Publications

July 2013
Case

Montreaux Chocolate USA: Are Americans Ready for Healthy Dark Chocolate?

By: John A. Quelch and Diane Badame

Andrea Torres, director of new product development at a high-end chocolate confectionery company, leads her team through a carefully sequenced program of market research to support the development and launch of a new product, healthy dark chocolate with fruit. This is... View Details

Keywords: Competition; Food; Consumer Behavior; Nutrition; Product Launch; Product Development; Food and Beverage Industry; Switzerland; United States

February 2001 (Revised September 2005)
Case

Howard Schultz and Starbucks Coffee Company

By: Nancy F. Koehn

Investigates the entrepreneur's strategic initiatives to develop a mass market for specialty coffee in the 1980s and 1990s. These initiatives included the development of premium products, rapid expansion of company-owned stores--each with attractive retail environments... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Groups and Teams; Brands and Branding; Growth Management; Employee Relationship Management; Consumer Behavior; Organizational Design; Leadership Style; Customer Relationship Management; Competitive Advantage; Vertical Integration; Food and Beverage Industry

26 Oct 2022
Research & Ideas

How Paid Promos Take the Shine Off YouTube Stars (and Tips for Better Influencer Marketing)

suggests that the effect translates to an average of $10,000 over an average six-year-career influencer. “If consumers aren’t perceiving social influencers as trustworthy and authentic, much of their marketing effort might not lead to a... View Details

Keywords: by Kara Baskin; Technology; Media & Broadcasting

September 2006 (Revised October 2007)
Module Note

Platform-Mediated Networks: Definitions and Core Concepts

By: Thomas R. Eisenmann

Defines platform-mediated networks and introduces concepts central to their study. First, it defines networks and network effects; explains how network effects influence users' willingness-to-pay for network access; describes factors that determine the strength of... View Details

Keywords: Consumer Behavior; Network Effects; Digital Platforms; Information Technology; Information Infrastructure; Digital Platforms

13 Nov 2019
Research & Ideas

Don't Turn Your Marketing Function Over to AI Just Yet

learning leverages Big Data, giving managers new tools to help unravel complex marketing puzzles and understand consumer behavior like never before. Tomomichi Amano, assistant professor in the Marketing Unit... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz

November 2019 (Revised April 2020)
Case

Away: Scaling a DTC Travel Brand

By: Jill Avery and Joseph B. Fuller

Away, a direct-to-consumer, digital native e-commerce seller of travel luggage, is debating how to invest its latest round of venture funding. How quickly could and should Away scale and what were the most promising growth trajectories to maximize its potential? Three... View Details

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

21 Nov 2015
HBS Case

HBS Cases: Stella McCartney Combines High Fashion with Environmental Values

the context of luxury is just fascinating because on the one hand they seem very contradictory, luxury and sustainability. Luxury for many people is all about excessiveness and waste. “Such products do not feel luxurious to more ethically and environmentally concerned... View Details

Keywords: by Brian Kenny; Fashion

31 May 2011
Research & Ideas

Japan Disaster Shakes Up Supply-Chain Strategies

Already, some auto parts plants in the United States have had to suspend production because of shortages, and it's likely many more problems will follow, especially in the high-tech sector. Lithium battery production, for one, is likely to slow, resulting in the delay... View Details

Keywords: by Dennis Fisher; Auto; Technology; Computer; Electronics

18 Nov 2002
Research & Ideas

Where Morals and Profits Meet: The Corporate Value Shift

working in this area, the field was just beginning to emerge. At the time, corporations were being taken to task for a host of moral failings—neglecting consumer and employee safety, ignoring civil rights, polluting the environment,... View Details

Keywords: by Carla Tishler

12 Jun 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, June 12, 2018

practices is important for understanding financial decision-making of households in dire circumstances as well as for setting appropriate consumer protection policies. We conduct a simple experiment in three sites in which we paid off... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

23 Sep 2014
First Look

First Look: September 23

Publications September 2014 Research in Organizational Behavior The Governance of Social Enterprises: Mission Drift and Accountability Challenges in Hybrid Organizations By: Ebrahim, Alnoor, Julie Battilana, and Johanna Mair Abstract—We... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

21 Feb 2023
Research & Ideas

Are Your Employees Passing Up Incentives? Try Promoting the Programs More

notice and take action, according to the research, published September in Organizational Behavior and Human Decision Processes. The study could provide an incentive of its own for businesses looking to attract and retain talent amid a... View Details

Keywords: by Scott Van Voorhis

14 Dec 2010
First Look

First Look: Dec. 14

of shared beliefs resulting in similar and concurrent firm behavior; second, that firms notice and imitate the behaviors of firms from the same prior industry; and third, that as firms gain experience with particular features, the... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

08 Aug 2017
First Look

First Look at Research and Ideas, August 8, 2017

using money to buy time can protect people from the detrimental effects of time pressure on life satisfaction. Publisher's link: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=52953 Governance Through Shame and Aspiration: Index Creation and Corporate View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

20 Aug 2014
Research & Ideas

Why the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge is a Social Media Blockbuster

In 2009, technology researchers at Forrester published a report entitled We Are All Media Companies Now, that looked at how publishing firms were dealing with the shift from a distribution paradigm to one based on consumption. By 2014, the paradigm is being experienced... View Details

Keywords: by John Deighton

07 May 2020
Research & Ideas

The One Good Thing Caused by COVID-19: Innovation

distancing. New patterns of consumer and worker behavior and expectations have emerged during the first weeks of the crisis. COVID-19 represents a tremendous economic shock and burden. In recent weeks, the... View Details

Keywords: by Hong Luo and Alberto Galasso

31 May 2004
Research & Ideas

How Team Leaders Show Support–or Not

published in the February issue of The Leadership Quarterly as "Leader Behaviors and the Work Environment for Creativity: Perceived Leader Support." Amabile, an influential scholar on creativity, conducted the research with... View Details

Keywords: by Martha Lagace

September 2022 (Revised September 2022)
Case

The Pokémon Company: Evolving into an Everlasting Brand

By: Tomomichi Amano and Masaki Nomura

Super Bowl 50, the fiftieth annual championship game of the American National Football League played in February 2016, featured 52 commercials, and brands spent more than six million dollars each for a 30-second commercial slot. Surprisingly, the commercial that... View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Brands and Branding; Marketing Strategy; Consumer Behavior; Growth and Development Strategy; Video Game Industry; Japan