Publications

their customer data collection and digital marketing capabilities through enhancing their existing point-of-sale assets. Index was sold to Strip in April of 2018. Previously Rob was Chairman and CEO of... View Details

Keywords: Venture Capital;#1;#Advertising;#16;#Consumer Products & Packaged Goods

June 2005
Case

CarMax

By: Rajiv Lal and David Kiron

Carmax is the largest multi-market used car dealer in the U.S., and has no format-to-format competitor in the $375 billion used car market. CarMax is trying to do what some analysts believed to be impossible: sell used cars profitably on a national scale, and at the... View Details

Keywords: Profit; Brands and Branding; Digital Platforms; Segmentation; Auto Industry

01 Sep 2024
News

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle

Thirteen years ago, Marcelo Claure, founder of wireless services company Brightstar, discussed with a reluctant Steve Jobs the idea of launching a trade-in and recycling program for iPhones. It was a business move that expanded the market... View Details

Keywords: Jennifer Meyers

22 Dec 2009
First Look

First Look: Dec. 22

This memo discusses "hard-core" antitrust violations, focusing on bid rigging and market allocation, under the laws of the U.S. and other leading antitrust regimes. Purchase this note:... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

May 2025
Case

Initial Financial Statements at Blank Corporation: Bridging Content and Commerce

By: Jung Koo Kang, Panje Jayden Kim and David Allen

This accounting case is intended to teach students how to compile an income statement, a balance sheet, and a cash flow statement. It focuses on Blank Corporation, an innovative South Korean company that bridged content and commerce by selling products directly through... View Details

Keywords: Accounting; Financial Statements; Business Startups; Social Media; Advertising; Digital Marketing; Consumer Products Industry; South Korea

01 Jun 2018
News

Up by the Roots

intent on what Gotsch and her colleague, a senior capital markets consultant at Accenture, had to say—or more precisely, what they had come to ask: Where, exactly, do you look for new and innovative financial technology? The response was... View Details

Keywords: Alexander Gelfand; illustrations by Dan Page

05 Jul 2011
News

Driving Innovation

joining Google in 2006, the former head of digital marketing at DaimlerChrysler has been helping Google get its approach to consumer marketers up to speed by drawing on her... View Details

Keywords: News, Library, Internet, and Other Services; Information

18 Jul 2014
News

Team Players

interesting challenge, because you have a limited amount of time to build the brand. Then it disappears. We had to develop a marketing plan that was all-encompassing, but that still got the right information to the people who needed it."... View Details

Keywords: Robert S. Benchley; Performing Arts, Spectator Sports, and Related Industries; Arts, Entertainment; Management of Companies and Enterprises; Management

October 2006 (Revised October 2007)
Case

Google Advertising

By: Youngme E. Moon and David Chen

In mid-2006, Google is the number one search engine in America with 99% of its revenues deriving from its simple, text-only advertising services. It is on track to bring in roughly $9.5 billion in advertising revenue in 2006, which would place it fourth among American... View Details

Keywords: Digital Marketing; Disruptive Innovation; Media; Expansion; Internet and the Web; Advertising Industry; United States

March 2013
Case

Grupo ABC and Nizan Guanaes's Path from Brazil to the World

By: Rosabeth Moss Kanter, Gustavo Herrero and Ricardo Reisen De Pinho

Internationally recognized Brazilian Nizan Guanaes, co-founder of Grupo ABC, a rapidly growing global advertising firm ranked 18th in 2011, had aspirations to be in the top 10 by 2015. Grupo ABC thrived by identifying national (Brazilian) challenges and incorporating... View Details

Keywords: Management; Global Business; Advertising Agency; Opportunities; Globalized Firms and Management; Advertising; Global Strategy; Business Strategy; Digital Marketing; Advertising Industry; Brazil

01 Jun 2001
News

HBS Press Books in Brief

The Digital Enterprise: How to Reshape Your Business for a Connected World is an authoritative collection of cutting-edge Harvard Business Review articles, edited by HBR executive editor Nicholas G. Carr. Containing the latest thinking... View Details

Keywords: Publishing Industries (except Internet); Information

Career Coach

Matt Spielman

the globe. To complement his training as a certified executive coach, Matt draws upon his operating experience working as a Chief Marketing Officer, Chief Revenue Officer, SVP Strategy & Innovation and Chief People Officer. Matt... View Details

Keywords: Consumer Products; Entertainment / Media; Entrepreneurship; Financial Services (All); Investment Banking; Financial Services (All); Investment Management; Financial Services (All); Sports; Technology; Venture Capital; Financial Services (All)

16 Mar 2018
News

Enabling The Pursuit of Entrepreneurial Dreams

she worked in real estate investment banking at Goldman Sachs and then pivoted to the Walt Disney Company and AwesomenessTV, a digital studio that produces original programming for the emerging Generation Z. Ng knew she wanted to pursue... View Details

Article

Network Effects Aren't Enough

By: Andrei Hagiu and Simon Rothman

In many ways, online marketplaces are the perfect business model. Since they facilitate transactions between independent suppliers and customers rather than take possession of and responsibility for the products or services in question, they have inherently low cost... View Details

Keywords: Digital Platforms; Competition; Internet and the Web; Network Effects; Market Participation

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August 2020 (Revised January 2021)
Supplement

Facelift at Olay (B)

By: Sunil Gupta, Rajiv Lal and Olivia Hull

This supplement to Facelift at Olay (A) explains the major steps Procter & Gamble’s skincare brand Olay took to reverse several years of declining sales. View Details

Keywords: Advertising; Advertising Campaigns; Demographics; Age; Brands and Branding; Marketing Channels; Competitive Strategy; Competitive Advantage; Digital Marketing; Transformation; Marketing Strategy; Social Marketing; Beauty and Cosmetics Industry; United States; Ohio

10 Mar 2015
Research & Ideas

The Surprising Winners and Losers in the Retail Revolution

three-part interview with Harvard Business School Marketing professors Rajiv Lal and José B. Alvarez, they discuss who is winning this revolution and which brands appear to be losing ground. Sean Silverthorne: Among the retailers you have... View Details

Keywords: by Sean Silverthorne; Retail

August 2019 (Revised October 2019)
Supplement

Preserving Trust at Care.com (B)

By: Krishna G. Palepu and Julia Kelley

The (B) case describes the company’s response and subsequent developments. View Details

Keywords: Business Strategy; Corporate Governance; Digital Platforms; Market Design; Emerging Markets; Trust; Technology Industry; United States

2025
Working Paper

Balancing Engagement and Polarization: Multi-Objective Alignment of News Content Using LLMs

By: Mengjie Cheng, Elie Ofek and Hema Yoganarasimhan

We study how media firms can use LLMs to generate news content that aligns with multiple objectives—making content more engaging while maintaining a preferred level of polarization/slant consistent with the firm’s editorial policy. Using news articles from The New York... View Details

Keywords: Large Language Models; Content Creation; Media; Polarization; Generative Ai; Direct Preference Optimization; AI and Machine Learning; News; Perspective; Digital Marketing; Policy; Media and Broadcasting Industry