Publications

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September 2007 (Revised November 2008)
Case

Sinopec: Refining its Strategy

By: Richard H.K. Vietor and Julia Galef

China's oil industry, with majority ownership vested in the government, had engaged in an "equity oil" strategy for the past few years-acquiring equity interests in oil producing nations including Sudan, Angola, and Iran. Outside critics, however, suggested that the... View Details

Keywords: Non-Renewable Energy; Equity; Foreign Direct Investment; Growth and Development Strategy; Demand and Consumers; State Ownership; Energy Industry; China

01 Sep 2016
News

The Big Business of Little Loans

Banks. Amid the excitement, abuses have also appeared, with some online lenders reportedly charging as much as 50 percent in interest on some short-term loans. It’s been enough to attract the attention of regulators, with everyone from the View Details

Keywords: Nancy Miller

July 2010
Supplement

Marketing Analysis Toolkit: Pricing and Profitability Analysis (CW)

By: Thomas J. Steenburgh and Jill Avery

Pricing is one of the most difficult decisions marketers make and the one with the most direct and immediate impact on the firm's financial position. This toolkit will introduce the fundamental terminology and calculations associated with pricing and profitability... View Details

Keywords: Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Marketing Strategy; Decisions; Strategic Planning; Price; Partners and Partnerships; Cost; Demand and Consumers; Revenue; Profit; Mathematical Methods; Measurement and Metrics

01 Jun 2002
News

Steven Murch: Philanthropist-in-Training

wrote his business plan, found a partner, and left Microsoft in 1997 in order to start VacationSpot, an online reservations network for consumers seeking to rent vacation properties. “We worked hard on it for three years,” states Murch.... View Details

Keywords: Margie Kelley; Construction of Buildings; Construction; Health, Social Assistance

15 Nov 2020
News

Global Outposts Expand HBS’s Intellectual Footprint

of Business Administration; Emilie Billaud, assistant director; and Mette Fuglsang Hjortshoej, research associate. The case explores how Unilever, the UK-based consumer goods giant, has implemented an initiative to accelerate the speed of... View Details

06 Dec 2021
News

3-Minute Briefing: Bonnie Kintzer (MBA 1987)

the turnaround. I knew the brands were still very strong in the mind of the consumer and, with the right team, that we could rebuild the company. I was very clear in the interview process that the name of the company had to change. If... View Details

Keywords: Jennifer Gillespie; publishing; digital transformation; change management; leadership; Publishing Industries (except Internet); Information

07 Oct 2013
Research & Ideas

The Case for Combating Climate Change with Nuclear Power and Fracking

a path to the future.” Lassiter, the Senator John Heinz Professor of Management Practice in Environmental Management, has spent several years studying the intersection between entrepreneurial finance and environmental concerns. He... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Energy; Utilities

01 Jun 2022
News

Ink: Start Small, Rise Above

that we hadn’t structured our capital right; we had a payment problem. In the consumer world, if I walked out of a store without paying, that’s called stealing. But in B2B it’s accepted that I’ll deliver my product or service and send you... View Details

Keywords: Jen McFarland Flint

Career Coach

Mo Fong

Mo Fong (HBS ‘02, Stanford ‘95 ChemE, ‘96 MA Education ) Mo is currently the Executive Director at Stanford Technology Ventures Program in the School of Management and Engineering focusing on entrepreneurship research, programs and outreach. Prior to STVP, Mo spent 15... View Details

Keywords: Consumer Finance; Consumer Finance; Consumer Finance; Consumer Finance; Consumer Finance; Consumer Finance; Consumer Finance; Consumer Finance

Web

Marketing - HBS Online

hrs/week Enroll by March 27 $1,850 Certificate New Creating Brand Value Professor Jill Avery Build strong, differentiated brands that resonate with consumers and give your company a competitive edge. 6 weeks, 3-8 hrs/week Enroll by April... View Details

01 Oct 1997
News

Doing Something Real

finance software program, "Managing Your Money." For millions of Americans, Andy Tobias has become the funny and friendly advisor they depend on to make sense of the sometimes threatening, often inscrutable worlds of View Details

Keywords: Andrew Tobias (MBA '72)

01 Oct 1999
News

The View from the Pit

are all experiencing HBS from the other side of the educational equation. Representing the areas of finance (Baldwin) and general management (Barrett, Hightower), they bring a potent mix of skills and expertise to the classroom - and even... View Details

Keywords: Judith A. Ross

28 Oct 2015
Research & Ideas

A Dedication to Creation: India's Ad Man Ranjan Kapur

class grew with large disposable income, and these foreign brands returned, it pushed the local brands to improve their quality and services. Competition rose and consumers benefitted. Q: So at this very fortunate time, Ranjan Kapur comes... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Advertising

September 1984
Case

Henkel Corp.: International Sealants Brand SISTA (B)

By: Robert J. Dolan

Describes the outcome of implementation of the standardized plan described in Henkel (A). View Details

Keywords: Marketing Strategy; Globalization; Expansion; Profit; Conflict Management; Outcome or Result; Consumer Products Industry; Consumer Products Industry; Europe; West Germany

August 2001 (Revised February 2020)
Case

Consumer-Driven Health Care: Medtronic's Health Insurance Options

By: Regina E. Herzlinger, John Hurwitch and Seth Bokser

Describes the variety of health insurance plans that this medical device company offers, including a high-deductible, consumer-driven health plan with a health reimbursement account that also enables health care providers to quote their own prices. Asks students to... View Details

Keywords: Health Care and Treatment; Insurance; Decision Choices and Conditions; Compensation and Benefits; Demand and Consumers

January 2000 (Revised October 2002)
Case

Cambridge Hospital Community Health Network - The Primary Care Unit

By: V.G. Narayanan, Lisa Brem and Ryan Moore

The Cambridge Hospital Community Health Network needed to gain a better understanding of its unit-of-service costs, which had been rising at a rate of 10% per year. The network's step-down costing system gave only aggregate costing information, and there was some... View Details

Keywords: Activity Based Costing and Management; Health Care and Treatment; Cost Accounting; Cost; Network Effects; Health Industry; Service Industry; Massachusetts

01 Sep 2009
News

Read All About It!

The choices available to consumers in the postwar boom transformed societal norms and expectations. With the advent of fast food, for example, millions of men, women, and children began to break bread — or hamburgers, chicken wings, and... View Details

Keywords: Garry Emmons; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services; Publishing Industries (except Internet); Information

20 Jan 2015
First Look

First Look: January 20

when the costs of financing a reorganization are greater than financing costs to a potential acquirer. Consistent with a senior creditor liquidation bias, the greater use of secured debt leads to more sales... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

March 2011
Module Note

Quantitative Analysis of Competitive Position: Customer Demand and Willingness to Pay

By: David J. Collis

This note is designed to provide strategists with tools to perform two critical customer-related analyses: determining willingness to pay — the estimation of how much a given customer would be willing to pay for a particular product or service; and demand estimation —... View Details

Keywords: Price; Demand and Consumers; Competitive Advantage; Management Analysis, Tools, and Techniques; Market Participation; Segmentation