Publications

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July 2021 (Revised September 2024)
Case

Supreme: Remaining Cool While Pursuing Growth

By: Jill Avery, Sandrine Crener, Marie-Cecile Cervellon and Ranjit Thind

Following VF Corporation’s acquisition of cult streetwear brand Supreme, consumers and industry pundits were nervous that becoming part of a large, public corporation would put an end to Supreme’s slow and careful growth trajectory as pressure for quarterly results... View Details

Keywords: Marketing; Brands and Branding; Luxury; Marketing Strategy; Consumer Behavior; Growth Management; Fashion Industry; Retail Industry; United States; North America

September 2013
Case

Advanced Leadership Pathways: Laurent Adamowicz and Bon'App

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Juliane Calingo Schwetz and Patricia Bissett Higgins

After a successful career as Chairman and CEO of Paris-based luxury food company Fauchon, Laurent Adamowicz sought to reduce obesity and improve health outcomes. Adamowicz created a mobile application to provide consumers with more accessible and interpretable... View Details

12 Nov 2013
First Look

First Look: November 12

Publications November 2013 Journal of Consumer Research The Red Sneakers Effect: Inferring Status and Competence from Signals of Nonconformity By: Bellezza, Silvia, Francesca Gino, and Anat Keinan Abstract—We examine how people react to... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

April 2021 (Revised July 2021)
Case

StockX: The Stock Market of Things (Abridged)

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

14 Apr 2015
First Look

First Look: April 14

of people's relationships with brands and a demonstration of the important and timely implications of this evolving sub-discipline. A range of different brand relationship environments are explored in the collection, including online digital spaces, View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

July–August 2017
Article

Why Outlet Stores Exist: Averting Cannibalization in Product Line Extensions

By: Donald Ngwe

Outlet stores are a large and growing component of many firms' retailing strategies, particularly in the fashion industry. Outlet stores offer attractive prices in locations far from central shopping districts. The main perspectives on why outlet stores exist can be... View Details

Keywords: Fashion; Industrial Organization; Outlet Stores; Price Discrimination; Retail; Channel Management; Luxury; Product Marketing; Price; Retail Industry; Fashion Industry

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July–August 2023
Article

Demand Learning and Pricing for Varying Assortments

By: Kris Ferreira and Emily Mower

Problem Definition: We consider the problem of demand learning and pricing for retailers who offer assortments of substitutable products that change frequently, e.g., due to limited inventory, perishable or time-sensitive products, or the retailer’s desire to... View Details

Keywords: Experiments; Pricing And Revenue Management; Retailing; Demand Estimation; Pricing Algorithm; Marketing; Price; Demand and Consumers; Mathematical Methods

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14 May 2008
Research & Ideas

Getting Down to the Business of Creativity

a three-year study of 238 professionals from seven companies in the high-tech, consumer products, and chemicals industries. Without revealing the focus of their study, they asked the subjects (all of whom were working on projects... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Retail; Apparel & Accessories; Fashion; Entertainment & Recreation

June 2006 (Revised February 2007)
Case

De Beers at the Millennium

At the time of the millennium, diamond demand was threatened by an increasing awareness among jewelry customers that diamond production and trading in some countries was being linked to growing inequities and human rights violations. This, in turn, had an impact on De... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Value Creation; Strategic Planning; Social Issues; Luxury; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Africa

March 2022
Teaching Note

Supreme: Remaining Cool While Pursuing Growth

By: Jill Avery and Sandrine Crener

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 522-006. Following VF Corporation’s acquisition of cult streetwear brand Supreme, consumers and industry pundits were nervous that becoming part of a large, public corporation would put an end to Supreme’s slow and careful growth... View Details

Keywords: Cultural Branding; Marketing; Brands and Branding; Luxury; Growth Management; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry; United States

24 May 2021
Op-Ed

Can Fabric Waste Become Fashion’s Resource?

COVID-19 has broken fashion’s supply chain. As a result, an already wasteful industry has become more wasteful. Even before the pandemic, the global apparel industry was producing about 92 million tons of textile waste a year. That’s about one garbage truck’s worth of... View Details

Keywords: by Geoffrey Jones and Shelly Xu; Fashion

26 Aug 2019
Research & Ideas

Lipstick Tips: How Influencers Are Making Over Beauty Marketing

Instagram and YouTube. In the competition for the consumer’s attention, influencers are winning with pretty packages of photos and videos, as consumers increasingly reject more traditional forms of marketing like TV commercials and... View Details

Keywords: by Dina Gerdeman; Consumer Products; Consumer Products

14 Aug 2018
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, August 14, 2018

https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=54794 Harvard Business School Case 518-047 Armarium: Luxury Fashion Brands for Rent Armarium, a two-sided online platform that offered consumers the... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

19 Jan 2011
First Look

First Look: Jan. 18

http://press.princeton.edu/titles/9390.html Why You Aren't Buying Venezuelan Chocolate Author:Rohit Deshpandé Publication:Harvard Business Review 88, no. 12 (December 2010) Abstract The article discusses the "provenance paradox," wherein View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

06 Jan 2014
Research & Ideas

Technology Re-Emergence: Creating New Value for Old Innovations

cheap quartz watches, SMH and other Swiss watchmakers used the success as an opportunity to reintroduce mechanical watches to the market. This time they were advertised not simply as precision timepieces, but as carefully crafted luxury... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Consumer Products; Consumer Products; Consumer Products

11 Mar 2019
Research & Ideas

Branding Sells Cereal, Handbags, and Vacations. Can It Sell a Country?

visit the nation and share their experiences with their followers, pushing authentic messages to key consumer groups, such as affluent parents. Establishing street CRED Switzerland, Germany, and Japan dominate brand rankings.... View Details

Keywords: by Danielle Kost; Tourism

June 2005
Background Note

Overview of the Japanese Apparel Market

By: Rajiv Lal and Arar Han

Provides an overview of the Japanese apparel market, which was a 13.1 trillion yen industry in 2003, reflecting 5.5% year-over-year shrinkage since 1997, when retailers logged 17.5 trillion yen in sales. Compared to their global counterparts, Japanese apparel shoppers... View Details

Keywords: Trends; Financial Crisis; Trade; Emerging Markets; Sales; Luxury; Competition; Segmentation; Apparel and Accessories Industry; Fashion Industry; Asia; China; Japan; Korean Peninsula