Publications

01 Jun 2025
News

Barbie: Reviving a Cultural Icon at Mattel

Like countless others in the summer of 2023, HBS professor Elie Ofek went to the theater to see the blockbuster film Barbie and found himself enveloped by the pink-drenched marketing blitz that had all but taken over the world. To Ofek,... View Details

Keywords: Christine Speer Lejeune; Illustrations by Miguel Porlan; Educational Services

February 2011
Article

The Underdog Effect: The Marketing of Disadvantage and Determination Through Brand Biography

By: Neeru Paharia, Anat Keinan, Jill Avery and Juliet B. Schor

We introduce the concept of an underdog brand biography (UBB) to describe an emerging trend in branding in which firms author an historical account of their humble origins, lack of resources, and determined struggle against the odds. We identify two essential... View Details

Find at Harvard

January 2014 (Revised August 2020)
Case

Building a Social Media Culture at Dell

By: Rohit Deshpandé and Michael Norris

As Michael Dell refocused his newly-private company on services and solutions, the entire corporation was pushed to embrace social media. View Details

Keywords: Information Technology; Marketing Strategy; Social Media; Technology Industry; United States

October 2016 (Revised July 2017)
Case

The Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra: Cultural Entrepreneurship

By: Rohit Deshpande and Annelena Lobb

The Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra (LA Phil), under the leadership of Deborah Borda, had enjoyed great successes in the 2000s and 2010s, even as other U.S. orchestras faltered. The architecturally acclaimed Walt Disney Concert Hall had opened its doors. The... View Details

Keywords: Product Positioning; Arts; Music Entertainment; Growth and Development Strategy; Business Growth and Maturation; Cultural Entrepreneurship; Music Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry; Los Angeles

2014
Working Paper

Institutional Strategies in Emerging Markets

By: Christopher Marquis and Mia Raynard

We review and integrate a wide range of literature that has examined the strategies by which organizations navigate institutionally diverse settings and capture rents outside of the marketplace. We synthesize this body of research under the umbrella term... View Details

Keywords: Strategy; Organizations; Emerging Markets

SSRN

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25 Aug 2022
News

Open Market

culturally relevant as art or music—and why the retail investor is woefully misunderstood. You’ve been at Robinhood now for three-and-a-half years. How has the organization evolved in that time? The mission is the same—to democratize... View Details

Keywords: Dan Morrell; illustration by Keith Negley; Securities, Commodities, and Other Financial Investments; Finance

December 2016
Article

Corporate Sponsorship in Culture—A Case of Collaborative Marketing by a Global Bank and a Major Art Museum

By: Ragnar Lund and Stephen A. Greyser

This paper examines cultural sponsorship from a partnership perspective. It studies the collaboration between two international institutions, a bank and a museum, and their value co-creation with customers and audiences. This in-depth case study of a sponsorship... View Details

Keywords: Sponsorship; Co-marketing; Partnerships; International Marketing; Arts Marketing; Relationship Marketing; Museums; Resource Integration; Marketing; Partners and Partnerships; Financial Institutions; Arts

Web

A Culture of Innovation | Baker Library

A Culture of Innovation Photo: Edwin Land from “The Purpose of the Company,” employee handbook, 1945. Polaroid Corporation Administrative Records, b. I.384, f. 30. Edwin Land, the founder of Polaroid, embraced two central concepts for his... View Details

December 1999
Case

Sun Microsystems, Inc. (A5): Solaris 7: Rich Green on Product Strategy and Culture Change

By: Rosabeth M. Kanter and Jane Roessner

Solaris, Sun Microsystems' version of the UNIX operating system, was an amorphous collection of capabilities that had accumulated over the years, a product the company vaguely wished it could market and sell better. Developing and marketing Solaris 7 would help... View Details

Keywords: Digital Platforms; Applications and Software; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Product Positioning; Growth and Development Strategy; Organizational Culture; Success; Change; Diversification; Technology Industry; Computer Industry

August 2009 (Revised August 2010)
Case

Slanket: Responding to Snuggie's Market Entry

By: John A. Deighton and Leora Kornfeld

How does a pioneer in a new product category deal with the runaway success of a follower? Can search engine marketing and social media help? In 2008 Slanket CEO, Gary Clegg, found that his product, a blanket with sleeves, had been eclipsed by The Snuggie, another... View Details

Keywords: Digital Marketing; Brands and Branding; Product Launch; Market Entry and Exit; Social and Collaborative Networks; Internet and the Web

31 Aug 2017
News

How Netflix’s Content Strategy Is Reshaping Movie Culture

2017
Book

Global Marketing Management: A Casebook

By: John A. Quelch

During the last quarter century, international business was shaken by a revolution in global competition unlike any previously experienced. As companies move through the twenty-first century, they need to be aware of the range of powerful, dynamic, and often... View Details

Keywords: Marketing; Management; Globalization; Competitive Strategy

2021
Working Paper

Spiritual Philanthropy in Emerging Markets

By: Valeria Giacomin and G. Jones

This working paper discusses the ethics and drivers of philanthropic foundations in emerging markets. A foundation organizes assets to invest in philanthropic initiatives. Previous scholarship has largely focused on developed countries, especially the United States,... View Details

Keywords: Foundations; Philanthropy; Business Leaders; Spirituality; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Emerging Markets; Ethics; Values and Beliefs

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November – December 2008
Article

Holding a Mirror up to Marketing

By: John A. Quelch and Katherine Jocz

The Dove campaign addressed a common concern that crossed cultural boundaries. Confronted by standard visual stereotypes of beauty in the global media, many young women develop self-image and self-esteem problems. The Dove Real Beauty campaign rejected these narrow... View Details

Keywords: Marketing; Advertising Campaigns; Welfare; Diversity; Emotions; Government and Politics

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24 Feb 2015
News

Culture Clash: Silicon Valley vs. the U.S. Government

June 2019
Case

The National Museum of African American History and Culture and Lonnie Bunch

By: Steven Rogers and Derrick Jackson

Lonnie Bunch creates the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) with only half the federal support given to the first 17 Smithsonian historical or zoological institutions. Bunch, to borrow from the African American experience of creating “a... View Details

Keywords: Museums; Fundraising; Arts; Buildings and Facilities; Ethnicity; Philanthropy and Charitable Giving; Strategy; Marketing; Success; Leadership; Entrepreneurship