Publications

2007
Working Paper

Mental Accounting and Small Windfalls: Evidence from an Online Grocer

By: Katherine L. Milkman, John Beshears, Todd Rogers and Max H. Bazerman

We study the effect of small windfalls on consumer spending decisions by examining the purchasing behavior of a sample of online grocery shoppers over the course of a year. We compare the purchases customers make when redeeming a $10-off coupon they received from their... View Details

Keywords: Spending; Consumer Behavior; Mathematical Methods; Food and Beverage Industry; Food and Beverage Industry

Read Now

9 Dec 2011 - 10 Dec 2011
Conference Presentation

Taste Contested: The Construction of American Wine Culture, 1967-1976

By: Ai Hisano

This paper examines the role of taste in American consumer society by analyzing how wine came to symbolize sophistication during the 1960s and 1970s. View Details

Keywords: Consumer Behavior; Attitudes; Food and Beverage Industry; United States

05 Mar 2014
What Do You Think?

When Will the Next Dot.com Bubble Burst?

Summing Up Is "Collateral Damage" from Economic Bubbles Inevitable, Necessary, and Useful? According to the old saw, markets are made by differences of opinion. If that's the case, there is a real View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett; Publishing; Retail

11 Aug 2014
HBS Case

The Business of Behavioral Economics

You've done everything—endured diets, purged your freezer of Ben & Jerry's, and educated yourself on fat, sugar, and calories. Yet, you can't manage to lose weight. What's wrong with you? According to standard economic theory, which gives humans (perhaps too much)... View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Food & Beverage; Food & Beverage

November 1983 (Revised June 1985)
Case

Pepsi-Cola United Kingdom (A)

By: Benson P. Shapiro and Edward J. Hoff

On January 2, 1983 Pepsi-Cola United Kingdom had to develop a plan to defend its successful Diet Pepsi brand against the about to be introduced diet Coke. Contains useful material on competitive behavior and on U.S. versus U.K. consumer behavior. View Details

Keywords: Product Launch; Consumer Behavior; Planning; Competition; Food and Beverage Industry; United Kingdom; United States

December 1999
Case

Lees Supermarkets: Customer Loyalty Programs

By: David E. Bell, Rajiv Lal and Ann Leamon

Keywords: Customer Focus and Relationships; Marketing Strategy; Food and Beverage Industry

Find at Harvard

March 1998 (Revised August 1998)
Case

Pepsi Blue

By: John A. Quelch

Executives at Pepsico are considering a possible redesign of the Pepsi carbonated beverage packages worldwide to give the brand a modern, up-to-date image and "ownership" of the color blue against Coca-Cola's "ownership" of the color red. View Details

Keywords: Competition; Advertising; Brands and Branding; Food and Beverage Industry; United States

20 Jun 2017
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, June 20

Our new data help to address important questions related to innovation and long-run growth dynamics. Download working paper: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=52130 Harvard Business School Case 517-108 Tequila Patrón Tequila Patrón was one of the most... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

01 Mar 2021
Blog Post

Building Sustainable Brands

role to ask her about what life has been like since HBS and what she is looking forward to most. Where are you working now? After HBS, I joined General Mills, one of the largest food manufacturers in the world, as an Associate View Details

01 Mar 2023
News

Case Study: Power Nappy

Illustration by Alvaro Dominguez Before she had a baby of her own, Amrita Saigal (MBA 2014) kept hearing from friends that the “natural” diapers on the market didn’t hold up as well as the old standards, like Pampers. Trained as a... View Details

Keywords: Jen McFarland Flint; Miscellaneous Manufacturing; Manufacturing

05 Oct 2009
Research & Ideas

The Vanguard Corporation

Can we use our capabilities in the electronic sensor business to deal with these problems and issues? For example, one of the things they are working on is biosensors that can be attached to the food chain, so that the freshness of View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

01 Dec 2017
News

Yoga Inc.

phenomenon it pretty much created. “From the foundation of yoga wear, we started a category that before us did not exist,” says Vivien Yeung (MBA 2001), Lululemon’s chief strategy officer. Understanding the public consumption ritual around yoga offers View Details

Keywords: Deborah Halber

March 1999 (Revised January 2000)
Case

Hundred-Year War, A: Coke vs. Pepsi, 1890s-1990s

By: Chiaki Moriguchi and David Lane

Through their competitive battle, Coca-Cola and PepsiCo have created a stable and highly profitable duopoly in the U.S. soft drink industry. As the domestic industry matured and the cola wars moved to international markets, Coke and Pepsi tried to redesign their... View Details

Keywords: Competitive Strategy; Industry Structures; Food and Beverage Industry

August 2010 (Revised July 2012)
Case

Cork'd: Building a Social Network for Wine Lovers

Lindsay Ronga and Gary Vaynerchuk are launching Cork'd, an online social network for wine lovers. Despite Gary's status as a celebrity wine connoisseur, the team faces a significant challenge: several other wine social networks are well established and already have... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Product Launch; Network Effects; Market Entry and Exit; Social and Collaborative Networks; Competitive Strategy; Food and Beverage Industry

Taking the helm of the family company from his brother in 1993, Brown dramatically expanded Brown-Forman’s international presence and invested heavily in sales and marketing. Brown orchestrated a total marketing “makeover” for the company... View Details

Keywords: Food & Tobacco

12 Feb 2025
Blog Post

How risk can be the key to a sustainable future with Sophie Levin (MS/MBA: Engineering Sciences 2022)

venture firm called The Engine. During my second internship at The Engine, I discovered cell-cultured meat. I was immediately captivated by the potential of growing meat without animals! It felt like a revolutionary solution to multiple global challenges—particularly... View Details

May 1984 (Revised August 1987)
Case

Raymond Mushroom Corp.

By: Benson P. Shapiro

In April 1984 Deborah Raymond, president of Raymond Mushrooms was deciding whether or not to raise prices on Raymond canned mushrooms in conjunction with an advertising promotional program to build consumer preference. View Details

Keywords: Product Positioning; Advertising; Decisions; Price; Management Teams; Food and Beverage Industry