Publications

January 2019
Case

Understanding the Brand Equity of Nestlé Crunch Bar: A Market Research Case

By: Jill Avery and Gerald Zaltman

In early 2018, Nestlé announced the sale of its U.S. candy-making division and a select collection of 20 of its confectionery brands, including the Nestlé Crunch Bar, to Ferrero SpA for $2.8 billion. Under the terms of the Nestlé acquisition, each of the purchased... View Details

Keywords: Brand Equity; Marketing; Market Research; Qualitative Research; Marketing Communication; Customer Satisfaction; Brands and Branding; Consumer Behavior; Marketing Communications; Marketing Strategy; Food and Beverage Industry; United States; North America; Italy

January 2018
Case

Ak Gıda: IPO or Strategic Sale

By: Suraj Srinivasan and Eren Kuzucu

In 2015, Yıldiz Holding, one of the world’s largest producer of confections, biscuits and crackers, was at the end of its divestiture process from Ak Gida, one of the leading dairy companies in Turkey. The company had adopted a dual track process, pursuing an initial... View Details

Keywords: Valuation; Private Sector; For-Profit Firms; Business Model; Business Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Growth and Development Strategy; Value Creation; Decision Making; Growth Management; Mergers and Acquisitions; Initial Public Offering; Business Conglomerates; Business Exit or Shutdown; Family Business; Joint Ventures; Food and Beverage Industry; Turkey

December 2017
Case

Mondelēz International

By: David Bell, Kerry Herman and Amram Migdal

Mondelēz International is a packaged foods company competing primarily in “snacks” around the globe. The case describes how and why the Kraft Inc. CEO, and later Mondelēz CEO, Irene Rosenfeld, created Mondelēz and how she positioned it as a growth company at a time... View Details

Keywords: Agribusiness; Food; Growth and Development Strategy; Food and Beverage Industry; Europe; Asia; China; Latin America; Middle East

December 2017
Teaching Note

Yemeksepeti: Growing and Expanding the Business Model through Data

By: William R. Kerr and Alexis Brownell

Teaching Note for HBS No. 817-095. View Details

Keywords: Turkey; Internet; Online Ordering; Restaurants; Big Data; Entrepreneurship; Analytics and Data Science; Internet and the Web; Growth and Development Strategy; Food and Beverage Industry; Turkey

November 2017 (Revised November 2021)
Case

Irene Rosenfeld at Mondelēz International: Crafting a Corporate Strategy

By: Raffaella Sadun, David J. Collis, Amram Migdal and Kerry Herman

The case focuses on Irene Rosenfeld’s tenure as CEO of the global snack food company Mondelēz International. Beginning in 2006, she had led the company through many acquisitions, including France’s LU Biscuit and British confectionery company Cadbury, before, in 2012,... View Details

March 1998
Teaching Note

Roy Rogers Restaurants TN

By: Krishna G. Palepu and Kenneth A. Merchant

Teaching Note for (9-189-100). View Details

Keywords: Food and Beverage Industry

September 1997 (Revised August 1999)
Case

Boston Chicken, Inc.

By: Paul M. Healy

This case examines Boston Chicken's franchise strategy for growing its innovative restaurant business, and the associated accounting reporting issues that arise. View Details

Keywords: Financial Reporting; Franchise Ownership; Financial Strategy; Business Strategy; Food and Beverage Industry

December 2016 (Revised March 2017)
Case

Beingmate

By: David E. Bell, Juan Ma and Natalie Kindred

Founded in 2002, Hangzhou, China–based Beingmate was a major producer of infant formula and related products in the high-demand Chinese market. After an infamous 2008 food safety episode in China, in which toxic infant formula sickened thousands of babies and led to... View Details

Keywords: Marketing Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Partners and Partnerships; Food and Beverage Industry; China

9 Dec 2011 - 10 Dec 2011
Conference Presentation

Taste Contested: The Construction of American Wine Culture, 1967-1976

By: Ai Hisano

This paper examines the role of taste in American consumer society by analyzing how wine came to symbolize sophistication during the 1960s and 1970s. View Details

