Publications

December 2004 (Revised December 2005)
Case

Nectar: Making Loyalty Pay

By: John A. Deighton

Loyalty Management UK (LMUK) manages British supermarket chain Sainsbury's frequent-shopper card program, called Nectar. LMUK uses Sainsbury's sponsorship as the magnet to attract other retailers into a profitable, multisponsor loyalty network. Examines the economics... View Details

Keywords: Customer Focus and Relationships; Business or Company Management; Supply Chain Management; Marketing Strategy; Networks; Marketing Channels; Advertising Campaigns; Outcome or Result; Growth and Development; Retail Industry; Great Britain

November 2002 (Revised June 2003)
Case

Monsanto: Leadership in a New Environment

By: Ray A. Goldberg, James Weber and James M Beagle

Monsanto is the biotechnology leader in agriculture. How does it use its leadership in Round Up to fund long-term research and development in biotechnology that is acceptable to the priority system of consumers in different parts of the world? Includes color exhibits. View Details

Keywords: Research and Development; Science-Based Business; Food; Business or Company Management; Agribusiness; Industry Growth; Customer Focus and Relationships; Globalization; Leadership; Biotechnology Industry; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; United States

December 2009 (Revised October 2015)
Case

Diamond Foods

By: David E. Bell and Mary Louise Shelman

CEO Michael Mendes has transformed a grower-owned cooperative into a publicly traded top marketer of snack foods. Diamond's organization, culture, product development process, advertising and promotion strategy, and specifically its marketing department have been built... View Details

Keywords: Agribusiness; Business Model; Customer Focus and Relationships; Leadership; Marketing Strategy; Consumer Behavior; Organizational Change and Adaptation; Cooperative Ownership; Agriculture and Agribusiness Industry; Retail Industry; United States

March 1997 (Revised January 1999)
Case

Cambridge Technology Partners: Corporate Venturing (August 1996)

By: Paul A. Gompers and Catherine M. Conneely

Concerns the decision of Jim Sims, president and CEO of Cambridge Technology Partners (CTP) to form a corporate venture capital subsidiary. CTP is a fast-growing information technology consulting firm that has been presented with many investment opportunities from... View Details

Keywords: Decisions; Venture Capital; Leadership; Information Technology; Investment; Opportunities; Customer Focus and Relationships; Business Startups; Business Subsidiaries; Information Technology Industry; Consulting Industry; Cambridge

Find at Harvard

January 2025
Case

Hebbia: Redefining Productivity for Knowledge Workers Using AI

By: Suraj Srinivasan and Minoshka Narayan

In early 2025, George Sivulka, founder and CEO of Hebbia, reflected on the company’s rapid ascent as a pioneer in GenAI-powered productivity tools for knowledge workers. With its proprietary technology, Hebbia had redefined information retrieval and analysis and earned... View Details

Keywords: Transformation; Customer Relationship Management; AI and Machine Learning; Innovation and Management; Innovation Strategy; Service Delivery; Technological Innovation; Growth and Development Strategy; Competitive Strategy; Banking Industry; Financial Services Industry; Technology Industry; United States; New York (city, NY)

01 Jun 2016
News

Prima Datarina

dynamic pricing is twofold: to maximize revenue, but also to encourage ticket-buying behavior that is beneficial to the arts organization and, importantly, to its customers. Customers are more likely to buy early instead of last minute,... View Details

Keywords: Julia Hanna

01 Jun 2016
News

Case Study: On the Table

for the challenge of educating and acquiring customers new to making large online purchases. But what the company didn’t expect was the absence of the infrastructure necessary to support e-commerce. Very quickly, Cahuzac realized that the... View Details

11 Apr 2007
Research & Ideas

Adding Time to Activity-Based Costing

generate increased profits. They provide the link between customer satisfaction and improved financial performance. Scorecard measures of the incidence of unprofitable customers and the magnitude of losses... View Details

Keywords: by Sarah Jane Gilbert

June 2010
Teaching Note

Cisco Business Councils (2007): Unifying a Functional Enterprise with an Internal Governance System (TN)

By: Ranjay Gulati and Marlo Goetting

Teaching Note for 409062. View Details

Keywords: Customer Focus and Relationships; System; Business Units; Corporate Strategy; Infrastructure; Growth and Development; Decision Making; Restructuring; Resource Allocation; Information Technology Industry

Fast Answer

Executive changes

Related to the search. To find changes on a specific company: Search by company name Under News, Events & Filings on the left side navigation, click Key Developments. Expand the Customized View menu to look View Details

01 Sep 2008
News

Faculty Books

implementing successful transformations. In this book he examines the crucial first step in his framework: creating a sense of urgency by getting people to actually see and feel the need for change. Why focus on urgency? Without it, any... View Details

Keywords: Colleges, Universities, and Professional Schools; Educational Services; Real Estate

July 2007 (Revised March 2008)
Case

ABRY Fund V

By: Nabil N. El-Hage, Richard S. Ruback and Leslie Pierson

In January 2006, Andrew Banks and Royce Yudkoff were considering raising a 5th fund for their media-focused private equity firm, ABRY Partners. ABRY had a strong track record that the co-founders attributed to their group's deep knowledge of the media industry and... View Details

Keywords: Cooperative Ownership; Venture Capital; Customer Relationship Management; Asset Management; Private Equity; Judgments; Competitive Strategy; Media; Corporate Finance; Media and Broadcasting Industry; Financial Services Industry

14 Sep 2015
Research & Ideas

Rewriting the Rules of Service Competition

buy results and experiences, not services or products. That’s why IKEA’s leaders focus on the few things that produce results and experiences for the right customers. This requires another important piece of knowledge: Service starts with... View Details

Keywords: by James Heskett, W. Earl Sasser & Leonard A. Schlesinger; Retail

01 Mar 2025
News

On The Case: The Base Factor

In her research as a marketing modeler, Professor Eva Ascarza focuses on understanding customers—and predicting, in particular, who will be a good one and how best to retain them. Without customers, obviously, there is no business. That could also be the tagline for... View Details

Keywords: Jen McFarland Flint

25 Mar 2019
News

Rent The Runway Joins the Unicorn Club

woman’s need for wanting access—not necessarily ownership—to designer apparel, accessories and now home products,” she tells the magazine. What’s behind RTR’s rapid rise? The article quotes a T. Rowe Price analyst, who notes that a key part of the company’s ascendance... View Details

Keywords: Clothing and Clothing Accessories Stores; Retail Trade

January 2004
Background Note

Why Developers Don't Understand Why Consumers Don't Buy

By: John T. Gourville

Looks at the psychological biases developers bring to the new product development process. Identifies three reasons why developers may do a poor job of identifying the demand for an innovative, new concept or product: (1) the self-selection bias, (2) differing initial... View Details

Keywords: Customer Focus and Relationships; Innovation and Invention; Knowledge Management; Product Marketing; Consumer Behavior; Product Development; Perspective; Prejudice and Bias