Fast-Moving Consumer Goods - Publications - Faculty & Research

19 May 2020
Research & Ideas

Why Privacy Protection Notices Turn Off Shoppers

good thing not to have any privacy policy,” John says. It’s almost as if you had the choice of two banks in a sketchy neighborhood, one with bulletproof glass and one without. For their last experiment, the researchers consciously tried... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Retail

15 Aug 2011
Research & Ideas

A New Model for Business: The Museum

At first blush, the consumer appeal of a business like Groupon seems pretty obvious. The popular deal-of-the-day Internet start-up sells vouchers to restaurants, spas, and other local businesses at major markdowns--and who wouldn't want... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

16 Jun 2003
Research & Ideas

Historical Perspective: Levitt Shaped the Debate

Agree or disagree—and even his colleagues disagree—Theodore Levitt's controversial article "The Globalization of Markets" reshaped the debate on globalism and consumer marketing, and continues to provide modern managers with... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

07 Aug 2000
Research & Ideas

Rocket Science Retailing

double their profits—especially retailers of products with short life cycles, such as clothing, consumer electronics, books, and music. But despite the potentially high payoff—and a commonly accepted belief among retailers that early... View Details

Keywords: by Marshall L. Fisher, Ananth Raman & Anna Sheen McClelland; Retail

11 Jun 2001
Research & Ideas

E-Commerce Unplugged

behavior. Good examples of such companies are leaders in the consumer packaged-goods industry such as Coca-Cola, PepsiCo, Procter & Gamble and Kraft Foods—or retail organizations such as Wal-Mart and... View Details

Keywords: by Nitin Nohria & Marty Leestma

02 Oct 2013
What Do You Think?

Is Leadership an Increasingly Difficult Balancing Act?

ephemeral state of entropy we live in, called Digital." We're left with impression that changes in leadership required for success in the fast-moving information economy will be achieved with limited discomfort. And yet we are... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

29 Jun 2015
HBS Case

Consumer-centered Health Care Depends on Accessible Medical Records

IT systems that handle a good chunk of the work, Quelch says. Yet consumer trust when it comes to data privacy is not always a given, and consumers want to have a say. Some... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Health; Technology

21 Mar 2004
Research & Ideas

Loyalty: Don’t Give Away the Store

loyalty programs, and it is possible to get a good sample from them. We sampled one supermarket store and one supermarket chain. Q: I have at least three loyalty shopper cards in my wallet. What percentage of shoppers participate in these... View Details

Keywords: by Manda Salls; Consumer Products; Consumer Products

27 Feb 2020
Sharpening Your Skills

How Following Best Business Practices Can Improve Health Care

accounting have to do with improving patient outcomes in Haiti? HBS faculty members discuss their research and what it means for patients, providers, and industries. A Good Place to Start Clayton Christensen on Disrupting Health CareIn a... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Health; Medical Devices & Supplies

08 Sep 2003
Research & Ideas

A Bold Proposal for Investment Reform

For companies to redeem credibility with investors, argue Harvard Business School professors Paul Healy and Krishna Palepu, "fundamental and even radical reforms must be made to the way America's markets process the flows of information between View Details

Keywords: by Ann Cullen; Financial Services

30 Apr 2001
Research & Ideas

Big Companies, Big Opportunities—Big Questions

financial officer of Grupo Elektra, Latin America's leading specialty retailer and consumer finance company. Global banks are decreasing their positions in Latin America. Last year alone, he said, major banks reduced investments in Latin... View Details

Keywords: by Julie Jette

06 Oct 2011
What Do You Think?

How Will the ‘Moneyball Generation’ Influence Management?

management in the future. Rahul Kamath commented, " the Moneyball generation is already with us. Here in India, being good in analytics is a kind of pre-requirement for admissions to B-schools." This raises an interesting set of... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett

08 Jan 2018
Research & Ideas

The Startling Percentage of Financial Advisors with Misconduct Records

understand where or how their money was being invested. “A lot of this is driven by consumers who lack financial sophistication,” Egan says. “Without good knowledge by consumers, that’s not something that... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Financial Services

05 Jul 2004
Research & Ideas

Radical Change, Entrepreneurial Opportunity

strategies of companies within those industries. In particular, I focus on how an industry gets defined: how consumers and other industry players make sense of, or frame, the industry, and the way that framing in turn affects how the... View Details

Keywords: by Michael J. Roberts; Technology

02 Jun 2003
Research & Ideas

Stuck in Gear: Why Managers Don’t Act

help the organization," he writes in his new book, Revival of the Fittest: Why Good Companies Go Bad and How Great Managers Remake Them. These actions or commitments behave as double-edged swords, Sull says. They have a lifecycle, he... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

11 Feb 2013
Research & Ideas

Neuroeconomics: Eyes, Brain, Business

field of neuromarketing, which uses brain-tracking tools to determine why consumers prefer some products over others. And there is neuroleadership, which applies neuroscience to management research. Looser is looking to integrate insights... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

30 Sep 2002
Research & Ideas

Use the Psychology of Pricing To Keep Customers Returning

Dilip Soman, we look at how different pricing strategies affect the consumption of a product. We find that people are more likely to consume a product when they feel "out of pocket." When the price paid for a product is very... View Details

Keywords: by Manda Mahoney

22 Mar 2010
Research & Ideas

One Strategy: Aligning Planning and Execution

deep culture of direct sales to corporate customers, the company was slow to take advantage of a rapidly emerging consumer market—at least until founder Michael Dell returned to shake things up. "Our past is littered with firms that... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Video Game; Web Services

16 Mar 2010
First Look

First Look: March 16

and scale of this unique global corporation. Geoffrey Jones, a leading business historian from the Harvard Business School, takes us inside this corporation, which from its origins in Britain and the Netherlands has become a worldwide manufacturer of View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

21 May 2008
Research & Ideas

Going Negative in Political Advertising

For more details, see Greater Good: How Good Marketing Makes For Better Democracy by John Quelch and Katherine Jocz (Harvard Business Press 2008). Choice sells, in politics and in the supermarket. Distinct choices on the shelf attract our... View Details

Keywords: by John Quelch

Publications