Publications

June 2009
Supplement

Mary Kay Inc.: Asian Market Entry (B)

By: John A. Quelch

By 2008, over half of Mary Kay Cosmetics' $2.8 billion sales were from outside the U.S. Sales from China exceeded $500 million in 2008 through over 450,000 beauty consultants. China was Mary Kay Cosmetics' second most important national market with revenues growing at... View Details

Keywords: Global Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; Brands and Branding; Emerging Markets; Market Entry and Exit; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; Asia; China

02 Jul 2024
News

The Beauty Guide

Courtesy Michelle Freyre When Michelle Freyre (MBA 1997) was a brand manager at Neutrogena, Michael McNamara, global president of the beauty brand at the time, asked what she wanted to do with her career. She answered, “I want to be you. I want to run Neutrogena.”... View Details

March 2004 (Revised September 2005)
Case

Newell Rubbermaid: Strategy in Transition

By: Cynthia A. Montgomery, Rhonda Kaufman and Carole Winkler

Describes the transformation of a company's corporate-level strategy. Begins by laying out the strategy that brought the Newell Co. stunning success for nearly three decades. The highly integrated, internally consistent strategy was tailored for manufacturing and... View Details

Keywords: Change Management; Corporate Strategy; Transformation; Problems and Challenges; Acquisition; Product Development; Brands and Branding; Manufacturing Industry; Retail Industry; United States

April 2008
Teaching Note

Marketing Chateau Margaux (TN)

By: John A. Deighton and Leyland Pitt

Teaching Note for [507033]. View Details

Keywords: Brands and Branding; Management Teams; Distribution; Sales; Market Entry and Exit; Price; Luxury; Demand and Consumers; Growth and Development Strategy; Governance Controls; Food and Beverage Industry; France

December 2017
Case

Clover Food Lab in 2016

By: Lena G. Goldberg, Sonia Smith and Sandra Bahous

Ayr Muir, founder and CEO of Clover Food Lab, has grown his restaurant chain from a single food truck to 11 thriving stores but he has no interest in running a regional chain. His ambition is to change the way America eats and his goal is national expansion. As he... View Details

Keywords: Restaurant Industry; Food; Growth Management; Strategic Planning; Brands and Branding; Marketing Strategy; Innovation and Management; Customer Satisfaction; Small Business; Expansion; Decision Choices and Conditions; Food and Beverage Industry

09 Oct 2001
Research & Ideas

Five Questions for Paul Lawrence and Nitin Nohria

seemed obvious. Q: Customers are ruled by these four drives, just like everyone else. So what product, or product strategy, is needed to attract the four-drive customer? A: Those who study brands have found that great View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne

11 Aug 2014
News

The First Five Years: Melissa Fensterstock (MBA 2012)

my life. Joking aside, getting great press or opening a large account are the entrepreneurial highs that keep us going. The most challenging part of the business is managing inventory. It is easy to be aspirational and to design the next... View Details

Web

Marketing - HBS Online

months, 5-6 hrs/week Apply by November 3 $6,500 Credential New Personal Branding Professor Jill Avery Develop the tools to define and express your purpose, values, and points of differentiation and make your personal View Details

Profile

Tessa Vacher-Desvernais

literature, languages, and creative arts. When Tessa completed her master’s degree at the ESSEC Graduate Business School, she began her career with another hybrid: luxury brands eager to embrace modernity. She was selected for a... View Details

Keywords: Retail/Hospitality; Financial Services

November 2019 (Revised September 2022)
Case

TripAdvisor: An Itinerary for Growth

By: Jeffrey F. Rayport, Spencer Rascoff and Susie L. Ma

In 2019, TripAdvisor was one of the best-known and most-trafficked online travel sites. For nearly 20 years, its founder and CEO Steve Kaufer had steered TripAdvisor through many phases of growth and profitability, but recently the company’s growth had started to slow.... View Details

Keywords: Business Growth and Maturation; Decision Making; Business or Company Management; Growth Management; Innovation and Invention; Brands and Branding; Operations; Customer Value and Value Chain; Information Technology; Travel Industry; Massachusetts

February 2008
Teaching Note

Innovation at Timberland: Thinking Outside the Shoe Box (TN)

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter and Matthew Bird

Teaching Note for [306064]. View Details

Keywords: Innovation and Invention; Organizational Culture; Sales; Customer Value and Value Chain; Brands and Branding; Expansion; Growth and Development Strategy; Apparel and Accessories Industry

01 Sep 2005
News

Perfection’s Price

Although the Lane Bryant brand continues to thrive, the Kaplans saw a need for more choice in color, styles, cut, and price. At Fashion To Figure (named so because “Gram used to say you should never ask women to conform their figures to... View Details

Keywords: Margie Kelley; Clothing and Clothing Accessories Stores; Retail Trade

09 Apr 2018
Blog Post

Is Business School Right for You?

Dr. Jill Avery is a senior lecturer in the marketing unit at Harvard Business School, an authority on brand management and customer relationship management (CRM), and the... View Details

13 Jun 2016
News

Brenda Bence (MBA 1991)

connected through shared experiences.” After scoring high on an aptitude test, Bence was urged by coaches from the School’s Career & Professional Development team to pursue marketing and then to apply for a brand View Details

Web

How Student-Proposed Internships Can Create Value - Recruiting

partnership. Read on for one student’s experience designing her own summer role with fashion brand Anine Bing—and how her proactive outreach turned into a strategic internship opportunity. Not every summer internship starts with a job... View Details

July 2022
Case

FIJI Water: Carbon Negative? (Abridged)

By: Michael W. Toffel, George Serafeim, Francesca Gino, Stephanie Van Sice and Tom Quinn

In the midst of increasing press scrutiny of the bottled water industry’s environmentally harmful practices, FIJI Water made a series of sustainability promises. The boldest of these was a pledge to go “carbon negative.” The company said that not only would they offset... View Details

Keywords: Carbon Footprint; Carbon Offsetting; Environmental Accounting; Climate Change; Environmental Sustainability; Pollution; Cross-Cultural and Cross-Border Issues; Misleading and Fraudulent Advertising; Non-Governmental Organizations; Brands and Branding; Food and Beverage Industry; Fiji; United States

June 2009 (Revised November 2010)
Case

HTC Corp. in 2009

By: David B. Yoffie and Renee Kim

Taiwan-based HTC Corp. had emerged as the world's fourth largest smartphone manufacturer by 2009. CEO Peter Chou was extremely proud of the remarkable achievements his company had made over the last 12 years since starting off as an unknown manufacturer of PDAs for... View Details

Keywords: Global Strategy; Growth and Development Strategy; Brands and Branding; Product Positioning; Competitive Advantage; Mobile Technology; Telecommunications Industry; Taiwan