Publications

June 2011
Teaching Note

Zespri (TN)

By: Jose B. Alvarez and Mary Shelman

Teaching Note for 511001. View Details

Keywords: Competition; Brands and Branding; Innovation and Invention; Corporate Strategy; Patents; Food and Beverage Industry; Australia; New Zealand

01 Dec 2014
News

3-Minute Briefing: Nagisa Manabe (MBA 1991)

automation in the Postal Service, but also this true attention to detail. It’s a little bit ironic, but we are doing much more marketing right now through direct mail, which is a very effective recruitment tool for engaging small... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna

Research Summary

Overview

Dr. Lurtz researches the history of agricultural economies in Latin America. She has a particular interest in export agriculture and attendant state- and locally-driven modernization projects. Her current work looks to the coffee economy of southern Mexico in the 19th... View Details

26 Jul 2017
Blog Post

“Uncertainty Makes It More Interesting.”

who’s in charge of what?” Their marketing strategy pitches Tim Hortons in the middle, offering white collar and upper class professionals a superior alternative to convenience store coffee. Unlike many convenience store coffee shops, Tim... View Details

Keywords: Consumer Products / Retail

01 Feb 2001
News

A Miller's Tale

chairman is Frank Sands (MBA '63), who, according to a long-established tradition in this family-run enterprise, did not inherit the company but bought it, at fair market value, from his father. Milled from the heart of the wheat berry... View Details

H. Brewster Atwater, Jr.

Despite a worldwide recession, Atwater led General Mills through 10 consecutive years of market value growth. He re-focused General Mills on its core products and services, and in so doing, enabled the company to profitably expand on a... View Details

Keywords: Food & Tobacco

Web

Global Entrepreneurship - Course Catalog

HBS Course Catalog Global Entrepreneurship Course Number 1631 Professor Paul Gompers Spring; Q3Q4; 3.0 credits Formerly known as Entrepreneurship Outside of the Valley Overview: Entrepreneurship has been shown to be a major driver of economic development in View Details

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

Hormel, known as the “Spam Man” for his most popular product, pioneered the canned meat business. As a result of his successful marketing campaigns and promotions, 70% of urban Americans used canned meats in 1940, compared with only 18%... View Details

Keywords: Food & Tobacco

December 2022 (Revised February 2023)
Case

Marfrig's Quest for Sustainable Beef

By: Jose B. Alvarez, Pedro Levindo and Ruth Costas

Marfrig, one of the world’s leading meatpackers, strived to comply with its commitment to have a deforestation-free value chain in Brazil by 2030. The company also pledged to reduce its emissions of greenhouse gases in accordance with the guidelines set by the... View Details

Keywords: Agribusiness; Animal-Based Agribusiness; Plant-Based Agribusiness; Acquisition; Family Business; Communication Strategy; Environmental Management; Climate Change; Environmental Regulation; Environmental Sustainability; Bonds; Food; Global Strategy; Goods and Commodities; Government and Politics; Political Elections; Leading Change; Marketing; Product Marketing; Product Positioning; Supply Chain; Supply Chain Management; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Business and Government Relations; Business and Stakeholder Relations; Partners and Partnerships; Strategy; Adaptation; Business Strategy; Commercialization; Competitive Strategy; Corporate Strategy; Diversification; Expansion; Food and Beverage Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Brazil; Latin America; Argentina; Uruguay; North America; United States; Europe; Asia; China

After making a small fortune in the retail grocery business, Elbridge A. Stuart founded Carnation in 1899 to manufacture evaporated milk. During Stuart’s tenure, the market for evaporated milk grew tremendously, as did Carnation, which... View Details

Keywords: Food & Tobacco

Louis F. Bantle

During his tenure as CEO, Bantle generated a 10-fold increase in revenues (from $100 million to $1 billion) for United States Tobacco. He divested of non-core operating units and launched a major advertising initiative which enabled UST to achieve an 80%+ View Details

Keywords: Food & Tobacco

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

November 2009 (Revised May 2010)
Case

Red Tomato: Keeping It Local

By: Jose B. Alvarez, Mary Louise Shelman and Laura Winig

This case describes the operating model and history of Red Tomato, a non-profit organization dedicated to branding and logistical support for locally grown produce farmers in the northeast U.S. The case highlights the challenges involved in making locally grown produce... View Details

Keywords: Agribusiness; Trends; Food; Local Range; Consumer Behavior; Logistics; Supply Chain; Nonprofit Organizations; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Northeastern United States

September 1974 (Revised April 1975)
Case

Ocean Spray Cranberries, Inc. (B)

A consumer attitude survey involving more than 1,000 cranberry users has been conducted. Multivariate statistical procedures including factor analysis, cluster analysis and multiple discriminant analysis have been employed to suggest four attitude segments in the... View Details

Keywords: Surveys; Product Positioning; Mathematical Methods; Consumer Behavior; Food and Beverage Industry; Food and Beverage Industry