Publications

December 2007 (Revised August 2014)
Case

Xanadu on Broadway

By: Anita Elberse

Can one of Hollywood's biggest flops magically turn into a Broadway hit? Xanadu, an adaptation of a 1980 Olivia Newton-John roller-disco film described by one critic as "the epic failure to end all epic failures," opened on Broadway in July 2007. Producer Rob Ahrens,... View Details

Keywords: Theater Entertainment; Product Marketing; Product Launch; Demand and Consumers; Risk and Uncertainty; Creativity; Entertainment and Recreation Industry

Keywords: Technology;#239;#Consumer Products and Services (B2C);#240;#Business Products and Services (B2B);#242;#Financial Services;#43;#Healthcare

investment strategies. I have helped launch both VC funds and startups. I can help startups with: Feedback on investor deck Crafting story about value proposition, differentiation, traction Feedback on GTM strategy, branding, View Details

25 Oct 2012
Research & Ideas

10 Reasons Customers Might Resist Windows 8

Software giant Microsoft is launching the Windows 8 version of its operating system this week, and suffice it to say that it's radically different from Windows 7. The familiar Start button and menu are gone, for example, replaced by a... View Details

Keywords: by Carmen Nobel; Consumer Products; Consumer Products

01 Nov 2012
Research & Ideas

Book Excerpt: Judgment Calls

women's beauty products enterprise Tweezerman faced the dilemma that every entrepreneurial growth company eventually confronts: "How much bigger can we get—can we handle the risk, the scale, the exposure, and the demands on our... View Details

Keywords: by Thomas H. Davenport & Brook Manville; Consumer Products

November 1993
Supplement

Erik Peterson (C)

By: John J. Gabarro

Describes the outcome of Erik Peterson's one-day meeting with his superior and the events of the subsequent day's meeting with the president and vice president of operations of the parent company. Students should have read the (A) and (B) cases. The (C) case may be... View Details

Keywords: Conferences; Leadership; Management; Product Launch; Operations; Outcome or Result; Problems and Challenges

February 2024
Teaching Note

Compass Pathways: Pioneering Psychedelic Treatment

By: Tiona Zuzul

Teaching Note for HBS Case No. 724-412. View Details

Keywords: Commercialization; Corporate Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Product Launch; Health Care and Treatment; Pharmaceutical Industry; Europe; United States; United Kingdom

September 2002 (Revised October 2002)
Case

GolfLogix: Measuring the Game of Golf

By: John T. Gourville and Professor Jerry N. Conover

GolfLogix has developed a small, GPS-based device to help golfers track their play. They must decide how best to distribute these devices: 1) sell them directly to golfers through traditional retail channels; 2) sell them to courses, which would then provide them to... View Details

Keywords: Distribution Channels; Product Launch; Brands and Branding; Innovation and Invention; Measurement and Metrics

21 Nov 2024
News

Mother Nurture

support.” Having friends and family who’d experienced these complications—and as young women hoping to start families themselves one day—Keshani, Richter, and Cole decided to change those odds. Over the course of their second year at HBS, they developed and View Details

Keywords: Margie Kelley

24 Aug 2021
News

Having a Moment

experienced an immediate change: “I realized it’s not caffeine that gets you focused, you need a calm mind to be able to think clearly—that’s when you can be at your best,” she told Forbes.com. The experience inspired the Pakistani native to View Details

Keywords: mindfulness; entrepreneurship; wellness; food and beverage; meditation; Beverage and Tobacco Product Manufacturing; Beverage and Tobacco Product Manufacturing

February 2011 (Revised December 2014)
Case

RentJuice

By: Thomas Eisenmann and Liz Kind

RentJuice, founded in mid-2008, provided a subscription software service—sold via phone and live online webinars—that allowed real estate professionals like brokers and agents to manage and market rental listings, communicate with clients, and complete transaction... View Details

Keywords: Renting or Rental; Product Launch; Applications and Software; Property; Business Startups; Salesforce Management; Product Marketing; Real Estate Industry; Information Technology Industry

2015
Working Paper

Mobile Money Services—Design and Development for Financial Inclusion

By: Rajiv Lal and Ishan Sachdev

Mobile money services are being deployed rapidly across emerging markets as a key tool to further the goal of financial inclusion. Financial inclusion, the development of novel methods to enable individuals at the base of the pyramid to access formal financial services... View Details

Keywords: Social Marketing; Poverty; Emerging Markets; Product Launch; Economic Growth; Financial Services Industry

Read Now

October 1990 (Revised April 1991)
Case

RU 486 (A)

By: Joseph L. Badaracco Jr.

Describes the factors faced by Roussel UCLAF, a French drug company, in deciding whether and how to market a controversial new drug, RU 486, which is often called "the French abortion pill." Roussel's decision involved its relations with the French government, its... View Details

Keywords: Judgments; Ethics; Product Launch; Negotiation; Outcome or Result; Performance; Business and Government Relations; Health Industry; Pharmaceutical Industry; France; Germany; United States

November 2004
Case

ClozeX Medical (A): The New Standard of Wound Closure

By: William A. Sahlman and Ryland Matthew Willis

Describes a set of decisions confronting the founder of a company with a revolutionary new wound-closure product. He must decide how to finance and exploit his venture. View Details

Keywords: Business or Company Management; Corporate Entrepreneurship; Product Launch; Medical Specialties; Corporate Finance; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

01 Jun 2015
News

Case Study: Sneak Peak

to help launch the product once they created a commercially viable recipe. In January 2013, they debuted their chocolate milk shake in the natural grocery channel (including Whole Foods Market and Sprouts... View Details

Keywords: Whole Foods; Beverage and Tobacco Product Manufacturing; Beverage and Tobacco Product Manufacturing; Beverage and Tobacco Product Manufacturing; Beverage and Tobacco Product Manufacturing

January 1994 (Revised November 1997)
Case

Aberlyn Capital Management: July 1993

By: Josh Lerner and Peter Tufano

Aberlyn Capital Management, a venture leasing firm specializing in providing capital to biotechnology firms, proposes to introduce a new product. Aberlyn will base a lease on an intangible product: the patent of a biotechnology firm. This poses a series of short and... View Details

Keywords: Financing and Loans; Valuation; Product Launch; Problems and Challenges; Patents; Financial Instruments; Financial Services Industry; Biotechnology Industry

August 2010 (Revised May 2015)
Teaching Note

Bank of America: Mobile Banking and Bank of America: Mobile Banking (Abridged)

By: Sunil Gupta

Teaching Note for 510063 and 512082 View Details

Keywords: Banks and Banking; Strategy; Customers; Technology Adoption; Decisions; Product Launch; Mobile Technology; Banking Industry