Publications

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

01 Mar 2014
News

The Solution to the Global Food Crisis Just Might Come from Nigeria

these things, people look on it as the most difficult country to change." And yet, a shift appears under way. A new reformist government has started treating agriculture as a problem to be solved by industry rather than by aid. Private companies are springing up... View Details

Keywords: Francis Storrs; John H. Davis; Michael Halse; Crop Production; Crop Production; Crop Production; Crop Production; Crop Production; Crop Production

June 2018 (Revised October 2019)
Case

Back to the Roots

By: Elizabeth A. Keenan and Leslie K. John

Email mking@hbs.edu for a courtesy copy.

Back to the Roots (BTTR) is a start-up with a social mission to “undo food”—to reconnect people to where their food comes from. In late 2017, Back to the Roots cofounders... View Details

Keywords: Organic Food; Startup; Crowdfunding; Sustainability; Transparency; Entrepreneurship; Business Startups; Product Development; Product Marketing; Growth and Development Strategy; Decision Making; Food; Food and Beverage Industry

Article

Cybersecurity Features of Digital Medical Devices: An Analysis of FDA Product Summaries

By: Ariel Dora Stern, William J. Gordon, Adam B. Landman and Daniel B. Kramer

Objectives:
To more clearly define the landscape of digital medical devices subject to U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) oversight, this analysis leverages publicly available regulatory documents to characterise the prevalence and trends of software and... View Details

Keywords: Digital; Medicine; FDA; Health Care and Treatment; Applications and Software; Safety; Cybersecurity; Medical Devices and Supplies Industry

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August 2019
Teaching Note

Back to the Roots

By: Elizabeth A. Keenan and Leslie K. John

Email mking@hbs.edu for a courtesy copy.

This Teaching Note explains the theory of the case and teaching plan for the case: Back to the Roots HBS case No. 518-073. Back to the Roots (BTTR) is a start-up with a... View Details

Keywords: Organic Food; Startup; Crowdfunding; Sustainability; Transparency; Entrepreneurship; Product Development; Product Marketing; Growth and Development Strategy; Decision Making; Food; Food and Beverage Industry

Article

Henry Heinz and Late Nineteenth-Century Brand Creation: Making Markets for Processed Food

By: Nancy F. Koehn

Keywords: Brands and Branding; Markets; Food; History; Consumer Products Industry; United States

April 1997
Case

New and Improved: Product Reformulation at General Mills

By: Arthur Schleifer Jr., Craig Boreth and Phyllis Dininio

Keywords: Product; Food and Beverage Industry

13 Sep 2012
Working Paper Summaries

Entrepreneurship in the Natural Food and Beauty Categories Before 2000: Global Visions and Local Expressions

Keywords: by Geoffrey Jones; Food & Beverage; Food & Beverage

02 Apr 2024
Research & Ideas

Employees Out Sick? Inside One Company's Creative Approach to Staying Productive

can’t control absenteeism, and you don’t know when you will receive an order for a very important buyer,” he says. “So how do you execute your strategy?” While studying a factory in India, Tamayo found one efficient way businesses can remain View Details

Keywords: by Michael Blanding; Fashion

November 2014
Case

Nestlé SA, 2014

By: John R. Wells and Galen Danskin

In 2014, Nestlé was the largest producer of packaged foods and beverages in the world. 2013 revenues were $103.7 billion and operating profits $16.1 billion (15.5% of sales). The company owned 29 mega brands, each generating more than Euro 1 billion ($1.25 billion).... View Details

Keywords: Consumer Products; Acquisitions; Strategy; Goods and Commodities; Nutrition; Emerging Markets; Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact; Competitive Strategy; Consumer Products Industry; Europe

06 Jun 2016
News

Know the Job Your Product Was Hired for (with Help from Customer Selfies)

01 Sep 2020
News

Good Odds

Behn says. “In the food manufacturing world, a lot of the waste is kept private. Major foodmakers won’t tell you how much they waste in the manufacturing process.” Instead the Imperfect team visited mainstream retailers, looked at the... View Details

Keywords: Jen McFarland Flint; food industry; Food Manufacturing; Food Manufacturing

November 2009
Article

Finding Missing Markets (and a Disturbing Epilogue): Evidence from an Export Crop Adoption and Marketing Intervention in Kenya

By: Nava Ashraf, Xavier Gine and Dean Karlan

Farmers may grow crops for local consumption despite more profitable export options. DrumNet, a Kenyan NGO that helps small farmers adopt and market export crops, conducted a randomized trial to evaluate its impact. DrumNet services increased production of export crops... View Details

Keywords: Export Crop; Field Experiment; Food Safety Standards; Plant-Based Agribusiness; Trade; Profit; Marketing; Standards; Failure; Non-Governmental Organizations; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Kenya; European Union

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December 2014
Case

JBS

By: David E. Bell

JBS is a Brazilian protein company that started in beef, but has quickly expanded into pork and chicken, and around the world. The company has many critics who say it has expanded too quickly and that it is overextended financially. The case allows the reader to form... View Details

Keywords: Protein; Beef; Brazil; Prepared Foods; Agribusiness; Agriculture; Expansion; Growth Management; Food; Animal-Based Agribusiness; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Brazil

01 Sep 2007
News

Riding It Out

of hundreds and perhaps thousands of dogs and cats (the numbers remain unclear, as there is no centralized database of such information). While the situation was uncertain, there was some concern that a production run of SmartPak’s... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna; dog food; pets; Food Manufacturing; Food Manufacturing; Food Manufacturing; Food Manufacturing

Research Summary

Overview

Hisano’s research addresses the social and cultural implications of technological development and economic changes mainly in the twentieth-century United States. By analyzing the regulation, manipulation, and presentation of food color, her current book project links... View Details

Keywords: Business History; Consumer Behavior; Agribusiness; Food And Environment; Business Strategy; Commercialization; Business And Government; Advertising; Goods and Commodities; Food; History; Government and Politics; Marketing; Business and Government Relations; Food and Beverage Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; United States

01 Mar 2023
News

Family Recipe

Ask Philip Jones (OPM 32, 2003), CEO of Jones Dairy Farm, to name a favorite from the company’s products and he’ll demur (it’s like picking a favorite child) before fessing up: It’s the roll sausage, made from his... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna; family business; leadership; food manufacturing; Food Manufacturing; Food Manufacturing

January 2016
Case

COFCO

By: David E. Bell and Natalie Kindred

In 2015, COFCO, China's state-owned agribusiness giant, was working to protect China's food security (a key national security priority) by extending its control of the global food system through overseas acquisitions. At the same time, COFCO sought to grow its market... View Details