Publications

25 Jun 2020
Blog Post

Harvard Business School Class of 2021 Student Profiles

Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, Bain, World Food Programme, Goldman Sachs, Brandeval HBS ACTIVITIES HBS Show, Wine & Cuisine Society Yaoxin Ding While serving as a product manager at Fiat, Yaoxin worked closely with... View Details

December 2009
Case

TruEarth Healthy Foods: Market Research for a New Product Introduction

By: V. Kasturi Rangan and Sunru Yong

Topics covered include: consumer marketing, market research, new product introduction, and quantitative analysis. TruEarth Healthy Foods, a maker of gourmet pastas, sauces, and meals, wants to build on its successful introduction of fresh whole grain pasta by... View Details

Keywords: Market Research; Consumer Marketing; Brands; Food; Marketing Strategy; Consumer Behavior; Forecasting and Prediction; Product Launch; Brands and Branding; Food and Beverage Industry; Food and Beverage Industry

31 Jul 2017
HBS Case

It’s Hard to Fix the Family Business Without Offending the Family

Le is grappling with a host of operational challenges at Pho Hoa that include poor service and variable food delivery times for the menu’s wide array of 150 items. While his father has stepped aside, Tam’s uncle continues to manage the... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Food & Beverage

June 2015
Case

The Valuation and Financing of Lady M Confections

By: Mihir A. Desai and Elizabeth A. Meyer

This case explores the decision-making process that small, private businesses must undertake when considering an expansion and when selling equity to outside investors. In the process, students are asked to complete two exercises: a break-even analysis and a valuation... View Details

Keywords: Lady M; Bakery; Foodservice Industry; Breakeven Analysis; Restaurant Industry; Forecasting; Forecast; Financial Analysis; Borrowing and Debt; Corporate Finance; Equity; Financial Management; Financial Strategy; Finance; Food; Valuation; Food and Beverage Industry; New York (city, NY)

January 2016 (Revised July 2018)
Case

Cyberdyne: A Leap to the Future

By: Doug J. Chung and Mayuka Yamazaki

Cyberdyne Inc. was a Japanese technology venture that wanted to commercialize a hybrid assistive limb (HAL). HAL was a robotic exoskeleton system for people who had difficulty walking due to nervous system disabilities resulting from stroke, spinal cord injury (SCI),... View Details

Keywords: Go-to-market Strategy; Pricing; Sales Channel; Technological Innovation; Marketing; Sales; Distribution; Strategy; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

14 Mar 2018
Research & Ideas

Feeling Stressed? Try Sniffing Your Romantic Partner's Shirt

professor at UBC. The research team recruited 96 heterosexual couples to participate in the study. The men were instructed to wear a plain white t-shirt for 24 hours, and to refrain from using deodorant, smoking, or eating foods like... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel

16 Jul 2007
Research & Ideas

Understanding the ‘Want’ vs. ’Should’ Decision

desires (e.g., spending instead of saving money, eating junk food instead of health food). The should-self, on the other hand, prefers to behave in a way that will maximize long-run benefits. If left to its own devices, the should-self... View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert; Retail; Entertainment & Recreation

April 2019 (Revised October 2020)
Case

Kraft Heinz: The $8 Billion Brand Write-Down

By: Jill Avery

On Friday, February 22, 2019, following an unexpected and disappointing earnings report, The Kraft Heinz Company’s stock price fell 27%, wiping out $16 billion in market value. CEO Bernardo Hees had announced that the company had taken a $15.4 billion asset write-down,... View Details

May 2006 (Revised April 2009)
Case

Cola Wars Continue: Coke and Pepsi in 2006

By: David B. Yoffie and Michael Slind

Examines the industry structure and competitive strategy of Coca-Cola and Pepsi over 100 years of rivalry. New challenges in 2006 include boosting flagging carbonated soft drink (CSD) sales and finding new revenue streams. Both firms also began to modify their... View Details

Keywords: History; Competitive Strategy; Industry Structures; Growth and Development Strategy; Food and Beverage Industry; United States

06 Jul 2023
News

Home Economics

capital, and delivering coaching and mentoring. It’s a process with a proven track record. In 2021, for example, the graduation approach assisted 91 percent of participants in Bangladesh become food secure, allowed participants in Burkina... View Details

Keywords: April White

24 Apr 2023
HBS Case

What Does It Take to Build as Much Buzz as Booze? Inside the Epic Challenge of Cannabis-Infused Drinks

Legalization turned cannabis into a multibillion-dollar industry seemingly overnight, but this hot new market has had more—and more unusual—growing pains than most. Many experts predict significant market expansion ahead as more states legalize medical and recreational... View Details

Keywords: by Jay Fitzgerald; Food & Beverage; Food & Beverage

Benson P. Shapiro

Benson P. Shapiro is a well-known authority on marketing strategy and sales management with particular interests in pricing, product line planning, and marketing organization. He is also the Malcolm P. McNair Professor of Marketing Emeritus at the Harvard Business... View Details

Keywords: food; food; food; food; food; food; food; food; food; food; food; food; food; food; food; food; food; food; food; food; food; food; food; food; food; food; food; food

11 Mar 2024
Blog Post

A Day in the Life: Ben Hsieh

PM: Lunch time! I am a big meal prepper, so I heat up my food while most of my classmates grab a bite from Spangler. Today I’m grabbing lunch with a few friends that I met on a self-organized social impact retreat the summer before school... View Details

February 2021 (Revised July 2024)
Case

White Claw: Defending Market Share as Competition Encroaches

By: Jill Avery

By the end of 2019, two brands accounted for 84% of hard seltzer sales, a segment that had recently taken the U.S. beer market by storm, growing from $3 million in 2015 to over $2.7 billion by the start of the summer of 2020. White Claw was the dominant market leader... View Details

Keywords: Brand Management; Alcoholic Beverages; Beer/brewing Industry; Brand Positioning; Growth; Competitive Positioning; Consumer Products; Beverage Industry; Value Proposition; Marketing; Brands and Branding; Competition; Product Positioning; Competitive Strategy; Consumer Behavior; Food and Beverage Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; United States

24 Feb 2016
Research & Ideas

Why It's Best to Take Tests Early in the Day

The research provides food for thought as policymakers debate the efficacy and fairness of education initiatives like No Child Left Behind, the 2001 United States Act of Congress requiring federally funded public schools to administer... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Education

Web

Climate Impact - Business & Environment

“Piva Capital is an early-stage Venture Capital firm focused on investing in hard-to-decarbonize sectors. We are backing entrepreneurs focused on the future of work, resource efficiency, circular economy, food and alternate proteins,... View Details

February 2001 (Revised September 2005)
Case

Howard Schultz and Starbucks Coffee Company

By: Nancy F. Koehn

Investigates the entrepreneur's strategic initiatives to develop a mass market for specialty coffee in the 1980s and 1990s. These initiatives included the development of premium products, rapid expansion of company-owned stores--each with attractive retail environments... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Groups and Teams; Brands and Branding; Growth Management; Employee Relationship Management; Consumer Behavior; Organizational Design; Leadership Style; Customer Relationship Management; Competitive Advantage; Vertical Integration; Food and Beverage Industry

August 2016 (Revised January 2020)
Case

Breakfast at the Paramount

By: Ryan W. Buell

The Paramount is a 44-seat diner on Charles Street in the Beacon Hill neighborhood of Boston. A frequent "Best of Boston" award winner, the restaurant is a perennial favorite among locals and tourists, particularly for brunch on the weekends, when lines often stretch... View Details

Keywords: Food; Management Practices and Processes; Service Delivery; Food and Beverage Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Boston