Publications

January 2008 (Revised February 2010)
Case

Chocolates El Rey

By: Rohit Deshpandé, Gustavo Herrero and Regina Garcia-Cuellar

In late November 2006, Jorge Redmond, CEO of Chocolates El Rey, called a meeting with senior management to discuss the company's growth strategy. A relatively small firm with sales of around $14 million, El Rey produced top quality chocolate made with single origin... View Details

Keywords: Family Business; Globalized Markets and Industries; Growth and Development Strategy; Brands and Branding; Marketing Strategy; Segmentation; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Venezuela

May 2025
Case

Fidji Simo: Growing the Pie at Instacart

By: Hubert Joly, Leonard A. Schlesinger and James Barnett

In January 2025, Instacart CEO Fidji Simo considers strategies for continuing to grow Instacart from a grocery delivery platform to a holistic grocery technology company, including in-store grocery technology and expanding partnerships across the grocery sector. View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Transformation; Customers; Food; Health; Working Conditions; Leading Change; Operations; Going Public; Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; Business or Company Management; Food and Beverage Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; United States; Canada

Web

Teams | New Venture Competition

Christian Vosbikian (MBA 2025) Leora Sutton (MBA 2025) Providing virtual patient support as an extension of existing women’s health practices EcoLens Safiyah Bharwani (MBA 2025) Emily Tench (MPA 2025) Reducing food waste & emissions with... View Details

01 Jun 2018
News

Ink: Alumni Books and Recommendations

of male HBS grads to the executive office was not easy, but for women still unwelcomed above the glass ceiling in the ’70s, getting there was especially difficult. “She was one smart, sharp cookie,” says a classmate of Ellen Marram (MBA 1970), a marketing whiz who... View Details

Adolph Coors

Golden Brewery in Golden, Colorado. His business flourished, quickly becoming the leading brewery in the western United States. He brought new innovations to the brewery business and diversified the company’s product line by offering malted milk items and non-alcoholic... View Details

Keywords: Food & Tobacco

23 Jan 2017
News

The CEO Who is Perking Up Peet’s Coffee

Bay Area — ground zero for the growth of the coffee industry and an exciting place to do business, he said. “It’s inspiring to work in the same community as tech companies and others and (to see) competitors and people who are blazing the... View Details

19 Oct 2023
Blog Post

New Venture Competition 2023: Business and Environment Ventures

Business Development; Dr. Joseph Laux, CTO; Dr. Bhawna Nagar, Research Projects - Grensol closes the materials loop for car recycling to valorize industrial waste, recover valuable resources, and produce energy. TOP FINALISTS Earthbond -... View Details

30 Jan 2006
HBS Case

The Case of the Mystery Writer’s Brand

marketing his work, sometimes investing his own money in outlets such as television commercials and billboards that are more frequently used for fast food than books. Whatever the genre (he has also published romance novels, science... View Details

Keywords: by Julia Hanna; Entertainment & Recreation; Information; Publishing

14 Feb 2012
First Look

First Look: February 14

sector had adopted that practice. Download the paper: http://www.hbs.edu/research/pdf/11-076.pdf Emergent Design: Creating a New Business in a Nascent Industry Authors:Tiona Zuzul and Amy C. Edmondson Abstract This paper reports on a... View Details

Keywords: Carmen Nobel

01 Mar 2003
News

Three Appointed to Endowed Professorships

market and nonmarket strategy, particularly in the energy industry and in the food and agribusiness sector. He is interested in the relations between government regulation and corporate strategy, the... View Details

Keywords: fellowships; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services

01 Sep 2010
News

Start-Ups Make Their Pitch

industry to the production of mechanical (“dumb”) and electronic (“smart”) beds. Eventually, he expects to develop an entire suite of compact hospital room furnishings. The Alumni New Venture Contest was created with two goals in mind: to... View Details

Keywords: awards; Furniture and Related Product Manufacturing; Manufacturing

08 May 2018
First Look

First Look at New Research and Ideas, May 8, 2018

Case 518-064 A Note on the Snack Food Industry This note provides an overview of the snacking industry in 2017. Purchase this case:... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

01 Dec 2005
News

Buy the Book

own money in outlets such as television commercials and billboards that are more frequently used for fast food than books. What-ever the genre (he has also published romance novels, science fiction, and children’s books), readers expect a... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna; Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services; Market Research, Photo, Translation, Veterinary and Other Services; Professional Services

07 Oct 2024
News

On the Move: Nikos Bartzoulianos (MBA 2008)

doing laundry. There’s an obligation to do all these things in a more sustainable way. To put it differently, this is not a company that sells appliances; but rather a business of living better by making clothes last longer and food taste... View Details

06 Nov 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, November 6, 2018

neither find any markers of significant NPE pass-through to end innovators nor of a positive impact of NPEs on innovation in the industries in which they are most prevalent. Publisher's link:... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

February 2025 (Revised February 2025)
Case

Managing Complexity at mymuesli

By: Thomas Graeber and Stacy Straaberg

In April 2009, direct-to-consumer e-commerce muesli brand mymuesli faced a flood of customer questions. The breakfast cereal startup enabled users to order personalized muesli on its website by choosing from 75 organic ingredients for a total of 566 quadrillion... View Details

Keywords: Customer Satisfaction; Decisions; Food; Product Marketing; Product Positioning; Product Launch; Problems and Challenges; Behavior; Competitive Advantage; Customization and Personalization; Segmentation; Internet and the Web; Food and Beverage Industry; Europe; Germany

03 Sep 2013
First Look

First Look: September 3

results. Purchase this case: http://hbr.org/search/713537-PDF-ENG Harvard Business School Case 814-014 Sample6: Innovating to Make Food Safer Tim Curran, CEO of Sample6, a start-up biotechnology company developing a novel View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

01 Apr 1997
News

Manager's Notebook

Christensen asks. In "Patterns in the Evolution of Product Competition," his 1996 study of four industries - hydraulic excavators, disk drives, diabetes care, and executive education - Christensen found that when new product innovations... View Details

Keywords: Judith Ross

December 2018 (Revised May 2019)
Case

Darling Ingredients International

By: David E. Bell and Natalie Kindred

Led by CEO Randall Stuewe, Texas-based Darling Ingredients International was a rendering firm with $3.7 billion in 2017 revenues. Since 2003, Darling had transformed from U.S. focused into a global player in the processing of biological waste from meat and foodservice... View Details