

09 Dec 2019
Research & Ideas

Identify Great Customers from Their First Purchase

and which will be most responsive to email campaigns, information that firms can use to improve marketing strategy and return on investment. “Companies are leaving money on the table,” says Ascarza, because they don’t know how to use most... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz; Retail; Service

05 Sep 2006
First Look

First Look: September 5, 2006

significantly more on upfront marketing than non-pioneers. Contrary to expectations, however, firms in markets that exhibited increasing returns did not spend more on their early customer acquisition efforts than other sample companies.... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

01 Dec 2023
News

Case Study: Staking a Claim

Illustration by Nhung Lê Kate Terry (MBA 2005) knows that no one attends their fifth-grade career fair and comes home hoping to pursue a career in insurance—but that’s exactly where she wound up. “I really fell in love with it,” she says. As cofounder and CEO of... View Details

Keywords: Jen McFarland Flint; Insurance Carriers and Related Activities; Finance

October 2016
Case

The Quiet Ascension of LA Fitness

By: John R. Wells and Gabriel Ellsworth

In 2016, LA Fitness was the largest chain of non-franchised fitness clubs in North America, operating 676 clubs, serving 4.9 million members, and generating revenues of over $1.9 billion. Founded by Chinyol Yi, Louis Welch, and Paul Norris in 1984, the privately held... View Details

Keywords: LA Fitness; Health Clubs; Fitness; Gyms; Chain; Exercise; Personal Training; Retention; Bally Total Fitness; 24 Hour Fitness; Planet Fitness; Buildings and Facilities; Acquisition; Business Growth and Maturation; Business Model; For-Profit Firms; Customers; Customer Focus and Relationships; Customer Satisfaction; Demographics; Age; Gender; Income; Residency; Borrowing and Debt; Capital; Capital Structure; Cash; Cash Flow; Cost; Private Equity; Financial Condition; Financial Liquidity; Financing and Loans; Investment Return; Price; Profit; Revenue; Geographic Location; Geographic Scope; Multinational Firms and Management; Business History; Employees; Recruitment; Selection and Staffing; Human Capital; Contracts; Business or Company Management; Goals and Objectives; Growth and Development Strategy; Market Entry and Exit; Operations; Service Operations; Leasing; Private Ownership; Problems and Challenges; Sales; Salesforce Management; Situation or Environment; Opportunities; Sports; Strategy; Business Strategy; Competition; Competitive Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Corporate Strategy; Expansion; Segmentation; Information Technology; Mobile Technology; Technology Platform; Health Industry; United States; California; Los Angeles

March 2008 (Revised May 2008)
Case

Carlyle Japan (A)

By: David B. Godes, Masako Egawa and Mayuka Yamazaki

Tamotsu Adachi, Managing Director of Carlyle Japan, wants to formulate a strategy to improve his firm's ability to source high-quality deals at competitive valuations, or prices. Buyout funds like Carlyle typically have two deal phases: sourcing and monitoring. These... View Details

Keywords: Financial Instruments; Leveraged Buyouts; Supply Chain Management; Marketing Channels; Sales; Financial Services Industry; Japan

10 Aug 2009
Research & Ideas

High Commitment, High Performance Management

employed change strategies that focused on both commitment and performance. As ASDA's CEO, Archie Norman, tells it, the new leader has to set a general direction, but must listen and engage people to identify and solve problems. Top-down... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

01 Feb 2022
Book

Innovation Isn’t Just for Startups: How Big Companies Can Succeed

professor at Stanford University. The book examines how the best corporate explorers create new enterprises inside large corporations. The authors explain the challenges explorers face, along with the strategies they need to gather... View Details

Keywords: by Lane Lambert

09 Nov 2016
Op-Ed

6 Lessons from Donald Trump's Winning Marketing Manual

acquisition with customer retention. Sizzle beats steak. Clinton was always going to beat Trump on the steak of experience and policy knowledge. A new brand can't afford to get lost in the policy weeds. Hence, Trump's campaign persona and... View Details

Keywords: by John A. Quelch

David A. Thomas

David Thomas is H. Naylor Fitzhugh Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. His research addresses issues related to executive development, cultural diversity in organizations, leadership and organizational change. He recently served as a... View Details

Keywords: biotechnology; consulting; consumer products; education industry; financial services; media

Web

Funding Opportunities - Business & Environment

entrepreneurial ventures, including selffunded entrepreneurship by acquisition ventures. HBS Loan Reduction for Private Sector Employees (login required) : A loan reduction program for students working in the private sector at jobs that... View Details

January 2021 (Revised June 2021)
Supplement

Eaton Corporation: Portfolio Transformation and The Cost of Capital (Abridged)

By: Benjamin C. Esty, E. Scott Mayfield and Daniel Fisher

In 2000, Eaton Corporation was a broadly diversified industrial conglomerate. But its strategy was evolving and its focus was narrowing around “power management” and more recently on “intelligent power,” the use of digitally enabled products and services designed to... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Conglomerates; Business Divisions; Cost of Capital; Corporate Finance; Value; Valuation; Industrial Products Industry; United States; Denmark; Republic of Ireland

April 2019 (Revised January 2025)
Case

Clear Link Technologies, LLC: Driving Sales with Peer Effects

By: Christopher Stanton, Richard Saouma and Olivia Hull

The importance of a good peer or coworker is widely discussed, but understanding the glue that makes coworkers valuable is less understood. This case sheds light on the importance of peers and the practices and environments that make a group greater than the sum of its... View Details