Keywords: Consumer Behavior; Attitudes; Food and Beverage Industry; United States

April 1996 (Revised June 2000)
Case

Boston Beer Company, Inc., The

Capital markets may have overcapitalized the craft brewing industry during a flurry of new IPOs. In the context of this "hot" IPO market each individual company's valuation may seem reasonable. However, after careful analysis of each company's financial statement and... View Details

Keywords: Initial Public Offering; Analysis; Valuation; Industry Growth; Food and Beverage Industry; Boston

August 2015 (Revised October 2015)
Case

Clover Food Lab: Building Out the Team

By: Shikhar Ghosh, Christopher Payton and Ali Huberlie

Keywords: Hiring; Firing; Foodservice Industry; Business Startups; Selection and Staffing; Resignation and Termination; Food; Food and Beverage Industry; Boston

April 2015
Teaching Note

The Board of Directors at Market Basket

By: Jay Lorsch and Emily McTague

Teaching Note for the Board of Directors at Market Basket Case. View Details

Keywords: Board; Board Of Directors; Corporate Governance; Governing and Advisory Boards; Food and Beverage Industry; North America

February 2015 (Revised April 2015)
Case

The Board of Directors at Market Basket

By: Jay W. Lorsch and Emily McTague

The firing of Market Basket CEO Arthur T. Demoulas by his cousin, Arthur S. Demoulas, and directors affiliated with him set off employee protests throughout the grocery store chain. Industry specialists estimated that Market Basket was losing close to ten million... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Behavior; Shareholder Votes; Board Of Directors; Board Dynamics; Board Decisions; Boards; Grocery; Organizational Culture; Organizational Structure; Business and Shareholder Relations; Corporate Governance; Food and Beverage Industry; New England

December 2014
Case

HN Agri Serve: Growing Prosperity

By: Jose B. Alvarez, Anjali Raina and Rachna Chawla

In 2014, Khuram Mir, CEO of HN Agri Serve, an innovative apple orchard company in the Kashmir region of Northern India, wonders about the best growth strategy for his company. View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship In Emerging Markets; India; Agribusiness; Entrepreneurship; Food and Beverage Industry; India

April 1995 (Revised April 1995)
Case

Pillsbury: Customer Driven Reengineering

By: Robert S. Kaplan

Pillsbury is transforming itself from an integrated producer of flour and bakery products to a value-added supplier of premium branded products. After initial successes applying activity-based costing to manufacturing operations, two senior executives decide to... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Production; Cost Management; Activity Based Costing and Management; Customer Value and Value Chain; Food and Beverage Industry

December 2013
Teaching Note

Coffee Wars in India: Café Coffee Day Takes On the Global Brands

By: David B. Yoffie

Keywords: Coffee; Competition; Brands and Branding; Food and Beverage Industry; India

July 1994 (Revised December 1994)
Teaching Note

Frito-Lay, Inc.: A Strategic Transition (1987-1989) TN

By: Lynda M. Applegate

Teaching Note for (9-194-108). View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Transition; Food and Beverage Industry

April 1994 (Revised October 2002)
Case

Frito-Lay, Inc.: A Strategic Transition 1980-1986

By: Lynda M. Applegate

Describes the environmental, organizational, and information technology context in the late 1970s that led to the development of the initial vision for change and the actions taken to implement that vision. The case ends with the abrupt departure of the CEO as profits... View Details

Keywords: Transition; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Information Technology; Management Succession; Management Teams; Business Strategy; Food and Beverage Industry

June 1994 (Revised October 2001)
Case

Mrs. Fields, Inc. (1988-1992)

By: Lynda M. Applegate, Keri O. Pearlson and Randi Wade Purchia

Continues the story of Mrs. Fields Cookies. Explores the new challenges the company faced managing its geographic growth and its expansion of products and markets through combination stores. Details the decision of Debbi and Randy Fields to delegate management... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Expansion; Growth Management; Organizational Structure; Globalization; Information Management; Food and Beverage Industry