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- All HBS Web
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- January 2019
- Teaching Note
Pricing PatientPing
Teaching Note for HBS No. 818-017. PatientPing sells a software platform that allows health care providers to receive real-time notifications (“pings”) when one of their patients is admitted to or discharged from a health-care facility. The platform facilitates... View Details
- May 1985 (Revised January 1986)
- Case
Cole National Corp. (D): Field Sales Organization
Cespedes, Frank V. "Cole National Corp. (D): Field Sales Organization." Harvard Business School Case 585-174, May 1985. (Revised January 1986.)
- 21 Nov 2016
- Research & Ideas
It Matters That Your CEO Doesn't Know Much About Sales
targets, but a tactical tool that’s rarely part of strategy formulation. Develop the best product, and let the sales department figure out the best way to get it to the customer, they think. And many View Details
Keywords: by Michael Blanding
- September 24, 2024
- Article
4 Steps That Can Optimize Your Sales Process
By: Frank V. Cespedes, Scott Peterson and Daniel Weinfurter
Sales is a performance art where outcomes matter, so most advice here focuses on closing the sale. But a close is the result of actions and choices that occur earlier in the process: how much time and effort to spend on customer discovery (understanding what and to... View Details
Cespedes, Frank V., Scott Peterson, and Daniel Weinfurter. "4 Steps That Can Optimize Your Sales Process." Harvard Business Review (website) (September 24, 2024).
- November 2019 (Revised April 2020)
- Case
Purple Innovation, Inc.: The Online to Offline Marketing Challenge
By: Elie Ofek and Nakisha Williams
This case focuses on Purple Innovation Inc. (Purple), a company that started out in the Direct to Consumer (DTC) mattress space. In late 2018, after a successful launch and IPO with sales predominantly originating from its website, Purple was looking to sustain its... View Details
Keywords: Offline Sales; Marketing Strategy; Digital Marketing; Growth and Development Strategy; Consumer Products Industry; Retail Industry
Ofek, Elie, and Nakisha Williams. "Purple Innovation, Inc.: The Online to Offline Marketing Challenge." Harvard Business School Case 520-040, November 2019. (Revised April 2020.)
- December 2012 (Revised October 2022)
- Case
Plastiq
By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang, Gaurav Jain, Liroy Haddad, Luke Langford and Matt Noble
The young CEO of a venture-backed startup needs to figure out his go to market strategy and the right profile for his first key sales hires. Should he develop partnerships with channels that would provide leverage or build out a direct sales force? And should the sales... View Details
Keywords: Payments; Sales; Channels; Credit Cards; Digital Platforms; Selection and Staffing; Cost vs Benefits; Salesforce Management; Marketing Channels; Business Startups; Business Strategy; Marketing Strategy; Partners and Partnerships; Management Systems
Bussgang, Jeffrey J., Gaurav Jain, Liroy Haddad, Luke Langford, and Matt Noble. "Plastiq." Harvard Business School Case 813-125, December 2012. (Revised October 2022.)
- Research Summary
Mastering Strategy Execution
By: Robert Simons
Professor Robert Simons’ research encompasses three areas of management accountability that are the foundation for successful strategy execution: organization design, performance measurement and control, and risk management. In addition, Simons is interested in the... View Details
- 10 Nov 2003
- Research & Ideas
Globalization: The Strategy of Differences
77 percent of its profits from outside North America. But Goizueta's strategy soon ran into trouble, due in large part to the Asian currency crisis. By the end of 1999, when Douglas Daft took the reins, earnings had slumped, and Coke's... View Details
Keywords: by Pankaj Ghemawat
- February 2018
- Supplement
Qualtrics (C)
By: Doug J. Chung and James M. Lattin
Qualtrics was an online survey research platform and since the beginning, the company had relied entirely on an inside sales model—sales done remotely without face-to-face contact with clients. The low-cost inside sales model, along with an emphasis on a strong sales... View Details
Keywords: Inside Sales Model; Sales; Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; Organizational Change and Adaptation
Chung, Doug J., and James M. Lattin. "Qualtrics (C)." Harvard Business School Supplement 518-084, February 2018.
- 2002
- Other Unpublished Work
The Effect of Editorial Discretion Book Promotion on Sales at Amazon.com
By: Benjamin Edelman
A new dataset collected by the author allows estimation of the effect on book sales of promotional listing on Amazon's editorial discretion pages. Following Goolsbee and Chevalier (2001), sales quantities are inferred from sales rank data freely available on Amazon's... View Details
Edelman, Benjamin. "The Effect of Editorial Discretion Book Promotion on Sales at Amazon.com." 2002. (Winner of Seymour E. and Ruth B. Harris Prize for outstanding senior honors thesis in economics. Winner of Thomas T. Hoopes Prize awarded for outstanding scholarly work or research.)
