Publications

August 2019 (Revised March 2022)
Case

Lemonade: Disrupting Insurance with Instant Everything, Killer Prices, and a Big Heart

By: Elie Ofek and Danielle Golan

Launching its first products in the fall of 2016 in New York, insurtech startup Lemonade was on a mission to disrupt the insurance market by using AI and behavioral economics principles. The company offered renters, homeowners, and condo insurance and mainly targeted... View Details

Keywords: AI; Business Startups; Insurance; Technological Innovation; Business Model; Disruption; Brands and Branding; Growth and Development Strategy; Global Strategy; Decision Making; Insurance Industry; Technology Industry

March 2021 (Revised February 2025)
Teaching Note

Afterpay U.S.: The Omnichannel Dilemma

By: Antonio Moreno and Anibha Singh

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 519-086. In 2018, Nick Molnar, the founder of the Australia-based online payment service Afterpay began its expansion to the U.S. market. The service had gained a loyal following in Australia by enabling customers to pay for online... View Details

09 Feb 2010
First Look

First Look: Feb. 9

of real-world systems. Download the paper: http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/10-059.pdf Quality Provision, Expected Firm Altruism and Brand Extensions Author:Julio J. Rotemberg Abstract This paper studies quality choice in a model where... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

June 2011 (Revised May 2012)
Case

Reckitt Benckiser: Fast and Focused Innovation

By: Rebecca M. Henderson and Ryan Johnson

Since its 1999 merger Reckitt Benckiser (RB), a global consumer goods company, led by its CEO Bart Becht, RB developed a reputation for rapid product innovation and industry leading profit margins. RB's stated strategy was to focus on its Powerbrands and high growth... View Details

Keywords: Mergers and Acquisitions; Global Strategy; Innovation Leadership; Leadership Style; Growth and Development Strategy; Brands and Branding; Product Development; Performance Improvement; Commercialization; Consumer Products Industry

April 2005 (Revised March 2006)
Case

Change at Whirlpool Corporation (A)

By: Jan W. Rivkin, Dorothy A. Leonard and Gary Hamel

In 1998, the CEO of Whirlpool Corp. decides to change the company's strategy significantly to escape an increasingly unattractive "stalemate" in the appliance industry. The change he proposes involves a fundamental shift in the company's focus--from manufacturing to... View Details

Keywords: Organizational Change and Adaptation; Change Management; Competitive Advantage; Strategic Planning; Production; Brands and Branding; Management Teams; Consumer Products Industry; United States

18 Jul 2023
News

The First Five Years: Brooke Biederman (MBA 2019)

What inspired you to launch Forby Entertainment Partners? I started working on film and TV shoots in New York City during college. My first boss, an executive producer, recommended Edward Jay Epstein’s book, The Hollywood Economist: The Hidden Financial Reality Behind... View Details

Keywords: Robert Bochnak

Web

Europe - Global

Case Featured on Cold Call What does it take for a legendary brand like Porsche to stay ahead in a rapidly evolving auto industry? In this Cold Call episode, Harvard Business School Professor Stefan Thomke dives into the View Details

02 Apr 2008
Research & Ideas

Four Companies that Conquered America

built up a strong retail market share in the U.S., not under the RBS brand, but through a series of acquisitions of regional (not national) banks. RBS is adding value for its shareholders by letting these banks retain their individual View Details

Keywords: by John Quelch

19 Apr 2011
First Look

First Look: April 19

saved customers money and their strong brands generated more traffic and sales but that most retailers, looking only at gross margins, missed this added value. Pepsi managers struggled to craft a strategy... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

11 Dec 2012
First Look

First Look: Dec. 11

case:http://hbr.org/search/713020-PDF-ENG Inkaterra Comin, Diego, Rohan Gopaldas, and Diego RehderHarvard Business School Case 713-022 The case presents the unique business model of Inkaterra, a leading eco-tourism organization in Peru, and the different View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

October 2016 (Revised October 2020)
Case

Essent: From a State-Owned Utility to a Commercial Company

By: Ananth Raman and Elena Corsi

Patrick Lammers, Chief Commercial Officer (CCO) for the Dutch energy company Essent NV, once a state-owned company, was pleased with the progress Essent’s consumer (“B2C”) business had made: Earnings Before Income Tax (EBIT) for B2C had gone from a loss of €18 million... View Details

Keywords: Lean Management; Operation Management; Service Management; Commercialization; Operations; Management; Energy; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Service Operations; Performance; Energy Industry; Europe

14 Feb 2018
Blog Post

Meet HBS Leadership Fellows: Verdell Walker, Sesame Workshop

organization where every employee is truly united and motivated by a singular goal. SW combines fun media with enriching, meticulously crafted curriculum to address children’s critical developmental needs in the U.S. and across the world. My role for the Fellowship... View Details

Keywords: Nonprofit / Government

June 2012
Article

The Economic Value of Celebrity Endorsements

By: Anita Elberse and Jeroen Verleun

What is the payoff to enlisting celebrity endorsers? Although effects on stock returns are relatively well documented, little is known about any impact on sales—arguably a metric of more direct importance to advertising practitioners. In this study of athlete... View Details

Keywords: Stocks; Value; Advertising; Sales; Brands and Branding; Decisions; Economics; Marketing Strategy; Investment Return

Find at Harvard

Read Now

22 Jan 2019
First Look

New Research and Ideas, January 22, 2019

Rebirth of an Iconic Brand Following its re-emergence from bankruptcy protection in 2014, the marketing team at Kodak has been charged with tripling brand value with consumers, with little marketing budget.... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

2019
Article

Pay-for-Monopoly?: An Assessment of Reverse Payment Deals by Pharmaceutical Companies

By: Sana Rafiq and Max Bazerman

Abstract Over the past eighteen years, pharmaceutical firms have developed a blueprint to impede competition in order to maintain their monopoly profits. This scheme, termed pay-for-delay, involves direct or indirect payment of money from a branded-drug manufacturer... View Details

Keywords: Monopoly; Policy; Competition; Agreements and Arrangements; Pharmaceutical Industry

Read Now

February 2021
Case

Threadless: The Renewal of an Online Community

By: Shane Greenstein, Karim Lakhani and Christian Godwin

Threadless, an online apparel company and artist community which Jake Nickell founded in 2000, continued to maintain its status as a top company in the online apparel industry during its second decade. From 2010 to 2020, Threadless continued to operate its... View Details

01 Dec 1997
News

Multimedia Martha: Sharon Patrick Cooks Up A Winner

As president of Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia (MSLO), Sharon L. Patrick (MBA '78) oversees business strategy and operations at one of the country's most talked-about enterprises. She is a former partner at McKinsey & Co. and former... View Details

August 2006
Case

Dreyer's Slow Churned(TM) Ice Cream

By: Noel H. Watson, Steven C. Wheelwright and Brian DeLacey

Examines capacity forecasting and planning in a complex new product introduction scenario. The introduction at Dreyer's, a large dairy snack manufacturer, involves not only a new product but a new manufacturing process and product package, thus implying a significant... View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Forecasting and Prediction; Growth and Development Strategy; Brands and Branding; Product Launch; Product Development; Planning; Food and Beverage Industry; United States