Publications

May 2009 (Revised December 2009)
Case

Reliance Baking Soda: Optimizing Promotional Spending

By: John A. Quelch and Heather Beckham

Reliance Baking Soda is Stewart Corporation's oldest and most established product. The new Domestic Brand Director needs to create a 2008 marketing budget that delivers a profit increase of 10% over 2007 levels. She must first evaluate the effectiveness of past... View Details

Keywords: Communication Strategy; Quantitative Analysis; Consumer Marketing; Marketing Planning; Product Management; Sales Promotions; Program Budgeting; Marketing Strategy; Advertising; Product Marketing; Budgets and Budgeting; Sales; Consumer Products Industry

May 2009 (Revised December 2009)
Teaching Note

Reliance Baking Soda: Optimizing Promotional Spending (Brief Case)

By: John A. Quelch and Heather Beckham

Teaching Note to Briefcase 4128 View Details

Keywords: Quantitative Analysis; Consumer Marketing; Marketing Planning; Product Management; Sales Promotions; Program Budgeting; Marketing Strategy; Marketing Channels; Mathematical Methods; Advertising; Budgets and Budgeting; Product Marketing; Communication Strategy

June 2008 (Revised May 2017)
Case

Cook Composites and Polymers Co.

By: Deishin Lee, Michael W. Toffel and Rachel Gordon

This case describes how a company improves resource efficiency and process quality in its manufacturing process by developing a waste by-product into a new product. The case describes how CCP cleans production equipment between batches using styrene, which becomes a... View Details

Keywords: Innovation and Invention; Product Development; Business Processes; Performance Efficiency; Natural Environment; Wastes and Waste Processing; Pollutants; Environmental Sustainability; Chemical Industry; Manufacturing Industry

October 2007 (Revised January 2009)
Background Note

Analyzing Relative Costs

By: Hanna Halaburda and Jan W. Rivkin

Introduces students to the technique of relative cost analysis, a core technique of strategists. Among the intricate quantitative analyses that strategists undertake, relative cost analysis may be the most common. The goal of a relative cost analysis is simply to... View Details

Keywords: Cost; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Mathematical Methods; Competition; Competitive Advantage

Fourth Quarter 2007
Article

Contingent Claims Approach to Measuring and Managing Sovereign Credit Risk

By: Dale . F. Gray, Robert C. Merton and Zvi Bodie

This paper proposes a new approach to measure, analyze, and manage sovereign risk based on the theory and practice of modern contingent claims analysis (CCA). The paper provides a new framework for adapting the CCA model to the sovereign balance sheet in a way that can... View Details

Keywords: Credit; Investment; Sovereign Finance; Risk Management; Emerging Markets; Market Transactions; Mathematical Methods; Valuation

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2005
Working Paper

Silent Saboteurs: How Implicit Theories of Voice Inhibit the Upward Flow of Knowledge in Organizations

By: James R. Detert and Amy C. Edmondson

This article examines, in a series of three studies, how people working in organizational hierarchies wrestle with the challenge of upward voice. We first undertook in-depth exploratory research in a knowledge-intensive multinational corporation in which employee input... View Details

Keywords: Prejudice and Bias; Working Conditions; Knowledge Management; Attitudes; Organizational Culture

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March 2004
Tutorial

HBS Quantitative Analysis Course

By: Janice H. Hammond

Keywords: Mathematical Methods

February 2004
Article

Leader Behaviors and the Work Environment for Creativity: Perceived Leader Support

By: Teresa M. Amabile, Elizabeth A. Schatzel, Giovanni B. Moneta and Steven J. Kramer

This exploratory study investigated leader behaviors related to perceived leader support, encompassing both instrumental and socioemotional support. The study first established that leader support, proposed to be a key feature of the work environment for creativity,... View Details

Keywords: Creativity; Leadership; Behavior; Working Conditions; Perception; Performance

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May 1984 (Revised September 1986)
Background Note

Basic Quantitative Analysis for Marketing

By: Robert J. Dolan

Shows how to calculate and use the break-even volume in marketing decision making. View Details

Keywords: Marketing Strategy; Mathematical Methods

August 1983 (Revised May 2007)
Case

Milford Industries (A)

By: Robert J. Dolan and Benson P. Shapiro

The new district sales manager for a tool company must determine how to get his district "back on track." The case presents various qualitative and quantitative information on the salespeople. Teaching objectives include the specification of the tasks of a district... View Details

Keywords: Managerial Roles; Salesforce Management; Resignation and Termination; Performance Evaluation

April 1982 (Revised June 1993)
Case

Hart Schaffner & Marx: The Market for Separately Ticketed Suits

By: Richard S. Tedlow

Calls for a decision on whether Hart Schaffner & Marx, the nation's leading manufacturer of high quality, branded suits, should expand its product line by marketing suits that are separately ticketed (i.e., the coat, vest, and slacks are sold from individual hangers... View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Decisions; Price; Markets; Distribution Channels; Production; Mathematical Methods; Competitive Strategy; Apparel and Accessories Industry

October 1976 (Revised February 1987)
Case

Cramer Electronics, Inc.

By: Michael E. Porter

Designed to be the second day of a two-day series on the electronic component distribution industry, following a day spent discussing Note on the Electronic Component Distribution Industry and Raytheon Co.: Diversification. The important teaching themes which this case... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Innovation Strategy; Management Style; Resource Allocation; Opportunities; Corporate Strategy; Diversification; Distribution Industry; Electronics Industry