- September 2002
- Case
Align Technology, Inc.: Matching Manufacturing Capacity to Sales Demand
By: H. Kent Bowen and Jonathan P Groberg
Align Technology is a four-year-old medical products company that has invented a new product requiring new manufacturing processes. Demand for the new product has grown more slowly than initial forecasts predicted, and the cost structure is preventing the company from... View Details
Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Collaborative Innovation and Invention; Problems and Challenges; Product; Forecasting and Prediction; Marketing Strategy; Sales; Demand and Consumers; Production; Health Industry
Bowen, H. Kent, and Jonathan P Groberg. "Align Technology, Inc.: Matching Manufacturing Capacity to Sales Demand." Harvard Business School Case 603-058, September 2002.
- October 2004
- Case
Sales Force Training at Arrow Electronics (B)
By: Jason R. Barro, Brian J. Hall and Aaron Zimmerman
Supplements the (A) case. A rewritten version of an earlier supplement. View Details
Keywords: Human Resources; Compensation and Benefits; Recruitment; Retention; Selection and Staffing; Salesforce Management; Competition
Barro, Jason R., Brian J. Hall, and Aaron Zimmerman. "Sales Force Training at Arrow Electronics (B)." Harvard Business School Case 905-042, October 2004.
- October 2010 (Revised June 2014)
- Case
Volkswagen do Brasil: Driving Strategy with the Balanced Scorecard
By: Robert S. Kaplan and Ricardo Reisen de Pinho
A new management team at VW do Brazil develops and deploys a strategy map and Balanced Scorecard to accomplish a turnaround and cultural change after eight consecutive years of financial losses and market share declines. The team uses the strategy map to align... View Details
Keywords: Business Cycles; Developing Countries and Economies; Management Teams; Leadership; Balanced Scorecard; Strategic Planning; Balance and Stability; Motivation and Incentives; Communication Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Auto Industry; Brazil; Germany
Kaplan, Robert S., and Ricardo Reisen de Pinho. "Volkswagen do Brasil: Driving Strategy with the Balanced Scorecard." Harvard Business School Case 111-049, October 2010. (Revised June 2014.)
- 12 Feb 2013
- Working Paper Summaries
Do Bonuses Enhance Sales Productivity? A Dynamic Structural Analysis of Bonus-Based Compensation Plans
- 2021
- Book
Sales Management That Works: How to Sell in a World That Never Stops Changing
Selling is changing, but the impact on sales of megatrends like ecommerce, big data, and AI is often misunderstood and not supported by empirical data. Managers who fail to separate fact from hype will make decisions based on bad assumptions and, in a competitive... View Details
Cespedes, Frank V. Sales Management That Works: How to Sell in a World That Never Stops Changing. Boston, MA: Harvard Business Review Press, 2021.
- August 1986 (Revised May 1993)
- Case
Rohm and Haas (A): New Product Marketing Strategy
By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Lesley Susan
Joan Macey, Rohm and Haas' market manager for Metalworking Fluid Biocides, found that sales of a new biocide, Kathon MWX, was utterly disappointing. This was all the more puzzling since sales of her other product--Kathon 886 MW, a liquid biocide used only in... View Details
Keywords: Communication Strategy; Marketing Strategy; Product Launch; Distribution; Performance; Sales
Rangan, V. Kasturi, and Lesley Susan. "Rohm and Haas (A): New Product Marketing Strategy." Harvard Business School Case 587-055, August 1986. (Revised May 1993.)
- July 2002
- Article
The Sale of Ideas: Strategic Disclosure, Property Rights, and Contracting
By: James J. Anton and Dennis A. Yao
Ideas are difficult to sell when buyers cannot assess an idea's value before it is revealed and sellers cannot protect a revealed idea. These problems exist in a variety of intellectual property sales ranging from pure ideas to poorly protected inventions and reflect... View Details
Anton, James J., and Dennis A. Yao. "The Sale of Ideas: Strategic Disclosure, Property Rights, and Contracting." Review of Economic Studies 69, no. 3 (July 2002): 513–531. (Harvard users click here for full text.)
- 11 Aug 2008
- Research & Ideas
Strategy Execution and the Balanced Scorecard
Companies often manage strategy in fits and starts. Though executives may formulate an excellent strategy, it easily fades from memory as the organization tackles day-to-day operations issues, doing what HBS professor Robert S. Kaplan... View Details
Keywords: by Martha Lagace
- Article
Why ‘Tell Them Something They Don't Know’ Is Bad Advice in B2B Sales
By: Frank V. Cespedes and Tracy DeCicco
Common advice in sales is to provide insights to customers during sales calls. But this advice generally stays at the level of “tell people something they don’t already know” and results in sales conversations littered with many irrelevant factoids. This article... View Details
Cespedes, Frank V., and Tracy DeCicco. "Why ‘Tell Them Something They Don't Know’ Is Bad Advice in B2B Sales." Harvard Business Review (website) (August 19, 2019).