Publications

September 2008 (Revised October 2008)
Case

Marc Abrahams: Annals of an Improbable Entrepreneur

By: Boris Groysberg and Michael Slind

Marc Abrahams was a media entrepreneur who specialized in science humor. In 2008, he sought to boost the scale and monetization potential of his business. That business, called Improbable Research, encompassed a magazine (Annals of Improbable Research), a high-profile... View Details

Keywords: Entrepreneurship; Selection and Staffing; Human Capital; Growth and Development Strategy; Brands and Branding; Personal Development and Career

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November 1991
Case

Magic Johnson: Endorsements ""After""...?

By: Stephen A. Greyser

On Thursday, November 7, 1991, Los Angeles Lakers star Earvin "Magic" Johnson announced his retirement from basketball in the wake of having tested positive for HIV, the virus that causes AIDS. Magic Johnson was one of the most popular figures in sports, both... View Details

Keywords: Marketing Strategy; Value; Sports; Advertising; Alliances; Problems and Challenges; Decision Choices and Conditions; Brands and Branding; Consumer Products Industry; Sports Industry; Entertainment and Recreation Industry

01 Sep 2012
News

On a Sound Track

Zurich and secured European distribution rights for our products, set up a joint venture with a partner in Mexico to build our brand there, and purchased Astro Gaming, a California-based gaming accessories company. Our office in southern... View Details

Keywords: Deborah Blagg; audio accessories; Sporting Goods, Hobby, Musical Instrument, and Book Stores; Retail Trade

01 Oct 2001
News

Q&A: Orin Smith

drinks that would win the brand international recognition. Smith liked the café concept and the enthusiastic workers behind the counter; he took a substantial cut in pay to sign on as EVP and CFO. Today, the company operates approximately... View Details

Keywords: Hanna, Julia; Hospitality; Food and Beverage Stores; Retail Trade

February 2006
Case

Bumble and bumble: Building a Successful Business in Beauty and Fashion

By: Nancy F. Koehn and Erica Helms

Explores the creation and subsequent rise of Bumble and bumble, a trend-setting hair-care company. Analyzes the vision and achievements of the founding entrepreneur, Michael Gordon, and charts the evolution of the company within the $230 billion global beauty industry.... View Details

Keywords: Corporate Entrepreneurship; Brands and Branding; Mergers and Acquisitions; Business Strategy; Financial Condition; Business Growth and Maturation; Success; Distribution; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; Fashion Industry

December 1992 (Revised October 1993)
Case

BMW: The Ultimate Driving Machine Seeks to De-Yuppify Itself

By: Stephen A. Greyser and Wendy Smith Schille

Tracks changes in the luxury auto market during the 1980s and early 1990s. Shifts in target consumer behavior--particularly the yuppie lifestyle--serve as the basis for manufacturer modifications of product line, positioning, and advertising. The climax of the case is... View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Change Management; Transformation; Brands and Branding; Product Positioning; Production; Luxury; Segmentation; Auto Industry

January 2021
Supplement

Bespoken Spirits: Disrupting Distilling

By: Benjamin C. Esty and Daniel Fisher

On October 7, 2020, Bespoken Spirits publicly announced it had received $2.6 million of seed funding for its “sustainable maturation process,” a process that could produce award-winning whiskeys in just days rather than years using a novel technology and data science. ... View Details

Keywords: Business Ventures; Business Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Disruption; Entrepreneurship; Environmental Sustainability; Cash Flow; Disruptive Innovation; Innovation Strategy; Brands and Branding; Business Model; Consumer Products Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; Service Industry; United States; California

28 Aug 2018
First Look

New Research and Ideas, August 28, 2018

periods 1970–89 and 2000–15, patenting in the current period has been primarily by entrant assignees, with the exception of neural networks Download working paper: https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=54903 Harvard Business School Case 718-497 Earlham College... View Details

Keywords: Dina Gerdeman

30 Nov 2017
News

Happy Meals (Are Here Again)

transactions—the metrics Karavites tracks most closely—are up at all his locations. Formulating a turnaround strategy required Kempczinski and his team—which included Kristy Cunningham—to get to the heart of what exactly had happened to... View Details

Keywords: Dan Morrell; photographed by Saverio Truglia

February 2003 (Revised April 2004)
Case

Pharmaceutical Industry, The: Challenges in the New Century

By: Stephen P. Bradley and James Weber

Provides a broad overview of the numerous internal and external forces that were driving change in the global pharmaceutical industry in 2003. These forces--including downward price pressures, political and social pressures, increased development costs, new... View Details

Keywords: Business Model; Change; Cost; Price; Globalization; Government and Politics; Brands and Branding; Industry Growth; Society; Competition; Consolidation; Technology; Pharmaceutical Industry

03 Aug 2010
First Look

First Look: August 3

in bringing their products to market, yet we know very little about the kinds of strategies they can employ to influence regulatory actor decision making. In this paper, we highlight a firm's strategic use of symbolic signaling in... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

September 2000
Case

Intellectual Property Exchange (A), The

By: Lynda M. Applegate and Gavin Clarkson

As the marketplace for intellectual assets explodes, the mechanisms for liquidity and exchange have not kept pace. Bryan Benoit, partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC), believes that he has a solution. Working initially with a shoestring development budget, he has... View Details

Keywords: Global Strategy; Intellectual Property; Knowledge Management; Brands and Branding; Problems and Challenges; Networks; Internet

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03 Mar 2015
First Look

First Look: March 3

other forms of competition in strategy and organizations. Next, we organize and review the findings of three ostensibly separate theoretical perspectives that have arisen from game theory, competitive dynamics, and institutional... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

06 Jul 2015
News

Lights! Camera... Market!

an increased awareness of and preference for the brand immediately following the release and premiere of the film at both the 2013 Toronto International Film Festival and 2014 Tribeca Film Festival. “We believe this was the first time a... View Details

Keywords: Margie Kelley; Food Manufacturing; Manufacturing; Motion Picture and Sound Recording Industries; Information

09 Oct 2012
First Look

First Look: October 9

maintaining the company culture, finding adequate partners to preserve the quality of the "Buy a Pair, Give a Pair" program, and devising an integrated online and offline marketing strategy that fit the View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

March 2020 (Revised July 2022)
Case

Levi Strauss (A): A Pioneer Lost in the Wilderness

By: Joshua Margolis, Ashish Nanda, Margaret Cross, Imran Manji and Bismah Rahmat

In 2011, newly appointed CEO Chip Bergh needed to urgently turn around the iconic but floundering denim apparel firm, Levi Strauss & Co. (LS&Co.) Famous for its blue jeans, LS&Co. had suffered a decline in revenue of 29% from $6.8 billion in 1997 to $4.8 billion in... View Details

Keywords: Turnarounds; Transformation; Strategy; Decision Choices and Conditions; Decision Making; Strategic Planning; Brands and Branding; Product Positioning; Product Marketing; Apparel and Accessories Industry