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05 Jun 2019
News

If Your Customers Don't Care What You Charge, What Should You Charge?

Gerald Zaltman

*Joined Harvard Faculty: 1991
Prior Faculty Appointments: Northwestern University, 1968-75;
University of Pittsburgh, 1975-91

*Doctoral Degree in Sociology Received from: The John Hopkins University;
MBA Degree Received from: The University of... View Details

Keywords: consumer products; consumer products; consumer products; consumer products; consumer products; consumer products; consumer products; consumer products; consumer products; consumer products; consumer products; consumer products; consumer products; consumer products; consumer products

13 Nov 2019
Research & Ideas

Don't Turn Your Marketing Function Over to AI Just Yet

Imagine a future in which a smart marketing machine can predict the needs and habits of individual consumers and the dynamics of competitors across industries and markets. This device would collect data to answer strategic questions, guide managerial decisions, and... View Details

Keywords: by Kristen Senz

14 Sep 2016
Research & Ideas

Web Surfers Have a Schedule and Stick to It

sites. Our online visits often come in short bursts rather than extended leisurely strolls through cyberspace. People with higher incomes spend less time online than those making less. In other words, consumers behave online in a much... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Retail; Web Services

March 2014
Article

Search Diversion and Platform Competition

By: Andrei Hagiu and Bruno Jullien

Platforms use search diversion in order to trade off total consumer traffic for higher revenues derived by exposing consumers to unsolicited products (e.g., advertising). We show that competition between platforms leads to lower equilibrium levels of search diversion... View Details

Keywords: Market Intermediation; Search; Two-Sided Markets; Platform Design; Platform Competition; Competition; Two-Sided Platforms

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2008
Working Paper

Behavioral Aspects of Price Setting, and Their Policy Implications

By: Julio J. Rotemberg

This paper starts by discussing consumers' cognitive and emotional reaction to posted prices. Cognitively, some consumers do not appear to make effective use of price information to maximize their consumption-based utility. Emotionally, prices can induce regret and... View Details

Keywords: Inflation and Deflation; Price; Policy; Laws and Statutes; Consumer Behavior; Emotions

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20 May 2019
Research & Ideas

Activist CEOs Are Rising Up—and Their Customers Are Listening

When former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz announced earlier this year he was thinking about running for president of the United States, it wasn’t a new idea. Past CEOs seeking the White House have included Carly Fiorina, Ross Perot, Herman Cain, Steve Forbes, Mitt... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding

March 2008 (Revised January 2010)
Background Note

Note on Accountability in the U.S. Health Care System

By: Regina E. Herzlinger and Michael Millenson

This note explains how health care providers, health insurers, and consumers are held accountable for their performance and the entrepreneurial opportunities thus created. View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Ethics; Insurance; Corporate Accountability; Health Care and Treatment; Demand and Consumers; Health Industry; United States

12 Feb 2019
HBS Seminar

Gary Loveman, Harvard Business School

August 2014 (Revised December 2015)
Case

Showrooming at Best Buy

By: Thales Teixeira and Elizabeth Anne Watkins

Best Buy is a consumer electronics retailer with nearly 2,000 stores worldwide. In 2012, the rising popularity of price-matching apps for mobile phones made price differences between retailers transparent, online and offline. Shoppers' desire to test electronics... View Details

Keywords: Competition; Price; Consumer Behavior; Applications and Software; Mobile and Wireless Technology; Retail Industry; Electronics Industry

06 Sep 2022
Blog Post

To Go-Go: A Foodtech Startup Serves Up Scale in Latin America

For all their variety, restaurants have two things in common: a kitchen where food is prepared and a dining area where customers consume it. But what if you could use technology to ditch the dining area and just keep the kitchen, trimming... View Details

April 1978
Case

General Foods: Opportunities in the Dog Food Market

Illustrates uses of various sources of market and consumer behavior data, including psychographics, product positioning, and market segmentation decisions for a new dog food product. Based on cases by E.T. Popper and L.S. Ward. View Details

Keywords: Product Positioning; Consumer Behavior; Product Development; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry

02 Sep 2008
Research & Ideas

Indulgence vs. Regret: Investing in Future Memories

being toovirtuous and hard-working. She also presents a strategy to correct this behavior. Aside from influencing how people choose to live their lives, Keinan's findings have implications for marketers hoping to convince consumers to... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna

August 2023 (Revised September 2023)
Case

Zegna

By: Rohit Deshpandé, Dante Roscini and Elena Corsi

In 2023, the Italian luxury Zegna brand, traditionally known for formal menswear, was refocusing towards leisure wear, following a recent consumer trend. Such a move exposed the brand to more competition, in a segment where perhaps its made-in-Italy feature was less of... View Details

Keywords: Marketing Strategy; Product Marketing; Product Positioning; Luxury; Competition; Fashion Industry; Italy

August 1978 (Revised October 1979)
Case

Grey Advertising/Canada Dry Account

After taking over Canada Dry's mixers account in 1966, Grey Advertising assembled a successful ad campaign that increased ginger ale sales significantly. But Canada Dry's market share for ginger ale and its other mixer products had remained the same or declined during... View Details

Keywords: Marketing Strategy; Consumer Behavior; Advertising Campaigns; Advertising Industry; Food and Beverage Industry

November 2006
Case

Competitive Headaches (A): The Analgesic Wars

By: Dennis A. Yao

Addresses the problem of competing with a me-too consumer product. Focuses on Bristol-Meyers' 1975 strategy for introducing a competitor to Tylenol in the analgesic market. View Details

Keywords: Market Entry and Exit; Competition; Competitive Advantage; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry

23 Aug 2006
Op-Ed

The Real Wal-Mart Effect

Wal-Mart's domestic sales volume, U.S. consumers save on the order of $18 billion per year. And because Wal-Mart forces its competitors to charge lower prices as well, this figure is a fraction of the company's real impact. These kinds of... View Details

Keywords: by Pankaj Ghemawat & Ken A. Mark; Retail

March 1994 (Revised May 1994)
Case

Lisa Benton (A)

By: Linda A. Hill

Lisa Benton is in her fourth month as an assistant product manager at Houseworld, a leading consumer products company. She has been on the job since graduating from the Harvard Business School, and she has been frustrated from the start by a lack of responsibility, by... View Details

Keywords: Problems and Challenges; Jobs and Positions; Power and Influence; Relationships; Consumer Products Industry

September 2020
Case

Drinkworks: Home Bar by Keurig

By: Sunil Gupta, Jonathan Levav and Julia Kelley

In the summer of 2018, Drinkworks CEO Nathaniel Davis needed to make a number of go-to-market decisions ahead of his company’s upcoming product launch. Formed through a joint venture between Keurig Dr. Pepper and Anheuser-Busch InBev, Drinkworks had developed an... View Details